Straw Bag Care: What to Tell Your Retail Customer

This post is for retailers, and you are welcome to adapt it. Rewrite it in your own
voice, put it on a care card in the bag, or use it to train staff. Customers who know how
to look after a natural-fibre bag keep it for years and come back for another one.
Customers who do not, return it.

What the customer is actually buying

Doum palm and raffia are dried plant fibres. They are strong, light and flexible, and
they behave like a natural material — they respond to moisture and to how they are stored.
Straw is not leather and it is not canvas.

Two things follow from that, and both are worth saying to a customer at the point of
sale rather than at the point of complaint. First, small variations between bags are
inherent, not defects. Second, a straw bag will last for many years with basic care and
can be ruined in an afternoon without it.

Everyday cleaning

Dust: a dry soft brush, or a vacuum on lowest suction with a brush
attachment. Work in the direction of the weave.

Marks: a barely damp cloth with a drop of mild soap. Blot, do not rub —
rubbing pushes dirt into the fibre and can fray it. Then let it air dry away from direct
heat.

Never: submerge it, machine wash it, use bleach or solvent, or put it
near a radiator or hairdryer to speed drying. Soaking swells the fibre and it dries
distorted. Direct heat makes it brittle.

Leather trim: treat separately with a leather conditioner, keeping it
off the straw.

Rain

A straw bag can handle a light shower. It cannot handle being soaked.

If it gets wet: empty it, blot the outside with a dry towel, stuff it with dry paper or
a towel to hold its shape, and let it dry at room temperature away from heat and sun.
Drying it fast is what causes lasting damage, not the water itself.

Storage — where most damage happens

Straw bags are almost always damaged in storage rather than in use. The rules are
simple:

• Stuff it. Tissue paper, a small cushion, or a folded scarf. An empty
  straw bag collapses and creases along the fold.
• Do not hang it by the handles for months. The handles stretch and the
  mouth of the bag distorts.
• Do not stack heavy things on it. It is the fastest way to flatten a
  shape permanently.
• Somewhere dry and ventilated. Not a sealed plastic box, where trapped
  humidity can cause mildew. A cotton dust bag is ideal.
• Out of direct sunlight. Natural straw pales over time in the sun, and
  dyed fibre fades.

Reshaping a bag that has lost its form

Usually recoverable. Fill it firmly with tissue paper to slightly more than its normal
volume, leave it a few days in a dry room, and it will settle back. For stubborn creases,
a light mist of water on the affected area followed by stuffing and slow drying will
relax the fibre — mist, do not wet.

Loose ends and small repairs

A stray fibre end is normal in handwoven goods and is not a fault. Trim it flush with
small sharp scissors. Do not pull it — pulling can unseat the weave.

A loose stitch on a handle attachment should be repaired promptly, before load makes it
worse. Any leather worker or shoe repairer can do it in minutes.

Setting expectations at the point of sale

This is the part that protects your margin. Three sentences, said once, prevent most
returns:

• “It is handwoven, so no two are identical — the small variations are the point.”
• “It will soften and deepen in colour a little over the first season. That is normal.”
• “Keep it stuffed when you are not using it and it will hold its shape for years.”

Retailers who say this at the till report noticeably fewer returns for “variation”
than those who do not. The bag has not changed; the expectation has.

Care card copy you can use

Caring for your handwoven bag

Your bag is woven by hand from natural palm fibre. Small variations in colour and weave
are part of how it is made.

Brush gently to clean. For marks, blot with a barely damp cloth and mild soap, then air
dry away from heat. Do not soak or machine wash.

If it gets wet, stuff it with dry paper and let it dry slowly at room temperature.

Store it stuffed, upright, somewhere dry and out of direct sunlight. Avoid hanging it by
the handles for long periods.

Looked after this way, it will last for many years.

We can print care cards to your artwork and insert them at packing, so every bag reaches
your customer with the right instructions already inside. Ask about it through the
contact page, or see the
wholesale catalogue for the current range.