we are open to be called living in the past, if we don't open our minds to new products, We accept patent leather but close our minds on other modern inventions. Whilst "Leather" has been around for years, it has its place in history but is not the only material we can use. If people are only interested in working leather so be it, but others for many reasons look to use modern methods of making similar but not the same material. In England we had Luddites in the industrial revolution who objected to mechanisation, Some on here seem to have closed minds on modern alternatives, no one is insisting you use alternatives, just that they are there if you feel the urge to experiment, guess people feel the same about linin thread and modern poly threads