nstarleather

I don't need a stamp but I can hook you up with a guy who will sell you a gaylord (pallet sized box) for $250 to $300...mostly small pieces but enough for what you're doing. Let me know and I can put you in contact.

It's very niche and unfortunately that means you may have a tough time. I'd recommend you give Dan at Randall Campbell a call. They can tell you what it's worth and possibly sell it if you want to go that route.

Yeah that makes sense...I could also see "professional use" being an exception with knives (not sure if he's doing kitchen knives) but a chef who uses the same knife all day, everyday will eventually wear it to a nub...or if the back is thick it becomes less of a knife and more of a hatchet.

Yeah my reckoning is that those that start the guarantee hope to sell the company or retire long before "the music stops"...even a small percentage of sales over 100 years is nuts unless it's a low-wear/use item.

Yeah we pay shipping if it happens in the first year after that customer pays. We guarantee “zippers, seams and hardware” but not damage or wear and tear. Occasionally I replace a zipper pull but that’s about it.

Yeah those are some that see the most wear and like everything use changes the lifespan a lot...if you carry a bag every day to an office vs if you carry it only occasionally makes the difference between "I've carried this bag 20 years vs "after 5 years it's looking kinda rough."

I’d say that’s a pretty decent breakdown of what to expect.

Yeah I have a repair guarantee, we’ll fix anything and cover shipping both ways for a year. After that customer covers shipping. It’s not in writing but if someone complains about something wearing out and it’s a relatively short time, we make it right.

And for the record, I've never heard of the company in question giving folks a hard time with their guarantee but with what's written the 100 years seems pretty disingenuous.

Yes and like everything use matters...a pair of boots used in construction will last no where near as long as the same pair gets used in the office. Military gear used in active service vs surplus, I'd guess that reenactors are using surplus from those periods as much as possible not used gear from the war (at least for the most part) and while reenacting hard use, it's generally not a 24/7 kinda thing. You can milk a lot of life out of goods you're using on the weekends a few times a year.

You're totally right on all of these points...the brand in the post I'm referring to says "started in 1949" but a quick internet check shows their site started in 2015. 8 years is respectable but not 1949...are they the same owners? Same type of business (actually they admit they aren't). The other big company I have a problem with offers a 100 year warranty but if you read it, it covers "defects in workmanship and materials"...if it has a defect you'll notice long before 100 years and most issues after 5-10 will be wear and tear. Customers are lazy and it's true most won't take advantage of a warranty but if you have a span of 100 years...the numbers will add up. Yeah not allowing ones that are likely to false is a good law. I do agree that leather goods that are made of nice leather will last, especially with proper care but nobody is wearing a belt from 1923 or even 1950...

So in this post, I commented that "100 Year" guarantees that cover wear and tear aren't sustainable for any company. Basically if you have to replace even a small percentage of the items you sell, you will lose money. Just the economics and math of it all: If you charge 2x your costs and replace for free only 50% of people have to take you up on the guarantee to loose money, especially since your costs will go up as years pass by. I've been doing this as my full time for the better part of 2 decades and while I love the durability of leather, I don't think a belt or wallet will survive much more than 15-20 years of daily use (less if we're talking "hard use"). Now if you rotate items and use several, sure...you could stretch the lifetime out much longer. I've got belts I made in high school, but as a leatherworker I have tons of belts. Anyway what are everyone's thoughts especially y'all who have been doing this forever? What do you think of companies that offer this sort of guarantee?

They are the gold standard, you can occasionally find some cheaper on Ebay from hunters but Amtan is probably the best if you want consistency.

It really depends on how broad you want to define types. The larges number would be tannages x colors in which you can buy each color. Horween's tannage list has 53 but I know of at least a dozen that aren't in the list. My CXL Swatchbook has 18 colors but they also do custom colors and tannages so conservatively 18 x 60 is over 1000, plus that's not counting the equine leathers. Of course there are tanneries who do more tannages SB Foot does more... So multiply that times all the tanneries in the world and you're looking at over one million. One the low end you can say there are just top grain and suede but even then you multiply by all the different animals you get leather from (though of course you don't get suede from every type). Or you can say veg and chrome...but there are other less common methods. So our answer is 2 to 1,000,000+ types.

Just to show everyone what's possible here. I did this tote from one of the leathers for an employee here and was really happy with the way the finished side looked.