Part 1: How to Choose a Leather Accessory?

LEATHER, A PASSION

The leather is an old passion for me. I remember long nights spent cleaning, cleaning and greasing my boots and riding gear when I was not ten years old.

After briefly passing by ready-to-wear, I returned to my first love by deciding to create a year and a half ago my brand of handcrafted and tailor-made leather goods, G. Lancelot.

Handicrafts and tailor-made, two words that barely challenge today as long as one is interested in masculine elegance. "Hand-made" here, "bespoke suit" by that, there are more products proudly wearing these qualifiers, as the only pledge of their quality.

Still, need to know what makes a good leather goods product. In talking to my customers, I noticed that more than in any other sector of the men's wardrobe, in leather goods it was very easy to be carried away by a well-thought communication and two / three somewhat obscure technical terms.

If I try modestly, my scale, every day with my customers, to make life a real craftsmanship, Bullcaptain Leather Wallet gives me the opportunity here to open a door on a profession and really luxurious products.

But whether it is ready-to-wear or to a great extent, a leather product, if it wants to age well, must meet certain specific criteria.

Before going further, let's first see what a good leather is and how to identify it, and what the different names mean (full flower, corrected flower, split or leather crust ...)

What is good leather?

The leather is a skin, and as such is composed of several thicknesses: the epidermis, the dermis, and the subcutaneous tissues. Only the dermis will be preserved after tanning.

Its upper part, called hyaline layer is the "flower" of the leather. It gives it durability, robustness, impermeability, and also an undeniable aesthetic superiority.

Once tanned, the skin can be several millimeters thick; it is split - like a ham! That is, the leather is split in the width to reduce its thickness.

Result: Only one slice preserves the flower (the noble part), the others will be the crust of leather. Can not legally be called leather, this crust of leather needs serious arguments to be sold in the trade !!

It is then reprinted with the help of chemicals (often polyurethane) an artificial flower, and it affable a vendor name: "real leather crust"! The real qualifier is only there to deceive the customer.

A word of advice, therefore, flee products bearing this mention! (and then who would like to buy a product called "crust" !!)

In contrast to this material is full grain leather. The hyaline layer is kept intact, which can reveal the bites, scratches or scars of the beast, but keeps the soul of the skin, all to find skins with a minimum of a defect.

The younger the animal, the fewer defects the skin will have, which is why calves and bulls are superior to cowhides (a name that includes cow, cow and bull leather). You can imagine, as everyone wants, they are expensive and used mainly for high-end products.

For more leather accessories, please check this page.