Elkskin - rare, popular and hugely comfortable

The leather that BÄR imports from the far north of Sweden and Norway is becoming increasingly popular in our climes. The elkskins are rare, selected by hand and tanned in a very time-consuming procedure. Elk leather is a top-quality and particularly soft material primarily used as suede for exclusive traditional leather costumes. As smooth leather, it also satisfies the highest demands in terms of the comfort and suppleness of BÄR shoes. Elk leather is very demanding on the BÄR shoemakers as life in the wild means that the surface of the leather carries many different marks of life – ranging from insect bites to scratches from thorns to the marks left by fights with other animals. This leather, in the original BÄR shapes, is used to manufacture some of the most comfortable shoes in the world.

Moufflon leather - robust with a unique character

Wild sheep, moufflons, found their way to us from Anatolia over 10,000 years ago. Moufflon leather, with its earthy grain, reflects the inhospitable areas of land which gave the moufflons their sparse home and seems to tell a story. And it is the identifying feature of our popular “Agnello”.

Chevreaux - soft and durable through vegetable tanning

All year round, the small herds of Pakistani Chevreaux goats wander over scree and crags. The extreme climate, with blisteringly hot days and wintery cold nights, makes their hides particularly tough and resistant to climate changes. As a result, their hides have little “give”, thereby preserving the shape of the BÄR shoes which are nevertheless comfortable to wear. Chevreaux is a very fine yet highly tearproof and durable smooth leather which has a solid structure and a shiny surface. BÄR mostly uses Chevreaux leather which has been tanned using plants so that the shoe develops an increasingly attractive patina over time. The surface of plaited shoes is often brought to shine by hand with a rosewood stick, making the “peaks” darken due to the frictional heat and the pressure while the “troughs” remain light.

Calfskin - fine and soft as a glove

Calfskin comes from young cattle, or so-called “sucklings”. Consequently, the leather has yet to develop large pores and hasn’t suffered damage from scars caused by fences, thorny hedges or insect bites. Instead, it has a particularly soft and smooth surface which is ideal for our top-quality ladies’ shoes. The hides are relatively small and can only be worked to perfection by specialists. Small tanneries in Italy, mostly long-standing family affairs, search out the best pieces for BÄR products – handpicked by expert eyes and handled with an attention to detail and highly-specialised knowledge that is handed down orally from generation to generation so that the secret stays in the family.

Cowhide - sturdy leather from

Experts can tell from cowhide how and where the cow lived and more importantly what the animal lived through, just as with the growth rings in trees: scratches from thorny hedges, scars from insect bites, stretch marks resulting from pregnancies and the marks left by fights for social ranking all tell their own story. In selecting the cowhide used in our production process, primarily taken from free-range cattle in Norway, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and America, our shoemakers must satisfy very stringent requirements. The same is true of their workmanship, for example using the knife in such a way that defects or brands cannot be seen. The leather for classic and sporty models comes from cattle that have grazed on the lush meadows of Normandy, Norway and Switzerland. For our sturdy models, and in particular hiking boots, we prefer to use the leather of “seasoned” cattle from the huge American prairie herds which are used to making their way through rugged terrain in all kinds of weather: from mile-long treks to new pastures to fights for social rank in the herd. The resulting leather is extremely robust and carries individual marks of scratches caused by hedges or fights with other animals. Connoisseurs value these marks which make their shoes distinctive one-of-a-kind models. Calfskin, on the other hand, is a different matter altogether.

Buffalo calfskin - soft and sturdy, ideal for plaited shoes

The fact that water buffalo in India and Thailand wallow in pools is very easy to explain. The water and mud protect their hides from the tropical climate with temperatures rising to 50°C while tanning their hides almost while they are still alive: water buffalo have virtually no hair – any why would they? It is no surprise that the leather is similar to the animal itself: tough, robust and yet soft – the result of the animal’s daily personal hygiene routine. Water buffalo, then, provide a fine leather which, if handled accordingly, produces an excellent depth of colour. For the fine strips of plaited shoes, BÄR often uses buffalo leather as it remains sturdy when plaited and the flexibility of the straps increases the comfort. The distinguishing characteristic of buffalo leather is that it has very few pores which are therefore big – as a result of the lack of hair.

Lamb nappa - soft as a second skin

Lamb nappa can be found in the entire Mediterranean area – taken primarily from lambs grazing on the broad plains of Castile or the precipitous mountain sides of the Peloponnese. Nappa leather is made washable by means of the process of re-tanning. This also produces particularly soft leather that fits your foot like a glove. That is why it is the material of choice for comfortable BÄR summer sandals.

Kangaroo leather - for the most durable sports shoes possible

According to the “Guinness Book of Records”, the kangaroo is the world’s best high jumper (3.10 m) and long jumper (12.80 m). It is no surprise, then, that kangaroo leather is primarily used for sports shoes subject to heavy wear: it is the most durable leather in terms of resistance and durability – and the most abrasion-proof of all materials used in the clothing industry. It is not only footballers and motorbike riders who appreciate this, but, increasingly, everyday pedestrians. As a result of life in the wild, kangaroo leather often has numerous scars on the surface, making each pair of shoes made from kangaroo leather one-of-a-kind. The supply of kangaroo leather is nevertheless limited and BÄR uses it for its “HighPerformance” models.

Doubleface - one side skin, one side leather

Doubleface is convincing from both sides and is the name given to naturally waxed sheepskin or lambskin, worn with the warm wool side on the inside and the sturdy suede side on the outside. Thanks to its unique insulation, Doubleface is used not only for clothes and gloves but for winter shoes and boots (e.g. the BÄR “Lammfellmokassin”). Doubleface is also called fleece suede or waxed lamb suede – and with a light finish on the suede side it is also referred to as Nappalan.

Suede – for uppers and linings

Coarse-grained suede can be obtained in two ways, either by buffing thin skins on the “flesh” side of the hide or splitting think skins horizontally, whereby the upper part results in the grain leather (full leather and/or Nappa) and the lower part the suede split leather. As it is particularly coarse-grained, it is primarily used for sports shoes or as a lining in the heel due to its non-slip properties.

Nubuck – with a velvety surface

The raw materials used for nubuck leather are select calfskins and cowhides which are totally free from scars. These are only lightly buffed on the “scarred” side – the top side of the hide – to create the typical velvet-like surface which is the particular attraction of nubuck leather.

Smooth leather

The term “smooth leather” is used to describe all leathers which do not have a napped finish. The surface can be smooth, structured, with markings or embossed. Smooth leather is mostly produced using calfskin or cowhide, although goatskin can also be used.