A shoe enthusiast bought a pair of shoes from Yearn Shoemaker, and the leather didn’t perform well.
He communicated with Yearn Shoemaker and didn’t give a satisfactory answer. He wanted justice and came to my TikTok, my comment was the leather is not very good.
One of his opinions in RED (Chinese version of Instagram) is that Chinese dress shoes are not good, and I don’t particularly recognize it.
I think the quality of leather can be divided into several processes.
The first process, procurement.
This aspect is indeed the advantage of European shoe factories, because the brands and shoe factories that make dress shoes all over the world basically use European cowhide, more specifically, from France, Germany and Italy.
In this market where the relationship between supply and demand is not so clear (no one says that the leather industry is a buyer’s market), it is not that you are willing to pay or pay a high price, so you can buy the best leather. The long-term relationship, or the affiliation like Hermes, is the decisive factor for whether you can buy the top leather.
The best example is Weinheimer, the king of black calfskin. In China, it is indeed available in unlimited quantities, and there is an official agent, but the biggest problem is that the leather grade sold in China is relatively low, and the top ones are picked up in Europe.
I remember Mr. Alexandru Maftei told me that he would go to the tanneries to pick leather, which means he can get started first and then place an order.
However, many shoe factories in China may not know the quality until they get the leather from an official agent. If the quality is not that high, then …
This comes to the second process, cutting pieces (clicking).
This is a very important process and underestimated by many. On the surface, it seems that the leather shape is cut out according to the template. There is no technical content. You can completely put the mold on the machine and press it, and everything is available, right? Yes, that’s what the Spanish brand Berwick did. Efficiency is high, but what is the problem? It is true that the utilization rate of leather is full, but which leather is suitable for what part can’t be considered.
As we all know, where bends the most times requires the highest density, and also affects consumers’ judgment on the quality of leather shoes. It is the leather in the apron area, so as long as the best leather is left here, even if the heel or shoelace use not so good leather, the impact is really not great.
I showcased this in my pair of Antonio Meccariello Derby 1776. He used belly skin on the leather of shoelace area, and the feeling had little effect.
Therefore, the first point in clicking is whether the professionals are concerned.
The second point in clicking is that, after all, the high-density area is only that big, and other areas may not be used up as other parts of shoes, so should other areas use apron areas? This is purely commercial consideration. And the normal shoe factory, must be the first cost consideration. Only bespoke shoemakers can give up the interest rate and improve the customer’s feeling. After all, the cost of leather is not so high for the price of bespoke shoes, and the benefits of the customer’s satisfaction with the next order are far greater than the waste of leather. What’s more, if the word-of-mouth is stinking because of leather, it is definitely not worth the loss.
The two points mentioned above, the second of which will be encountered by shoe factories and workshops, no matter which country, so we will also see leather overturned on European shoes.
The example of Berluti’s bad performance is even more rare. Think about its price.
The leather performance of Yearn Shoemaker can’t knock over all Chinese shoes, and the more important problem may be the solution.