Where does Tandy’s leather come from?

[bikermutt07]

But this clearance shelf is stocked with items all year long. It's a continuous rotation of goods. 

[howlback]

 

Tandy knows their leather can be subpar at times. Allegedly, they sometimes buy leftover stock from tannery’s at a discounted rate. At times, I’ve run into leather that, according to them, was not tanned properly/poorly. Once, I had an issue with extremely soft 6/7oz. veg tan and the rubber guards on my clicker press dies leaving artifacts on the leather. That being said, I just returned it no hassle. Their staff has always been amazing to me as a buyer.

As stated above, my advice for buying with Tandy is only go for what’s on sale. If you need a steady supplier, I’d look for a retailer that gets their leather from the same tannery time and time again. You start to get used to how that leather stamps, dies, etc.

And yes, their standard prices are astronomical!

Edited January 14, 2018 by howlback

[Studio-N]

the evil empire only buys what it can find as cheap as possible (and mark up as much as it can). I remember being at a managers meeting where Ron Morgan (co-founder and president at the time) stood up and declared in response to the mgr's complaints - "We sell CRAP. Just sell it". and that was that.

[bikermutt07]

7 hours ago, Studio-N said:

the evil empire only buys what it can find as cheap as possible (and mark up as much as it can). I remember being at a managers meeting where Ron Morgan (co-founder and president at the time) stood up and declared in response to the mgr's complaints - "We sell CRAP. Just sell it". and that was that.

Well, there it is.....

[garypl]

17 hours ago, howlback said:

 

Tandy knows their leather can be subpar at times. Allegedly, they sometimes buy leftover stock from tannery’s at a discounted rate. At times, I’ve run into leather that, according to them, was not tanned properly/poorly. Once, I had an issue with extremely soft 6/7oz. veg tan and the rubber guards on my clicker press dies leaving artifacts on the leather. That being said, I just returned it no hassle. Their staff has always been amazing to me as a buyer.

As stated above, my advice for buying with Tandy is only go for what’s on sale. If you need a steady supplier, I’d look for a retailer that gets their leather from the same tannery time and time again. You start to get used to how that leather stamps, dies, etc.

And yes, their standard prices are astronomical!

I also buy leather from Tandy when it is on sale - would not buy it without personally picking it myself so I can see what I am getting.  Seems like the veg tan I buy often has more soft spots than I would like to see.  One hide I bought was stamped Brazil.

Local staff very friendly and store is conveniently located when I need dyes and other hardware.  I try to buy hardware in bulk from Ohio Travel Bag - good prices but you need to put together an order of at least $50 to offset shipping cost expense.

[mikesc]

I remember being at a managers meeting where Ron Morgan (co-founder and president at the time) stood up and declared in response to the mgr's complaints - "We sell CRAP. Just sell it". and that was that.

Known as "doing a Ratner". ;-)

So named for Gerald Ratner..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ratner

Ron Morgan is lucky not to have had the same effect.

[ramrod]

i agree that their prices are high. every single time i go there, i pay more than i expect to. but, this is offset by the fact that they are convenient. at any rate, i am buying more from ebay and the internet in general.

[pete]

a tip that I THINK that I got from Kevin at Springfield leather. Wet a little piece of it and smell it. If it smells like a cat box, urine, or something like almonds it is probably from mexico and has been urine tanned rather than oak (VEG) tanned

[bikermutt07]

9 minutes ago, pete said:

a tip that I THINK that I got from Kevin at Springfield leather. Wet a little piece of it and smell it. If it smells like a cat box, urine, or something like almonds it is probably from mexico and has been urine tanned rather than oak (VEG) tanned

If it is, I would rather not know. Lol

[Brooks125]

I started out at Tandy, like so many.  I got everything there, including leather.  I liked that I could sort through the double shoulders and USUALLY find a decent piece, but not always in a stack of about 30.  I now go to Weaver.  Key words being "GO TO".  Mt Hope is about a 45 minute drive (about the same as my closest Tandy) and I can sort through Hermann Oaks, for about $250-300/side.  Much better quality, MUCH better yield.  I still go to Tandy for some cement, suede (I do use their pigskin suede for lining) or an odd tool, but not much else.  Tandy is ALL import leather, which usually translates to poor quality, in the long run.