Common Leather Myths?

[tsunkasapa]

4 hours ago, nstarleather said:

 https://slidebelts.com/collections/belts

I love the "vegan leather" designation. Did the animal die of natural causes? And it is STILL an animal product. LMAO

[nstarleather]

6 hours ago, tsunkasapa said:

I love the "vegan leather" designation. Did the animal die of natural causes? And it is STILL an animal product. LMAO

Technically Vegans don't want it even it it's no harm to the animal, they aren't even supposed to eat honey. 

[Handstitched]

9 hours ago, tsunkasapa said:

I love the "vegan leather" designation. Did the animal die of natural causes?

It just means the cow is a vegan  , only  eats grass, hay  & grain   

HS

[fredk]

Here 'vegan leather' is PVC plastic, aka 'leathercloth'

[nstarleather]

9 hours ago, Handstitched said:

It just means the cow is a vegan  , only  eats grass, hay  & grain   

HS

Nice!  I got someone call angry once because my site said "veg-tan" and they had read it as vegan...this is what I should have told them.

 

[tsunkasapa]

12 hours ago, Handstitched said:

It just means the cow is a vegan  , only  eats grass, hay  & grain   

HS

If one thinks about it, meat is ACTUALLY processed vegetable matter. 

[fredk]

Mostly it might be but not always. My chickens, raised for eating, were omnivores and enjoyed eating slugs and snails in the vegetable patch. The hens did as well and we avoided eating their eggs for about 4 days after they'd had a feast. Fish eat other fish to grow

[tsunkasapa]

I don't consider either fowl or fish to be meat. Flesh perhaps, but not meat.

[Handstitched]

13 hours ago, nstarleather said:

this is what I should have told them.

They should have gone to 'specsavers' . 

10 hours ago, tsunkasapa said:

If one thinks about it, meat is ACTUALLY processed vegetable matter.

...and cooks nicely on a BBQ   

HS

[Klara]

What do you spend half an hour a week on? I haven't done anything to my dog training belt (except replacing fasteners which were badly installed), and nothing at all to my dog collar - both in daily use for over a year in all weathers... 

[Handstitched]

3 hours ago, Klara said:

I haven't done anything to my dog training belt

Yep, I have a belt , my very  first one, that I made almost 18 years ago.  Never touched it. I just put it on every day, still good to this day  With the exception of horse  saddles  & tack, I don't think I've ever spent 1/2 hr  on maintaining leather. 

HS

[fredk]

I too have never spent any time on any of my leather. Maybe I should. My first belts are looking a bit weary

The only time I did spend time, maybe an hour, on feeding a very old bag I picked up at a car-boot sale. It was a nice briefcase bag but was well dried out and worth giving it a good feeding and waxing. It came back to life very loverly looking. My no.1 dottir grabed it for her own

[Tugadude]

One reason for many misconceptions about leather goods is just the simple fact that most people have no clue as to leather differences, especially quality differences.  Just as "plastic" has multiple grades, from cheap to incredibly advanced, leather can be crap or luxurious and people still call it leather.  

The form of tanning also has a huge impact on whether leather is going to be durable and how much maintenance it might require.  But again, the general public doesn't know that.  

I see so many pairs of leather shoes, for example, that are holding up incredibly well with just some simple care.  Certainly nothing unusual.  But they started life as quality shoes with quality leather built by quality brands.  The uppers on a pair of quality shoes or boots can be resoled multiple times and keep on walking.  Cheap leather shoes will have long gone to the bin.

One of my guilty pleasures lately is watching YouTube channels where shoes and boots are rejuvenated.  The skills are amazing and the results generally extraordinary.  

But it all begins with quality leather.  And it is an uphill battle to explain that to many consumers.  

[chuck123wapati]

1 hour ago, Handstitched said:

Yep, I have a belt , my very  first one, that I made almost 18 years ago.  Never touched it. I just put it on every day, still good to this day  With the exception of horse  saddles  & tack, I don't think I've ever spent 1/2 hr  on maintaining leather. 

HS

i spend an hour or so waterproofing my boots every fall. My hunting boots are over 20 years old now and the leather is still holding up. the worst "myth" right now about leather is cow farts are destroying the world. 

[chuck123wapati]

9 minutes ago, Tugadude said:

One reason for many misconceptions about leather goods is just the simple fact that most people have no clue as to leather differences, especially quality differences.  Just as "plastic" has multiple grades, from cheap to incredibly advanced, leather can be crap or luxurious and people still call it leather.  

The form of tanning also has a huge impact on whether leather is going to be durable and how much maintenance it might require.  But again, the general public doesn't know that.  

I see so many pairs of leather shoes, for example, that are holding up incredibly well with just some simple care.  Certainly nothing unusual.  But they started life as quality shoes with quality leather built by quality brands.  The uppers on a pair of quality shoes or boots can be resoled multiple times and keep on walking.  Cheap leather shoes will have long gone to the bin.

One of my guilty pleasures lately is watching YouTube channels where shoes and boots are rejuvenated.  The skills are amazing and the results generally extraordinary.  

But it all begins with quality leather.  And it is an uphill battle to explain that to many consumers.  

i agree but i also think its more ignorance than misconception, folks don't know they can get shoes repaired because there is no one who repairs them anymore the shoe repair store in our town died way back in the 70s. We turned into a throw away culture about then too so even though leather will outlast the soles its a mute point no one fixes them they go in the dump. We are simply taught now days to throw and buy as a culture that's what we do. At least in the US! 

 Now my dad took care of his shoes, cleaned and polished them, wore over boots in the winter but as a child he got one pair a year for school, then ww2 and the army gave him his first real shoes he could wear anytime he wanted and lessons on how to take care of them. He never owned more than a couple pairs at one time in his life. His pride and joy were a pair of boots my brother had made for him in the Azores in the 70s.

[fredk]

When I think about it;  most people I know just think 'leather = leather' and never consider how to look after it or that it even needs looking after. Only recently, maybe over the last 18 months, since more people have got to know I do leather work, that some people have come to me for advice on how to rejuvenate a leather car seat, an old leather belt, an old leather purse/handbag, even an old WW2 British gasmask

On shoes; even the top makes make rubbish. Just last week a chap came to me and asked if I could repair one of his shoes. He wears specially made ones. Made by the top maker in such shoes. The soles were glued on and one was coming off after only about 6 months wear. There was no possibilty of re-glueing nor even of sewing the sole back on, afair these shoes cost him about £600 a pair (no gurantees on such shoes due to the nature of the wearer)

 

[Tugadude]

It is a shame to hear about the glued-on soles.  At that price I'd think any argument about competition would ring hollow.  It used to be certain "names" in the industry could be counted upon but I guess that has gone the way as so much has gone recently.  Downhill. 

 

[Handstitched]

12 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

the worst "myth" right now about leather is cow farts are destroying the world. 

Its actually  me and my damn curries , sorry 'bout that. Its been over 25 years since I last jumped in my Landrover and disappeared somewhere in the bush . I admire what you do 

 

12 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

folks don't know they can get shoes repaired because there is no one who repairs them anymore the shoe repair store in our town died

There used to be a shoe repair kiosk at a shopping centre where we regularly go  in Perth . I'll stand there and admire his machinery ,  but just last month, he was gone. Don't know why...he just left and the kiosk has been removed.  Now theres no-one to do repairs.  Shoe & boot repairers are a dying breed here.  Sad. 

HS

[Simplejack1985]

I spend an hour shinning my jump boots once a year or so.

My wildland 2004 whites smoke jumper boots get cleaned with saddle soap and some huberds shoe grease every spring.

Every fall my 1987 mountain ski boots get the same treatment. Alaska is not a one season type of boot. 

I'll oil my gun belt about every other year if I remember.

[Klara]

18 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

the worst "myth" right now about leather is cow farts are destroying the world. 

OT: The good thing about this claim is that anybody who utters it has just disclosed their complete ignorance: Cows don't fart, they belch. Meaning, "BS" is an incomplete but true answer...

It's a pity we seem to have frightened off @LeatherModiste, I'd really like to knoe what they do to which leather goods...

 

[chuck123wapati]

6 hours ago, Klara said:

OT: The good thing about this claim is that anybody who utters it has just disclosed their complete ignorance: Cows don't fart, they belch. Meaning, "BS" is an incomplete but true answer...

It's a pity we seem to have frightened off @LeatherModiste, I'd really like to knoe what they do to which leather goods...

 

When they quietly changed  the story from global warming to climate change most folks should have caught on. Willful ignorance is the true pandemic.

[chuck123wapati]

11 hours ago, Handstitched said:

Its actually  me and my damn curries , sorry 'bout that. Its been over 25 years since I last jumped in my Landrover and disappeared somewhere in the bush . I admire what you do 

 

There used to be a shoe repair kiosk at a shopping centre where we regularly go  in Perth . I'll stand there and admire his machinery ,  but just last month, he was gone. Don't know why...he just left and the kiosk has been removed.  Now theres no-one to do repairs.  Shoe & boot repairers are a dying breed here.  Sad. 

HS

And I'm going again as soon as i can lol...friggin snow is getting old. land rover is one of the best trucks ever made.. at least the old ones were.

[Tugadude]

Here's an example of one of the channels I watch occasionally.