Product Care

Everything we sell is built to survive a school year without ceremony. But the difference between a bag that lasts one year and the same bag lasting three is almost entirely down to two habits: emptying it properly, and drying it properly. Everything else on this page is detail.

The weekly ten minutes

• Empty it completely, every Friday. Turn out every pocket. Old fruit, leaking pens and forgotten water bottles do more damage to a lining than a year of normal use.
• Shake it out upside down. Grit in the bottom of a bag works its way into the zip coil, which is where most zips actually fail.
• Leave it open to dry. A bag put away damp with the zips closed will smell by Monday and will grow mould in a term.

Cleaning by range

Backpacks

Sponge the outer fabric with warm water and a small amount of non-biological liquid detergent, working in the direction of the weave. Rinse with a clean damp cloth — detergent left in the fabric attracts dirt. Never use bleach, solvent, white spirit or a stiff wire brush; all four strip the water-repellent finish.

The LitePak line (XS, Small, Medium, Large) is machine washable at 30°C on a gentle cycle. Empty every pocket, close all zips, remove any hip belt and wash the bag inside a pillowcase or laundry bag. Do not tumble dry, do not iron, do not dry clean. Every other backpack in the range should be cleaned by hand as above — the moulded panels and frames do not survive a drum.

Bookbags & satchels

Wipe the outer with a damp cloth and dry immediately. The Premier Folio has a wipeable moulded base that can take a little more water. Structured satchels should never be soaked: water gets between the outer and the stiffener and will leave a mark as it dries. Treat scuffs on the base studs with a nylon brush, dry.

Sports bags

These are the bags that need most attention and get least. Turn the coated lining inside out where the model allows, rinse it under a tap, wipe it and let it dry completely before it is put away. Wet compartments — the Apollo's in particular — should be rinsed after every muddy use and hung open to dry through the drainage grommets.

For persistent odour, wipe the lining with a solution of one part white vinegar to four parts water, leave for ten minutes, rinse and dry open. Do not use fabric conditioner inside a coated bag; it leaves a film that traps smell rather than removing it.

Accessories

The Shoe Bag and Havasak can be turned inside out and rinsed, and both are seam-sealed so this does no harm. Dry them fully inside out. The Boot / Gadget Bag insert lifts out and should be wiped separately.

Drying — the part people get wrong

• Open every compartment and hang the bag upside down.
• Dry it at room temperature with air moving around it.
• Never put a bag on a radiator, in an airing cupboard against a hot pipe, in front of a fan heater or in a tumble dryer. Heat shrinks coated fabrics, hardens foam and delaminates waterproof membranes — most "the lining has gone crispy" warranty claims start on a radiator.
• Allow 24 hours before it goes back into use. A bag that feels dry on the outside is often still wet inside the back padding.

Zips

The bags in the range use coil zips with metal sliders, which can be repaired; moulded plastic zips usually cannot. If a zip becomes stiff:

• Brush the coil clean with an old toothbrush, working both ways along the teeth.
• Rub a candle, a graphite pencil or a dedicated zip lubricant along the closed coil. Do not use oil — it attracts grit and makes things worse in a fortnight.
• If the slider no longer closes the teeth behind it, the slider has worn open. It can be replaced without replacing the zip; email us and we will tell you how.

Re-proofing the water-repellent finish

The outer fabrics carry a durable water-repellent finish. It is a finish, not a membrane, and it wears off with abrasion and detergent. When water stops beading on the surface and starts soaking in, re-proof it: clean the bag first, let it dry, then apply a spray-on fluorocarbon-free proofer for technical fabrics, evenly, at about 20 cm. Leave it 24 hours. One treatment a year is usually enough for a school bag.

Small repairs worth doing

Problem	What to do
Loose thread at a seam	Do not pull it. Snip it flush and, if the seam has opened more than a centimetre, contact us — a small stitch now prevents a warranty claim later.
Fraying webbing end	Trim square and seal the cut end briefly with a lighter flame held away from the bag, or bind it with a stitch.
Scuffed base	Cosmetic on most models. On the Kinderpak the base panel is replaceable under warranty.
Broken buckle	Buckles are a stocked spare part. Tell us the model and we will send a replacement.
Flattened back padding	Usually a sign of persistent overloading. Re-read our back care guide — and get in touch, because premature foam collapse can be a material fault.

Care symbols we use

Instruction	Applies to
Machine wash 30°C, gentle	LitePak XS, Small, Medium and Large only
Hand clean only	All other backpacks, all satchels, all sports bags
Do not bleach	Every model
Do not tumble dry	Every model
Do not iron	Every model
Do not dry clean	Every model
Dry away from direct heat	Every model