Twenty-two answers before you write.

You do not place an order here. This site is a showcase: send the SKU, quantity, finish and destination by email or WhatsApp, and we reply within one business day with availability, a price in US dollars and a lead time. If you accept, we issue an invoice in the name of the Hong Kong company shown on every page. Work starts after cleared funds. There is no cart and no card form anywhere on this site.

Give us six things and we can usually quote the same day: the piece name or SKU, the quantity, the colour and finish you want, the destination country and city, the date you need the piece in hand, and whether you already hold an import permit for crocodilian goods. For a single personal piece the first four are enough. A photograph of a hide you like helps us match tone, but the SKU is what fixes the price.

Standard pieces are paid in full before dispatch, by bank transfer or the method named on the invoice. Made-to-order, personalised and trade runs may be split: a deposit when the hide is allocated, and the balance before dispatch, stated in writing in the confirmation email. We never ask for card details by email or WhatsApp, and we never ask for a transfer to a personal account. Payment instructions are valid only on an invoice bearing the registered company name.

We answer enquiries within one business day, Monday to Friday, Hong Kong time, which is GMT plus eight. Wholesale, press and after-sales messages all reach the same desk. We write in English. An enquiry that arrives late on a Friday afternoon in Hong Kong is answered on Monday. A message that arrives with the SKU, the destination and the date needed is usually answered with a firm quote rather than another question.

Alligator and crocodile, from the animal itself. The range uses American alligator and Nile crocodile, with porosus belly for the belts. We do not buy embossed or printed cowhide and call it crocodile, and we do not sand a genuine skin flat and press a pattern back onto it. Every hide arrives with a CITES export permit and a tannery lot number, which we file against the order the hide was cut for.

Because the hide grew. Scale tiles differ in size, the flank is softer than the belly, the tail ridge runs at its own angle, and colour depth moves across a single skin. Two briefcases cut from the same lot will not match each other. Photographs are representative, not a copy of the skin you will receive. This is grain variance, not a defect, and it is the reason a crocodilian piece looks like leather rather than a printed pattern.

Matte is a softer, drier surface that shows scale detail clearly and takes patina quickly along the handles and edges. Glossy is a polished surface with deeper reflectivity; it hides small marks better but shows fingerprints. The finish is worked into the hide rather than sprayed on as a film, so both change with use. We can tell you which finish suits a particular hide before you commit to an order.

Dimensions on each product page are the nominal size. Because every hide is a different shape and the cutter follows the scale flow rather than a steel die, a hand-cut piece can vary by roughly two to three millimetres, and weight varies with the thickness of the skin. If a millimetre matters, for a fitted sleeve or a case that must slot into a bag, tell us and we will measure the actual piece before dispatch.

Yes. Alligator and crocodile pieces move under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. We supply the export permit and re-export documentation for the hide we ship, plus the commercial invoice your broker needs. You are the importer of record, so any import permit, notification or clearance your own country requires is your responsibility. We can send copies of our permits before shipping so that your broker can prepare the file in advance.

You do, unless the written confirmation says DDP. Prices are quoted in US dollars and exclude destination taxes, duty, brokerage and any inspection fee. The courier normally collects these before delivery. We declare the shipment accurately and honestly; we will not under-declare value to reduce duty, and we will not describe a crocodilian shipment as something it is not. If you have your own broker or freight account, tell us and we will use it.

Standard pieces are packed within three working days of cleared payment. Small goods go by recorded courier and typically arrive in five to twelve working days depending on the destination. Structured pieces such as briefcases and travel cases are quoted by air freight, which is faster but needs a broker. A shipment that requires an import permit may wait on your side of the border. Plan around the date in your confirmation email.

Tell us before we ship. If your country restricts crocodilian imports and you do not hold the permit, the parcel can be refused, held or returned by customs. In that case we refund the price of the goods less the outbound freight, the return freight and any duty or storage we have had to pay. We cannot backdate a permit or clear goods on your behalf. Our export documentation stays on the order record and we will send you a copy.

Fourteen calendar days from the day the courier records delivery. Unused means the piece has not been carried, worn, loaded or sized: the handle not carried, the belt not punched, the card holder not filled. The original wrap, the care card and the CITES copy we sent must come back with it. If you tried the piece and returned it to the tissue straight away, that is fine. Once a hide carries body oils or scuffs it cannot be resold.

No. Crocodilian hides vary by batch, by animal and by position on the animal, and hand-cut pieces carry a two-to-three millimetre size tolerance. Grain, scale pattern and colour depth will differ from the photograph and from another piece cut from the same lot. You may return an unused piece within 14 days if the variance is not what you wanted, but we do not treat it as a defect and there is no fault remedy for it.

A real fault is a failure of workmanship: a split seam, a lifting edge, a brass fitting that will not close, a lining glued short, the wrong SKU, or CITES paperwork that does not match the hide supplied. For those you choose the remedy, whether workshop repair, replacement from the same lot where stock allows, or a full refund. We pay freight both ways and refund evidenced duty. The workmanship warranty runs for 12 months and is separate from the 14-day window.

Photograph the outer carton, the moulded pulp cradle, the tissue and the piece on the day of delivery, before you use anything, and email the images with the order reference. We replace or refund the damaged piece, cover the freight and open a claim with the courier. Do not send the piece back before we issue a return authorisation number; an unauthorised parcel cannot be matched to an order or to a reason.

Wipe it with a dry or barely damp soft cloth after use and keep it away from standing water, heat and direct sun. Condition sparingly with a dedicated neutral cream, twice a year at most, worked in with a fingertip and buffed off. Never use saddle soap, solvent, alcohol or a household leather spray on a crocodilian skin. Hand-finished edges need nothing. If the surface starts to look dry, ask us before you apply anything.

Store the piece in its dust bag in a dry, airy cupboard rather than a sealed box, and let it breathe after a damp day. Mould needs high humidity and still air, so airflow matters more than temperature. Silica packs help inside a closed case but must be replaced when spent. If a white bloom appears, wipe it off with a dry cloth, air the piece for a day, and only then decide whether it is mould or the natural waxy bloom that hides produce.

Yes. The hardware is solid brass and left unlacquered unless you asked for nickel, so it darkens and dulls with handling and humidity. Patina is the same process on the hide: colour deepens along the handle, the edges and the closures as the surface is handled and conditioned. It is not wear and it is not a fault. Some owners polish the brass back; most let it go. Either is fine, but keep abrasive polish away from a finished edge.

The seller is the Hong Kong company named in the block on every page of this site and on your invoice. It is a trading company registered in Hong Kong and it is the party to your contract. This website is operated by that company, not by a marketplace and not by a drop-shipper. Payment goes to the account on its invoice, correspondence comes from its desk, and any dispute is with that company under the law of Hong Kong.

We buy from tanneries that hold the required permits and we keep the chain of documentation for every hide: species, tannery lot, CITES export permit and the re-export paperwork issued for the shipment. Those records are filed against the order the hide was used for and retained with it. We do not buy skins without paperwork, and we will show the permits for a piece on request. We do not describe embossed leather as crocodile.

Email the order reference with the subject line Complaint. We acknowledge within two business days and give a substantive answer within five business days. If the answer depends on a workshop inspection or a courier trace, we give you a date instead of leaving the thread open. If you are not satisfied, ask for escalation and the matter goes to a director of the seller. Data protection complaints can also go to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data in Hong Kong.