Confused about leather watch straps? Follow these EASY rules to avoid purchasing terrible Chinese or low quality leather straps! 

1. "Genuine" Leather

Technically speaking, all real leathers are "genuine". But, did you know that 'Genuine Leather' is a term given to the lowest level quality of leather passable to be called leather? Offcuts, leftovers, you name it.

Contrary to what you would normally think, you should AVOID so called "genuine leather" watch straps unless you are happy with the most basic level quality of leather.

Example: "Genuine Leather" Watch Strap

Strapify Australia leather straps uses top grain leathers from reputable European tanneries. All our leather straps are hand made and hand stitched to perfection.

2. Smell

Smell the strap. What does it smell like? Nothing? Plastic?

We managed to get our hands on a "Genuine Leather" strap like the above, and guess what?

It has no smell whatsoever.

What does this tell me? Either a very bad leather, or even a fake leather made from vinyl.

A good leather will have a beautiful and distinct leather smell.

3. Branding

This is really important. If it's not branded, it's probably bad. Why, you ask?

If a brand really thinks their leather straps are good enough, they would want to associate their name to take ownership of their product.

If you wrote a really good book, you'd want to say you're the author right? Same thing applies for watch straps!

Our leather straps are clearly branded because we're incredibly proud of them. They're made by skilled artisans in Spain and are all hand made and hand stitched. And we've added our special flair to make them extra special.

3. Stitching

Two things to check with stitching.

How straight the stitching is.

Check how the stitching has been done. Are the stitches in a straight line? Or are they wavy? If it's wavy this is a clear sign that the straps have been mass made as they're trying to churn through as many straps as possible!

How long each stitch is.

Check how long each stitch is and whether each stitch length is consistent with the others.

If they're long, that's another indication that it's mass made because they're trying to minimise the amount of sections to increase volume output.