“In Stock” Leather: Catalogue, Shelf or Reserved?
Every leather offer says the article is available. Almost none of them say in which of the three senses — and the three behave very differently the day you reorder.
A guide by TL San Martín, a tannery of origin in Elda (Alicante, Spain) since 1995, LWG Gold certified under the Leather Manufacturer standard.
“In stock” means three different things, and only one of them is a commitment. A catalogue article is a recipe the tannery can run. Available stock is hide physically on a shelf, unreserved, sellable to whoever pays first. A reserved batch is tonnage held in your name, in writing, with a date on it.
Nobody lies about this. The supplier who says "yes, we have it" is usually telling the truth in one of the three senses below. The problem is that the buyer hears the third one — my leather is waiting for me — and pays for the first.
The difference is invisible on the first order and expensive on the second. It is also the single most useful question a new brand can ask, because the answer tells you what kind of supplier you are talking to before any sample ships. If you have not yet worked out which figure you are dealing with at all, start with tannery or distributor and come back here.
What are the three things a supplier can mean?
1. A catalogue article. The article exists as a specification: a named hide, a tannage, a finish, a colour reference the tannery can reproduce. Nothing physical is waiting anywhere. "In stock" here means we know how to make this. Lead time is a full production cycle.
2. Available stock. Hide is physically on a shelf, finished, in that colour and that thickness. It is real. It is also unreserved: it belongs to whoever sends a purchase order first. This is the model a stock house runs — hundreds of articles, single hides, shipped in a day or two. Legitimate and often exactly what you need. It is not yours until it is invoiced.
3. A reserved batch. A quantity is allocated to your name, against a written commitment, with a call-off period and an expiry date. This is the only version that survives a repeat order, and the only one that protects colour continuity, because it is all coming off the same lot.
A useful test: ask how many square feet of this colour are physically on the floor today, and is any of it committed to someone else? A catalogue article cannot answer that question at all. Shelf stock answers it with a number that changes daily. A reserved batch answers it with your name.
Which clock are you actually on?
This is where the money is, and it is the part nobody reconciles.
A healthy production lead time for footwear or bags runs roughly 30 to 45 days. Tanning and finishing hide to a specified colour and substance commonly runs ten to sixteen weeks for standard work, and longer for a colour that has to be developed. Those are not the same clock, and the second one sits upstream of the first.
So when a factory tells a young brand "materials take a few weeks", the number quoted is usually for shelf stock. Book a catalogue article on that assumption and the shortfall does not appear at the start of the window — it appears two or three weeks in, when the factory goes to draw material and finds it backordered. By then the shoe delivery date is already sold to a retailer.
Notice who writes about this. The warning to get written confirmation that your material is actually in stock is standard advice on the footwear-factory and sourcing-agency side. It is almost absent from the tannery side, which is where the answer actually lives. That gap is the reason this page exists.
What does each one cost you?
| Catalogue article | Available stock | Reserved batch | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waiting time | Full production cycle, ~10–16 weeks | Days | Agreed call-offs |
| Price per sq ft | Lowest at volume | Highest — you pay for the service | Between the two |
| Cash tied up | On order, paid to schedule | Only what you draw | Committed up front or on deposit |
| Colour across a repeat | New lot, new shading | Whatever is left, often several lots | Same lot, consistent |
| Risk you carry | Timing | Availability | Unsold inventory |
| Who it suits | Known, repeating volume | Prototypes, first runs, top-ups | A brand with a signature colour |
The trade is honest in all three columns. Shelf stock sells you time and charges for it. A reserved batch sells you continuity and charges you in working capital. A catalogue article is the cheapest per square foot and the most expensive to be wrong about. The cost side of that decision is laid out in leather price per square foot; the quantity side in your first leather order.
One more thing sits behind column three. Colour minimums exist because the reservation happens at the dyeing stage, on crust — undyed, tanned hide — and a drum has to be filled. That is also why the shade you approved and the shade you receive can differ if the two came off different lots. The mechanics are in sample to bulk consistency, and the way small brands get around the minimum is in sharing a leather batch.
How do you turn "in stock" into something written?
Five lines. They cost nothing to ask for, and a supplier who cannot put them in an email has answered the question anyway.
- Square feet or square metres physically available today, in this colour and this substance. A number, not "plenty".
- Lot or batch reference, and whether the quantity comes from one lot or several. One lot means one shade.
- Reservation period and expiry — how long it is held, and what happens to it if you do not call it off.
- Replenishment lead time if the reservation runs out, stated in weeks, not "quickly".
- Who the article belongs to. If it is a stock house, the article is made by a tannery it may not name, and the batch behind it can change without notice.
That last point is where certification stops being decoration. An LWG Gold certificate under the Leather Manufacturer standard — the only standard in which the Gold medal exists; a Trader reaches "Approved" at most — is issued to the plant that runs the process, not to the hide in your order. So it tells you who tanned it only if the certificate holder is the one selling it to you. How to read an LWG certificate covers what the URN does and does not cover, and what your invoice commits to covers the wording that has to appear on the paperwork.
When is unreserved stock the right answer?
Often. For a prototype, a first colourway, a sales-sample run, or a top-up of forty square feet to finish an order, shelf stock is the correct and cheaper tool, and reserving a batch would be a waste of cash.
The rule is about where in the product's life you are. Use shelf stock while the article is still being decided. Move to a reserved batch the moment a colour becomes part of the brand and a second order is foreseeable. Brands that skip that transition usually discover it through a shade complaint from a retailer, which is a much more expensive way to learn it.
If your reading is in Spanish, the same distinction — catalogue, real stock and a held batch — is set out from the warehouse side in almacén de pieles en España, and the material starting point for footwear is the hub leather for shoes.
Sourcing an article, or holding a batch for a season?
Post what you are looking for in the Materials category of TL San Martín's open Business Board — free, B2B, and read weekly by tanneries, suppliers and workshops. If what you need is a production partner rather than the hide itself, Partners & factories is the category for it.
Go to the Business Board → · Request samples →
Frequently asked questions
Is a reserved batch the same as a minimum order?
No. A minimum is the smallest quantity a supplier will run, usually driven by filling a dye drum. A reservation is what happens to that quantity afterwards: how much is held for you, for how long, and in how many call-offs. You can hit a minimum and still have nothing reserved.
Can a tannery hold stock of a standard article?
Yes, and most do for their core range — that is available stock in sense two. The distinction that matters is whether your name is on any of it. Ask for the reservation in writing and the answer stops being ambiguous.
What happens if the reserved batch expires unused?
It depends entirely on what was agreed, which is why point three above is on the list. Normal practice is that the hide goes back into general stock and any deposit is applied to a future order, but nothing about that is automatic. Get it in the confirmation.
Do we need a reserved batch for our very first order?
Usually not. On a first order the article is still moving — thickness, finish, sometimes colour. Reserve once the specification stops changing. Before that, samples and shelf stock are the cheaper way to find out what you actually want. Request samples.
TL San Martín tans and finishes leather in Elda, Alicante, since 1995: LWG Gold under the Leather Manufacturer standard — the only standard under which a Gold medal exists at all; a Trader tops out at “Approved”. Request samples before you specify anything.