Bridle Leather

We’ve been absent last week and we’re sorry, but nothing better than being out some days to prepare great contents for the blog! We’ll show you photos, interviews and reports in the following weeks… and in the meantime, let’s talk about Bridle Leather.

Bridle Leather is the raw material we use to make our belts and the rest of the products. But, what is it exactly?

Bridle Leather refers to the way that a piece of leather is finished at the tannery. We only use 4mm thick bridle butt leather, which is vegetable tanned and hand curried in England. Bridle butt is the best cut of the hide as it offers the most consistent structure throughout as well as constant thickness. This is always a difficult handmade process that, of course, deserves just the best quality leather. This means the leather removed from the central part of the piece, which is the back of the cow. In that way, we’ll ensure that each belt is made of one unique piece of leather, smooth and soft, without the imperfections of some other parts of the body.

One we have the right piece of leather, it undergoes a process called vegetable tanning, which is the traditional method of preserving leather. Hides are hung in a series of pits, which contain a solution, otherwise known as a liquor, which is made up of water, tree barks and leaves which produce a natural chemical called tanning. This process produces flexible yet strong leather and preserves its natural durability. This is followed by hand waxing using pure paraffin and hand polishing with a soft wool cloth to give the leather the appropriate dull lustre.

Currying of the leather is done by hand which pares off any roughness and unevenness that may be present in the hide and makes the leather soft and pliable and gives it the necessary surface and colour.

The result of this will be good looking, soft and durable products!!

We’ll also show you how the best craftsmen of England work in their workshop to make our belts with Bridle Leather. But you’ll have to wait. Just remain updated with our latest news and sooner or later you’ll be able to discover the beautiful world of the saddlers, from where Hardy&Parsons' belts come from.