Making Boots
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Tasman Tannery makes the world class leather I use on my handmade boots so I thought it would be a good idea to spend a day going through the plant and learning about the process.
The Tannery has been operating since 1953 and is situated next to the Whanganui River where it meets the Tasman Sea (there just happens to be a surf break down the road so I made sure I got their early to check it out). It’s the only bovine tannery in Australasia still making finished leather from raw hides so the operation is relatively big with approximately 250 employees processing around 14,000 hides a week. I can tell you, these guys work hard and long hours with certain sections of the plant running day and night. Even with state of the art machinery every single hide is checked by hand at each stage to make sure it makes the grade.
All of the raw hides are by-products of the meat industry and come from local farms between the central North Island and the top of the South Island. The quality of the original raw hide is still key. Each hide is unique, and reveals its history in its texture, grain, and its scars, nicks and rubs. Lucky for us New Zealand has the perfect climate and landscape for farming strong and healthy cattle with high quality hides.
Here are some photos I took of the operation. I was going to write about each process but its so involved and technical that my head started to hurt! Let’s just say it’s an incredible combination of old and new technology, science and experience.
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Here are some of the leather samples I took from the Tannery. They are called Crust because they haven't been polished and are considered lower grade. You can see the scares, marks and hair follicles which I actually prefer. The leather is actually better quality (from a funtional point of view) in this state but people prefer the aesthetic of a cleaner polished hide. I find Crust far more interesting and it fits with my philosophy of keeping things as simple as possible without sacrificing quality.
What do you guy's prefer?
The images are close ups so you can't see a lot of the natural markings.
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I'm sure you'll cobble something together…
Sorry about that, I actually winced typing it. Then I cringed. Then I hit send and laughed.
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Yeah, those are lovely, Hemi. The Crust leather sounds interesting, too. While it would definitely look out of place on a dress shoe, it sounds like it would fit your aesthetic nicely. I'd certainly be willing to try a pair made that way.
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love em hemi. can't wait for more.
