Materials

Hermann Oak Leather

Hermann Oak Leather Company has operated in St. Louis since 1881. They vegetable-tan using oak bark. A process that takes weeks where chrome tanning takes hours.

The difference shows over time. Chrome-tanned leather stays the same until it fails. Vegetable-tanned leather develops patina, darkens with handling, molds to your shape. It ages.

Ardent uses their Old World Harness in russett at 11-13oz weight. Heavy enough to hold structure, supple enough to bend without cracking. The surface shows the grain of the original hide. No coating, no correction. Tallow-stuffed during tanning. Animal fat, not petroleum.

Wickett & Craig Leather

Wickett & Craig was founded in Toronto in 1867 and relocated to Curwensville, Pennsylvania in 1989. One of only two specialty vegetable tanneries left in the United States.

Their Traditional Harness leather is hot-stuffed with waxes, oils, and tallows while still receptive, saturating the hide rather than coating the surface. Then jack-glazed: a glass cylinder compresses the grain and pulls the waxes to the surface, creating a glossy finish that still shows full natural grain. Scars, fat wrinkles, and other natural markings remain visible.

The result is firm, structured leather with high water resistance and a patina that develops quickly as the waxes shift and the surface picks up small scuffs. Ardent uses it for keepers, the small loop that holds the belt tail in place.

Solid Brass Hardware

Brass is copper and zinc. It oxidizes slowly to a darker patina that can be polished back or left to age. The same material used in nautical fittings, musical instruments, and ammunition casings. Chosen for durability in all of them.

All Ardent hardware is solid brass from Buckle Guy. Heel bar buckles, dome cap chicago screws. The buckle attaches with screws rather than rivets, making it replaceable without retiring the belt.

Thread

Fil au Chinois Lin Câblé, sizes 332 and 432. French linen thread, waxed. Linen is stronger than cotton and more forgiving than polyester. It has been used in fine leatherwork and bookbinding for centuries.

Hand saddle-stitching creates two independent thread paths. If one side wears through, the other holds. Machine stitching uses a single interlocked thread. One break and the whole seam unravels.

Finish

Ardent wax: beeswax, Fiebing's neatsfoot oil, lanolin. Optional jojoba oil for flexibility.

This protects without sealing. The leather can still breathe, still absorb and release moisture, still age naturally.

Nothing synthetic. Nothing that would need to be stripped and reapplied.

These materials cost more because they're slower to produce, harder to source, and last longer than the alternatives.