About Us And The leather speak blog

Whit Daniel Leather began in 2010 when one man heard his wife musing aloud (well, actually she may have been venting rather heatedly) that she wished she could find a bag that didn’t look like the totes and purses that “everyone else” had, and that could withstand the day to day wear and tear that she inevitably would inflict upon it.  She wanted something that could handle being used to carry books, bottles of perfume, her iPad, sometimes her lunch, a sweater, and usually a bottle of water or two. She wanted something that would hold up to the whirlwind of her life - without the stitching coming apart and without the “leather” peeling or cracking.  What was up with that anyway?  

She showed him the bag that she had purchased just a few months ago from a very well-known company (a label  often worn by the previous first lady) which had been a little pricey, but she had  justified the expense because she was sure it would last for years.  Sadly, one of the ends of the shoulder strap of the aforementioned bag was no longer attached to the body and it appeared that the stitching had come undone. 

 Unfortunately, this event had occurred as she was trying to cross a parking lot in the rain, an umbrella in one hand and coffee in the other, trying to find the keys to her classroom while simultaneously dodging the traffic of the carpool line.  (Did we mention that she’s a teacher?)  When the bag broke, all of its contents fell onto the wet pavement…lunch, iPad, papers graded the previous night, the book she was reading with her class, and a bottle of Jo Malone cologne that she knew she should have left at home but threw in the bag anyway because it made her feel good to be able to spritz it on when she felt frazzled.  

It would be a few hours later before she would be able to turn her attention to her broken bag, but when she did she realized that it appeared to be peeling apart in some places, one of which being where the stitches had broken, and dumped her life quite unceremoniously into the yuck of a wet parking lot in the middle of January at seven o’clock in the morning.  

When choosing a cross body bag made of leather, it is generally best to choose a high-quality leather that is durable, stylish, and easy to maintain. Some good options include full-grain leather and top-grain leather.

Full-grain leather is the highest quality and most expensive type of leather. It is made from the top layer of the hide and has not been sanded, buffed, or corrected in any way, so it retains the natural grain and markings of the hide. Full-grain leather is strong, durable, and develops a patina over time.

Each of our leather bags, leather wallets, leather purses, and leather organizers uses leather which has been personally selected, cut by hand, and punched by hand. That might not mean anything to you, but it should. It means that each hole that you see a stitch in actually had to be punched in the leather with a tool before it could even begin to be stitched by hand with waxed braided thread that enters the hole from both sides and is then knotted. Every single stitch in every single one of our products is made with this level of attention to detail which means that with the proper care, the stitches will last a life time - and maybe more than one!

 We stock a large assortment of leather wallets, crossbody bags, leather purses and other leather accessories in local shops throughout the greater Raleigh area.