Your knowledge on luggage repair can come handy when traveling and you discover one or two rip and tear in your bag. After traveling, you might also have to deal with a few torn edges in your bag. While high-end brands of luggage have their own maintenance and repair crew, you have to deal with your own luggage maintenance problems if you have low-cost travel bag.
Here are some repair tips you might find useful:
Tip 1: Common luggage fabric like vinyl can be fixed using cement specifically made for vinyl. You can purchase this from repair shops that fix clothes. It is cheaper than having an expert fix the bag. You just tear off a piece of cement and stick it to the damaged area. It is like patching a hole on your roof.
Tip 2: If the tear is large and cannot be easily repaired using the cement, you can use both vinyl patch and cement. Purchase vinyl patch and cut it off to the right size of the tear you are fixing. Affix it beneath the torn area. Seal the area with the vinyl cement.
Tip 3: If you have leather luggage and it has a large rip or tear, you can try the same method as tip 2. Purchase leather patch and cut it into the right size that can be affixed to the damaged area. Make sure it is the same color and texture of leather to have a consistent look. Attach it using fabric glue. You can purchase this from the fabric store.
Tip 4: If there are dents in your metal luggage or hard-sized metal suitcase, open the luggage and use a solid material like a block of wood to knock the dent on the inside. You can try wrapping the wood in cloth first to avoid scratching the metal surface.
Tip 5: Most broken handles cannot be fixed. You have to replace it. Purchase a replacement handle. Remove the old handle of the bag. You might have to loosen up screws or remove stitches. Once you have removed the old one, attach the new handle. Use the same bolt to attach the handle in place. If it needs to be covered by fabric, buy fabric similar to your luggage and sew it on the bag.
Tip 6: When fixing stuck zipper, try applying a bit of greasy product on the zipper first like soap to loosen it up. If clumps of fabric are stuck in the zipper, pry it off so you can open up stuck zipper. If it is crooked, you should have it replaced right away. If the bag is made of soft fabric, just remove the stitches of the zipper and purchase a replacement zipper with the same color and length. Stitch the new one to the luggage. For hard-cased luggage, you should have the zipper fixed by a professional.
