Handmade alligator leather belt. Production processes Bredal Wild
Aug 17, 2026
The hides have already gone through many processes, from the time of capture via the hunter’s cold room with salting, then pickup by truck to the tannery (www.amtam.com) ,where tanning, bleaching, and dyeing are carried out. You should look up “Leather” on Wikipedia (Leather) to understand all the terms. The hides are “chrome-tanned”. See tanning methods to understand the difference. The tanning itself will be covered in a separate thesis. Trimming the back of the hide with nano-technology, among other things to create greater softness, is difficult and important.
After a round in the washing machine and subsequent drying, the hide is ready for processing.
The «liner» is important (the leather facing the body), and they use a thickness of 10-11oz - shoulder from Belgian or Norwegian cow for this. This is «vegetable tanned», so you can print information on it. The selection of the quality and composition of the liner and top side – the exotic leather, is very important for the final result.
Each «liner» is then cut to the correct width (35 mm for Europe), hand-measured, and cut to the correct length. You can also get your own measurements here (for example 37”).
The edges are split to create a slightly curved shape. I do not use filler like many do – it is only cow on the inside and exotic leather on the top side.
To make a Bespoke BREDAL one-piece belt, the alligator is cut north-south and not across; this means there is no seam – which is highly unusual. The collagen in alligator runs lengthwise and not crosswise as in most other animals – and this creates greater strength and durability.
The top side and liner are then glued – not by machine, but by hand. The belts are therefore not sewn – this can reduce the strength of the top leather and is therefore inferior in this context.
It is hand-measured again, cut again, the end where the buckle will be and also the tip are trimmed, and holes are punched. There are snaps on the part where the detachable buckle is attached.
The belt loops are hand-sewn.
“Sanding” is done with ultra-fine sandpaper on all edges so that you cannot see any transitions - roughly the way it is done on fine furniture.
All edges are then hand-painted with an absorbent flexible “ink”, and the holes are coated as well – this lasts, and does not crack.
The belt is then hand-polished with a microcrystalline wax, and “labelling” with size and logo is done last.
My belts are either "tapered" (narrowed at each end for a smaller buckle 2.5 cm width) or "straight" i.e. 35 mm even width for dress/good belts and 38 mm even width for jeans.
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