Apple Leather Link wearing away

[jonjames505]

Anyone else experiencing the color on the Leather Link band to be fading away? I don't recall the name of this color but its from last year.

 

[MarkX]

I wouldn’t say that is fading, looks to me like it’s being worn away!

Do you work at a desk a lot?

 

[jonjames505]

Yeah I work at the home office desk quite a bit. Is it supposed to fade like that? The leather underneath appears to be brown.

 

[mavis]

My colleague's band (same color) looks exactly like that. I have two leather links, black and saddle brown. Only the black one still looks basically perfect. The brown one has the beginnings of the same kind of wear your picture shows, evens though I've only worn the brown strap maybe 50 times. 😡

Edit: I posted a picture last year: link

 

[KhunJay]

Thats a "made in china" thing
(if not comfortable with my usage, replace with made in Vietnam, Indonesia....)

 

[bhodinut]

I have two like that. Both have worn away like the photo. The umber one is only 5 months old. I think I've lost 5 bands in the past year. Two leather link and 3 braided solo loop bands. That's $500 in bands that last barely a year?

 

[Jackbequickly]

I only use these same leather bands but mostly in black or umber. Your band looks like that from wear. Some rough surface is quickly wearing the exterior of the dyed leather away. Think about what surfaces you are exposing your band too. What is your office desk’s surface made from. If it is really rough, maybe consider covering it or a portion of it with glass.

 

[Vangeli]

The leather in the Leather Link isn’t dyed like older style Watch Bands, it’s painted. All color options will wear down to dark brown/black leather. That isn’t to say it’s worse than dyed; there are plenty of bright and vibrant colors not possible with the dyed leather and even expensive bands like many from Hermès are painted. And painted leather can be a little better protected from the elements. Apple could of course improve the quality of the paint and leather on their bands but it’s more a question of how thin and flexible they’ve engineered them to be.

Ever since Apple switched all of their leather softgoods to painted with the iPhone 12, I recommend only going with black or near-black colors those will not show wear as easily.

 

[TorontoSS]

The leather in the Leather Link isn’t dyed like older style Watch Bands, it’s painted. All color options will wear down to dark brown/black leather. That isn’t to say it’s worse than dyed; there are plenty of bright and vibrant colors not possible with the dyed leather and even expensive bands like many from Hermès are painted. And painted leather can be a little better protected from the elements. Apple could of course improve the quality of the paint and leather on their bands but it’s more a question of how thin and flexible they’ve engineered them to be.

Ever since Apple switched all of their leather softgoods to painted with the iPhone 12, I recommend only going with black or near-black colors those will not show wear as easily.

this is super interesting. I didn't know that the leather moved to painted with the launch of the 12. you can tell there's been a difference in wear across the cases but didn't know it stemmed from the painting vs dye. thank you!

 

[mrgossett]

If that’s the Golden Brown in the photo, that’s exactly what mine has done. Thought it was just dirty and tried to clean it, which made it worse. I had not worn it long, and it was not treated roughly.

 

[Jackbequickly]

Chance is good that if you took this band to the Apple Store they might replace it. Maybe not the same color but would give you a choice.

 

[marmiteturkey]

Welcome to the world of recent Apple leather. It all wears like this, straps, cases, everything. It’s frustratingly poor quality.

Wasn’t always this way…

 

[h00ligan]

I’m reviving this to add, I’ve worn my leather link literally <20 hours and this has happened. A lightly damp microfibres rubs the finish off. It’s absolutely shocking quality

 

[Jackbequickly]

I would still like Apple to bring back the leather bands and cases! There is no shortage of cowhide and other than trying to placate the green people, there is no reason to not go back to leather!

 

[Bichon]

I'd like them to bring back real leather too, but if they don't, the auto makers have come up with some reasonably convincing synthetic alternatives (e.g., NuLuxe, SensaTec, etc.) that I'd much rather have than something like FineWoven.

 

[Jackbequickly]

I'd like them to bring back real leather too, but if they don't, the auto makers have come up with some reasonably convincing synthetic alternatives (e.g., NuLuxe, SensaTec, etc.) that I'd much rather have than something like FineWoven.

The FineWoven thing was an Apple disaster for sure! I ordered a case for my 15 PM and it arrived before my phone on introduction day. I returned the FineWoven case the same day it arrived.