Jump to content

White's Horse Hide/Shell Cordovan group order


fre-co

Recommended Posts

I've been keeping up with this "group buy" and came back to see what materialized. Could this have been any more of a failure? I really do feel bad for the folks who've been waiting a year plus for this to happen. Too bad cuz these boots look fantastic.

6079465937_12b6269f54.jpg
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

is Viberg still doing horse? I asked Brett about it last year for a custom make and here's what he mailed me

'I have some horse hide, but I won't use it. It's very hard to work with. I've done it for a few people, flat head with Japanese and then VMC with horween. Both of which is a nightmare to do. The leather is inconsistent in thickness and the finish isn't the best.

Overall it would add like 200$ to the retail. Our cost is around $100 per piece. So it's not really worth it as most people will never understand how much it costs and how difficult it is to work with.

And more importantly right now, shell Cordovan and horse butt leather(which your talking about) is almost impossible to get.

The hide market is in a huge slump for horses.

Horween can't get enough as the Chinese are buying them at a premium.

I've got cordovan on order for someone who placed order in January, and the leather won't be here till November.

Just isn't a sound way to do business and be profitable.

You can buy horse fronts for jackets no problem , but not the butts.

'

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Im in the process of ordering a pair of vibergs, apparently they are opening a readymade shop (online). They are saving the horsehide they have for when that goes online.

 

i Got to work harder this month.. im looking at some Vibergs soon...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Im in the process of ordering a pair of vibergs, apparently they are opening a readymade shop (online). They are saving the horsehide they have for when that goes online.

I dont see how they will succeed at this considering the crazy demand for boots they will need to fulfill.  Its already pretty apparent that White's is struggling with QC most likely brought on by the resurgence in popularity. I would venture a guess that Viberg would experience the same thing, maybe even more so considering how long it takes now for a MTO pair of Vibergs.   At the price point Viberg is maintaining, I would personally have very little tolerance for QC issues from them, "hand made" boots or not.  $800 for a pair of boots, they better be flawless.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's not only leather but also fur...

Right now the market for leather and fur is out of control. China is one of the main processing markets for leather and fur (like raccoon dog and so on) - the factories are buying the materials for production for their customers at premium prices, basically since last winter.

Edited by Foxy2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I actually have cordovan shell leather in russet, brown or black oddly enough. I bought it from a supplier in the US that has never been mentioned on this thread and is pretty under the radar. Bought a bunch for sampling but never ended up using it as the project fell through.

 

PM me. I can send samples of the quality.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmm, I wonder if Viberg would do a Cordovan make up if we supplied the hides? I'm thinking out loud here, but if cultural can get the hides and we can supply them to Viberg it would likely cut the costs quite a bit.

 

How much are the hides cultural? It may be a logistical nightmare to make all that work, but I'd be interested to know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I bet you could talk Viberg into it.  I met Brett Viberg at Flat Head's expo a few weeks ago, and they seem like a very small company that'd be down for something like that. It's certainly worth a try.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i dont htink viberg will do something like that with whats happening now. theyre too busy. and they dont wanan experiment too much with cordovan. quality suffers.  and yeah push a pair of corodvan or horse engineers to around 850 to 1000 $ range

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ed do you have any contacts at Whites or Wesco? Maybe we can try contacting Kyle at Bakers Shoes. He has been pretty good about making odd requests happen in the past, and they do a lot of business with both.

 

I'll wait to see what cultural has to say about getting the hides before I approach Kyle.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just posting what I sent to demonator already:

 

I purchased the remainder of inventory from a leather supplier in NJ that went out of business.

I have the following:

- 70 sq ft in black (dull finish)

- 73 sq ft in black (shiny finish)

- 4.25 sq ft in brown

I can sell it for what I paid which is $35/sq ft.

 

 

 we ened to know how big of a size is 1 piece of cordovan you have cause its intergrated on the horse butt area. so its NOT all cordovan. we need to see actual pieces sample. before we go further again.

 

the swatches you sent dont look like corodvan to me theyre quite thick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...