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Page Two of iPAQ 2200 Handmade Exotic Leather Case from n-Signia
We asked Graham Walker of n-Signia cases about the use of exotic leathers and how he would respond to various concerns about wildlife preservation. This is what he had to say:

Our products are made from a variety of leathers and there are a number of leathers that we are looking at using in the future. Some of these leathers, like cowhide, are extremely common and usually cause no problems. Others are just a bit unusual, like Barramundi and Ostrich, and other types of leather, such as the crocodile, are more controversial.

We make sure that all of our leather comes from either a farmed animal, a government approved culling program or a byproduct of regulated human consumption.

For instance the Shark leather as well as the Barramundi leather, is a byproduct of the regulated fishing industry in Australia. This industry is carefully controlled to ensure that fish stocks in Australian waters are always maintained. The skins of fish that are caught and processed for human consumption are usually just thrown away. In Australia there is one company in Western Australia that takes these skins and tans them for use in leather products. To me this is a commendable enterprise rather than one that should be maligned.

The Barramundi and Shark leathers have interesting textures to them and make a very unique PDA case. The Barramundi is a fish with a large scale pattern and even though the leather originates from a fish the resultant leather after tanning feels and smells just like any other leather. Currently we use buffed shark leather. Natural shark leather is like sand paper and is actually used as sand paper in the medical industry. Buffing the leather reduces the abrasiveness of the leather while still providing a rough feel that lets you know that it is shark leather.

The Ostrich leather that we use is from farmed Ostriches. Ostriches are farmed all over the world for meat, leather and feathers and are not an endangered species.

We do not use the skins of wild Crocodiles. The Crocodile leather that we use is from farmed animals. There are only about a dozen or so crocodile farms in Australia. Each of these has to be run according to strict guidelines and have an approval number and certificate from Environment Australia. When we purchase these skins to make our products we always ensure that we get this approval information from the farm. When we ship the product we have to obtain a CITES export certificate from Environment Australia where we quote the approval certificate of the farm that provided the skin. This certificate is quite expensive and is part of the reason for the cost of the crocodile products as well as the very high cost of the leather itself.

The Kangaroo leather is from tanneries that obtain their skins from Environment Australia approved culling programs. These are strictly controlled programs to ensure that Kangaroo numbers don't get too low in drought periods (we actually have a drought at the moment so Kangaroo leather is quite hard to obtain due to reduced culling) or too high in high rainfall periods (where the Kangaroos would have a very high chance of starving to death once the weather returned to normal and food disappeared). The Kangaroos are used for both meat and leather so there is no wastage. If you own a pair of leather running shoes you most likely already own a Kangaroo leather product. The majority of Australian Kangaroo leather is used by large shoe companies as it is one of the strongest leathers available (about 6-8 times stronger than cowhide).

At present we don't have any snake or lizard leather products; however we are looking at making these products and will again be making sure that we get out leather from farmed animals only.

I hope this has helped clarify our position and has helped to show that we do not use endangered wild species and are careful to always obtain our leathers through legitimate, legal channels.

--Graham Walker

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