The processes for making BREDAL alligator leather belts
The hides have already gone through many processes, from the time of capture via cold storage with the hunter, with salting, then pickup by truck to the tannery (American Tanning & Leather (amtam.com)) ,where tanning, bleaching, and dyeing take place. You should look up “Leather” on Wikipedia (Leather – Wikipedia) to understand all the terms. The hides are “chrome-tanned”. See Understand the difference between tanning methods to understand the difference. The tanning itself will be covered in a separate thesis. The trimming on the back of the hide using 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 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 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 – there 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, which means there is no seam – 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 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, and the end where the buckle will be, as well as the tip end, is trimmed and punched with holes. There are snaps on the part where the loose buckle is attached.
The belt loops are hand-sewn.
“Sanding” is done with ultra-fine sandpaper on all edges so that no transitions are visible - much like on fine furniture.
All edges are then hand-painted with an absorbent flexible “ink”, and the holes are coated too – this lasts, and does not crack.
The belt is then hand-polished with a micro-crystalline wax, and “labelling” 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\" i.e. 35 mm even width for dress belts and 38 mm even width for jeans.
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