When I’m setting a zipper, it’s just me, the leather, and the line I trust. Nothing else matters in that moment.
A zipper isn’t something you simply attach to a jacket. It becomes part of the front panel itself. If it’s even slightly off, the entire jacket will feel wrong — no matter how good the leather is or how clean the rest of the work looks.
The teeth have to sit exactly with the leather grain.
Not close.
Not almost.
Exact.
If the line drifts even two millimeters, I can see it. More importantly, I can feel it.
Before the machine ever touches the leather, I score a guide line with my blade. It’s a light cut — just enough to tell my hands where the truth is. Then I pin the zipper under my thumb, hold the leather steady, exhale once, and commit to the first stitch.
That first stitch decides everything.
Once it’s in, the rest of the line has no choice but to follow. If the beginning is wrong, no amount of correction will save it. Leather doesn’t behave like fabric. It remembers. Every mistake stays with it.
That’s why I don’t patch zipper work.
I don’t hide it.
I don’t force it to behave.
If I mess it up, I recut the entire front panel.
That’s the rule.
That’s the craft.
In our Leatherings workshop today, I was setting a zipper on a leather jacket, and it reminded me how easily small details can make or break the entire piece. It’s also why Leatherings will never be a mass-production brand.
Machines don’t have instincts. They follow instructions.
Crafters feel resistance. We notice tension. We sense when the leather wants to pull before it actually does. That instinct is what keeps a zipper straight over years of wear — not just the first time someone tries the jacket on.
A properly set zipper doesn’t announce itself. It disappears into the jacket. The front panel stays balanced. The leather falls naturally. And the person wearing it never has to think about it.
That’s the goal.
Because when a jacket is built correctly, the details fade into the background and confidence takes their place.
John Micheal
John Michael is a master leather crafter and co-founder of Leatherings.
Since 2019, he has overseen every critical stage of jacket construction from pattern cutting to zipper setting, building leather jackets defined by precision, balance, and longevity.
