Keeping up appearances: where luxury handbags go for artisanal servicing and restoration
Margo & Smith is meeting growing demand from owners of expensive bags
JOHN Chung insists on meeting you outside his shop when you make an appointment to visit Margo & Smith. It is only when you arrive, greeted by a suited-and-booted Chung, that you realise why.
Clients who come to 25 Ann Siang Road without being received might feel a little confused because it is the address of a Cantonese clan association. You walk on old-school mosaic-tile flooring, past rosewood armchairs and walls covered with pictures of clan members, before you reach a staircase that leads to Margo & Smith.
The 100-year-old heritage building is perhaps an appropriate location for the newly opened business that is all about preserving precious things – in this case, handbags.
Margo & Smith’s contemporary showroom-cum-consultation space is located on the second floor, where samples of bags that have undergone different restoration and repair works are displayed. On the third floor are the VIP consultation area and workshop.
Here, four artisans – trained in Japan – will take care of everything, from cleaning and repair to recolouring and restoration services for your handbags.
If the charming atelier, which operates only by appointment, feels like an exclusive service privately shared among people in the know, it’s intentional. Chung, founder of artisanal shoe shining, repair and leather care store Mason & Smith (just a minute’s walk away) wants to cater to a growing demand for luxury handbag restoration.
“The concept is to elevate the experience,” explains Chung, who has spent over a decade working with leather after training under renowned shoemakers in Hong Kong and Japan.
While there are many existing players in the market, none is providing a similar service, he claims.
Instead of customers dropping off their bags in malls without speaking to the artisans or receiving an explanation of the work that will be done, Margo & Smith wants clients to know that their prized possessions are very well taken care of. “After all, some of these bags cost six figures, and it’s quite likely they have two or three more,” Chung reasons.
Bag owners are encouraged to visit the atelier – a temperature-controlled environment – for at least the first consultation, so they can be personally attended to and familiarised with the entire process. Thereafter, they can opt for a complimentary pickup and delivery service for their bags.
“Once they’ve visited, they will have a foundational trust to begin a relationship with us, as we’ve been working with leather for some time,” says Chung, whose hands bear the many scars of his years of leather restoration work.
“And when clients speak to us, they can tell we know what we’re doing.”
Prices start from S$200 for basic cleaning, while recolouring costs upwards of S$400. A complete restoration of an old handbag could be anywhere between S$800 and S$1,200 depending on condition.
Subject to the work required, owners can expect to wait two to eight weeks. Other leather goods such as shoes, belts and wallets can also be serviced.
Separately, clients whose bags are worth at least S$20,000 also pay another S$200 for insurance.
Business has been brisk. Within a week of its opening in late October, 30 bags had come in, double the number that Chung had anticipated. These are mostly Hermes and Chanel bags costing between five and six figures. The most expensive bag he has dealt with so far is a crocodile Hermes Birkin worth about S$150,000.
Chung says the most difficult materials to maintain are patent leather, metallics and exotics. It is hard to replicate the exact same colour of metallics and chrome finishing, while patent leather colours fade quickly, with their hues and finish very challenging to restore.
“For exotics, the leather is delicate and sensitive; water stains may become very severe even if left on the surface for a short while,” he says. “It is also difficult and complex to replicate the scales of reptilian exotics.”
And the worst case he’s handled? A bag with a portion chewed off by the owner’s dog.
Says Chung of the challenging restoration work: “She came to us as nobody else wanted to work on it.”
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