7 Tips to Take Care of Your Luxury Items and Make Them Last a Lifetime

Good Day, Mavens!

Since I was a little boy, I love to organize stuff. Didn’t matter if it was a book shelf, making my bed, to organizing my closet. In case you are wondering, I scored 100% on my OCD test and I don’t know if I should be happy about it or not. Anyways, a part of me is actually agreeing to Carrie Bradshaw’s quote that says “I like my money right where can I see it: hanging in my closet”. I love to buy clothes, bags, a very nice pair of shoes, and etc. It’s a dream you know, it gets very exciting when you save up for something that you have been wanting and just finally get your hands on it. However, little did you know that it doesn’t stop right there!

Some of the stuff I bought came in high price tags and since I bought them myself (well, 80% of them), i know how hard it was to get them. Therefore,

Luxury items such as: designer handbags, shoes, watches, and etc. make very good investments – and if your investments want to last and do not diminish as quick as the speed of light, you need to take care of it. My care to the stuff that I bought have saved a lot of items, not only my stuff, but the luxury items owned by family as well; we still have the Christian Dior bag we bought in 2005 in excellent condition, the Bruno Magli’s shoes my dad bought in 1998, the Prada sport bag we bought in Milan in 1994, and etc.

On Today’s post, I want to share my 7 tips how to take care of your luxury items and make them as long term investments. I have applied these tips for years and work every single time. If you have any luxury items, you might want to try these out. I think these don’t apply only for luxury items, to any items to be precise!

1. Leather is not a friend of body lotions and perfumes

Save the handle of your handbag! Especially for ladies, avoid direct contact of you’re your skin, post using a body lotion, with your handbag’s handle. The formula in body lotion can eventually damage the leather of your handbag’s handle. We see a lot that a leather starts to peel off and it’s because the damage caused by it. Of course we want our skin to be hydrated as well so how to do it right? Apply your body lotion first and give it around 20 – 30 minutes until you can have a contact with leathers. This also applies to your leather bracelet, and watches’ handles.

2. Stuff your bag when you are not using it!

That sounds wrong, right? How come do you need to fill it when you are not using it? – some leather bags will gradually lose its shape because we wear it too often…OR because you put them in the wrong way in your closet; for example, you put them altogether in a very narrow space which makes the bag pushes one another. Stuffing your bag with tissue paper or newspaper will hold the shape of your bag because there is something inside that prevent it from deform. and voila! Your 5 years old bag looks like a 5 days old bag!

3. Alcohol (nail polish remover) is the new best friend to your white sneakers!

If you read my previous blog post about the 10 must haves in your closet, I mentioned white sneakers in the list. Of course we want these fragile sneakers to last a lifetime AND to look like we just bought them. The hardest part about white sneakers is the bottom platform part – it is almost impossible to avoid it from dirt and stain. However, praise the lord that someone invented nail polish remover. Do you know that it can clean the bottom part of your white sneakers? Yes, they can because I always apply them to my sneakers. I use these for those stains that cannot be removed solely with tissue, cotton pad and water.

4. Silica gel is the guard to your items!

Whenever you buy a new pair of shoes or bag, you might wonder, what this square thing with little balls in it? Little do you know that they are putting it inside the box for a purpose. That square thing that always end up in the trash, should NOT end up in the trash; it’s called the silica gel.

Silica gel helps to absorb moisture and keeps whatever around it dry. Leather items tend to peel off when you store it somewhere damp – therefore, just putting the silica gel inside your shoe box and you bag’s dust bag will guard your items from peeling off. Another tips from me, put your designer bags and shoes IN the dust bag (that fabric thing you get inside the box) – dust bag is more delicate and it will protect your items too.

5. Use. Them.

The one thing that I’d emphasize more is this. You bought your luxury items not only to adore them, but to wear them as well. Your items need to be exposed with outside air as well – this is not just saying, but it’s the truth…this will prevent your bag to be in a damp place TOO long (another addition apart of the silica gel). If you store them too long, things might go wrong and of course, your investment will diminish. When you take them out, make sure to care for them!

6. Read instructions when doing laundry

When doing my own laundry, I will always make sure to read the instructions of the clothes. The instructions will be available inside your clothes (usually at the bottom of it). This will prevent your clothes or outfit to be ruined – some clothes can transfer colors or shrink. Therefore, it’s good to read it and explain to your laundry service to as well refer to it. For handbags and shoes, I never do it myself because it’s too risky. Hence, I always go to some professional services at the mall or something. Don’t cut the instructions (I know it can be annoying sometimes) but you might forget, so keep them attached!

7. Always ask about after sales service at the retail

After sales service is a service you receive from the retail after you purchase an item. This is important because where do you prefer to go rather than a place where you bought them? – I want to give a real example on this. Brands like Dior and Louis Vuitton have great after sales service. Dior provides a bag spa where you can store your bag in the spa if the bag is looking dull and weary. So does Louis Vuitton, not only you can exchange the bag worldwide, you can also store your bag if there are any defects and they will replace or prepare it for free! You get what you pay, I know the items are expensive but you will receive 5 stars’ service (p.s. sadly not all stores are like these two, which is kind of sucks)

I hope that these tips help and I welcome your thoughts and questions on the points. If you have more tips that you have applied to take care of your items, please do share! The more, the merrier….sometimes x

p.s. life is not elusive, you just need to know the how tos x