I have a confession. I used to think leather conditioning was like seasoning a cast-iron skillet—something you did once, maybe twice, if you remembered, and then you were set for life. I learned the hard way that this is profoundly, almost painfully, wrong. It was a cold January evening in New York. I was wearing…
I have a confession. For years, I carried a beautiful Nappa leather handbag—the kind that makes you feel like you’ve truly arrived—and I treated it like it was made of steel. I tossed it in the back of my car, set it on restaurant floors, and once, in a moment of pure chaos, let it…
For the first decade of owning nice boots, I treated them like they were invincible. I would wear them through slush and salt, kick them off by the door, and shove them into the back of my closet until the next season demanded their return. When I finally pulled them out—months later—the leather was dry,…