Maintaining 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. There is no logo plaque in the way, no coated canvas to sponge off, no weight of hardware absorbing the knocks. The trade is exposed surface: calfskin that shows its grain, lambskin linings, suede that marks if you look at it wrongly, and in summer a raffia weave with nothing sealing it. Almost all of the care burden of The Row bags belongs to the material itself. Simple to look after, unforgiving when you get it wrong.
Material is the organising principle here, since the decisions genuinely break down that way. A grained calfskin tote and a suede top handle from one season want opposite treatment, and a sisal bag asks for something else entirely.
Start here: a caveat about care instructions
The Row issues 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. Everything below is therefore material-appropriate general guidance, taken from the behaviour of calfskin, lambskin, suede, canvas and raffia rather than from any instructions the label has issued. Treat it the way a good leather specialist would: cautiously, conservatively, and biased toward doing less. Anyone offering a definitive brand-issued cleaning routine for these bags is filling a gap, not quoting a source. Before anything goes onto a bag you care about, ask a professional.
Habits that matter more than any product
Most damage to a good bag comes from routine handling, and the fixes are behavioural. With the Margaux and the Park Tote in particular, overfilling is the usual mistake, and it distorts a soft silhouette faster than anything. The belted side gussets on the Soft Margaux exist so you can adjust the shape, not for cramming more in. Sunlight both dries and fades leather; radiators and car dashboards do it quicker still. Rain is harder on unfinished surfaces than people assume, and neither suede nor raffia has much ysl envelope bag defence against it. Keeping a bag away from sun, heat and water covers more ground than any product on a shelf.
Before storage, empty the bag completely, receipts and anything that can transfer colour included.
Leave a soft bag hanging by its handles and the drop stretches, so do not do it.
Pens, keys and cosmetics belong in a pouch, not loose against the lining.
Handle pale calfskin and untreated suede only with washed hands.
Calfskin in its four forms: smooth, grained, saddle and polished
The backbone of the line, calfskin, is also the most forgiving material in it. Scuffs and shine show on smooth calfskin and hide well on matte grained calfskin, and polished saddle leather sits between them. Day-to-day care amounts to buffing with a soft dry cloth after use, going with the grain and concentrating on the corners and base, where dirt gathers. A neutral conditioner may be used sparingly and infrequently, tested first on a hidden panel, and the emphasis belongs on both words. Too much conditioner darkens hide unevenly, creates a tacky surface and takes out structure you wanted. Because dye moves from dark denim onto pale calfskin, light bags belong away from indigo, and a transferred mark should never be scrubbed, because scrubbing spreads it.
Nappa and lambskin, mostly on the inside
These two turn up more often as linings than as exteriors, which alters how protection works. The Margaux Shoulder carries a lambskin lining and the Bourse Clutch puts a nappa lining inside a calfskin exterior, so the softest thing in the bag is what your keys lie against. Exceptional softness, easy marking, and no tolerance for being worked on describe both. A soft dry cloth, applied lightly and rarely, is the whole treatment. Leave conditioner out of it completely, because they are supple to begin with, and over-treatment leaves a greasy sheen you cannot remove. Protection here means a pouch, not a product.
Suede: the most demanding material in the line
At this label suede is consistently dearer, and it demands a matching increase in care. The observed 2026 market prices make the gap plain: India 10.00 runs $3,850 in leather and $5,370 in suede, and Agnes 15 is $5,000 in leather against $5,800 in suede. What the premium buys is a nap that flattens, absorbs and stains more readily than any finished hide. Caring for suede is mechanical, not chemical, which is precisely what most owners fail to grasp. Most routine wear is handled by a dedicated suede brush alone, worked gently in one direction so it lifts the nap and clears surface dust. Beyond that, hand it to a professional.
After each wear, brush lightly along the nap, not a scrub across it.
Dry a wet bag naturally at room temperature, clear of radiators and hairdryers, and brush only when it is fully dry.
Dry marks come away with a suede eraser, used with as little pressure as possible.
Do not attempt anything oily, coloured or set — it belongs with a leather specialist.
The list of things never to put 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, sisal, canvas, nylon, silk and satin: what cannot be fixed
Know before you buy: these are the least serviceable materials the brand works with. The sisal family, along with 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, though solvents and hard scrubbing do them no favours, which distorts the weave and leaves a clean patch that reads as damage. Water and skin oils mark silk and satin pieces permanently, the small evening bags and knotted crossbody shapes included. On every one of these, spot-cleaning with a barely damp cloth and prompt blotting is as far as home treatment should go. Prevention carries the entire load here, so keep them clear of rain and sunscreen.
Material
Regular routine
Never
Calfskin in grained and smooth form
A soft, dry cloth; neutral conditioner, sparingly and rarely
Over-frequent conditioning; soaking a stain through
Lambskin and nappa
A dry soft cloth under light pressure
Any conditioner or cream
Suede
A suede brush and eraser; a professional for stains
Cream, soap, wet wipes, water-based cleaners
Raffia and sisal, canvas and nylon
Spot-clean and blot; dry in the air
Any immersion, any solvent, any hard scrubbing
Silk and satin
Keep dry, and leave cleaning to a professional
Trying to clean it yourself
Hardware, linings and the parts people forget
Hardware here is palladium-plated, matte or brushed, and that finish is the thing to protect. Keep metal polish away from it: made for shine, it burnishes a deliberately soft finish into something that no longer matches the bag. Wipe buckles and feet with a dry cloth, and dry them if they get wet so moisture does not sit in the join. Buckles and base feet on the Margaux are engraved, and the recesses trap dust, which a soft brush clears better than a cloth. The cotton herringbone linings in the Soft Margaux 10 and 12 should be vacuumed out, never washed. Because catching a loose thread early costs a small repair instead of a large one, give the stitching at the handle roots an occasional look.
Storing a bag between wears
Storage is where good bags quietly go wrong, and the fix is cheap. Store it in its own dust bag, with just enough stuffing to hold the shape and not stretch the sides. Acid-free tissue and soft cotton scarves both work, but not newspaper, because the ink transfers. Stand bags upright on a shelf rather than piling them under one another, since these silhouettes keep their shape empty and lose it under weight. The space should be dark, dry and ventilated, and steer clear of sealed plastic boxes, which trap humidity against leather. Rotating what you carry matters more than owners expect, because a bag that rests recovers its form.
When to hand it to a professional
Good row handbags get ruined when the line between maintenance and restoration is crossed at home, and the line itself is clear enough. A leather specialist should take anything involving colour loss, ink, oil, water rings on suede or a stretched handle. Structural work is the same, from loose stitching at a stress point to a lining torn away from its seam. Because coated-canvas technique does not carry across, ask whether the specialist has handled unlogoed luxury calfskin. The right specialist tests discreetly and says plainly when a mark will not come out cleanly, since on untreated hide some cannot be lifted. A botched attempt at home leaves a resale discount larger than the cost of one competent intervention.
