Handmade alligator leather belt. Production processes Bredal Wild

The hides have already gone through many processes from the time of capture via the hunter's cold storage with salting, then pickup by forklift to the tannery (www.amtam.com), where tanning, bleaching and dyeing are carried out. You should look up “Leather” on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leather) to understand all the terms. The hides are “chrome-tanned”. See (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/chrome-vs-vegetable-tanned-leather-karquest-impex-kausar-hashmi- ) to understand the difference. The tanning itself will be addressed in a separate thesis. Trimming the back of the hide with nano-technology to create, among other things, greater softness is difficult and important.

After a cycle in the washing machine and subsequent drying, the hide is ready for treatment.
The «liner» is important (the leather against 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 stamp information on it. The selection of the quality and composition of the liner and top side – the exotic hide – 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 hide on the top side.

To make a Bespoke BREDAL one-piece belt the alligator is cut north–south and not across; this means it is not jointed – which is very unusual. The collagen in alligator runs lengthwise and not across as in most other animals – and this creates greater strength and durability.

Top side and liner are then glued – not by machine, but by hand. The belts are therefore not stitched – that can reduce the strength of the top hide and is thus 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 loose buckle is attached.
The belt straps are hand-sewn.

“Sanding” is done with ultrafine sandpaper on all edges so that transitions are not visible - much like it is done on fine furniture.

All edges are then hand-painted with an absorbent flexible “ink”, and the holes are treated as well – this lasts, and does not crack.

Then the belt is hand-polished with a micro crystalline 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/formal belts and 38 mm even width for jeans.

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