Coloured leather bag marking clothes

[UtterflyButterfly]

I have a new burgundy leather bag which I like a lot . BUT, the shoulder straps have left red marks on my new trench, and a few marks where the bag hangs on my hip.

Has anyone got any ideas a) what to do to the bag to stop this happening (I've tried rubbing vigorously with a cloth, but it's still rubbing off on my coat) and b) how to get the colour off my coat?

Many thanks for any advice

Take the coat to a good dry cleaner straight away - they'll find it easier to get the stain out now than after you've doused it with a load of different cleaning products.

The rest is a matter for the retailer who sold you the faulty bag - they should be able to advise you of whether the batch was faulty and replace it if so, or contact the manufacturer for advice on stopping the dye from transferring, and they should definitely also be compensating you for the damage.

I'd take photos of the stain and get a receipt from the cleaner, so you can e-mail copies of both to the Head Office when you request compensation for the cost of cleaning. If you still have the receipt for the coat (or a bank statement with the amount on it) then do hang onto it, in case the cleaners can't get the stain out and you need to request sufficient compensation to buy a replacement coat.

HTH .

Thanks for replying. I can't take the bag back as I bought it in London and I don't live in the UK, but I think I'd better try the dry cleaners for the coat and see what happens.

No problem! You probably wouldn't need to take the bag back, depending on whom you bought it from.

Usually the procedure is: e-mail Head Office/manager (if stand-alone shop) with complaint, evidence and outline of what you want done; they either comply, or ask you to send the bag to them "for testing" (for which they should reimburse you or send a pre-paid postage label); they credit your card with refund or issue voucher code for compensation. If they are being difficult at any point, you pester them on Twitter and Facebook (which generally gets a good response), or threaten them with Trading Standards. The Sale of Goods Act in the UK requires that products are of sufficient quality to be sold, and this clearly isn't at present.

If you don't have any luck with getting advice from the retailer/manufacturer on stopping the dye transfer, you'll probably find that asking an upholsterer will be your best bet - they tend to know a lot about leather-related problems.

Good luck!