How to Buy REAL Leather in Italy, and NOT Get Scammed!

How to Buy REAL Leather in Italy, and NOT Get Scammed!

When you come to Italy, and especially Florence, stay away from these hustler leather salesmen on the streets here. Let’s find out why. So first, let’s uncover the sneaky tricks these street sellers use and find out just how much
this so-called leather is actually worth. Then we’ll hear what an authentic Italian leather workshop has to say about these guys. And finally, stick around to the end, because I’ll show you how to spot and support real Italian craftsmanship and the prices might surprise you! Hey, buddy. How are you? How are you, Sir? Fine. Take a close look at the sign on those fake leather belts. It says one for €10. Remember that. It’s going to matter later when I start bargaining. Yeah. These belts are supposed to be leather, but I wasn’t convinced. Just getting up close. I could tell the buckles looked cheap, and honestly, it didn’t feel or even smell like leather to me. The belt says, “Made in Italy.” But let’s be real. Anyone can print that. It doesn’t really prove a thing. How does he drop the price from €69.99 to just €10? That’s the same price as the fake leather belts he’s selling. So is it real leather or just a made in China imitation? We’re going to visit a proper leather store later in this video, and a local woman is going to spill the beans on what’s really going on. So stay tuned. The leather being sold
on the streets here, it’s exactly the same as the fake Kashmir pashminas or Kashmir shawls being sold in Delhi. Exactly the same thing. Now, if you want to buy really cheap stuff here, really cheap and fake leather, you can come to a market like this. I’ll put the link in the description and you get the same stuff for way cheaper than on the streets in the centre of Florence. And the belts here, same ones, their all €5 each. And even in Italy you can get fake copies of Italian brands. Look at that. €15 each. Now let’s go check out a more luxury workshop and a school. And, let’s find out why the hell are these dudes able to sell fake leather all over the street? Oh, very low quality leather all over the street. And after this place, I’ll take you to a lone craftsman’s workshop where you’ll find better prices, fast turnarounds, unlimited customisation. You’re not going to
want to miss it! This leather school… My camera can’t even
capture how big this church is. It’s on the backside
of this church. It’s ginormous. There’s no way to capture this with my camera and it’s a wide angle lens. Look at that!
They’ve got a little farm. How cute. Look at this, you can come here and they’ll make the bag for you. And you can choose the colour that you want. Look at all the different
designs they have. It’s just amazing. This is where you want to come. And you can even see the craftsmen at work here. Look at that. The craftsmen’s’ table are right here. And you can shop
tax-free here as well. If you’re flying out of Europe. Have you seen all those sellers out on the street selling stuff? It’s not right. It’s synthetic. I understand. There’s so many of them though. I don’t know why they’re allowed to operate
in the city when… Yeah. It’s okay. I’m just surprised they
allow them to operate because it’s like people are getting fooled and it it hurts Florence’s reputation. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you come here
and you can you can see the quality straight away. The difference. Yeah. It’s really obvious. Yeah. Totally. Yeah. It’s easy, it’s easy. So there’s different types of leather workshops. You can go to like a sole leather workshop.
It’s just one guy in there creating leather goods. And his stuff is half the price of those more expensive, and you can say more luxury leather workshops that you’ll find here in Florence. Hi, how are you? She’s my wife. She’s from India. Yeah, I know. Yes, I have an Indian accent. It is. This is what. The ones you hear overseas are more stereotypical. This is the normal Indian accent. What do you do here? Okay. Lovely. Wow. It looks brand new. Yeah. And how much do
you sell your belts for? Okay. Yeah. Got it. Yeah, very good. Feel this. This is much softer
than the other stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh really? That’s where I’m from. Yeah, yeah, I can speak. I live there, so you have to speak, actually. You have to. We found a workshop here, which where you can see there’s a whole setup where they actually make it. And this is real leather. It’s double leather on both sides. And this is for €28, which is a deal considering we’ve gone around a few places and looked at some shops. And this one, if you can come closer, you can actually see there’s a white ivory thing in the middle and there’s a grey border outside. So there’s like nice detailing on it as well. And I don’t really like silver buckles, so he’s to customise it for me and give me a golden instead, which is great. So this is the top piece. And this is the… Yeah. Got it. What was your name? Dimitri?
– Yeah. Cool. Nice to meet you. Thank you. Karl. Karl?
– Yes. Manisha. Thank you so much. Thanks, Dimitri. So how is that? What did you get? Show us. I got a lovely belt and he changed the buckle for me, adjusted the size for me, and he did a lot of hard work. So I told you not to worry about the change.
But he would… He insisted, and he gave
me change back. He did not. He would not keep it. Yeah. Dimitri, wouldn’t take a tip. I’m going to put his shop in the description as well. And, that was that was cheap. In a luxury workshop, you’re going to see these for €60. She got it for €28 in a solo workman’s shop. Imagine, of all the people shopping here, we went to Dimitri’s store and we’re buying real leather from a craftsman. Yeah. Imagine. That’s the effect that these shops have on
the real craftsmen. And the difference is, you can buy that
$10 fake leather belt anywhere in the world. But I’ve got a slightly more expensive but way better quality made in Italy, made in Florence, belt. And that’s a memory. And this is going to last me. You’re taking away a piece of Florence.

Looking to buy real leather in Florence, Italy, without falling into the trap of fake or low-quality sellers? In this video, I’ll show you how to spot fake leather and avoid scams while shopping in one of the world’s leather capitals.

Join me as I visit a luxury leather store to uncover why Florence’s reputation is under threat. Then, I end up at a solo craftsman’s workshop to buy a high-quality belt at an amazing price.

Whether you’re a first-time buyer or a seasoned traveller, this guide will help you shop confidently!

The cheapest market we found in Florence was Mercato delle Cascine which is open every Tuesday from 8 am – 2 pm https://maps.app.goo.gl/NKR7hh66GCaYGV85A. This weekly market in the Cascine Park on the banks of the Arno River is like shopping in a huge open-air department store.

The high-end leather school and workshop we visited is Scuola del Cuoio Leather School of Florence https://maps.app.goo.gl/LW4amiheNPKEm7P77. It takes them a week to make custom orders.

The solo craftsman’s workshop and store was ‘Made in Tuscany’ https://maps.app.goo.gl/6pf6KMnTaoCzKDAj6.

Featuring @ManishaMalikIndia.

00:00 How to avoid fake leather
00:33 The worst leather in Italy
05:29 The cheapest market for leather
06:20 Luxury tax-free leather boutique
07:31 Why is fake leather allowed in Italy?
09:22 Best-priced REAL leather
11:48 Sole craftsman workshop
14:00 Why buy real Italian leather?

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