By Go Artisan Admin · 2 July 2026
Not everything calling itself "handmade leather" has seen a workshop bench. Here's what we tell people to check before they buy.
Saddle stitching, not a sewing machine's lockstitch — look closely and you'll see the thread cross itself at an angle, not sit in a straight row. Full-grain hide, not corrected-grain with a printed texture. Edges that have been burnished and waxed, not just cut and left raw. Hardware that's solid brass or steel, with weight to it, not a chromed zinc alloy. A maker who can tell you which tannery the hide came from. And, honestly, a price that reflects the hours — a hand-stitched satchel takes the better part of a day to make.
None of this is about snobbery. It's about paying for the thing you're actually buying.
