Bringing handmade back to America

Bloomberg video of bringing handmade back to America

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The prices reflect the labor and expertise too, but for that level of quality it sounds about right.

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It’s interesting to me to see really great tools, a great space, artists taking the time to precisely take each step, and then they use a LIGHTER TO BURN OFF THE END OF THE STITCHING.

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I had this exact thought after seeing your electric gizmo in action and was going to draw your attention to it…crazy!

I’m completely ignorant here, but curious. Are you balking at the technique or the type of tool being used? You apparently have an “electric gizmo” that would do the same thing?

The use of a lighter like this that “could” melt more than just the tip of thread. It could also damage the leather, and the edge paint. Yes, I use a thread zapper. It’s a tiny little heating element that’s very accurate and very fast. It’s just really odd to see all the great technique then to use a lighter like that…

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Thanks for explaining.

That definitely sounds like a better tool for the job, but maybe these guys are worried it looks too “high tech” for their customers? Who knows, maybe they actually use such a tool and just did that for the video…hehe. :slight_smile:

It is all about tradition!

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They should have used a match for the video then :slight_smile:

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The last place I worked, we kept the threads long and another member of the production crew used a soldering iron/wood stippling handheld thing with a pointed end piece to burn threads. The small electric thread burner Jorge uses would die very rapidly at a production level… but we never used an open flame to melt the edges. can’t control the mushroom on the end, and if the threads are too short, you’ll burn the leather itself.

I wonder how expensive their locally sourced thread is. or if they get it died from a local textile mill. Maybe that’s why they want to save as much as possible. I would suspect they get it from a larger mill and someone specially dies it.

And of course every product has a specified SPI and thread count. That’s in your technical data packet. Seems like their production line could be optimized better to bring down cost too.