Keeping The Row Leather, Suede and Raffia Bags in Good Order

The first thing you register about one of these bags is everything it leaves out. Nothing to protect: no logo plaque, no coated canvas to wipe down, no heavy hardware taking the knocks. What you have instead is a lot of exposed surface: calfskin with the grain on show, lambskin linings, suede that marks if you look at it wrongly, and in summer an unsealed raffia weave. With The Row bags the care burden falls almost entirely on the material rather than on some coating applied on top. Simple to look after, unforgiving when you get it wrong.

What follows is organised material by material, because that is where the real decisions sit. Take a grained calfskin tote and a suede top handle from the same season and they need opposite handling, and a sisal bag wants something different again.

An honest caveat about care instructions, first

Nothing resembling a public care protocol has been issued, because The Row does not publish one. You will find no manual, no published cleaning chart and no brand-approved product line sold with them. Everything here is therefore material-appropriate general guidance, drawn from how calfskin, lambskin, suede, canvas and raffia behave rather than from instructions issued by the label. A good leather specialist would be cautious, conservative and biased toward doing less, and so should you. A definitive brand-issued cleaning routine for these bags does not exist, so anyone presenting one is filling a gap rather than quoting a source. Ask a professional before applying anything at all to a piece you care about.

The habits that matter more than any product

Routine handling causes most damage to a good bag, so the fixes are behavioural. Overfilling is the fastest way to distort a soft silhouette, and it is the error owners make most often with the Margaux and the Park Tote. The belted side gussets on the Soft Margaux exist so you can adjust the shape, not for cramming more in. Leather is dried and faded by sun, rowbag.com with radiators and car dashboards accelerating both. People underrate what rain does to unfinished surfaces, and suede and raffia are close to defenceless. Keeping a bag away from sun, heat and water covers more ground than any product on a shelf.

• Empty the bag before storing it, including receipts and anything that can transfer colour.
• Hanging a soft bag by its handles for long stretches will stretch the drop, so keep it off the hook.
• Keep pens, keys and cosmetics in a pouch rather than leaving them loose against the lining.
• Handle pale calfskin and untreated suede only with washed hands.

Calfskin in its four forms: smooth, grained, saddle and polished

Calfskin is the spine of the line and it is the most forgiving material in it. Smooth calfskin shows scuffs and shine, matte grained calfskin hides them well, and polished saddle leather lands somewhere in between. Routine care stops at a soft dry cloth after use, used with the grain and concentrated on the corners and base where dirt collects. Sparingly and infrequently are the operative words for a neutral conditioner, tested first on a hidden panel. Too much conditioner darkens hide unevenly, produces a tacky surface and softens structure you meant to keep. Pale calfskin will also take dye from dark denim, so keep light bags away from indigo, and never scrub at a transferred mark, as scrubbing spreads it further.

Nappa and lambskin, mostly on the inside

These two turn up more often as linings than as exteriors, which alters how protection works. Lambskin lines the Margaux Shoulder; the Bourse Clutch has a calfskin exterior and a nappa lining — so the softest material in the bag is the one your keys sit against. Both are exceptionally soft, both take marks easily, and neither takes kindly to being worked on. A soft dry cloth, applied lightly and rarely, is the whole treatment. Because the hides are supple as they are, conditioner should be avoided altogether, since over-treatment leaves a greasy sheen that will not come out. The real protection is a pouch inside the bag rather than a product applied to it.

Suede: the most demanding material in the line

A consistent premium attaches to suede at this label and calls for a matching increase in care. Observed 2026 market prices spell the gap out: India 10.00 sits at $3,850 in leather against $5,370 in suede, and Agnes 15 runs $5,000 in leather against $5,800 in suede. The nap is what you are paying for, and it flattens, absorbs and stains more readily than any finished hide. Most owners miss the key point: suede care is mechanical rather than chemical. A dedicated suede brush, used gently in one direction, lifts the nap and clears surface dust, and that alone handles most routine wear. Past dry brushing, it is a professional’s job.

1. A light brush along the nap after each wear, never scrubbing across it.
2. Allow a wet bag to dry naturally at room temperature, away from radiators and hairdryers, then brush once it is fully dry.
3. A suede eraser lifts dry marks, used with as little pressure as possible.
4. Send anything oily, coloured or set to a leather specialist rather than trying it yourself.

The list of what must never go on suede is short and absolute: no leather cream, no conditioner, no wet wipes, no soap and no water-based cleaner. Every one of them mats the nap or leaves a ring visible in every light. The realistic standard is prevention, not repair, since regular brushing outperforms any treatment across a year.

Raffia and sisal, canvas and nylon, silk and satin

Buy these knowing they are the least serviceable materials the brand uses. The sisal family and the woven raffia and linen totes are not tanned surfaces, so there is nothing to condition and no way to refinish a stained panel. Canvas and nylon wear well but react badly to solvents and hard scrubbing, which pulls the weave out of shape and leaves a clean patch that reads as damage. Permanent marking from water and skin oils is the risk on silk and satin, including the small evening bags and knotted crossbody shapes. Spot-clean with a barely damp cloth and blot quickly — and that is the whole of home treatment for these materials. Prevention carries the entire load here, so keep them clear of rain and sunscreen.

Hardware, linings and the bits people forget

Hardware here is palladium-plated, matte or brushed, and that finish is the thing to protect. Keep metal polish away from it: it is made for shine and will burnish a deliberately soft surface into something that no longer matches the bag. Clean buckles and feet with a dry cloth, and dry them off if they get wet, so moisture does not sit in the join. The Margaux has engraved buckles and base feet, and dust settles into those recesses, and a soft brush clears it better than a cloth. Vacuum rather than wash the cotton herringbone linings used in the Soft Margaux 10 and 12. Because early attention turns a large repair into a small one, check the stitching at the handle roots occasionally.

Between wears: storage that works

Most quiet deterioration happens in storage, and it costs very little to fix. The dust bag it came with is the right home, lightly stuffed so the shape holds without stretching the sides. Acid-free tissue or a soft cotton scarf works; newspaper does not, because the ink transfers. Keep bags upright on a shelf instead of stacked beneath others, since these silhouettes keep their shape empty and lose it under weight. The space should be dark, dry and ventilated, and avoid sealed plastic boxes, since they trap humidity against leather. Because a resting bag recovers its form, rotating what you carry does more good than owners realise.

When to hand the bag to a professional

Good row handbags get ruined when the line between maintenance and restoration is crossed at home, and that line is clear enough. If it involves colour loss, ink, oil, water rings on suede or a stretched handle, it belongs with a leather specialist. Structural jobs fall on the same side of the line, whether that is loose stitching at a stress point or a lining torn away from its seam. Ask whether the specialist has handled unlogoed luxury calfskin, since techniques built for coated canvas do not transfer. The right specialist tests discreetly and says plainly when a mark will not come out cleanly, since on untreated hide some cannot be lifted. One competent intervention costs less than the resale discount left by a botched attempt at home.