The leather product you have received is made using oil tanned cowhide leather. The oil tanned leather falls into two categories: light oil tanned and heavy oil tanned.
Most of our bags are heavy oil tanned. The heavy oil tanned leather has more oil in it, which protects the leather and preserves it for longer time. Keep in mind that you can apply oil with wax to the leather at anytime. Any oil you apply to the leather tends to darken the color and make the leather smooth and shiny. It is highly recommended to apply oil conditioner to the leather bag every once in a while.
The light oil tanned leather has two different finishes: one is a raw looking finish; another is a hard finish, which means, the outside surface has a rich oil coating. Certainly, you can apply oil to the light raw looking leather as well; the leather will become smoother, shinier and darker. When you apply different color oils to the leather, it will change to the color you apply. The hard-finished leather does not follow the same rule. The surface has the color sealed in already. Most of the oil you apply will not change its color. If you happen to scratch the surface, we recommend you to apply a leather oil of the same color to the scratched area.
Shown below are reference pictures of heavy oil tanned (left), light oil tanned with a hard finish (center), light oil tanned with a raw looking finish (right) leather bags.
Remember, applying a different color oil to the leather will give it a different overall color. If there is a tag attached to the bag. We recommend experimenting on that tag before you make any change to the bag itself. If there is no tag attached, you can experiment with a small spot in an inconspicuous area of your bag. Please note that, once you apply a darker oil finish to your bag, you cannot change it back.
One Russian customer bought this brown raw finished leather shoulder bag L81 and she applied mink oil to it. This is how her lovely bag looks like now.
Our recommended leather oils include shoe oils, lexol oil, mink oil, or whatever oil that has wax in it that can help seal in the color.
If you have any concern relating to caring for your bag, you can always visit our blog for more tips.
