Where are good places for beginners to buy leather online?

[fredk]

2 hours ago, Neigh said:

I was going to post a similar thing but i'm in East Yorkshire, UK...  Will search the forum first

 

Le Prevo, in Newcastle, just up the road from you.; http://www.leprevo.co.uk/

Abbey is often recommended as well;  https://www.abbeyengland.com/

[Neigh]

20 minutes ago, fredk said:

Le Prevo, in Newcastle, just up the road from you.; http://www.leprevo.co.uk/

Abbey is often recommended as well;  https://www.abbeyengland.com/

Thanks  

[fredk]

NB. Le Prevo is currently closed due to the virus & business restrictions. They say their enquiry email address is still being checked and answered, though that may take a bit longer than usual

[LiftPig]

Springfield Leather Supply, Tandy, Rocky Mountain Leather Supply, Weaver Leather Supply, and The Leather Guy are all good resources that do online orders and are still operating in the shut-downs.  The Leather Guy is kinda cool in that each piece of leather is listed individually so you get to see the very piece you'll be buying with exact dimensions, not "20-24sq ft, some imperfections".  

I would advise not buying leather from Amazon.  I've done that and I swear the cow that the leather came from was killed back before WW2.

[Frodo]

2 hours ago, LiftPig said:

Springfield Leather Supply, Tandy, Rocky Mountain Leather Supply, Weaver Leather Supply, and The Leather Guy are all good resources that do online orders and are still operating in the shut-downs.  The Leather Guy is kinda cool in that each piece of leather is listed individually so you get to see the very piece you'll be buying with exact dimensions, not "20-24sq ft, some imperfections".  

I would advise not buying leather from Amazon.  I've done that and I swear the cow that the leather came from was killed back before WW2.

LOL

We must have gotten leather from the same old dead cow

[Studio-N]

well Tandy seems to be on it's last legs. They may not be coming back after the lockdown. so checkout Springfield Leather.

[Hardrada]

Just now, Studio-N said:

well Tandy seems to be on it's last legs. They may not be coming back after the lockdown. so checkout Springfield Leather.

Any indicators/evidence to substantiate that assessment?

I don't buy leather from Tandy, but I do purchase tools, hardware, and supplies from them.

[fredk]

17 minutes ago, Hardrada said:

Any indicators/evidence to substantiate that assessment?

I don't buy leather from Tandy, but I do purchase tools, hardware, and supplies from them.

Tandy keeps retracting. This time last year they had several branches in Europe. Then they dropped to one branch, in Spain. No sooner had they done that then the that one closed and orders had to come from Texas. They've cut back on what they're selling. Last April/May I received a big order. I placed it with Tandy, Manchester but by the time they sorted themselves out it came from Texas. They re-did their website which wiped out my account with them. I had to 'rejoin'. I had been building up an order to place about 8 weeks ago, that was wiped out and now when I try to place anything in the 'basket' I'm being told 'This cannot be shipped to your country' even though I'd bought the item(s) previously by mail-order. Everything looks like a business thats winding down to close-up.

[Studio-N]

11 hours ago, Hardrada said:

Any indicators/evidence to substantiate that assessment?

Most of it is coming from the Yahoo Finance pages. There is the link: TLF Stock

If the stores are being told to inventory and start sending stock back to Ft. Worth. they aren't going to be restocked. Go to their web page, there are only about 5 us stores listed which are 

doing internet orders. Oh they'll use the Covid shutdowns as an excuse but the truth is they've been on a steady decline for several years. the stock is in the toilet and close to being delisted for cooking the books. They have several lawsuits in the works related to misleading their investors. The management gave themselves a $5 million bonus while effectively cutting out the bonuses of the stores. In fact the mgr at the kansas store walked out before the shutdowns.  Nothing official from TLF corp. though.  Maybe someone who works (worked) at one of the stores will chime in.

[zuludog]

11 hours ago, fredk said:

Tandy keeps retracting. This time last year they had several branches in Europe. Then they dropped to one branch, in Spain. No sooner had they done that then the that one closed and orders had to come from Texas. They've cut back on what they're selling. Last April/May I received a big order. I placed it with Tandy, Manchester but by the time they sorted themselves out it came from Texas. They re-did their website which wiped out my account with them. I had to 'rejoin'. I had been building up an order to place about 8 weeks ago, that was wiped out and now when I try to place anything in the 'basket' I'm being told 'This cannot be shipped to your country' even though I'd bought the item(s) previously by mail-order. Everything looks like a business thats winding down to close-up.

You may well know this already, but it seems to me that most serious leatherworkers in Britain get their tools & materials from https://www.abbeyengland.com

Edited April 9, 2020 by zuludog