How to Care for Leather

A new bag arrives pale and a little stiff. That is the point — vegetable-tanned hide darkens with the light and oil it meets, and two years in it carries a patina no factory finish can imitate. Wipe it down with a dry cloth more often than you condition it. Condition twice a year, sparingly, and never with a silicone product. If it gets soaked, let it dry away from heat; a radiator will crack in a night what took a decade to build.