I thought I should post a final telling of our experiences with French Leather collection.
I went with a friend, who wanted 3 belts and a pair of ballet flat shoes made.
The owner is very personable, and a good salesman.
However, the rest of the story is less impressive.
OF course, they weren't done on the arranged day. That was fine, and exactly what we expected. No worries there.
So, when we went back 2 days later, they had finally been done.
The belts, for which he wanted the astounding price of $20Au each, were terrible. If I had made them, then I would have been a bit embarrassed. They were thick, clumsy, badly sewn, and instead of being sewn together around the buckle, had rivets put in that were not even properly put in. These were meant to be slim, lightweight ladies belts, there was no way you would wear them.
All in all, not good at all.
The shoes looked ok, but when put on, twisted the wearer's feet inwards at a very odd angle.
As I said, none of these were for me, all for my friend.
But, what a disappoinment! I did ask him, would he accept them like that, and he DID have the grace to admit, no, that he wouldn't accept that level of shoddiness.
I'm afraid that it's totally convinced me of the unlikeliness of ever getting things well made. I know people do it all the time, but I've never seen first hand, a good result.