Where Do McKinley Grade 1 Leathers Originate

[conanobrienz]

like the same way H&M or bradington young does with their "married" leathers?

[drcollie]

McKinley Leather runs a promotional series (named "American Headliner") like virtually every maker, but they don't do a true 'married cover' kit, which is defined as leather sourced from a foreign country and cut & sewn in that county, then sent to the USA in a box for use when the frame is built. McKinley is a small Mom N' Pop operation with about 35 people and cannot do the big buy-ins required of married cover runs (hundreds of units) so they do all cut and sewing in their factory in North Carolina. Their promotional program spans three grades, from 1 to 3. At the low end, GR 1 its going to be Chinese, but at the 3 level, you're going to have some nice Euro leathers in there. So if you don't want a Chinese hide, go to the 2 or 3 level on the promo hides. The American Headliner program is about 15% savings and is their standard best selling frames and about 1/3 of their regular leathers in the program. They don't use special 'cheap' leathers for their promo (I like that fact) or frames so you are not buying a lower quality product from their main line. Because they offer about 1/4 of the leathers that Hancock & Moore does, they have a higher in-inventory rate as well, the net result is that most pieces are built in 3 to 4 weeks.

I will scan in and post the American Headliner program within a week or so as time allows.

[conanobrienz]

would you say the quality/lifespan of mckinleys g1 is better or worse than h&m's married leathers?

also on their site they have a pdf swatchlist. what does AH mean by the grade?

[drcollie]

Leather lifespan is never determined by price grade, its a function of how you well you take care of the leather in cleaning/conditioning and keeping it out of direct sunlight. That's true from any maker as long as the leather is top grain and not that artificial bonded stuff, or made from the splits.

Sorry, don't understand your last question...

[conanobrienz]

it won't let me directly link from the site here. but on their site there's a file pdf list with all their leather info

theres three brackets . "leather", "AH", "grade".

for example it says
BENJAMIN (A) Meadow, D, L3
AUSTIN (A) Chaps, C, L3
ESQUIRE (AP) Cassis, no letter, L3

under AH it varies letters A or B or C or D

[Flato]

I think i know what AH means, I believe it is referring to the American Headliner program and means that leather is part of it. A B C D are referring to the grades instead of 1234 and A means Aniline, AP means Aniline Plus .

[drcollie]

You are correct.

[conanobrienz]

can you post the pics of the AH leathers now drcollie? i'm seriously interested in a mckinley sofa

[drcollie]

Good idea. I shall photo those up as soon as I can get some time to do so. Hopefully will have them up in the next 3 to 7 days.

[conanobrienz]

dr. collie can you confirm for me whether the leather "trailblazer timber" is def china affiliated? since its a grade 1 AH