These are made from natural cotton canvas and traditionally tanned leather and require maintenance to ensure long life. Machine washing will ruin the leather. For longest life, clean with only water and a soft brush or rag or a cleaner approved for leather. Air dry only. The canvas is treated initially for water repellency but is not waxed canvas. The leather is left in its original untreated condition. For use in rain, the leather must be treated with a water repellent conditioner such as Sno-Seal® or Proofide®. For the canvas you can use the pump-spray version of Nikwax, but avoid using Nikwax on the leather as it will react with the nickel plating on the steel hardware.  We don’t recommend treating the leather with liquid mink oil or other oils, especially on the straps. They have a tendency to make the leather stretchy.  

Here is the best method for treating the leather – it also darkens the leather to a nice chestnut color:

1. Buy a paste-consistency water repellent made from natural fats/waxes –Brooks Proofide, Sno-Seal, Smiling Mink, and Scout mink oil work interchangeably well. Do not use any liquids (including liquid versions of mink oil or neatsfoot oil) or petroleum compounds.
2. Disassemble the bag by taking off loose straps, etc.
3. Warm the components: Either in a warmed (then EXTINGUISHED) oven or with a hair-dryer. The material should be warm but not hot. The hair dryer is much easier to work with and a low heat setting is plenty warm.
4. Apply the treatment to the warm leather – both sides of exposed straps, edges, around buckles, etc. Applying the treatment to warm leather will permanently darken it. If you want to maintain the lighter color, apply to room temperature leather.  Get a little on the canvas?  Just heat the area with a hair dryer and it will disappear into the canvas.
5. Let cool, then buff off the excess – you will have much less to buff off if you used the warm application.
6. If you ride in the wet a lot, or want to further darken the leather, repeat steps 3-5. Most people will only need a single treatment initially. Over time you’ll need to repeat the application as it wears out.
7. Re-assemble and relish your newfound knowledge of leather treatments.

   For the full story behind this, check our blog posting:  http://www.minnehahabags.com/2009/02/water-repellency-and-conditioning-treatments-for-leather/