Don’t we all just simply adore our favourite luxury genuine leather handbags, leather accessories, leather jackets and coats especially after spending a small fortune on them? What gives you immense pleasure and joy can also quickly turn into a major headache and nightmare if you do not take adequate steps to protect your fine leather investments.
Nothing pisses us more than to find mold spores and spots on our precious leather handbags, accessories and leather apparels barely a few months after coming home with us. As the famous age old adage goes, Prevention Is Always Better Than The Cure”! Now, this then begs the question, just how do you go about preventing what is perceived to be almost unpreventable especially if one is living in the tropics or an area prone to high humidity or dampness?
Well, for starters, there are only a limited number of ways we can go about attempting to prevent the formation of mold spots on our leather handbags and accessories. The first and preferred method which I have adopted in my own home is putting all my wife’s leather handbags and accessories into an Electronic Dry Cabinet, also commonly known as a Dehumidifying Cabinet.
Now I know you are all going to say this type of Electronic Drying Cabinet is meant more for cameras and lenses rather than your leather stuff and that it will take up quite a fair bit of real estate in your already cramped bedroom in your tiny studio apartment. But please hear me out, oh well, I guess a picture paints a thousands words and it is best that you see for yourself here a photo of not one but 2 electronic dry cabinets sitting alongside each other in my spare bedroom containing all the wife’s precious collection of luxury leather handbags and accessories.
You will be surprised to learn you can put in more bags than you can possibly imagine in such a compact cabinet with careful placement. I had actually removed a few bags from the dry cabinets prior to taking this photograph in order to facilitate the rearrangement of the remaining leather bags and leather accessories nicely for this photo shoot.
As you are now able to control the humidity level in a controlled environment, you will be able to prevent mold and mold spots on your leather handbags’ surfaces. From my personal experience, the preferred humidity setting is in the 50-55% range. Any setting lower than 45% runs the risk of drying out your leather bag and anything higher than 60% increases the likelihood of mold spores/spots forming on your stuff.
You may be concerned about the power consumption of your electronic drying cabinet but rest assured the modern ones are very efficient and run at an economical 5 watts to 10 watts an hour so you are not going to see a spike in your Utility bill.
What About Storing Your Leather Jacket And Leather Coat?
Now, if you are really tight for space or you have leather jackets and leather coats that will obviously not be able to fit into the dry cabinets, then you probably have no choice but to stick with the other method of preventing mold spores and spots on your leather handbags, accessories, leather jackets and leather coats.
The clear advantage this second method has over the first is the cost factor. It can cost you up to US$500 for a decent size electronic drying cabinet but it will just only cost you around US$5 (yes, 5 bucks) for this second method. You only need to head down to your local hardware store or photographic equipment shop and purchase a container of silica gel. They are usually sold in 500 ml and 1 liter containers.
Next, pour out some of the silica gel into plastic containers that have their top covers pierced through to create several ventilation holes (please refer to the picture). And there you have it, your very own D.I.Y mini portable dehumidifier! Now placed a few of them in and around your wardrobes to bring down the humidity levels just low enough to prevent the formation of mold spores.
To reuse, re-dry or reactivate the silica gel, you simply place them in a Gas Oven or Mini Electric Oven at (250 degrees Fahrenheit max) for about an hour or so. If you don’t own a gas or electric oven, you can also use your Microwave oven but using only a 2 minutes heating time interval as you don’t want to overcook and damage the gel beads.
Which Of These Two Methods Work The Best?
You got to be realistic here and cannot expect the second method to work as well and effectively as an electronic dry cabinet. If you are relying solely on the D.I.Y mini portable dehumidifier, then you will need to take additional steps to supplement your anti mold efforts.
To reduce the chance of mold forming on your leather bags and leather apparels, make sure they are taken out from storage and aired on a regular basis, preferably at least twice a month. Take them out from their dust bags and covers to inspect for any signs of mold and wipe them down with a soft dry cloth before putting them back into storage. When in storage, keep them in their original cotton or cloth dust bags and filling your leather bag’s interior with paper stuffing will help to keep its shape.
Final Thoughts
There are no two ways about it. Maintaining your prized leather possessions in brand new and mint condition for many years to come requires time and effort on your part. It is okay to get a bit lazy and slack on your leather care and maintenance routine once in a while but do that once too often and you will be facing a bigger problem on your hands. Always remember – Prevention Is Always Better Than The Cure!