Leather is a material that has been popular for hundreds of years. In the Middle Ages, people of all walks of life aspired to own leather goods. Skilled tanners and craftsmen shaped leather into bags, sandals, and even armor! Now, as in ancient times, skilled artisans still make leather goods by hand. In the modern era, however, the demand for leather armor has decreased, while handcrafted leather bags are more popular than ever.
The Appeal of Leather
Leather is ideal for use in items such as satchels, purses, or other bags because it is incredibly durable. As it comes from all-natural animal sources, leather has a strength that only nature can provide. It is well suited to shield its contents from cold weather.
There are many different types of leather, each suited to a variety of purposes. Traditional choices for leather crafts include cow leather, as well as the softer luxurious varieties of deer or lamb leather than can markedly improve the comfort of items of clothing or furniture into which they are incorporated. On the more unusual end of the spectrum, stingray leather is extraordinarily durable and is used in motorcycle gloves and sword grips because of the heavy wear expected when pursuing these activities.
While there are many sources of leather, the one thing that cannot be denied is that all of these varieties have the same dynamic appeal. Carefully crafted leather is beautiful to behold, with rich color and luster that will leave any observer envious.
Leather Goods Are Always in Fashion
Leather is not only highly durable; if properly cared for it can last for a lifetime. That level of longevity means that any leather you purchase now will still be improving your life years from now, but only if you buy quality leather!
There are many cheap brands of mass-produced leather products that use either real or fake leather to provide that classic look of leather to their wares. These machine-built goods, however, begin to easily weather and within a few months or even weeks of purchase they may completely fall apart. For this reason, it is always critical to purchase leather goods that are made by hand with case and skill.
While a cheap machine-built leather bag cannot be relied upon, handcrafted leather bags will never fall apart unexpectedly. Because each stitch is sewn by a master leather worker, a bag made by hand will have the acute attention to detail that is vital to all such goods. And because these bags are made of leather, they have a classic distinguished fashionable look.
When looking for leather bags, now as 500 years ago, the best choice is to go for handcrafted quality!
