Why is crocodile skin precious?
We all know that crocodile is an ancient reptile, which began in the Mesozoic era about 200 million years ago. Crocodile is a general term. There are about 23 kinds of crocodiles in existence, such as Siamese crocodile, Chinese alligator, alligator, Nile crocodile and bay crocodile. (Of course, there are more extinct monster level crocodiles, such as split head crocodiles, pig crocodiles, fear crocodiles, imperial crocodiles, etc.)
The growth cycle of crocodile is relatively slow, the environment is relatively harsh, and the tanning process is relatively complex, which determines that its breeding scale is smaller than animals such as cattle, sheep and pigs, and the number of mature tanning plants is small, which makes the unit price of crocodile skin higher.
Personally, I think it is 1: part, 2: tanning technology, 3: dyeing technology, 4: crocodile species, 5: grade.
Let’s start with the location.
Nowadays, many people with status and status like to use crocodile leather, but some local tyrants don’t know what they use at all. They just think it is crocodile leather. As a result, it looks like the skin on the back and the center of the earth.
Why do you say that?
The part of crocodile skin is very important. Crocodiles are very aggressive creatures. The skin on their abdomen is the softest and most vulnerable to scratching. Some manufacturers choose the skin on their back armor to reduce the yield and processing time. We call it “back skin” or “belly skin”
Because it is opened from the belly, this kind of crocodile skin is very cheap though it is real. Of course, if there is a good design, the style is also very interesting, but it definitely does not belong to the category of luxury goods and advanced handicraft materials (although some local tycoons still think that this is the real crocodile skin… there is nothing they can do to help).
In fact, what can be included in the luxury category can only be crocodile belly skin (except for caiman belly skin, which we will say later), or “back skin”
Because crocodile belly skin is very flat, soft and strong, it is suitable for making various leather products.
Next, let’s talk about tanning technology.
If you want to make leather products, you should start tanning from the pelts. The tanning process is very important. If the tanning is not good, there will be problems such as bursting, unevenness, insufficient durability, and poor handle.
A friend often asks me to get an alligator for me and ask me to make a bag for me. This requirement cannot be fulfilled. You can try to make up for it and fry it yourself to see if you can eat it.
If people who know some crocodile skins will ask about the tanning place, this is actually very important, because tanning technology is a very advanced knowledge. There are very few manufacturers that can tanning crocodile skins with stable quality in the world, most of which are concentrated in several factories in France, Italy, Singapore, Japan, and the United States. The few factories are also suppliers of some luxury brands.
Like tanning technology, dyeing technology is also one of the criteria for judging the quality of crocodile skin.
Even in a good factory, there is a certain probability of defective products. Common dyeing defects include uneven dyeing, water marks and uneven glossiness.
Many people who do not understand leather materials will ask me a common question, pointing to a piece of crocodile skin and asking me if I have dyed it. The answer is of course, otherwise… there are pink, blue and purple crocodiles?
But there is one that has not been dyed, which is commonly known as Himalayan crocodile skin.
This is to retain the color of the crocodile itself. If you pick the skin, you will find that almost every Himalayan color is different. Just like our skin, it is difficult to find two people with the same color, so it is difficult to pick out the same gray depth of each Himalayan color. Of course, there are artificial dyed crocodile skins in imitation of Himalayan style, which is not bad, but a special style of finishing.
Crocodile leather is generally divided into matte and bright. If subdivided, there are hard hand shiny leather, soft hand shiny leather, medium light, matte, nubuck, and other special textures.
Each has its advantages and disadvantages, such as shiny alligator skin.
Although the surface is bright, it is very afraid of water (crocodile skin should be far away from water and oil, but the light is even more bright, because it is very easy to have water marks), and it is very afraid of scratches. Even if you are careful, scratches will appear after a period of time. Even in the process of making leather products, the high gloss leather should be pasted with a soft protective film, otherwise scratches and fingerprints will appear
If you want to avoid scratches during use? Build an inert gas container at home and put your bag in it. (It is not recommended to use hard shiny alligator skin for watchband. It is not comfortable and durable.). Some people say that the shiny leather is a little cheaper than the matte leather. Personally, it depends on the situation, which is not absolute.
In my opinion, the most suitable one is medium gloss or matte. Especially, the water dye effect without painting directly expresses the real touch of crocodile skin. The luster will become more and more natural with the use of time, and it is no problem to wipe off a few drops of water immediately.
In addition, people who do not know crocodile skin will think that crocodile skin is very hard, but due to different processes, crocodile skin can be very soft.
Even some can make clothes, a little stiff can make bags, and moderate soft and hard can make watchbands. Of course, there are no rules on the use. You can also use crocodile skin materials to make bags, just depending on what style the author wants.
Crocodile species are an important topic. The common crocodile skins on the market are caimans, Siamese crocodiles (Thai crocodiles), alligators, American narrow billed crocodiles, Nile crocodiles, and bay crocodiles.
Caiman crocodile and Siamese crocodile are very common in the domestic market. Caiman crocodile is the cheapest crocodile skin, because it is easy to raise, but the cuticle layer of armor is very thick (many people call the hard part of crocodile skin bone, crocodile is not exoskeleton creature, the hard part is cuticle, not bone), On the market, the bad merchants of bags of a certain brand like to sell cheap caimans at high prices as so-called wild crocodiles.
Siamese alligators are widely bred in Southeast Asian countries and China. Because of their relatively fast growth rate, irregular texture arrangement and cuticle on the flank, Siamese alligators are not the first choice for luxury goods. By the way, most of the commercial crocodile skins we usually see are artificially bred, because the artificially bred crocodiles will not damage the number of wild populations, and because of manual management, the quality of crocodile skins will be better than that of wild ones (with less damage). Only some oversized crocodile skins, which are large enough to be used as carpets, are mostly wild, because the cost of wild animals is low, so people do not need to spend huge amounts of money to breed them. Correspondingly, the wild environment is relatively poor. For example, fighting and parasites cause a lot of injuries. They can’t make high-grade leather goods, but can only be used as decorations. Therefore, when unscrupulous businessmen say that the bag is made of wild crocodile skin, they can laugh and leave.
Another key point to evaluate the quality of crocodile skin is the grade. The number of scars and texture arrangement are the key factors to evaluate the grade of crocodile skin.
Generally, it is classified by I, II, III and IV grades. Grade I skin is the highest grade, which means that the abdominal scars are the least, the texture is the most uniform, but the price is the highest. Grade II skin has slight defects, sometimes it can’t be seen without looking carefully. Grade III and IV skin have obvious scars or uneven texture.
The whole crocodile skin we bought is generally divided into three parts
The place with many squares in the center of the abdomen is usually called the slub pattern, and the texture on both sides of the slub pattern that is slightly finer is called the flank pattern.
When you observe the high-grade crocodile leather bags, you will find that the materials are crocodile abdomen, because the crocodile abdomen is the most beautiful part with the highest value. About 85% of the value of a crocodile is on the abdomen. Of course, you can’t say that the chin and tail are all leftovers. It is also OK to make small pieces such as wallet, card bag and watch strap (it is better for novices to buy them to practice their hands).
Before, some newcomers often asked me, I heard that crocodile skin is very expensive. How much is a foot? This is usually a question that new people can’t ask.
Crocodile skin is not calculated in square feet (sf) and 10×10 (ds) like ordinary leather. Crocodile skin is measured in centimeters at the widest part of the abdomen (excluding back armor. Some businesses leave most of the back armor at the edge of the skin to steal width, and then include the back armor. Some factories pull the crocodile skin blanks vigorously to increase the width, which is shameless).
Post time: Nov-30-2022