Heavyweight Denim Championships 2013-2015 - Official Thread
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Bridle Leather
Bridle Leather refers to the way that a piece of leather (cow hide) is finished at the tannery. Bridle leather has both the Flesh and Grain side of the leather stuffed with greases and finised with wax. This is generally a labour intensive process, thus expensive! Only the best grades of leather are treated like this, it would be uneconomic to treat poor quality leather in this way.
The purpose of bridle leather is threefold;
Its expected to look good. That is, it must have good depth of colour and be attractive to look at, it must age well and it must not have natural imperfections that weaken the leather.
It is expected to be smoth, comfortable and flexible to handle. It is designed for use in bridles, so must be comfortable for a horse to wear next to the skin. Therefore the treatment of the flesh side is as important as the grain side as the flesh side is typically worn next to the horses skin and must be smooth.
It is epected to be both strong and durable. The riders life literally depends on bridle leather not failing unexpectedly. Its is subjected to quite high loads, and must tolerate this time after time.An item of saddlery is typically expected to last for 10 or more years of use, so not only must the leather be strong, but it must survive poor weather, dirt, everything being in contact a horse throws at it for many years.
All in all, bridle leather is pretty amazing stuff. We use it as it is simply the best leather available for our purposes. It is pleasant to work with and produces a beautiful product. Once it leaves us we know that it will mature well for our customers and become a trusted old favorite, becoming both more beautiful, characterful and tactile as it ages. There arent many products produced now that get better with age, but good bridle leather is certainly one of them.
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The maker would be Crispin Bending, of Camden Lock, London.
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For clarification… Is this a belt for purchase or is it the actual championship belt that you are talking about mega? Excuse my ignorance if this has been addressed already but really intrigued as I am currently on the hunt for a new belt for my MBB ...
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Belt for purchase; World Champion Belts are being provided by Obbigood Label.
Mega is apparently trying to make sure participants are able to dress themselves from head to toe in official HWDC gear…
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I thought that's what I had read concerning OGL but after the earlier posts figured maybe something had changed
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Dude, I'm very interested in the belt. Will yeah please make one fat enough for me to squeeze into, for feks sake?
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Belt for purchase; World Champion Belts are being provided by Obbigood Label.
Mega is apparently working his arse off to secure high quality goods for the competitors, at an extremely reasonable price, with the added benefit of an extra dimension to the competition possibly?
Thanks for clearing that up Chris
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Bridle Leather HWDC Belts
The belts are going to happen, I am having a conversation the weekend with Crispin to discuss leather and buckle options, and I will announce the terms, price and pre-order next week. There are a number of options of leather, of which Bridle Leather is the best leather, and therefore the most expensive (natural untreated leather and Italian shoulder leather are the other options), and also a number of buckle options (I'm thinking a silver coloured buckle to match the hardware on the MBB's).
Any questions you want to ask about the belts, fire away
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Will they come in a size larger than a medium?
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Yes, they certainly will
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The belts will be a maximum of $120 shipped anywhere in the world I suspect, and I am aiming for lower than that. I'm honestly working my arse off to find us the best belt, at the lowest cost, the HWDC merchandise ( like the tees ) has to be an accessible price for everyone.
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Giles is sourcing a LHT cotton twill, hand woven by monks from Belgistan, using otter bones for the underwear.
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HWDC belt, current thinking is that it will be specced and priced as follows….
- Choice of black, brown or tan finest quality English Bridle Leather.
- Brass and Masac buckle (Masac is a die cast alloy) with a brushed silver finish, matching the hardware on the MBB's.
- Hand cut and hand made in London.
- Retail price $100 for HWDC contestants, $120 for none contestants.
- Price includes world wide shipping.
Let me know if you want to order, need at least 50 orders.
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Samples should be with me next week, and pictures will be posted then. I wouldn't expect people to pay without seeing what they are ordering.
