News

Reindeer Hides – Christmas 2018 Stocks in! 

How time flies when you’re enjoying yourself! It’s amazing to think that today marks the first day of October – it’ll be Christmas before you know it! I’m sure some of you will have already started your Christmas shopping, some of you may have even completed it! Unlike like me, I tend to leave it until the week before! 

If you’re struggling for gift ideas, why not consider one of our fantastic reindeer hide rugs. The summer’s gone, autumn’s here and for any Game of Thrones fans out there- Winter is coming. Well at J. Wood Leathers we’ve got you covered, our reindeer hides are guaranteed to keep you snug as a bug in a rug on those long winter nights. They’re perfect for use as rugs, sofa covers or bed spreads! 

As a natural, hair on product, the reindeer hides come in all shapes and sizes, in a wide variety of natural colours and tones. 

We’ve recently had a new stock of hides delivered, which have all been individually photographed, numbered and listed on our Flickr page. Click here to view the full range. This means you can go through each hide one by one, and pick your favourite. Just email us with the number and we’ll do the rest. The Reindeer hides are priced at £65.00 + VAT for individual hides, discounts are available for bulk orders. Please enquire for further details. 

We’re on Social Media!

Here at J. Wood Leathers, our warehouse has just taken delivery of a fresh batch of our very popular Cow Hides! These hides/rugs have all been individually photographed and posted on to our Flickr page. To view our current stock, please click here. This time we have included a measure in each photo to give you an idea of size and scale. We photograph and number each hide individually, so you know exactly what you’re getting. The hide you select is the one you’ll receive- just let us know the number and we’ll do the rest.

Our hair on Cow Hides are handpicked in person at the tannery, this guarantees we get the best of the best, in terms of size, shape, colouration and quality- you won’t find better! Our cow hides are the perfect addition to any room as a rug or wall-hanging. They make a superb finishing touch for a man cave or hunting lodge. They have also been used for seat/booth covers and decoration of restaurants & steakhouses. 

Our cow hides are very competitively prices at just £119.00 each, further discount is available for bulk purchases. Get them whilst stocks last! 

We also have a range of Reindeer Hides and Calf Hides for sale, these are ideal for use as rugs! The reindeer hides in particular make for excellent Christmas presents. 

If you have any questions or queries regarding our hair on cow hides, or should you wish to order, then please don’t hesitate to contact us. 

Sustainable Sources 

Sustainability has become an extremely important issue not just at J. Wood Leathers, but on a global scale. When it comes to sustainability in the leather trade, customers don’t always have such a positive outlook. Leather production is often linked with industrial farming, deforestation, processing of animals and chemical pollution. We source all of our hides and skins from reliable, sustainable tanneries from around the world. The animal skins, the actual raw material used for the production of our leathers is an unavoidable bi-product of the animal based food chain, specifically the meat, wool and dairy markets. Globally less than 2% of farmed animals are bread specifically for their hides. We don’t stock any rare or “exotic” animal leathers.

We will always endeavour to use the most sustainable sources for our leathers whenever possible. As an example, our Seal Skins are sourced directly from Inuit hunters in Greenland, each individual skins is bar coded and certified. The animals are hunted for food- a traditional way of life which goes back centuries. 

Environmental Impact 

Tanning is an industrial process involving many chemical products. Accordingly we are very conscious of which chemicals are used in the tanning of our leathers. Every one of our trusted and reputable suppliers strive to ensure that all environmental rules and regulations are met, in terms of both the chemicals and the processes used. Many of our suppliers are substituting the toxic chromium/solvent based chemicals of yester year for much more environmentally friendly water based alternatives. All of our leathers comply with European standards.

We regularly submit our leather for REACH and BLC testing. This ensures that our leathers continue to meet with British and EU standards. We are happy to supply customers with said test results upon request. Please be advised that this will likely incur an additional surcharge as different tests will be required depending on the customer’s specific project specifications.

Vegetable Tanning

Vegetable tanning is a much more ethical and environmentally friendly way of producing and tanning leather. This is a more traditional method which has been around for thousands of years and uses naturally occurring ingredients as opposed to solvents and chemicals. The leather is soaked in a bath of tannins found in barks, wood and other parts of plants, often for several weeks if not months at a time. This lengthy, and therefore expensive process, often yields the best quality and most desirable leather which is ideal for carving, embossing and tooling. We specialise in the stocking of vegetable tanned leathers, both natural and dyed. We pride ourselves in stocking the finest quality. Large, clean skins showing little growth, scars or flay marks offer good, cost effective cutting for large patterns and long belts. Please click here for more information on our Natural Veg Tan leathers and please click here for more information regarding our dyed through veg tanned leathers. 

After a whole decade using our previous website we finally decided it was time for change! Out with the old and in with the new! We’ve modernised, cleaned out the clutter and re-built everything from the ground up. All in an effort to make it easier for you to navigate and find the leather you need.

The first big change you will notice is that we have completely separated the two aspects of what we do at J. Wood Leathers. You will now find all of our Highland Wear, Hire Wear and Men’s wear over at our sister website: www.jwoodhighland.co.uk

We’ve listed some brand new leather ranges, including the Montana, Airedale, Nidderdale and Moto, alongside our returning classics such as Apache, Rio Waxy Pull up and Country. More will be added over the coming weeks and months, so be sure to check back regularly. All of our leathers are now listed individually in the “Leathers, Hides & Skins” drop down menu. On each leather page, we have tried to present the essential information including thickness, cut, average skin size and colours, in a clear and easy to read table. You will find the same table on every page making it easy for you to compare and contrast the different articles. Please note, that due to shear volume, not all of the leathers we do are listed online, so if you can’t find what you’re looking for- please don’t hesitate to contact us.

All of the photographs used on our website are new and original.  We have gone to great lengths to ensure that the photographs offer the best possible representation of our leathers. They were all taken on site, by a professional photographer, using state of the art equipment. With each and every image it was our aim to capture the very nature of that particular article, down to the smallest detail. No editing software has been used to correct or enhance the photos- so you can see creases, stretch marks, scars, holes and brands – this is the natural nature of leather. 

If you’re just starting out, you know what you want to make, but not necessarily the best leather for the job, then please check out the “Uses for Leather” drop down menu. Here we list some of the more common applications for the leathers we stock, including but not limited to: “Satchels, Handbags & Luggage” “Garments & Clothing” and “Shoes, Boots & Footwear”. On each of these “uses” pages, we have listed the leathers which we would recommend for each of these products. But depending on the specific product you’re trying to make, some of the recommended leathers will be more suitable than others. So please, take a look around, check out our listed range and if you’re still not sure, if you have any questions or queries, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Our staff have a combined experience of over 30 years, and we’re always happy to help!