Solution to mouldy leather bags and stuffs

 For Home Use

 I received quite a few emails recently asking for advices on how best to design their walk-in-wardrobe for storing their luxury bags and accessories. 

However, my advice to them is to save the wardrobe space for their clothes and invest in a dry cabinet instead. My answer might have surprised a few - since most people usually associate dry cabinet with camera equipment.

Singapore climate is soooo ridiculously humid; and wardrobes always suffer from mould attacks during freaky yo-yo hot-cold-hot-cold weather. And come-on! Dehumidifiers in the wardrobe doesn't work unless you are using an insanely huge tub - placed in every darn corner of the wardrobe! And they require replacement every few months and even more frequent replacements in such rainy year-end season - like now.

Mould can't thrive in a dry environment with constant dry and cool temperature. Hence, the electronic dry cabinet is the best solution to keep the nasty mould away. 

Here is my mid sized cabinet for our leather bags, wallets, belts and accessories. I used the AD-160 model from Digi-Cabi. Some might wonder why Digi-Cabi - I chose this over Aipo since its build is of a better quality. In addition, Mr Diva and my brother has been using this brand for ages for their camera equipment and hence it is pretty reliable. The exact specifications as follows:

Dimension

W45×D38×H120 cm

Effective capacity
160L

Power consumption
8W

Comes with 1 digital hygrometer with a slide open door with 5 fully adjustable

roller metal trays

The above might be too technical...so I will try to explain with more layman terms. This model is the analogue mode - means that you turn the knob to adjust the humidity level. For people who want to be pretty precise, you should get the digital mode - DHC-160.

I decided to get the AD series since it is much cheaper and I don't really need such precise control over the humidity level. The dry cabinet sits in my study room.

There is a "handle" for me to pull out the tray easily. If  I am not wrong, the trays for DHC series don't come with this.

The trays can be fully extended and allows me to take the stuffs out easily...

There is a thick rubber gasket which runs around the parameters of the door. In fact, I had to pull hard to open the door - the suction between the mating surfaces is pretty strong.  

It comes with a digital display of the Relative Humidity (RH) and Temperature. The recommended RH for leather items is 30 to 50.

The top tray comes with a thick removable wave sponge specially designed for camera lenses. In this case, I was too lazy to take out the sponge..

The rest of the trays are lined with a removable thick grey latex.

The trays are adjustable with the tray holders evenly spaced out for you to configure the height between the trays.

Digi Cabi can be easily found at the local electronic stores such as Harvey Norman Singapore. It comes with a 5 year warranty and AD-160 retails at around $490 inc GST. :)

Dry Cabinet Tips

Use a dust bag if you are storing more than one bag for each tray.

Place frequently used items on the top few trays.

Place the dry cabinet away from the window or other heat generating sources.

Setting the RH too low will cause the item stored inside the cabinet to dry up and crack.

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