Best Online Leather

[JAWS]

I was wondering where the best place to buy leather online? I'm brand new to the hobby and have been buying my supplies mainly from Tandy Leather which is an hour from my location in Missouri. I was wondering what online site may be the best to get better prices on leather and save me a trip.

 

Thanks,

Jeremy

[MikeRock]

Obvious first choice is Springfield Leather Company, Springfield, MO.

[GatoGordo]

Depends what type of leather you need. For example, if you want a side of Herman Oak vegetable tanned leather, I would recommend Panhandle Leather. On the other hand, I just received an order of Italian vegetable tanned leather from Maverick Leather.

[LatigoAmigo]

3 hours ago, JAWS said:

I was wondering what online site may be the best to get better prices on leather and save me a trip.

My go-to suppliers are Maverick Leather https://maverickleathercompany.com/ and The Hide House https://www.hidehouse.com/. I have done business with both of these vendors and suggest that you call them with all of your questions about pricing, quality, quantity, shipping costs, and any in-house specials (those not found on their websites) before you order anything online. You should find both of these vendors to be helpful and friendly.

[battlemunky]

Both Hide House and Maverick run some pretty killer specials as well. You have to sign up for their newsletter and wait for the right one to hit though. Small price to pay to save a hundo or more depending on your qty. I think right now they are doing HO craft sides with free shipping, IIRC.

Rocky Mountain Leather Supply and District Leather Supply have some really nice high end options as well.

[theleatherguy]

Check out Acadia leather.  They run ads at the top of this site.  Always free shipping within the USA.

Also, checkout https://www.phoenixleatherhides.com/  They just getting there website setup and will have listings soon.  They have free shipping in the US as well.  They buy huge stocks from all tanneries and have great prices.  Carlos is great to work with and will send you a sample.

Check out Acadia leather.  They run ads at the top of this site.  Always free shipping within the USA.

Also, checkout https://www.phoenixleatherhides.com/  They just getting there website setup and will have listings soon.  They have free shipping in the US as well.  They buy huge stocks from all tanneries and have great prices.  Carlos is great to work with and will send you a sample.

[Brigg]

It is hard to make recommendations without knowing what you are making and in what style.

I am new to leather working too and figuring out the right weight and temper/firmness can be difficult. I've bought nice hides from Maverick Leather and Hide House. I have also bought nice lining leathers from Springfield Leather Co and Weaver Leather.

If I were to start from scratch knowing what I know now I would have bought leather from Rocky Mountain Leather and District Leather Supply. The reason is 1) you can buy 1-2 sqft or quarter hides and 2) you can get the leather split to the correct thickness and 3) the leather quality is very high.

Maverick and Hide House are both great but as a beginner I rather pay a bit more to get to work with different high quality leathers in the correct weight. If you are doing tooling and want to work with natural veg tan only then buying a whole hides might make sense.

 

[jasonsmith]

I'm interested in this as well. As I just buy the plain veg tan tooling leather in 4-5oz or 5-6oz. And I've only ever bought leather at a Tandy store. And I'd have to go through the piles of leather to pick out the pieces that don't have any holes or massive damaged areas. I was at a store a few months ago that had a really nice side in 4-5oz with no holes for $80. I should have bought it, but I ended up getting a smaller piece.

One thing is the Tandy stores used to cut pieces. So if they had a shoulder, they'd cut it in half and sell you a half shoulder. Well, it looks like they don't do that anymore and you have to buy the whole piece. I'd get them to cut smaller pieces so I could get pieces that didn't have any holes in it.

But I don't want to spend the gas money on driving out of town to a Tandy to check out what they have, but I'd like to buy something similarly priced online, but I'd need it where there isn't any holes in it. Which means I couldn't buy from Tandy online, as while in their stores, they have all different quality pieces in the same bin. So in the store I could pick out a good piece, where as online would be a luck of the draw.

I need the kind of tooling leather that is kind of stiff and not too expensive and smooth on the underside. As I don't need anything exotic as what I do is cut out the leather, dye it black and put spots and grommets in it to make leather pieces you tie onto your body with. But I need the leather kind of stiff so pointed ends will hold it's shape and not flop around.

Edited September 20, 2022 by jasonsmith

[Hags]

I have bought from most of the suppliers listed here. Maverick and Rocky Mountain  both having great news letters and great deals from time to time.  Springfield also has great deals on cheap hides from time to time. However, the bulk of my work is holsters. And for that I use Hermann Oak veg tan in 7/8 and 5/6 oz. I know when I order H. O. it will be as advertised. I buy sides, so there will always be belly's and the various mark's etc. The last few have been from Goliger leather, and I have been very happy with them. I would still like to try Wickett and Craig though. I have been tempted to try the premium belt bend from Springfield leather  as well.