I Dissected Italy’s Most Undervalued Brand: Il Bisonte

If you want to buy real Italian leather, the hardest place in the world to do it might be Italy. Last year, I spent a week in Florence investigating the market: the street stalls, the shops in the piazza, the conversations behind the counter. Only a handful of places were doing justice to the "Italian leather" label, let alone true Florentine leather. Then I remembered a brand I dissected years ago. I walked into their store with no plan and no expectation, and walked out with a belt, a wallet, and a tote I paid full price for. In this video, I put their colored vegetable-tanned leather through my fingers, my eyes, a microscope, and acetone. I also drove to the tannery stamped on the leather to check their supply chain claim myself. And I found out what happened when a private equity firm bought the company in 2015. PAID PARTNERSHIP: This video is sponsored by Il Bisonte. I bought their products with my own money first, used them for months, and then reached out to tell their story. That's the only way I work with brands on sponsored videos. Visit them at https://www.ilbisonte.com/en-usa. Follow them at @IlBisonteofficial. --- CHAPTERS/TIMESTAMPS 00:00 The Hardest Place to Buy Italian Leather Why Florence frustrated me more than any market I've visited 00:48 Italian Leather vs. Florentine Leather They sound the same. They're not. 02:21 The Brand I Remembered A bag I dissected years ago led me back to Florence 02:59 A Weekend Hobby That Became a Brand The workshops turned his designs down, so he made them himself 04:12 Why I Paid Full Price Three products, months of use, and how this video happened 04:54 The Limit of Vegetable Tan Why colorful veg tan is harder than it looks 05:46 Aged Color Without Dyes Twelve years of patina, in weeks, not years 07:28 Fingers, Eyes, Microscope, Acetone How much finish is really on this leather? 09:30 A Frustration That Became a Business Florentine leather, delivered to the world 10:35 I Checked the 30km Claim So I dr