Our lovely Remi who recently passed away had a rolled leather collar and leather leash. Despite them being “cheap,” they were still in great condition after 10 years. So about four months ago, I decided to get a similar set for Ruffie. I found many on Amazon that would have set me back about a third of what I ended up paying. I decided to get something “high quality” and picked a shop on Etsy with all 5 star reviews. I have now learned why Etsy reviews are so high, and it’s not because of product quality. It’s because Etsy doesn’t allow reviews after a reasonable amount of time has passed.

Update: Thankfully in this case I was able to make contact with the merchant and get the issue resolved, so I am happy for that. It doesn’t change any of the points here, and I urge Etsy to allow for writing reviews longer after the item was received to instill confidence the items are durable enough to consider purchasing.

The merchant I chose is called CleverWithLeatherKY, apparently based out of Versailles, Kentucky. I spent an amazingly high $108.23 on what should have been the highest quality dog leash and collar I’ll ever own.

Receipt from my order with CleverWithLeatherKY

Product page for Complete Rolled Dog Collar at CleverWithLeatherKY

Product page for Leather Plain Leash 6 ft 3/4 wide at CleverWithLeatherKY

The quality seemed reasonable upon arrival. (I probably got a bit too long of a leash and a bit too small of a collar, but those were my measurement issues of course.) After about 2 months, a string started coming out of the collar. I didn’t think it was going to be a big deal, but it has been loosening a bit more. I’ll probably have to superglue it, which would detract from the supposed quality look of this product.

Then more annoyingly, the stitching along the leash has started coming out. Over the course of a week it’s now become a 10 inch long dangling thread and several inches of leash without the decorative stitching. Again, I’ll have to superglue it probably.

Fraying products from CleverWithLeatherKY

I was hoping to do my civic duty and:

1. Write a review on each of these products stating the stitching could be of higher quality, though the leather work itself seemed good, and attach photos.
2. Write the merchant with the photos and alert them to quality control issues and probably the need to use better quality thread. I assume they are the experts and could advise me on what to do to best preserve these products from further deteriorating. Ideally I would get a discount for the trouble or be able to return these if the merchant felt they do not represent the workmanship they wish to have associated with their name.

Fraying products from CleverWithLeatherKY

I found I could do neither of these things. Etsy does not allow reviews after a measly 100 days (it’s been about 120 in my case), something Etsy shop owners apparently feel is already far too generous. Some Etsy shop owners would prefer no opportunity to edit a review after the product is found to be low quality. They are no better than the shitty fly by night operations selling on Amazon who change their product pages and even company name once they get a number of negative reviews.

For all the problems with fake reviews on Amazon, at least they allow me to leave or edit a review long after the purchase, which is necessary because a review from a year into using a product is much more authoritative about the product quality than a review left upon receipt of the product. Anyone can make a product superficially good enough to seem nice upon arrival. Only truly good products still seem good after 6 months or a year.

Anyway, I needed a place to post these photos so I could send a link to the merchant, as Etsy does not allow photos on their “Submit a help request to the seller” form.

Request for help with order with CleverWithLeatherKY

Update

I sent the below message to the merchant via Etsy along with a link to this post, Nov. 23.

Hello,

I ordered a very expensive collar and leash from you, and both are deteriorating already. I was dismayed to see I cannot write a review, and also cannot attach photos on this form, so I’ve had a publish a blog post with the photos so I can send you a link: votecharlie.com/blog/2023/11/poor-cleverwithleatherky-stitching.html
Could you please advise how you would like to make these products match the quality advertised and for which I paid? And needless to say, there’s obviously a problem with your thread or stitching technique or both, which you can hopefully address in the future.

Thank you,
 Charlie

I heard back the next day, thankfully, and had a quick back and forth:

Claire: Sorry you had problems with the stitching on your collar and leash. Sometimes the thread that we get is bad and that is something we don’t know until it is to late. We will send you a return label if you like so you can return the items to us and we can fix the issue. Please advise us if you would like for us to do that.

Me: Hi, thank you and yes I would appreciate being able to get these fixed.

Claire: Ok we will do that and that is all you had to do was ask. We stand behind our products.

I then shipped the products the next business day I could, Nov. 28, and it was delivered Dec. 4. Then the merchant sent back the repaired items Dec. 11 and I received them Dec. 16. I have now tested the leash and collar for 3 weeks and have not noticed any further issues. Thank you!