The processes for making BREDAL alligator leather belts
Dec 30, 2024
The skins have already gone through many processes from the time of capture via the hunter's cold storage with salting, to being picked up by truck to the tannery (www.amtam.com), where tanning, bleaching, and dyeing take place. You should look up "Leather" on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leather) to understand all expressions. The leathers are "chrome-tanned". See (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/chrome-vs-vegetable-tanned-leather-karquest-impex-kausar-hashmi- ) to understand the difference. The tanning process itself will be addressed in a separate thesis. The trimming on the back of the leather with nano-technology to create greater softness, among other things, is difficult and important.
After a round with the washing machine and subsequent drying, the leather is ready for treatment.
The "liner" is important (leather against the body) and they use a thickness of 10-11oz -shoulder of Belgian or Norwegian cow for this. This is "vegetable tanned" so you can print information on it. The selection of quality and composition of the liner and upper side - the exotic leather, is very important for the final result.
Each "liner" is 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 filling as many do – there is only cowhide on the inside and exotic leather on the top side.
To create a Bespoke BREDAL one-piece belt, the alligator is cut north-south and not across, which means there are no seams - something that is very unusual. The collagen in alligator runs lengthwise and not across as in most other animals - and this creates greater strength and durability.
The top side and liners are glued – not by machine, but by hand. The belts are thus not sewn - it can reduce the strength of the top layer and is therefore inferior in this context.
It is measured by hand again, cut again, the end where the buckle will be and also the tip end is trimmed and holes punched. There are snap buttons on the part where the loose buckle is attached.
The belt straps are hand-sewn.
"Sanding" is done with ultra-fine sandpaper on all edges so that transitions are not visible - similar to how it is done on fine furniture.
All edges are then hand-painted with an absorbent flexible "ink", and the holes are also coated - this lasts and does not crack.
The belt is then hand-polished with a micro crystalline wax and "labeling" with size and logo is done at the end.
My belts are either "tapered" (narrowed at each end for a smaller buckle 2.5 cm wide) or "straight" meaning 35 mm uniform width for dress/formal belts and 38 mm uniform width for jeans.
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