Materials + Care

Bag Care

While waxed canvas is a fabulous material, it is not machine washable or dry cleanable. For this reason, we recommend spot treating any stains. Our favorite trick is to. use a little dish soap and a clean toothbrush— the tiny bristles really get in between all the fabric fibers to lift out stains. We also swear by Resolve Carpet Cleaner to get out larger spots. If you want to be proactive, Scotch Guard your bag for added stain resistance.

Though we strive to make our bags indestructible, sometimes they have a hard life. We offer free lifetime repairs for repairable items.

Waxed Canvas

Waxed canvas is simply a woven cotton canvas with a thin wax coating on both sides. This coating makes the fabric weather resistant and develops a great patina over time. Waxed canvas was originally created for outdoor and military use, so you know it's made to last. You can rewax your canvas over time, but we prefer to let ours wear in naturally. 

Hand-Printed Canvas

In addition to sewing each Rachel Elise bag, we also design and screenprint many of our fabrics. All our hand-printed canvases start with a basic drawing. Rachel then paints that drawing onto a mesh screen. When we push ink over that screen, ta da! A print! It's magic!

Cotton Webbing Straps

In 2018, we began transitioning to super durable woven cotton straps for all our bags. This not only gives a great look to our products, it also makes them completely vegan (free of any leather or other animal products). This material is custom made specifically for Rachel Elise bags and allows us to offer more comfort and durability with our products.

Hand-Stitched Kantha Cotton

Our Kantha fabric is two layers of vintage sari cotton, hand-stitched by the artisans of the Basha community. Basha works with financially at-risk women in Bangladesh to give them and their families financial stability through their craft.