Elevate your restaurant with the Stalwart Look

Leather is an expensive material, especially when you’re comparing it to cotton, or other synthetic fabrics, so is it worth the investment for your establishment? If we’re talking about how long it last, then absolutely. Leather has been used for protection for millenia for a reason. If it’s good enough for armour in medieval wars, you can guarantee it’ll survive your kitchen and front of house. On top of the money you save from constantly replacing cotton aprons, you also have the laundry costs. Namely, the laundry costs for leather aprons is zero. They wipe down clean. So, although a larger upfront cost, it doesn’t take long before they pay themselves back.

Apart from looking more stylish and professional, leather is more protective and longer lasting. The protective element is more obvious; leather is always going to protect you from a stray knife better than cotton, and is much more cut resistant. The protective coating means sauce spills and fat grease wipe straight off instead of staining, as well - meaning you stay smart regardless of how hectic your shift is. What may seem more counter intuitive is that the leather aprons are actually more environmentally sustainable. The fact that they wipe down clean means no water is wasted on laundering the aprons; the leather and aprons are all made in Europe cutting down on the carbon footprint from airmiles; finally, the fact that one will last you years, means less material waste from buying replacement aprons.

Yes, our leather is impregnated with a patent coating, making our leather scratch resistant and easy to clean as blood, fat or dirt will simply not get into the leather.

The same question was asked by a high-end supermarket in the UK who is using our leather aprons for their butchers. They examined the aprons every day after use and brought swab samples to the lab for testing. After months of testing they have never found a single thing. This is because we do not use ordinary leather offered by many other leather craftsmen, the leather we use is carefully selected for protection, flexibility and durability, as our Deluxe leather will not absorb any substance, it can easily be wiped clean with a cloth and natural soap.

At Stalwart Crafts, our premium Italian leather is sourced from European dairy cows which, when the time comes, are butchered for their meat, leaving the hides as a by-product.

We have two main branding options: embossing and engraving Engraving is where we burn your logo into the top layer of the leather before painting over it by hand. Embossing is a more traditional method where we create a metal stamp of your logo, heat it up, and press it into the leather creating a permanent imprint of your logo. This is more price effective than engraving for orders of 10 or more because there is an initial cost to create the metal stamp; once we’ve made a stamp of your logo, you won’t have to pay this again. After that, the only costs for repeat orders are the much smaller set-up cost and the per unit embossing costs. The other customisation options we offer are a personalised metal tag engraving at the top of the apron or engraving the towel strap on the waist of our aprons

The more aprons we produce in one go, the more the cost per unit goes down. Get in touch if you’re after 5 or more and we’ll give you the best price we can.

We have restaurants wearing the same branded aprons now, that they bought 7 years ago, with no issues. The main advice we can give is if you’re expecting to put the aprons through a lot of work, keep the branding on the chest, where it’s less likely to be rubbed against counter sides or surfaces, which may cause the branding to fade over time.

One apron per staff member is plenty. The aprons wipe down clean, so it’s good to go shift after shift without waiting for a laundry service. This also means workers don’t need to take them home - stopping any from going missing.

Our Deluxe leather range is extremely abuse proof and will look as good as new year after year. It will gain a pattina like a high quality wallet or pair of shoes, but won’t degrade at all. This is the option if you want your staff’s aprons to continue to look close to identical over the years Our Rustic leather aprons start out slightly stiffer, but after a couple of hours of wearing them, they soften up. If you routinely treat them with leather conditioner they’ll look great for years. If you don’t replenish the protective coating with conditioner, it’ll eventually weather aesthetically, gaining a suede-esque look over time. Great for if you want your aprons to develop a more individual rustic character. Rustic works great for steak houses or open fire restaurants.

If any faults develop outside of general wear and tear, such as a clasp breaks or studs come loose, we will replace them free of charge for as long as you own the apron.

For smaller orders, place your order through the website by adding your desired aprons to the basket and going through the checkout process. If you choose to have branded aprons, you’ll be prompted to attach your logo, or the text if it’s a metal tag. If you go for an engraving, after the order is paid for, our sales assistant will get in touch with a digital sample of your logo on the apron for you to approve or ask for amendments. Only once the design is confirmed will we proceed with the order. We make all the aprons from scratch by hand so expect to receive your aprons within 2-3 weeks.

Get a warm damp cloth and wipe down the entire surface. If there’s any resistant stains, a dash of natural soap will do the job. Every now and again, give it a once over with our leather conditioner, as you would polish a pair of shoes. This’ll replenish the protective coating of the leather and give it back its lustre.

The answer to this varies on the style and preference of the establishment of course! The pattern we generally see is that front of house wear mainly the short waist apron, but some go full length. Bartenders and kitchen almost always go for a full length apron with cross straps, as it’s the most protective, while the cross straps make it comfortable to wear all day. Some bartenders opt for the neck strap, though, as they can take it off and put it on quicker.