Saddleback New Leather

[ducatisteve]

Got an email from Dave at Saddleback regarding their new leather. It looks like the option for the old leather won't be around much longer if you aren't into the changes. Here's the email:

We're Changing Our Leather A $14,000 guitar made from diseased Maple or an Italian supercar lined with banged up oak from the canals of Venice. Why were these imperfect materials chosen and why do they add such value? Because they're art. Their character tells the story of a prior life and brings joy to those who recognize the beauty. Somehow we strayed away from that coolness, trying to please the "perfect people" with perfect leather. What some people don't get is that perfection doesn't equate to high quality. So now, we're using the exact same excellent leather as always, but we're not cutting out the art. Now you might see scars, insect bites, stretch marks, or maybe even a brand. Of course, not all scars will make the cut, since some scars are nasty looking and their story need not be told. But, wherever the cow has been gored, kicked, bitten by bats or bugs, acquired "love" marks from hooves or run through barbed wire and cactus, you're going to see it. The bags are now often harder to build because we're very carefully selecting where the brands go and where the scars are placed. And I know we're going to lose the "perfect people" as customers. I'm sorry to hear that, but if we try to please everybody, the art goes away and we won't really please anybody. I'm not guaranteeing that all bags will have a rancher's brand or a gorgeous scar, but you can always cross your fingers. To see what I mean, check out this video: ​ Everything you need to know, including our new "EIEIO" policy, is on our New Leather Questions page, which you can visit by clicking here.

New Colors - Tobacco and Carbon We're changing back to a couple of original colors too. The new Tobacco looks older, darker and way more uneven, while the Carbon looks like old worn biker boot leather. Suzette and I may have a new favorite leather in that black. Briefcase Large - Carbon Suitcase Medium - Tobacco The pigskin is changing as well. Expect the same tough and resilient lining, but with a sandy tone and a matte finish, complete with "love marks". Pigs are pretty passionate creatures and you can read about that on our Questions page.

 

[Acmemfg]

I received the same e mail. Small surprise the comments posted after the video are polarized to say the least. I'm afraid I cannot buy into the marketing of Saddleback's "New" leather. To me it is akin to the old "Putting lipstick on a pig" analogy. Like it or not, "artistic qualities" notwithstanding....Dave Munson is now constructing goods from inferior grade leather and charging the same rather lofty prices. Glad I bought my Saddleback items when I did. Doubtful I'll be buying any more after this.

 

[Isaac]

Yeah...I really dont understand this. If your paying the prices they are expecting, it makes no sense to use "seconds". Its funny, they use to sell bags with noticeable scars as "deal" bags. Now we are suppose to think they give character? No Thanks...

 

[UW_Badger]

I agree with the above comments. You have to give it to Munson, however. He is a good marketer and he does a good job in trying to sell the 'value' of the damaged leathers they will now be using. I also like how he blames the customers who will be put off by this change because they do not understand the value in the scared leathers. If he dropped his prices in accord with the savings he will experience by not discarding such stock, one might be able to accept it, but not at their current prices. If my Mitchell Leather case had come with such a 'character scar' it would have been sent back to Milwaukee that day.

 

[Isaac]

I agree with the above comments. You have to give it to Munson, however. He is a good marketer and he does a good job in trying to sell the 'value' of the damaged leathers they will now be using. I also like how he blames the customers who will be put off by this change because they do not understand the value in the scared leathers. If he dropped his prices in accord with the savings he will experience by not discarding such stock, one might be able to accept it, but not at their current prices. If my Mitchell Leather case had come with such a 'character scar' it would have been sent back to Milwaukee that day.

Its the mere fact that they would sell bags with such scars at a discount. Now we are suppose to believe they have character? It seems its just better business to use as much of the hide as possible. That is ok, but not at first condition prices.

 

[UW_Badger]

Well he could also sell them as a line made from distressed leather. Some other manufacturers go this. I agree with the comment of about price. I find their larger leather items to be over priced in general, given how and where they are made. To add damaged leathers into the picture and keep the price constant does not seem to fly. I also thought many of the items in Dave's Deals exhibited manufacturing flaws such as uneven stitching, etc., and where not only made from leather with noticeable defects.

 

[Teflon_Synapses]

I also recived the email this morning. I'm a little disappointed to say the least.

 

[ducatisteve]

He is quite the master of spin. The Q&A page says this:

Q: If you are using more of the leather per hide, will the price go down?

A: The marks and scars have always represented a very small amount of leather. And actually, the bags now may cost us more since the leather cutters spend extra time placing various scars and brands, which they didn’t do before.

 

[camjr]

It will be interesting to follow the change over the next year or so, and at this point it appears to be limited to Carbon Black and Tobacco, the more informal colors in the range IMO. I've got a chestnut large thin briefcase that I love. I applied a healthy treatment of Sno-Seal last weekend, and it darkened it up as I expected (and wanted) and made the color much more rich. The only scars on the bag are those that I've put on it in 2 years of frequent travel and daily use, and the beeswax and oil in the Sno-Seal made them stand out less, but gave them a little more character than simply light scratches on a reddish-brown bag. IMHO, that's the way it should be. I've hesitated in my next step - I have a bbq brand with my initials that I use on steaks when entertaining - I've thought about branding the bag in a relatively hidden corner (the brand is small-only about 1.5" square), but that thought usually doesn't cross my mind until I've had a couple of beers at the bbq.

Cheers.

 

[Prince]

I saw my email last night as well and I am not happy. I've been working my wife up to buying me a briefcase for Christmas. Now, I don't know if I want to spend that much coin on cheaper leather.

The one I want is not in stock and presumably any new stock would be the new batch of hide.

 

[camjr]

If you were looking at Dark Coffee Brown or Chestnut, they aren't changing (at least that's my understanding). The changes affect Tobacco and Carbon Black

 

[Boro62]

He is quite the master of spin. The Q&A page says this:

Q: If you are using more of the leather per hide, will the price go down?

A: The marks and scars have always represented a very small amount of leather. And actually, the bags now may cost us more since the leather cutters spend extra time placing various scars and brands, which they didn’t do before.

If that was really the case, shouldn't every bag have the some sort of similar scars and brands. Not just some will have it some might not, its a luck of your draw, type statement he gives in the video.

I'm with most of you guys on this. I want to really say that this was a business decision and less of an artistic one as he claims. Getting the right size pieces of leather before to make the products that he does while trying to avoid these scars and brands probably cost him a lot of wasted leather and costs. I was hoping to eventually get one of these but now I'm thinking I will probably take my business somewhere else. He should have just kept selling these at a discounted price.

 

[UW_Badger]

If you were looking at Dark Coffee Brown or Chestnut, they aren't changing (at least that's my understanding). The changes affect Tobacco and Carbon Black

From what I read the change affects all of the products. For the pieces produced in Chestnut they will attempt to choose leathers with minimized defects and the DCB products will hide the defects more than other colors. If you do not like the idea of using these types of leathers, I would look elsewhere. FWIW.

 

[Doc4]

I really think I already have all my saddleback leather that I'd be buying anyhow, so I doubt it'd change my opinion about purchasing. I might be miffed if I were in the midst of buying a set of luggage and bags &c in all the same colour, and they changed it on me, though. But I guess that they figure that the "matchey-matchey, everything perfect and neat" guys are not their core customers, and they should focus on their core.

If you were looking at Dark Coffee Brown or Chestnut, they aren't changing (at least that's my understanding). The changes affect Tobacco and Carbon Black

My reading of the e-mail was that those two colours were being modified in a separate move from the "injured leather" change, which I take it applies to all colours.

 

[Samurai-5]

 

[camjr]

View attachment 371345

Well played...

 

[73mountaineer]

That's maybe the most pathetic bunch of spin I have ever heard. "We're announcing a new policy to sell you factory seconds as factory firsts, and we'll even charge you more for turning the brand right side up! Awesome, right?!?".

Someday this will be a chapter in, "How to ruin your reputation and bankrupt your company in 5 years or less".

 

[maxman]

It's like selling a new car with dents in it. You're gonna get dents anyway, here, we'll save you the trouble of going out and finding your own. No, no, don't thank us. It's our pleasure.

 

[Isaac]

It's like selling a new car with dents in it. You're gonna get dents anyway, here, we'll save you the trouble of going out and finding your own. No, no, don't thank us. It's our pleasure.

You forgot that those dents have a story to tell..and you cant buy that type of story on a new car.

 

[litespeedone]

Ha. What a crock.

It's not a bug...it's a feature!