A phone case is handled more than anything else you own. It goes in and out of a pocket forty times a day, meets keys, coins, hand cream and car dashboards, and is put down on every surface you pass.
Materials behave differently under that. This page says what each of ours is, how it ages, and the one or two things that will ruin it — which is usually not what people expect.
Coated canvas
A woven cotton base under a printed, sealed polymer coating. It is what the monogram pieces are made of, and it is the most forgiving material we use: the coating is what you touch, so oil from skin sits on the surface instead of soaking in.
How it ages. Very little. The corners burnish slightly where the case is pulled out of a pocket. The print does not fade in ordinary use, though months of a car dashboard in direct summer sun will dull any printed surface.
Cleaning. A damp cloth, wrung out, then dry. For a mark that will not lift, one drop of mild soap in warm water on the cloth — not on the case. Wipe, then go over it with a clean damp cloth so no soap dries on the coating.
Never. Alcohol wipes, acetone, magic-eraser sponges. All three take the print off.
Calfskin, full-grain and pebbled
Real leather, undyed on the flesh side, on the cardholders and the leather-backed cases. Full-grain keeps the surface the hide grew with; pebbled is pressed to a fine grain that hides scuffs.
How it ages. This is the material that changes, and the change is the point. Leather takes oil from your hands and darkens where it is held most — the corners and the card slot first. In six months a black piece reads slightly deeper and a tan one noticeably warmer. That is patina, not wear, and it is not a defect.
Cleaning. Dry cloth for dust. For a mark, a barely damp cloth and patience — leather does not like being soaked. Let it dry away from a radiator; forced heat is what makes leather stiff and then cracks it.
Conditioning. Once or twice a year at most, a neutral leather balm on a cloth, a thin coat, buffed off. More often than that and you soften the temper the piece was cut with.
Never. Saddle soap, alcohol, or anything sold for cleaning trainers. Water spots lift as the piece dries; a solvent ring does not.
Anodised aluminium
Machined and anodised — the colour is grown into the surface of the metal by an electrochemical process, not painted onto it, which is why it does not chip the way a coated finish does. It is what the trunk-ribbed pieces are built from.
How it ages. The ribs pick up fine scratches that read as brushing rather than damage. The anodised layer is hard; the marks that show are usually transfer from something softer — a coin, a table edge — sitting on top of the finish rather than in it.
Cleaning. A damp cloth along the ribs, not across them, so nothing collects in the channels. A dry toothbrush lifts pocket lint out of the grooves better than any cloth.
Never. Abrasive powders or scouring pads. Anodising is thin, and once through it you are looking at bare aluminium, which oxidises to a dull grey and stays there.
The polymer core
Under the visible material on every case is a shock-absorbing polymer shell with a raised lip above the screen and above the lenses. It is what makes the drop rating real: dropped face-down on a flat surface, the lip lands and the glass does not.
Our cases are drop tested to 6.6 feet. That is a laboratory figure onto a hard flat surface, and like every drop rating it assumes the case lands on the case. A corner impact onto gravel is a different event, and no case makes glass unbreakable.
When to replace it. Polymer absorbs energy by deforming, and it does not fully recover from a serious impact. If a case has taken a hard fall and the corner looks flattened or feels loose on the phone, its next fall will not protect as well as its first did.
MagSafe magnets
The magnets in a MagSafe ring are permanent and do not weaken in normal use. They will not harm your phone, your cards' chips, or a modern hotel key.
Two things genuinely do not mix with them. Magnetic stripe cards — old hotel keys, some transit and gift cards — can be wiped by sustained contact; a chip card is unaffected. And analogue mechanical watches should not be left resting against a MagSafe ring.
If a cardholder starts holding less firmly, the usual cause is a layer of dust on the mating surface. A wipe on both faces restores it.
Two habits that ruin more cases than drops
- Hand sanitiser. Applied and then straight onto the phone, alcohol sits in the seam between case and glass. It will haze a coating and dry out leather. Let hands dry first.
- The car dashboard in summer. A closed car in the sun reaches temperatures that soften adhesive, warp polymer and bleach any printed surface. It is also, separately, bad for the phone's battery.
Something arrived wrong
A manufacturing fault is not wear, and we do not treat it as one. Email [email protected] with a photograph and we will sort it out. The Refund Policy covers returns within 30 days, and the fit guide is there if the case is right but the phone is wrong.