Importance of Good Leather

January 15, 2016

The importance of good leather can not be stated enough in our line of work.

Let's just put it this way, our customer reviews fluctuate with the quality of leather we use. If we get a batch of good leather from our tanner, the products we make end up looking great (and as they are meant to). The customers love the products and we get great reviews. However, if a certain batch of leather is not so good, the products, customers and reviews all suffer. 

We are not immune to this problem. Being a small business, sometimes we are forced to accept leather which we know is not optimal at the 11th hour. Sometimes, the leather looks fine on the surface and passes its initial inspection, and it is only after we start using it that we come across its flaw. What do we do in this case? How do we ensure customer satisfaction?

Lucky for you guys, we have a pretty strict selection criteria for the products we end up selling. When we do get a batch of average leather, the first thing we do is try and fix the leather as best as possible (I have to admit, this is mostly a futile exercise). Then we see which products can be made from the leather without compromising on their standard (yes, this is usually possible as different products have different leather requirements). Lastly, we end up rejecting a lot more products during the final inspection. We categorize the products into three groups - A, B and C, according to their quality, and only end up selling Group A on the website. This is a big part of our cost but it's a price you have to pay to build a solid brand.

If despite all of this a customer is not satisfied with their order, we offer them a free exchange or return. We don't believe in leaving even a single customer dissatisfied with our brand, especially when it's within our control.

So, if you are ever thinking about starting a leather goods business, make sure you find a tanner/supplier which you can trust. That is 80% of the battle won.

Best,
Husain

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