About Horween Rowdy Leather…

[Fear and Loathing]

Can we nail down the exact tanning process of Horween’s Rowdy?

There seems to be some confusion/differing ideas about what Rowdy is exactly…

I’ve seen Rowdy referred to as “a CXL that is combination chrome and vegetable tanned”. Knowing that standard CXL is also chrome and vegetable dyed, I did a bit of a deep dive into that… One explanation for that scenario seems to be that while standard CXL is hot-stuffed, Rowdy is fat-liquored and waxed.

I’ve also seen Rowdy referred to as a combination vegetable-oil tannage. This description is interesting for a number of reasons…
1, “oil-tanning” isn’t really a tan as much as it is an extensive post-tan treatment… Either vegetable or chrome tanned leather can be “oil-tanned leathers”… So this begs the question- is Rowdy a true combination tan leather, like CXL? Is it chrome-tanned then vegetable-tanned like standard CXL, and then given the “oil-tan” treatment?
2, it’s interesting that in this scenario, Rowdy is always referred to as “vegetable-oil tanned”- the wording seeming to signify that a vegetable tan is the initial tan, and the “oil-tan” comes second… Which, if the Rowdy is in fact not a combination-tanned leather, makes sense. If the Rowdy is indeed a combination-tan similar to CXL, then a chrome-tan would come first, a vegetable tan second, and an “oil-tan” post-tan treatment third. Or perhaps Rowdy flips the original recipe for CXL, and undergoes a vegetable tan as the initial tan, before being finished with a chrome tan, then an ”oil-tan” applied? I’ve never heard of a combination veg/chrome tan going with a vegetable tan first, but who knows.

Finally, I’ve also heard Rowdy described as “Dublin that has been oil-tanned”. As we know, Essex, Dublin, and Derby are all variations of the same Horween vegetable-tanned product… Essex is the leather with no finish, Dublin is the leather with a wax finish, and Derby is a tumbled version of Dublin. So would Rowdy really be a Dublin with an “oil-tan” finishing treatment? I would imagine for an “oil-tan” process to take, the leather would need to be free of waxes at the outset. After the “oil-tan” process, a wax-stuffing process would be feasible. So could Rowdy actually be Essex that has been “oil-tanned” then wax?

In any event, some stuff to think about. Does anyone know for sure?

 

[ld111134]

I wish I knew, and I used to live less than a mile from the tannery.

 

[JFWR]

True story: You can call up Horween and the president will quite literally call you back within a half an hour. So you might want to contact them with your inquiry and post the results here.