Clothing and accessories made of crocodile leather have long been considered a sign of power, prosperity, and wealth. Even in this day and age, not everyone can afford to buy an item constructed from reptile skin. A beautiful bags, belt or wallet featuring crocodile leather will not only emphasize your good taste and sense of style but also let everybody around know that you are a successful person.
Beautiful and Practical
Crocodile skin is highly valued for its unique appearance. Indeed, crocodile scales and bumps mesmerize. Only nature could come up with such an original design. Genuine crocodile leather wallets and purses carry these signature scale patterns with proud.
Not only alluring, reptile leather is also extraordinarily tough and wear-resistant. Crocodile skin consists of many horn plates arranged in rows. Under these plates on the dorsal and lateral parts, there are bone outgrowths called osteoderms. They are a natural armor of every crocodile. Although skins strewn with osteoderms are thick and rough (therefore, they are not used to craft clothes or boots), they excel as a decorative element. A bag’s or wallet’s front may bear this distinctive bumpy texture to draw in the attention you deserve.
Crocodile abdominal and thoracic skin is smoother and softer. It features no bony plates or bumpy growths. These are the most valuable leathers. Unfortunately, they are often forged.
Types of Reptile Skin
The appearance of reptile skin differs depending on the type of a reptile it was taken from (crocodile, caiman or alligator), as well as a particular body part.
As we have already pointed out, each reptile has bony growths embellishing its back. In the neck area, these growths arrange an interesting pattern, unique for every reptile species. You can easily determine which species your wallet is made of simply by looking at these bumps.
For example, in a Siamese crocodile, the layout of bone growths is always 4-2. Caimans’ patterns remain 4-4-2 while alligators have 2-2-2. The size and shape of these bumps is always different (because each skin is unique, just like our fingerprints) but the pattern remains unchanged.
Caiman, Crocodile or Alligator?
Osteoderms in the caiman skin are smaller in size than in other types of reptiles. Moreover, they feature a larger number of outgrowths. As a result, their dorsal and tail skin is more rigid and less flexible. When you bend caiman leather, you will notice a multitude of tiny cracks. In general, caiman leather feels dry-ish and coarse. While it is rarely used in clothes and shoe production due to lower durability, it is a decent inexpensive alternative to crocodile leather for wallets.
In crocodile leather, bone growths on the dorsal and tail parts, as well as skin plates on the abdomen, are larger in size. It makes their skin more flexible and pleasant to the touch.
Alligator leather is the most expensive out of all reptile skins. It is a bit softer and suppler than crocodile’s. A heavy price tag for alligator items is largely due to fewer alligator farms and more expensive production costs. Both alligator and crocodile leather wallets will serve you for many years while revealing you as a chic and stylish person.