• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Forum
  • Design Studio
  • Upholstery Jobs
  • Newsletter
  • Sponsors

The Hog Ring

Auto Upholstery Community

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Here’s How Rare it is to Find a Golden Hide

May 21, 2021 By Nadeem Muaddi

The Hog Ring - Heres How Rare it is to Find a Golden Hide

In our craft, golden hides are so rare that few trimmers will ever upholster a car interior in one. Some don’t even know what they are.

A golden hide has no natural characteristics — zero scarring, insect bites or growth planes. In other words, it’s absolutely perfect.

The Aston Martin One-77 was among the first cars to be trimmed in a golden hide, thanks to Scottish leather tannery Bridge of Weir.

They sourced eight golden hides for every one of the 77 models built. As Debra Choong, production designer for Bridge of Weir, explained to Forbes, it was a massive undertaking.

The Hog Ring - Heres How Rare it is to Find a Golden Hide

One of your most exciting projects was creating the “golden hides” for Aston Martin’s exclusive One-77. How did you achieve such perfect leather with no blemishes?

The brief was to create hides with no natural characteristics. Pure natural premium leather is normally all about celebrating its natural beauty — the imperfections are what makes it. Bringing the “golden hides” together was no easy task. To find bulls without natural defects is the same as finding a human who never had a cut, graze or skin blemish! We have no or little control over the cattle before they come to us as the bulls are raised for the meat industry.

The Hog Ring - Heres How Rare it is to Find a Golden Hide

What happened to the hides that didn’t make the grade?

On average, out of 200 hides that came into our factory, only one was deemed “golden.” So, to gather the eight hides required for a single One-77 interior, we had to select through 1,600 hides. The ones that didn’t make the grade were also extremely high quality and were used on other luxury cars.

The Hog Ring - Heres How Rare it is to Find a Golden Hide

If you do the math, Bridge of Weir had to examine 123,200 leather hides to upholster every Aston Martin One-77. How’s that for attention to detail?

To read the full interview with Choong, click here.

For luxury hides, check out Douglass Interior Products. They’re the exclusive distributor of Scottish Leather Group in the United States. Scottish Leather Group owns Bridge of Weir.

Filed Under: Archive, Interesting Read, Site Sponsors Tagged With: Auto Trim, Auto Upholstery, Bridge of Weir, Car Interior, Douglass Interior Products, Genuine Leather, Golden Hide

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Fred Mattson says

    May 23, 2021 at 10:05 pm

    I had the privilege of working with 3 of these fine leather hides back in the early 1980’s. The finish on the hides was a deep blue and the leather was so perfect that it was like working with vinyl.

    The leather went into a 1970 Cadillac.

  2. Rich Tice says

    May 24, 2021 at 7:32 am

    Ok, I must be missing something. Since most of the pieces that were cut from the hides are small, wouldn’t it have been more economical to use the best parts of less than perfect hides? Or, maybe the dye lots would be off. Not sure, but 1600 hides to find one good one?

Primary Sidebar

THR Sponsors

NC Sewing Machines
Top Down Group
Apex Leather
Miami Corporation RIght Rail - Ad 2
  • Moore & Giles Ad 1
  • Hyde Leather
  • GAHH Automotive
  • Mobile Solution
  • Douglass Interior Products
  • Keyston Bros
  • Albright's Supply

THR Favorites

The Hog Ring - Side Impact Airbag Seams

Read This Before Sewing Airbag Seams

One of the most heated debates in the auto … [more] about Read This Before Sewing Airbag Seams

The Hog Ring - 8 ways to make your trim shop more professional

8 Ways to Make Your Shop Professional

Auto upholstery shops that look and act … [more] about 8 Ways to Make Your Shop Professional

The Hog Ring - How to fix a skipped stitch

The Easiest Way to Fix a Skipped Stitch

You know what sucks? When your sewing machine … [more] about The Easiest Way to Fix a Skipped Stitch

The Hog Ring - Meet Oksana Ignatova of Stitch Girl Inc

Meet Oksana Ignatova of Stitch Girl Inc

Oksana Ignatova of Stitch Girl Inc is a … [more] about Meet Oksana Ignatova of Stitch Girl Inc

Auto Upholstery - The Hog Ring - Sid Chavers 1932 Ford

Photo: Cadillac-Inspired ’32 Ford Bench Seat

This Cadillac-inspired 1932 Ford 3W seat was … [more] about Photo: Cadillac-Inspired ’32 Ford Bench Seat

Auto Upholstery - The Hog Ring - M&M Hot Rod Interiors

Shop Profile: M&M Hot Rod Interiors

Since 1982, M&M Hot Rod Interiors in … [more] about Shop Profile: M&M Hot Rod Interiors

Categories

Footer

Recent Articles

  • Hydes Leather is Giving Trim Shops Cash Back on Orders
  • Apex Leather’s New Black Max Threadboard is Badass!
  • Trimmer Max Dickerson Dies at 85
  • Why is it called DAP Weldwood Adhesive?
  • BMW Won’t Charge Subscription Fees for Heated Seats

Recent Comments

  • Jack on Keyston Bros. Acquires DLT Corporation
  • Brodie Smith on Aston Martin Just Introduced a New Convertible DB12
  • THE CAPTAIN on 6 Tips for Turning Callers into Customers
  • Dmei on Star Wars Seat Covers are ‘So Wizard’
  • THE CAPTAIN on Should You Reinforce French Seams?

Advertise With Us!

We're always looking for companies to collaborate with. Watch this short video about the benefits of sponsorship and then email us to say hi.
anal porno bangbros rus porno yaşlı porno konulu porno olgun porno porno izle sarışın porno bakire sex 69 porno

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in