>Kirkland from Costco does full grain. Slide belts offers all 3 “categories” and I’ve had people tell me they’re all bottom tier quality (side point: if the same brand if offering all 3, run…they’re sourcing from the same cheap-o tannery…good tanneries don’t make finished splits.)
>
>L.L. Bean did a full grain bridle leather belt (made in Uk) that had “genuine leather” stamped on the back.

For the first two products, I am curious to know if this is a flat out lie. OR if they technically are full grain, but just the top half a millimeter or so and the combined with junk for the rest of the belt thickness.

For the L.L. Bean, that's odd that they would stamp that. Possibly "genuine leather" means something different in the U.K.?

I agree with you. They are being used a shortcuts. Like most things typically are when it comes to marketing. Language is intentionally manipulated to make a product seem more than what it actually is.

>we get very skilled crafters from non English speaking parts of the world showing off some amazing creation and using the word “genuine” and some idiot comes in giving them a hard time for using “crappy leather”

This is why people must use the context in which it is presented in order to discern. Regardless, I believe the marketing world developed that term to purposefully sew confusion among consumers. No one is going to buy a belt off the rack labeled "Scrap Leather" or "Bottom Layer", despite that actually being the case.

I have never seen a department store belt stamped "full grain"? Have you? I'm curious to know this... and how it could be junk (in terms of durability)...

>All leather is Genuine, all leather that's not suede (bottom split) is top grain and top grain that hasn't been sanded (corrected) is full grain. The terms encompass one another.

Yes, all leather is genuine by the dictionary definition of the word, however when you see "genuine leather" printed on a belt in Dillards, it's not going to be the same quality as top grain or full grain. It simply means there is SOME leather present in the product. These lower layers are stripped off and often times mixed with other leather scraps or bonding agents.

So yes, technically, genuine leather, top grain, and full grain are classifications of leather. Just like we have classifications of our skin (dermis, epidermis, and hypodermis). If you don't like the word 'classification', you can use 'layer'. Regardless, each has varying degrees of quality and you will not be doing yourself a service by spending lots of cash on a "genuine leather" belt stamped with some highfalutin designer because it's most likely going to bee poor quality.

What most people don't understand is a vast majority of belts you buy off the rack are going to be made of "genuine leather". Now to the layman, this sounds like a quality product, right? Not really. "Genuine leather" is actually a classification for the part of the cow hide that is being used to make the product. "Genuine leather" is close to the worst in terms of quality. It's a marketing trick to make the product seem better than it actually is.

If you want a truly BIFL belt, go buy a full grain belt blank from a leather supplier and make your own. You will save a load of money compared to these fancy name-brand belts you'll buy at a department store with the added satisfaction that you are wearing something you made with your own two hands.

We’ll it depends on what the lifetime warranty is warrantied for. If a company guarantees their product for lifetime use including normal wear and tear, then the consumer isn’t abusing the warranty if they request a replacement when the product breaks.

I think they should reinstate a warranty, but have it for more than a year. It shows that they actually stand behind their product. I think a 10 year warranty WITH original proof of purchase isn’t too much to ask for.

I wish they’d keep this up as long as you have original proof or purchase which isn’t hard nowadays as everything is electronic.

Isn’t this the story of almost everything that gets posted on here?

“Used to be good, now it’s garbage.”

That couch!

As a leatherworker, mink oil is awesome for conditioning leather.