Where does Tandy’s leather come from?

[rivetandchain]

I’m hoping someone knows where Tandy’s veg tanned leather comes from, specifically their tooling leather, harness leather and the European single bends that they sell. Any insight would be much appreciated.

I'm in Canada, I'm not sure whether that changes things considering Tandy has locations around the world. I would just like to know which tanneries they buy from.

Edited January 5, 2018 by rivetandchain

[Rockoboy]

Most of it comes from cows, as far as I know anyway.

Always glad to help with any questions I have the answer to.

[alpha2]

Rockoboy beat me to it. I'm slowin' down!

Actually, they seem to get a lot of it from Brazil and other South American countries. Usually they will say in their literature where they source it, usually. It will often be on the leather itself, but that doesn't help you if you're not in one their stores. I know for me that I have a hard time sorting through their stuff and finding a decent hide without a lot of waste. At a premium price.

[Mattsbagger]

I will probby stop by Tandy tomorrow. I will look at the sticker on the Euro bends and see if they say. There Oak leaf and Craftsman grade usually say Argentina on the stickers in my Colorado Springs Tandy.

[DJole]

The stickers on the hides just to my left (three tooling bellies) read "made in Argentina."  It's not harness nor European single bend, however. 

[OLDNSLOW]

down south here in Tennessee it is the same as all the other guys said, and if it is the lower grade you can count on sceeter bite and scar marks that show up really bad. so buyer beware

[strathmoredesigns]

I've seen tannery marks on some of their Craftsman Oak sides....

[Mattsbagger]

Their European bends are labeled "Belgium".

[bikermutt07]

I see'em as the Home Depot of leather. Lots of stuff readily available, not the best quality, and priced at a premium.

I am also starting to see patterns in their business model. The introduce items at a high premium, this catches the newcomers. Then they will have these items on sale throughout the year. Then, it will go to the clearance rack where it is marked down to a reasonable asking price. Then a year or so later, similar items are available again at high premium prices for newcomers. 

I have witnessed this process over and over with supplies and different hardware. 

Their staple products don't seem to fall into this revolving net, such as tools and leathers.They stay in the high premium to sale range, which is still overpriced from what I see (compared to other companies).

This is only an observation and a speculation on my part. The staff at my local Tandy are very friendly. I'm just not in love with corporate.

 

[olfart]

10 hours ago, bikermutt07 said:

I see'em as the Home Depot of leather. Lots of stuff readily available, not the best quality, and priced at a premium.

I am also starting to see patterns in their business model. The introduce items at a high premium, this catches the newcomers. Then they will have these items on sale throughout the year. Then, it will go to the clearance rack where it is marked down to a reasonable asking price. Then a year or so later, similar items are available again at high premium prices for newcomers. 

I have witnessed this process over and over with supplies and different hardware. 

Their staple products don't seem to fall into this revolving net, such as tools and leathers.They stay in the high premium to sale range, which is still overpriced from what I see (compared to other companies).

This is only an observation and a speculation on my part. The staff at my local Tandy are very friendly. I'm just not in love with corporate.

 

While you're right about the cycle, the reason behind it likely is to dump what's on their shelves before the mandatory inventory in January where they get hit with a tax for everything they have in stock. After tax time, they rebuild their stock again.  Same with all retail stores.

You're also right about the staff at the Bossier City store.  Great folks.

[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.

[howlback]

On 1/18/2018 at 3:16 PM, Brooks125 said:

250-300/side?! ::raises eyebrows:: I had no idea their leather was so expensive. Regarding quality, do you still see brands, insect bites, stretch marks, etc.when sorting through hides? Are they “graded”at Weaver? If so, is that Hermann Oaks’ grade or Weavers grade? 

[Brooks125]

That's 8-9oz HO "holster" leather.  I can get 24-27 sq. feet of very good sides.  I think it's $10.20/ft.  Given that I can sort it, makes it even better.  I figure about 25-30 holsters from that, but I never just do holsters on it, and they're never the smaller simpler holsters, but that gives you an idea.  It is about twice the import double shoulders I could get at Tandy, but I might go through a whole stack and not find a piece I wanted, and forget about a well-split back side most of the time.

[Studio-N]

On 1/15/2018 at 7:29 AM, mikesc said:

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

Full disclosure - Ron and his wife were great people and were good to work for. It was a very human company then. When they retired and left the Thompsons in charge,

it became the 'evil empire' after that and they never gave a rats azz about people; only money. in fact they had about an 80% turnover under that model.

[rivetandchain]

Thanks everyone!

[Carson]

Mine has said Mexico and Brazil so who knows