I am sure you could use the suede...just use the precautions mentioned in the previous posts. Regarding washing...did you use the kind of marker where you could just sprinkly/spray some water on the bag to remove the markings? While I am sure you could wash...I would just hate to wash it before I even used it. Sometimes washing takes away some of the 'crispness'. I always just spritz my markings with water and they simply disappear.