Chromexcel, or CXL as it’s written in the building, is a combination tanned leather that undergoes at least 89 separate processes taking 28 working days and utilizing all 5 floors of our facility. Needless to say, it’s complicated. For any tannery, the chemistry that transforms salted or cured hides into leather often requires a degree of “cooking.” By cooking I mean there are slight variations that must be managed and corrected from lot to lot.

Continue reading more.

Horween.

BillyKirk.

Norikiyo Inoue, one of several Japanese artisans they featured. Some of the hardware shown is impressive (like that quick release buckle).

I wonder what lucky store all of those are going to.

This next scan shows an interesting part before the soles are attached.  If you notice closely, there is in fact a large piece of metal laid on top of the cork bed which is usually referred to as a steel shank.  To loosely quote one of their salesmen, the steel shank is part of what makes an Alden shoe so special (and heavy :) ) as it helps provide support for your feet.

One their first posts was about a visit to Wilson’s factory where footballs are still manufactured and it’s worth going over to check out the other pictures. I hope the Horween guys keep up with the blogging and can showcase more manufacturers and artisans using their leathers, which I would guess are in more products than what people are aware of. Also be sure to follow them on twitter: http://twitter.com/HorweenLeather