Uber Doofer’s Guide to Leather Goods

So….. Leather, is leather, is leather right? That is the general market perception…..

Well, in the same way that every car on the British roads is a Rolls Royce, yes!

Critical Knowledge and understanding of the product in minute detail….. this is absolutely essential and if you don’t have that ability yourself, it is important to be able to trust someone who can see to it for you!

Hides & skins are processed and their properties are influenced by the chemical and physical stages of the manufacturing process – giving each leather product a specific set of characteristics that make it more or less suitable for a given purpose.

Would you put “chammy” leather on the sole of a shoe – NO, that would be stupid, because it would wear out in minutes!  Extreme though it might be, we see examples of the sheer lack of understanding of leather in all sorts of products.

With a background in technical leather production of over 40 years we’ve learned a thing or two. As we specify the characteristics of the strap leathers we buy, we also meet the general characteristics of leather hides and skins as well:

Coming from a natural resource – the animal, each hide or skin has areas of different structure and density along its length and across its width. So, even when we find leather with an appropriate level of “performance characteristics” we have to be aware that certain specific areas of the hide should be avoided when cutting load-bearing strap components.  Even when the leather itself is processed in a suitable way, we have to very carefully select that parts that we use, otherwise we finish up with a strap that is not “premium grade” and will not have the life-expectancy in service that we know your instruments deserve.