Maverick Leather Company

[Elliot]

Just received my order from Maverick Leather .

The leather was just as described, reasonable priced, and fast shipping.

Will be ordering again.

Edited January 27, 2012 by Elliot

[King's X]

What did you buy? Just asking....

[bruce johnson]

I have bought tooling leather in weights, skirting, latigo, chap, oiltan, bison, a horsefront, and apron splits off the top of my head from Maverick. They carry Horween, Thoroughbred, Wickett and Craig. They are a couple hour drive away, and I have made a few trips over or stopped by when we have been in the area. Most of the time I phone order and am close enough for next day delivery. You talk to live people on the phone. What they tell me is what I get.

[King's X]

Thanks Mr. Bruce.....I have a project coming up in March and I saw some nice dyed leather that had listed on their internet site. Just wondering!

[Maverick Leather Company]

Thank You for the shout-out, Elliot! We are looking forward to doing more business with you!

Just received my order from Maverick Leather .

The leather was just as described, reasonable priced, and fast shipping.

Will be ordering again.

Thanks for the kind words, Bruce--we enjoy doing business with you as well!

I have bought tooling leather in weights, skirting, latigo, chap, oiltan, bison, a horsefront, and apron splits off the top of my head from Maverick. They carry Horween, Thoroughbred, Wickett and Craig. They are a couple hour drive away, and I have made a few trips over or stopped by when we have been in the area. Most of the time I phone order and am close enough for next day delivery. You talk to live people on the phone. What they tell me is what I get.

[daleoffshore]

Thank You for the shout-out, Elliot! We are looking forward to doing more business with you!

Thanks for the kind words, Bruce--we enjoy doing business with you as well!

I'm also a new customer at Maverick Leather.So far ,service is good, people friendly,but they only sell leather,and have a shipment of Herman Oak which should be there

for those who want it.I'm better off using other leather for now.

[EricIsaiah]

I just made my first leather purchase at Maverick. So far the service was great, the prices excellent and Matt said he'd get my leather shipped today. I'll update when I have more info, but so far this supplier is a winner.

[DFWLeather]

My elite pricing allows me to buy anything at Tandy for less than about (8 or 9 oz) $100 a side. Then you add shipping and you're even further out of range if you don't pick it up. No tax as I have a Tax Id. I have yet to find a good deal on leather in some time. I may head to market center and see what wholesale is.

Edited November 23, 2012 by DFWLeather

[Ken Nelson]

My elite pricing allows me to buy anything at Tandy for less than about (8 or 9 oz) $100 a side. Then you add shipping and you're even further out of range if you don't pick it up. No tax as I have a Tax Id. I have yet to find a good deal on leather in some time. I may head to market center and see what wholesale is.

My experience has been that Cheap and Good Quality seldom go hand in hand. Value for my dollar is an issue for me. I seldom get value for my dollar from Tandy. Ken

[DFWLeather]

I agree on the poor tools, but disagree on the leather.

You see, there aren't 500 suppliers of leather in the US. There are only a few that control a large part of the market with regard to wholesaling it to retailers. And as you can imagine, the larger buyers get the better prices on much of the quality hides (post process). So unless you are telling me you're getting leather from Spain or Italy through an interemediary, the quality that you are referring is a mystery to me.

Retailers "go to market" once or twice a year to buy product, including leather. These Market Centers are located in major cities in the US and carry a variety of hides from suppliers. These suppliers push their product to every Market Center in the US they can to reduce the cost of shipping and containering and increase margin. So the product is pretty much the same everywhere you go in the US (Market Centers). This is where retailers buy their leather to sell you.

The less you buy, the more it cost. So it is logical to assume the larger buyers will get a better deal and be able to sell it pretty competitively, relatively speaking of course. And if you're buying a large order, you're not going to want to junk.

That said, if a retailer can establish a connection in South America, Spain or Italy and cut out the intermediary, they can pass along a unique and generally high quality product to the consumer. But this is rare as it requires the retailer to travel to a foreign country and source the hides themselves (and get them containerized to get home $$). And this can be done with the help of an envoy which are generally supplied by the US Embassy or country of origin's embassy for free. But then you end up driving around touring facilities all over the worst places on the planet.

So not to burst anyone's bubble, but the market in general has become globalized in the trade of hides and just about every other consumer product to reduce cost, increase distribution and maintain margin.

I'll provide some nice pics for you in the coming weeks as I go to market.

Edited November 23, 2012 by DFWLeather

[Chief31794]

I go to Tandy in DFW, Jacksonville, and Atlanta on a fairly frequent basis, I used them for years, but I will not buy any leather from them until they start using a quality tannery. I'm a little astounded that the quality of the leather I see at Tandy could even be compared to Hermann Oak, and I buy HO for about what Tandy wants for the stuff they have. Additionally, I run a small shop and don't always need a complete side or shoulder, I can buy HO from SLC in 2 Sq Ft increments. I buy 4/5 oz and 5/6 oz as complete sides but when I need a different weight leather I buy just what I need of a very high quality leather. I also have a busniess license and a tax ID, so I pay wholesale at both places and no taxes. I am a big fan of Tandy, because a lot of people wouldn't be in leather working without them, but I just can't or won't use their leather.

Just my opinion,

Chief

[DFWLeather]

Great comments. I, too, have noticed the quality of Tandy's leather coming down. I find it harder to secure nice hides for reasonable prices.

Now let's consider the environment; since 2008's liquidity crisis and market turbulence, their sales have struggled because their customers have less disposable income. They are carrying more lower quality {priced} hides, and fewer high quality hides. This is where the small shops that carry great hides providing more high end options for the picky hide buyer can make hay. I would rather have two awesome hides than five thin upholstery looking hides.

I can buy overseas, but I don't need 25 hides mininum order per color or style. So, I am pressed into Tandy, or wherever I can find them. That said, if you can go to Market as a buyer, go "AFTER" and buy the samples, one or two hides is easy to get, no problem for incredible prices.

Another issue I have with Tandy, you really don't get wholesale pricing--you get "elite". And that price isn't that great. So it's frustrating. I need to go to Spain, and when I do, I will find a leather supplier that will sell me a few here or there. Spanish leather is incredible, as is Italian.

Another thing, I remember when Tandy's best leather was $6 sqft, not it's up to $10 sqft. Let me just tell you, that is obscene. Even with my supposed discount, It's still $7-8 a sqft. And you better make sure you get your discount, they are pretty good at forgetting about it.

[ramrod]

i have used tandy exclusively because they're only about 10 minutes from me. i haven't joined the "club" so far this year, but i hope to asap, but money is short at this time. maybe i don't know any better, but i'm reasonably satisfied with their quality.....except for their awls.

one thing i can say about them....i most usually end up spending more than i expected when i go there. i don't like the fact that many prices on leather aren't posted. i feel like i'm being taken every time the cash register rings.