How we build a belt
Our work in leather goes back to 1996, and we have been making belts under KLW Handmade Leather for the last nine years. Thirty years in, the way we judge a hide has not changed much, and neither has the reason we only use one part of it.
Every belt we make starts as full-grain leather — the top layer of the hide, with the grain left intact. It is the strongest part of the hide and the only part we use. A full-grain belt does not crack or peel the way a split or bonded strap does. It creases where you bend it, darkens where you handle it, and holds its shape for years.
Straps are cut, edged and punched one at a time in our shop in Central Kentucky. Holes are punched by hand. Edges are beveled and burnished by hand. Stitching is run on an industrial machine with heavy bonded thread, the same way saddlery has been stitched for a century. Nothing is assembled in batches and nothing is finished by machine alone.
We work in full-grain and bridle leather, and we make nameplate belts, western belts, dress belts, work belts, wallets, hat bands and dog collars. Engraving and heat stamping are done in house, so a name or a set of initials is cut into the metal or the leather here, not sent out.
