We are often asked for artisan style aprons and one feature that is always of interest is the straps. Customers who are looking for something unique and special often love leather, as it’s a great way of adding quality.
The main stumbling block with leather is it cannot easily be cleaned. You can’t put the leather straps in a washing machine with the aprons, so we wanted to find a way for the straps to be easily removed for laundering.
The flexibility to remove the straps means that they become interchangeable. As well as solving the laundering issue, it means that you change the look of the apron depending on which straps are attached.
The easiest way to achieve this flexibility is to attach the straps though metal eyelets, using heavy duty metal snap fasteners. At the point where the eyelets and straps are attached, an extra piece of fabric is sewn to reinforce the corner for extra strength. These can also be made into a feature with contrast stitching or fabric. The most popular choice of eyelet and popper is Antique Brass or Nickel. Buckles can also easily be matched.
When cared for correctly, leather can last much longer than fabric and so this method means that one leather strap can be used for several aprons, therefore making it very economical.
A good intermediate design is to combine leather and webbing. The leather is used for the most visible part of the strap, that attaches to the apron. The webbing is attached to leather to make tying the straps easy and flexible, without the need for buckles. This option can also be less expensive.
We carefully source the best leather, that is both soft to wear against the skin, easy to adjust but very durable. Different colours can be sourced, we certainly don’t have to stick to the traditional browns and blacks.
Our customers love their bespoke aprons with leather straps and frequently return for repeat orders.