Which leather is the best one for lederhosen?

We probably don’t need to explain that a pair of leaderhosen is more than just trousers made out of leather: there are, after all, plenty of trousers made of leather which do not look a bit like Bavarian leather breeches – and aren’t meant to. Bikers’ leathers, for example, are made of smooth black hide and cover the whole leg, designed as they are for riding motorbikes. For some reason we’ve never quite got our heads round, they don’t feature any floral stitching like traditional lederhosen…

Then there are the leather trousers which are supposed to look like genuine lederhosen, but show a flagrant ignorance of traditional Bavarian design. Some of the worst ones sold around the Oktoberfest as “Bavarian lederhosen”, but are made of material that Bavarians wouldn’t even clean windows with: imitation leather,  low-grade goatskin of such bad quality that traditional manufacturers turn it down, and poorly-treated cowhide (not even proper nappa leather!). So if you’re ever in doubt, just remember this simple maxim: genuine Bavarian lederhosen are always – without exception – made using professionally prepared goatskin or deerskin leather. Nothing else. Nada.

For a first pair of lederhosen, we recommend goatskin models. Authentic and hard-wearing, goatskin is the genuine article but comes in at a reasonable price. Deerskin leather, gained from the hides of red deer, is the premium material: soft and yet robust, both comfortable and strong, it offers beautiful natural graining. This is why the “lederhosen for life” – i.e. what you see Bavarians proudly displaying at the Oktoberfest – is almost always a deerskin pair.

There are several good stockists who offer a choice between good-value goatskin- and some of the choicier deerskin lederhosen. We would recommend using one of these to get a goat leather “trial version” that really looks, feels, and plays the part – that way, you get to try out the real thing at an attractive price and, if you grow attached to these new leather breeches, will be able to wear them for years to come.

If, however, you enjoy lederhosen so much that you want to go premium, you can upgrade to deerskin. While this is a lifetime investment in a similar way as an expensive shearling coat is bought once and for all, you will probably never wear anything as comfortable ever again.

You might be interested in the detail of how good deerskin leather is processed: if so, opt for brands like Krüger or above all Stockerpoint, one of the very few manufacturers of traditional lederhosen who stick to the age-old buffing and tanning methods as they are applied in neighbouring Austria; this 100% natural approach has been almost completely forgotten outside of the hertiage clothing industry, and as such, if you buy deerskin processed in this way, you are also supporting something of a dying art. And besides the cultural importance of the techniques, acquiring this kind of lederhosen is a decision for sustainability, both thanks to the laws on hunting and wildlife protection for deer in Austria and, of course, because genuine deerskin lederhosen is one you only ever need to buy once.