Looking After The Row Leather, Suede and Raffia Bags
What you notice first about one of these bags is what it does not have. There is no logo plaque to protect, no coated canvas to sponge off, no bulky hardware soaking up the bumps. What you get in exchange is exposed surface: calfskin showing its grain, lambskin linings, suede that marks at the smallest provocation, and a summer raffia weave with no seal on it. The material, not a finish laid over it, carries almost the whole care burden of The Row bags. That leaves them simple to look after, and unforgiving of mistakes.
Material is the organising principle here, since the decisions genuinely break down that way. Opposite treatment goes to a grained calfskin tote and a suede top handle from the same season, while a sisal bag is different again.
An honest caveat about care instructions, first
The Row publishes no public care protocol for its bags. There is neither a manual nor a published cleaning chart, and no brand-approved products are sold with them. Treat all of it as material-appropriate general guidance, built on how calfskin, lambskin, suede, canvas and raffia behave, not on instructions issued by the label. Handle it as a good leather specialist would: cautiously, conservatively, and biased toward doing less. If someone hands you a definitive brand-issued cleaning routine for these bags, they are filling a gap rather than citing a source. Before anything goes onto a bag you care about, ask a professional.
The habits that matter more than any product
The bulk of the damage to a good bag comes from routine handling, and the fixes are all behavioural. Overfilling distorts a soft silhouette faster than anything else, and it is the error owners make most often with the Margaux and the Park Tote. Those belted side gussets on the Soft Margaux are for adjusting the shape, not for cramming more in. Leather is dried and faded by sun, with radiators and car dashboards accelerating both. Rain does more harm than people assume on unfinished surfaces, and suede and raffia have next to no defence against it. Keeping a bag away from sun, heat and water covers more ground than any product row shoulder bag on a shelf.
- Nothing stays in a stored bag, least of all receipts or anything that can transfer colour.
- Never leave a soft bag hanging by its handles for long, because the handle drop will stretch.
- Corral pens, keys and cosmetics into a pouch rather than loose against the lining.
- Wash your hands before handling pale calfskin or untreated suede.
Calfskin in its four forms: smooth, grained, saddle and polished
The most forgiving material in the line is also its backbone. Scuffs and shine show on smooth calfskin and hide well on matte grained calfskin, with polished saddle leather between the two. Routine care is a buff with a soft dry cloth after use, working with the grain and paying attention to the corners and base where dirt collects. Neutral conditioner can go on sparingly and infrequently, with a test on a hidden panel first, and the emphasis belongs on both words. An over-conditioned hide darkens unevenly, turns tacky and loses the structure you want to keep. Because pale calfskin picks up dye from dark denim, light bags belong away from indigo, and a transferred mark should never be scrubbed, because scrubbing spreads it.
Nappa and lambskin: linings more than exteriors
These two appear more often as linings than exteriors, which changes the way you protect them. The Margaux Shoulder carries a lambskin lining and the Bourse Clutch sets a calfskin exterior against a nappa lining, so the softest material in the bag is the one your keys sit against. Exceptional softness, easy marking, and no tolerance for being worked on describe both. Use a dry soft cloth, lightly and rarely. Avoid conditioner altogether, because the hides are already supple, and over-treatment leaves a greasy sheen that never comes out. The protection that works is a pouch inside the bag, never something rubbed onto it.
Suede: where the care burden peaks
Suede commands a consistent premium at this label and earns a matching increase in care. The gap is plain in observed 2026 market prices: India 10.00 runs $3,850 in leather and $5,370 in suede, and Agnes 15 runs $5,000 in leather against $5,800 in suede. That premium buys nap — which flattens, absorbs and stains more readily than any finished hide. The point most owners miss is simple: 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. Anything wetter than that belongs to a professional.
- Give it a light brush after each wear, working with the nap rather than scrubbing across it.
- Allow a wet bag to dry naturally at room temperature, well away from radiators and hairdryers, then brush it once it has dried completely.
- A suede eraser lifts dry marks, applied with minimal pressure.
- Leave anything oily, coloured or set alone — it belongs with a leather specialist.
Leather cream, conditioner, wet wipes, soap and water-based cleaners are all banned from suede — the list is short and absolute. Each of those mats the nap or leaves a ring that shows in every light. The realistic standard is prevention, not repair, because regular brushing does more over a year than any treatment.
The unserviceable materials: raffia, sisal, canvas, nylon, silk and satin
Know before you buy: these are the least serviceable materials the brand works with. The sisal family and the woven raffia and linen totes are not tanned surfaces, so nothing can be conditioned and no stained panel can be refinished. Canvas and nylon wear well but react badly to solvents and hard scrubbing, which warps the weave and leaves behind a clean patch that looks like damage. Permanent marking from water and skin oils is the risk on silk and satin, the small evening bags and knotted crossbody shapes included. For all of these, spot-cleaning with a barely damp cloth and quick blotting is the only home treatment worth trying. Prevention carries the entire load here, so keep them out of the rain and away from sunscreen.
| The material | Regular routine | Never do this |
|---|---|---|
| Calfskin in grained and smooth form | Soft dry cloth as standard, with neutral conditioner only sparingly and rarely | Conditioning too often; soaking a mark |
| Nappa and lambskin | Light pressure, dry soft cloth, nothing else | Any conditioner or cream |
| Suede surfaces | Suede brush plus eraser; stains go to a professional | Cream, soap, wet wipes, water-based cleaners |
| The raffia, sisal, canvas and nylon pieces | Spot-clean and blot; air dry | Dunking, solvents, or scrubbing hard |
| Silk and satin | Professional care; keep them dry | Any do-it-yourself cleaning |
Hardware, linings and the parts people forget
What needs protecting is the finish: palladium-plated hardware in a matte or brushed finish. Metal polish exists to create shine, and it will burnish a deliberately soft surface into something that no longer matches the bag. Give buckles and feet a wipe with a dry cloth, and dry them whenever they get wet, keeping moisture out of the join. Engraved buckles and base feet on the Margaux trap dust in their recesses, which a soft brush lifts far better than a cloth. Cotton herringbone linings, of the sort used in the Soft Margaux 10 and 12, want vacuuming rather than washing. Because early attention turns a large repair into a small one, check the stitching at the handle roots occasionally.
Storage between wears
Quiet deterioration is a storage problem, and the fix is cheap. Put it back in the dust bag it arrived in, stuffed lightly so the shape holds without stretching the sides. Acid-free tissue and soft cotton scarves both work, but not newspaper, because the ink transfers. Store bags upright on a shelf rather than stacked under others, since these silhouettes keep their shape empty and lose it under weight. Keep the space dark, dry and ventilated, and steer clear of sealed plastic boxes, which trap humidity against leather. Because form comes back to a bag that rests, rotating what you carry matters more than owners expect.
When to hand the bag to a professional
There is a clear line between maintenance and restoration, and crossing that line at home is precisely how good row handbags get ruined. Colour loss, ink, oil, water rings on suede or a stretched handle all belong with a leather specialist. The same goes for structural work, loose stitching at a stress point or a lining torn away from its seam included. Check that the specialist has handled unlogoed luxury calfskin, since what works on coated canvas does not transfer. Expect a good one to test discreetly and to tell you when a mark cannot be lifted cleanly, because on untreated hide some cannot. The resale discount from a botched home attempt outweighs the price of one competent intervention.