Himalayan camo parka via ebay.

Vintage L.L. Bean on ebay.

1981, my dad on the right with his friend to this day, Mike. Happy Father’s Day.

Makin’ tools.

Tanning process; via Hermann Oak.

Pepe Heykoop

The skin collection is a reaction on te 25-30 percent exessive waste produced by the furniture industy.

The furnitures used are existing, modified and covered up in leather leftovers.

This project is fed by leather scrap, turning it into random skin patterns, refering to cell structures and growth in nature.

Gaining some color at 5 months. I’ve had a lot of requests for this sleeve, but I haven’t had enough leather to make them. Tomorrow I’ll be picking up a hide and will be able to make 3 if anyone is still interested. They would be $100. Shoot me an email at kyledaviddunn@hotmail.com.

This is Heidi when we lived in Philadelphia. She was around 3 months old in this and she’ll be 3 years old in October. Time flies.

Image by Brett Nadal

via the Zack White newsletter…

WELL IT HAS finally happened. Remember the days of “Mad Cow Disease” when the cost of leather went through the roof? Well now leather is in the same category as gas, and its price has exploded. Not only has the cost of hides risen over 30% in just the past few weeks, the availability of good leather is getting harder and harder to come by. Talk about being subject to foreign interest, the leather industry is worse than the gas/oil industry ever was.  At least we still produce and refine some oil here, but you can count the number of large leather tanneries left in this country on one hand. The best leather in the world comes from the USA—but we actually tan only 2% of our cowhide output here in this country.  Furthermore, we have to order leather months in advance to keep inventory on hand.  We received an invoice this past week for leather that had been booked back in February, before the massive increase in the hide market, but our cost of leather still increased almost 18%. When we questioned the pricing, we were told, “That is just the way it is!” With the worldwide increase in demand for leather, the foreign suppliers do not need the small leather business that is left in the US.  I can understand why some supply companies have called it quits after decades in the leather business, it is a difficult business to be in today.

The “green” movement has driven the cost of leather to extraordinary heights as well, just as the supply of good quality hides is decreasing.  In Europe, all the leather that is used in the automobile industry has to be biodegradable.  As a result, the market has shifted to vegetable tanned leather rather than more traditional chrome tannage. Worldwide, the high price of grain has caused many cattle ranches to turn to more profitable grain farming, thus reducing the supply of cow hides and putting more pressure on the U.S. hide market. Also, given the fact that foreign tanneries can now basically dictate the price of their leather, we here in the U.S.A. are stuck paying obscenely inflated prices for leather. And it does not look like things will get much better any time soon. There are still more reasons for the soaring price of leather, than those I’ve mentioned here. But one thing is for certain. To be successful in this business, one needs to be efficient in making their products. This means using every scrap from the hide and cutting back on waste. No one ever said the leather business would be easy but it seems to be getting tougher and tougher.

Oh, and charging for your labor—charging fair prices is something many people do not do. We equate cheap “Made in China or India” leather goods with the quality products that are produced here and are reluctant to charge the prices we should. A skilled leather craftsman will have many years of training and experience, and he will usually have thousands of dollars invested in hand tools, and several thousand more dollars in sewing machines and equipment. Why hesitate to charge for labor, say $50.00 per hour?  When you consider a plumber will charge $120.00 for a 30 minute repair job and use perhaps $100 worth of tools, the price of custom leather work is really cheap.

I really like highballs.

Details.

Oops! Remember those $30 wallets? I ended up just making one due to a very busy schedule, but the other should be done tomorrow and exactly like this one. Only one is still up for grabs and keep an eye out for a few other sale items I may put up in the next two weeks.

Wallet sale!

Since I’m cleaning house in preparation for larger projects I’ll have a couple of bifold wallets up later tonight for the low low price of $30 shipped. Both will be billfolds with six card slots and two receipt slots, dyed brown with a white stitch. Email me at kyledaviddunn@hotmail.com if you’re interested. Don’t miss out!