White's Horse Hide/Shell Cordovan group order

[Layne]

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.

[superintendent]

I'm going to revive this thread in the hopes a Group Buy can take place.  Anyone else interested?

[louisbosco]

horse or shell?

[SLAB]

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.

'

[louisbosco]

So I've heard about the scarcity in shell cordovan. Coming from Asia as well, I do hear that Alden's for one are not willing to ship out of the states.

[k4727]

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.

[Do7]

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...

[garden gnomes in space]

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.  

[tigerpac]

Am I the only one finding it odd that the Chinese are buying all the HH up at a premium? What are they using them for that would justify that?

[Foxy2]

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 June 3, 2013 by Foxy2

[demonator]

so we doing the bulk buy hh ?

[k4727]

also i was told after placing my order to expect prices well over a thousand dollars next time viberg does HH. It seemed like he was hinting that they might even be as high as two thousand a pair.

[garden gnomes in space]

fuck that.  

[coleslawyum]

It makes my Buco's feel like a bargain.

[demonator]

well bucos are better though

[k4727]

yup, if im buying horse or cordovan engineer boots... im buying Buco. 

[demonator]

do you guys wanna do this in any trickers model ?

[louisbosco]

wouldnt mind a stow.

[culturalmulatto]

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.

[rayw44]

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.

[demonator]

im down for it too or we can have wesco do this for us.

[Kyle@TFH]

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.

[demonator]

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

[rayw44]

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.

[demonator]

i can talk to kyle no problem. yeah pmed cultural. hope that hes no unicorn. i want his thing to happen i also emailed shinki, if we can get cordovan or horsehide from them

[louisbosco]

I like it that this is hopefully going somewhere.

[gnu]

I like it that this is hopefully going somewhere.

 

Paying attention now. Will be sure to join in if something starts to materialize. 

[culturalmulatto]

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.

[rayw44]

That actually doesn't sound terrible. Can you take some pics of the different shades/finishes?

An how many shells is that total? It seems like quite a bit.

[demonator]

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.