I’m so tempted to get this.
Was about to try Horween leather from TaoBao(pic below). But that will be $15 more.
Did anyone try both Nappa Leather and Horween Leather? What’s the difference?
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Leather Cases - Patina Proud Photos
- Thread starter JamiLynee
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Was about to try Horween leather from TaoBao(pic below). But that will be $15 more.
Did anyone try both Nappa Leather and Horween Leather? What’s the difference?
Looks great, Please post pic of Slate Gray when it comes, I have Lonli edition in brown but if Gray looks good will get it as well, thanks
Nope. The reality to me is that most smooth leather cases look like plastic. Apple’s recent cases are the best example of this. I had three for my 14 Pro and on all of them the paint, sorry ‘leather’ wore away on the front. This one smells and feels many times better.Funnily enough it’s the other way around in reality. Structured leather like pebble grain always have lots more finishing than smooth leather. Finishing is a vinyl coating, as in plastic. Try putting acetone on it and scrape a bit
I know someone asked about the weight and I’d say it’s fine. Especially with the lighter 15 Pro.
I was talking about the reality, of high quality leather. Not how it looks to you. I thought I didn’t have to specify “high quality leather” though. Apple cases are excluded because since iPhone 12 or whatever it was they’ve been using absolute trash and called it leather.
So, again, when comparing high quality leather the smooth ones always have much less, sometimes none at all, finishing. Grained leather have A LOT of finishing. It is not a matter of opinion, it is fact. Even a $10000 Hermés bag made in shrunken calf skin (which creates a fully natural grain and not stamped faked grain) is heavily finished with plastic.
That does not mean grained leather is lower quality just because it has plastic finishing. I was just commenting on what looks plastic to you is actually less plastic.
Nappa leather is regular leather that has been buffed/sanded to create a sort of suede feeling. Horween is a tannery so that is leather from that specific tannery, which doesn’t specify what kind of leather it is. Horween only produces top tier leather though.
From my experience all leather cases patina this fast. I don’t think it’s exclusive to BS. Aren’t they all unfinished?
I have never felt a non Apple leather case so cannot comment on unfinished or not, but yes that would make sense. The heavier finish the slower the patina is. Or completely blocks patina if there’s too much finishing.
Which is what Apple was doing. Heavy finish, almost no patina, and then the coating was coming off rather than patina.
I am just thinking all these leather cases will patina rather quickly. It’s leather that is held put in and out of pockets all day. I think they are just always going to show patina rather quickly because of that.
Apple leather cases up to iPhone 11 had better leather and less finishing, so the patina developed much much slower, which I preferred. I want a saddle brown case that has aged, not a dark brown case.
Didn’t you order the Ryan London? I may have gotten you confused with someone else.
I line you love the iPhone 11 and older Apple cases. The saddle brown on the X was my favorite case ever. Kinda makes me want to try and daily an 11PM just to get that saddle brown goodness of the great Apple leather cases.
This Bullstrap I am using now gets the color right. The feel of the Apple leather case isn’t there. This has way more texture to the leather, but it seems to be breaking in pretty nicely. I like you just want a nice aged leather.
Any idea when you are supposed to get it?
I am glad I didn’t upgrade to the 15PM. I am really wanting to enjoy the Bullstrap case, but it’s still not my go to yet like the Apple leather case is. My ink Apple leather case is still the case I would choose over anything for my 14PM. Of course it’s not the best leather, but it feels great.
Some of them are definitely using real leather. Popular companies like bullstrap/nomad just mark up their cases because they can and end up making a 10-15x profit per case.
I don't have a new Apple leather case on hadn't to compare, but it feels just about the same in terms of grip. I expect it to get less slippery in a few weeks' time.
I have not found anything so far that is like the Apple leather case. So disappointing. I even tried one of those eBay fake Apple leather cases for the iPhone 15 Pro Max. It is ok, but feels like plastic, not leather. Feels heavier too.
Not sure why some leather mfg can’t come out with an exact replica of the Apple minimalistic leather case. Going to try Andor when the new one comes out, but sounds like that is heavier. Could always go naked, since I got AC.
I also have a Apple FW case, which I thought would not wear well, but after 3 weeks it still looks like new, but still not like leather, but better than anything else I have tried.
Feel bad all these case mfg’s that get all these returns though. What a waste.
The exact reason I didn’t upgrade. I might see how long I can run this 14PM to keep the leather cases. I like you just haven’t found the perfect “go to” leather case to replace the Apple leather case. Of course it’s not perfect, but it was perfect for me.
So I will list my finds to maybe help you.
Bullstrap- if you like open button cases, this or Ryan London will do the trick. It’s thicker, not as smooth, and over all heavier than Apple’s offering. High quality leather, still waiting on the grip to come along. Over all nice case with great colors.
Andar- Closest thing to Apple leather case in shape. It’s heavier but not by much. Still don’t get that smooth soft feel that Apple offers. Well after some break in the Apple got grippy, so maybe the Andar is the same. If you like texture to your leather, the Andar has got it. Colors are great. It’s honestly the closest you can get with a mainstream provider.
Blue Bonnet- I wanted to love this because it was almost the same size as the Apple leather case, and mostly as smooth, but the buttons were terrible. Also color of the case was darker than it appeared online. I think it has some great ideas, but needs some work.
Those are the 3 I have tried in my search.
In my opinion the reason no manufacturer can replicate the Apple leather case:
1. They want to stand out and do their own thing. They want to be known for their case. Lots of people didn’t like the Apple leather cases, so they want to offer some different.
2. And I think this is biggest reason. Case manufacturers want to be out on release day. Well that means they are taking guesses on the dimensions of the phones and any added buttons or hardware based on rumors and dummy units. As we saw with Andar it bit them because they didn’t have the action button. Without having the phone in hand to test with the case, they can’t make a case that fits like Apple’s. Apples was the perfect fit because they made the phone. No added bulk. The other guys don’t have that luxury. Sure they could thin out their cases now, but they aren’t changing up their design after all these years. It’s been working well enough. Probably better now that Apple is out of the leather game.
I just don’t think we will ever see anything like the Apple leather cases. This 14PM better last a really long time.
The Keyway case was the closest I’ve found so far but it’s about 6 grams heavier than the apple leather. I just went ahead and removed my screen protector as it weighed 11 grams so that made up the difference. I am looking forward to the bare skin case as they always have minimalist cases and they have stated it will be high quality leather. It’s supposed to be announced this week.
The aspen is the bulkiest/heaviest one that I’ve tried for my 15pro so if you are looking for minimalist case like apples I wouldn’t recommend it.
Ok I have an idea. We should start a company and design a leather case. Really we probably would just send an apple case to a manufacturer and say we want to make a case exactly like this to fit the 15s. Then we make our logo look extremely similar to apples and put it on the back of the case. If we make it big and get apples attention they will sue us and we will get a ton of publicity. Then we change our logo and sell millions of cases.
Looks great, but unfortunately sold out. This is one of the only case makers that make a light brown/grey color as opposed to the warm saddle brown, so I'll probably try this once they're back in stock.
I've been scouring this thread for awhile and here's my consensus from what I've read for full grain/top grain leather cases:
- Bullstrap - Flush camera bump and open bottom (I don't like either). Most expensive and price increasing even further. But has good color options.
- Ryan London - Open bottom and flush camera bump like BS. Only 3 color options (Black, Dark Brown, Saddle Brown). Good cheaper alternative to BS if you like one of those colors.
- Wilken - Like BS and RL, but only comes in brown. Confirmed to have action button. Cheaper than both at $44.
- Andar Aspen - Seems like a good option, lots of colors. A bit thicker than the other cases.
- Keyway - Only 3 colors (Brown, Black, Light Brown/Grey). Similar to Andar but thinner. Less expensive than the other cases with save20 promo code (~$42). Good option if you don't care about metal X branding on back of phone.
- Nomad - Leather only on the back. TPU on the sides, but possibly better protection because of that.
- Lonli - Has crooked buttons apparently. Nappa full grain leather according to description.
- Mujjo - Seems members here not that impressed with the quality of this one.
- Decoded - Massive metal camera cutout and branding. Genuine European Aniline Leather.
- Bellroy - Not mentioned here, but they also have cases with the action button coming later. Eco-tanned leather.
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