WHY BUY FROM US?

We have been making custom chaps for more than 40 years.  While the fashions have changed, been revisited and changed again during those years, our process for making custom fitted chaps has not.

Our chaps have several features you will not find in factory-made or imported chaps.

We only cut  from whole cowhides. This allows us to cut chap legs in one piece from top to bottom and side to side including fringe strip.  Our chaps never have a seam at the knee or the fringe added on separately.  We carefully lay pattern on leather so we don't cut pieces where there are flaws in the leather.  We only use YKK #5 brass zippers, and reinforce zippers and top and bottom edges with leather strips.  We add secondary reinforcement to the stress areas at top and bottom of zipper.  We add a strip of saddle leather between the layers of the front belt to keep buckle holes from stretching out.  Zippers and yokes are glued in place before stitching and all seams are double stitched.  For those folks who fluctuate in size periodically, we offer neoprene stretch panels inset into the chap leg so actual measurements and fit are maintained.  Finally we hand-cut fringe at an angle so it hangs properly down the leg.  Most important, we stand behind our chaps.  If there's a problem, we take care of it.

Factory made imports are cut by machines which use dies to cut as many pieces as possible from a hide, so chap legs are cut in two or three pieces.  To get the most pieces, they also use corrected grain hides (see definition in "A little bit about Leather" page), which is a process that covers up flaws in the leather.  The fringe strip is also cut by machine and sewn on separately.  Many imports use cheap #10 zippers which have larger teeth, and are sewn on with no reinforcement- stress on zipper can pop the teeth apart or break the stitching.   A lot of imports aren't even real leather, but some kind of synthetic fabric  that is even easier and cheaper to use than corrected grain hides.  To create chaps that will fit several size measurements, they add a woven elastic strip along the zipper that will eventually stretch out.

We could throw in the old adage "You get what you pay for", but sadly, the cheaply made imports are often more expensive, between the factory owner, the export government, the shipper, the import government, the wholesaler and the retailer that each take a chunk of what you pay.  And overseas, you know the folks actually putting the chaps together aren't seeing much for their labor.

While we will admit that due to the fact there are very few tanneries existing in the US, a lot of our leather comes from Italy and South America.  With that said, we do buy only top quality hides from reputable US suppliers, and all cutting and assembly is done here in our small shop in northern Indiana by employees dedicated to quality and service.