For shoe manufacturers, both the big factories and small one-man operations, it is a constant pursuit of good upper leather. When you come across good material, therefore, there are many who accumulate extra, in order to “have for the future”, and it is often a pleasure to look around in the shelves with leathers. And most fuzz gets nice old vintage skins.

It’s about older leather, usually between 10-40 years old, times when there was a bit higher level of quality in general and the demand for good leather was a bit smaller. For example, the upper leather from the legendary German tannery Freudenberg (now moved to Poland under the name Weinheimer, but not really the same class anymore according to the general knowledge) i highly desirable, single hides can go on Ebay for large sums, and there are some leather stockists around the world who have collect old hides from well renowned tanneries that cost a decent amount nowadays. The pair in the picture is from Yohei Fukuda, they are made in a vintage leather from the Italian tanney Ilcea (long before they went bankrupt and the new start under the new owner Vecchia Toscana), a very nice leather, aniliny like Freudenbergs, with a matte finish (often aniline-colored hides are run through glass rolls too get a luster), which has very narrow fine creases.