Repairing a leather handbag strap at home

Fiebings, Edge Kote in Brown, $11 on Amazon / Fiebrings Edge Kote in Black, $7 on Amazon

Even if you spent a lot of money on a designer bag or wallet, wear and tear happens, and a little DIY to fix your worn handbag strap or leather wallet will work with these affordable products from Amazon I tried myself.

There were a few options my girlfriend told me, go to a leather repairs shop (but leave my precious there?) or do it the “trashy way” she calls it, and use nail polish, haha!

But, let’s actually use a color-coating leather edge paint, it’s so inexpensive!

Here’s what I used –

Fiebings, Edge Kote in Brown, $11 on Amazon / Fiebrings Edge Kote in Black, $7 on Amazon

I bought both because I had a feeling the brown wasn’t dark enough and I wanted even the tiniest drop to make it a bit darker, just in case.  Worth it!  Buy both – it’s so cheap and much cheaper than going to a leather repair shop. You can do this yourself in minutes.

You could also use this technique to fix a leather belt, canvas like Louis Vuitton small wallet or purse strap.

How to Make Leather Handbag Straps Look

• You can do both sides of a strap if you want, just lay/rest the strap on a box close to hold it up while it dries.
• Use a Q-tip – get a new one if it looks over saturated which may cause it to bleed over the edge
• A few coats might be needed to get it to match the rest of the thickness.
• Let dry at least 10 minutes
• Mix colors on a waxy magazine or something plastic.  I used the top of a canning jar lid.

I rest my straps on a box.

For my wallet to dry, I wedged it in my English toast rack – no it is not used for letters!

However, I will use it sometimes when I do calligraphy for them to dry.  I know, ridiculous American.

If you need to glue or repair a strap or product that’s fraying or open, I used the glue in a vinyl repair kit, which can also repair ripped canvas and leather I heard.  I used it at the corners of my LV wallet that had frayed apart.  I also heard this glue works as well being a flexible adhesive but since I haven’t tried it, I would recommend doing a test area then put the kote on to make sure it’ll adhere to it.

It’s a temporary fix if you want to do it yourself, otherwise I’d also suggest going to a shoe repair place – they usually also fix purses and they will be able to help as well.

Doing this every so often really refreshes you tired purse edges so I suggest doing this and also before you list to sell any of your handbags it really makes it look new.

Happy purse repair!

Product Reference on Amazon:

• On Amazon: Fiebings, Edge Kote in Brown, $11
•  Fiebrings Edge Kote in Black, $7
• Vinyl repair kit
• Glue