So unlike most I seem to have gotten along relatively fine (so to speak) with the several Fine Woven cases I've picked up for my 15PM. With well over a year and a half and varying degrees of wear, they all look fairly decent and not like any of the pics I ever saw posted by all the haters. Blue probably looks the worst wear-wise, with taupe second and black still looking pretty good aside from the prominent MagSafe ring. In fairness they do get rotated out a lot with an actual leather case as well as a more robust TPU case for outdoor activity. And slightly off topic but the FW cases can be deep cleaned with dishwashing detergent, which definitely aids in their longevity and character (they still don't come anywhere near the OG Apple leather case patina though).
Anyway, this leads me to my question. Why couldn't Apple just make a case out of the far less stain/mark prone and much less delicate side material of said FW? Meaning everything around the band where the buttons are and not what's on the backside, which most universally hate with good reason. Pretty sure it's just a denser, less "fine woven" version of the back of the case if I recall their description. And that the back was just meant to be soft and pleasant to the touch, which it is. On the other hand, so to speak, the sides are grippy like leather and much more resistant to staining. So what, is that material too expensive to produce an entire phone case? That's all I can come up with. IMO it seems like the perfect non-leather alternative that would obviously fit the phone like a glove, which is the best part about the cases they make, and fit the bill with Apple's zero carbon initiatives.
That said, I have a couple 15PM Apple silicone cases that degraded much faster than even the FW while also being lint magnets and not the most comfortable to handle (but grippy). I stopped using them because they were ugly (again, IMO) and got much uglier much faster. And I'm sure someone will point me to some AliExpress case that sounds like what I'm asking for but I'm not really asking for anything. I'm asking why Apple didn't just use the side material on their FW cases as the entire case material?
This has given me a love/hate relationship with all the current iPhone leather cases on the market. None of them truly get it right like Apple used to, which makes sense as they designed them in-house for their specific products. But I love the feel and patina of said cases, regardless of how they fit. Lucky Coin has been my go-to with the 15PM but none of them are as slim and elegant as Apple's discontinued FW. And every time I switch from actual leather back to FW, enjoying the fit and finish of the case itself, about the only thing I wish about FW was that it was all made out of the more robust side material. To me, that would have been a perfect transition from using leather.
Anyway, this leads me to my question. Why couldn't Apple just make a case out of the far less stain/mark prone and much less delicate side material of said FW? Meaning everything around the band where the buttons are and not what's on the backside, which most universally hate with good reason. Pretty sure it's just a denser, less "fine woven" version of the back of the case if I recall their description. And that the back was just meant to be soft and pleasant to the touch, which it is. On the other hand, so to speak, the sides are grippy like leather and much more resistant to staining. So what, is that material too expensive to produce an entire phone case? That's all I can come up with. IMO it seems like the perfect non-leather alternative that would obviously fit the phone like a glove, which is the best part about the cases they make, and fit the bill with Apple's zero carbon initiatives.
That said, I have a couple 15PM Apple silicone cases that degraded much faster than even the FW while also being lint magnets and not the most comfortable to handle (but grippy). I stopped using them because they were ugly (again, IMO) and got much uglier much faster. And I'm sure someone will point me to some AliExpress case that sounds like what I'm asking for but I'm not really asking for anything. I'm asking why Apple didn't just use the side material on their FW cases as the entire case material?
This has given me a love/hate relationship with all the current iPhone leather cases on the market. None of them truly get it right like Apple used to, which makes sense as they designed them in-house for their specific products. But I love the feel and patina of said cases, regardless of how they fit. Lucky Coin has been my go-to with the 15PM but none of them are as slim and elegant as Apple's discontinued FW. And every time I switch from actual leather back to FW, enjoying the fit and finish of the case itself, about the only thing I wish about FW was that it was all made out of the more robust side material. To me, that would have been a perfect transition from using leather.
