A short leather walk through Kolkata
From the tanneries east of the city to our counter on Free School Street, where Kolkata’s leather is made and sold.
What happens when you send us a bag for repair
From the first WhatsApp photo to the bag coming home: how a restitch or new strap is done in Topsia.
Every bag we make is repaired free for life: restitching, re-edging and new straps. We also take some bags made elsewhere. Either way, the process starts with photos.
Send three pictures on WhatsApp: the whole bag, the damage up close, and the inside label if there is one. Within a day we tell you whether we can fix it, what it will cost if it is not ours, and how long it will take. For bags from other makers, restitching starts at ₹400 and a new strap at ₹900. We decline bonded leather and most coated bags, because new stitches tear straight through them.
You can drop the bag at the store or send it by courier. At the workshop, Rafiq or one of his colleagues unpicks the broken seam back to sound stitching, cleans the old holes and restitches by hand with waxed linen in the closest colour we have. A strap is cut from the same weight of leather as the original, edged, burnished and stitched to the existing rings. Most jobs take five to seven working days.
Before the bag goes back, we clean it and give it a coat of balm, and we write on the job card what we did. If a repair shows that another part is close to failing, we tell you and ask before touching it. Nothing is added to the bill without your yes on WhatsApp.
