Step away from the hairdryer

What to do when your bag gets wet in the rain: first aid for any bag, then leather, suede, canvas, nylon and jelly.

By jelli.world, the bag brand. Our styling advice, with sources linked in the text and jelli.world products offered for sale.

On Friday 18 February 2022 the Met Office issued a red weather warning for London as Storm Eunice came in. Three days later, Stylist's London Fashion Week street-style report was describing the "dramatic wind and rain that has battered the capital", and the pictures were full of black puffers, bright coats and tailored dresses worn by people who had decided the weather would not have the last word. It's a useful image to hold on to. Fashion people don't stay in when it rains. They have a plan for afterwards.

So here is the plan. What to do when your bag gets wet in the rain, whatever it's made of: empty it, blot the surface with a dry towel without rubbing, stuff it loosely with plain paper towel or white tissue so it holds its shape, and let it dry slowly at room temperature, away from radiators, hairdryers and direct sun. After that, the right care depends on the material. The first ten minutes matter most, and the urge to hurry things along with heat does more damage than the rain ever did.

What to do when your bag gets wet in the rain: first aid

Get the bag under cover and empty it completely, starting with the things that suffer fastest: phone, wallet, paper. Wipe the phone and leave it somewhere with air moving around it. Open every zip, pocket and flap, because trapped damp is where musty smells begin.

Then blot the outside. Press a dry towel or microfibre cloth against it and lift; rubbing pushes water deeper into absorbent materials and spreads marks. Stuff it lightly with paper towel or plain white tissue rather than newspaper, whose ink can transfer onto pale leather, and swap the stuffing once it's damp. Finally, let it dry slowly. Hang it by the handles or stand it upright with air around it. Never bury it in a cupboard, and never lean it against a radiator.

Material by material

Drying times vary with the size of the bag, how soaked it got and how warm the room is. When in doubt, give it longer. The commonest mistake is putting a bag away because it feels dry on the surface.

Leather

Smooth leather often darkens when wet and lightens again as it dries, so don't panic at the first sight of it. Heat strips the natural oils, which leads to stiffness and eventually cracks, so let it dry at its own pace. Once it is completely dry, a conditioner suited to that leather brings back the suppleness. If rings remain on a pale or precious bag, take it to a specialist rather than experimenting with home remedies.

Suede and nubuck

Suede is the material most likely to sulk. Blot it, never rub it, and let it dry right through. Then lift the nap with a suede brush, working in one direction; a suede eraser helps with stubborn water marks. For anything sentimental, a cobbler or leather specialist is the sensible route.

Canvas

Canvas soaks straight through, so check whether what was inside got wet too. Hang it open to dry. If tide marks appear as it dries, a light, even damp wipe across the whole panel can blend them; check the care label before washing.

Nylon

Forgiving. Shake it, wipe it, unzip it and let the air do the rest. Just don't fold it away damp.

Straw and raffia

These really don't like water. Blot with the lightest touch, reshape by hand while still damp, and leave it stuffed or flat until completely dry. Keep it for dry days in future.

Jelly

The easy one. A jelly bag is wipe-clean and shrugs off rain, so the outside needs nothing more than a dry cloth. If rain came in through an open top, tip it out and leave the bag open for a few minutes. Nothing soaks in, so there's no tide mark to worry about. Keep it away from radiators, as you would any bag.

If you're still out

Napkins and tissues will blot the outside and soak up drips inside. A plastic carrier over a leather or suede bag on the walk home stops things getting worse. Move your phone and cards into an inside coat pocket. And keep the hand dryer for nylon or jelly only.

Next time

Treat leather and suede with a protector suited to the material, and reapply as directed. Use inner pouches in any open-top bag. Put the umbrella in a sleeve, because a dripping umbrella inside a bag does more damage than most showers. And consider a dedicated rainy-day bag, so that on bad mornings you aren't protecting a bag as well as yourself. That is the case for a jelly tote or shoulder bag from jelli.world: wipe-clean, untroubled by rain and bright enough to cheer up a wet commute, which leaves the leather for sunny days.

UK drizzle, US downpours

British drizzle tends to make bags slowly, thoroughly damp, and the danger is packing them away before they're dry inside. US rain is more often a short, heavy downpour that soaks a bag in minutes. The fix is the same on both sides of the Atlantic: empty, blot, stuff, wait.

Dry again

Empty, blot, stuff, wait. Or carry a bag that never needs rescuing: the colourful jelly bags at jelli.world are happy in the wet.

Common questions

Is my leather bag ruined if it gets soaked?

Usually not. Blot it, stuff it and let it dry slowly at room temperature, then condition it. Most leather recovers well as long as you keep it away from heat.

Can I use a hairdryer to dry a wet bag?

Not on leather, suede or straw, where heat can cause cracking, stiffening and warping. Air-drying is slower and kinder.

How do I get rid of a musty smell afterwards?

Make sure the bag is completely dry, then leave it open in a well-ventilated room. An open sachet of bicarbonate of soda inside for a day helps absorb what's left.

Last reviewed: 15 October 2026