Fake, fraud, phony
EDITS:
2 bits of data since I posted the below are causing me to stop and look for a dispassionate hide-knowledgeable person to change my mind or whatever.
1. I wrote to Alaska Leathers, cited below, and they immediately responded, tell me that they actually partner with Aegis to supply some types of seat covers to fill out their line [their original product 'anchor' being motorcycle seat pads]. Alaska L have a pristine rep. I trust them, but they wanted more data so I sent them a load of pictures, measures, etc including side-by-side comparison with a pelt i have [no backing... just leather/hair].
2. I made a huge mistake in not spotting the diff between the 'skirt', which is made to conform to the forward edge of the seat bottom, and the rest/bulk of the cover. They are different [it was midnight when I was checking all this last nite]. That should have been obvious to me but wasn't. And I don't drink!
Though the pelt is a very different texture than the Aegis seat cover, there is obviously a lot of variety among sheep families. Water behaves about the same on both of these samples. The offensive smell of the Aegis is coming from the backing, to which the straps are attached, not so from the 'fur' itself.
Even if it turns out I have doubts I can't prove, I'll ask to return it because:
- it stinks... stinky reasons alone enough as I have chronic sinus /ear issues
- the backing, the part that actually contacts the seat is a coarse rubbery material that will not breathe well and will be of rough texture [and pls understand that the 'fur' piece is attached to the backing only by a stitch running around the entire circumference of each - it is easy to pinch/separate the fur piece from the backing otherwise]
I don't really want, and didn't even think about, putting a layer of non-breathing synthetic, smelly material between me and the T4R's upholstery. I get leather BECAUSE it breathes....
Sorry if my initial review misled. I'll be out this afternoon getting other opinions.
c
original:
The "100% Genuine Australian Sheepskin", "first grade ultra dense pelt" auto seat cover branded "Aegis Auto Accessories", link
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0182QTSPG is fake. There were/are a few commenters that correctly identified it as fake but I took a chance and got it. Arrived yesterday. I thought it felt light weight when I picked it out of the Amazon box.
This really infuriates me. There are, thankfully, fewer and fewer annoyances in life that, at my age, really tick me off but this is one. Like I said, I made, with stitching done by a local leather shop "Smiley's", a couple of motorcycle bum pads from a fabulous whole pelt I got years ago from a source I cannot now find, but it was a ranch, basically, selling their pelts more or less direct [after trip to tanners]. I bought another ready-made MC seat cover from the excellent outfit "Alaska Leather" here:
Home of the Sheepskin Buttpad – Alaska Leather
It is as high quality as the ones I made and are much-loved in the motorcycle community. I have real-deal sheepskin slippers that originally came from Land's End that despite a hole worn in one by my big toe are still going after around 20 years [they do seriously need replacing at this point but love love them]. Etc... How does an outfit get away with this? You can read the description yourselves, and see the standard boilerplate response of the vendor "KC" pasted onto some of the "Its a FAKE" reviews on Amazon.
So, I'm going to go to the trouble here to have my results verfied somehow and we'll see where it goes from there. Basically, the material is the same as what you would get on a "good faux sheepskin" rug or hat or whatever. It is some form of rayon I would guess, woven into a backing which is clearly visible as the "skirt" of the set cover. The "hair" will easily pull through from the backside. There is no "skin" - no leather anywhere. From what I read on the subject, some foreign vendors sell other real animal pelts as sheepskin, and some clearly mark simple products as "Faux Fur" to sell to those who want real animal products outlawed for humanitarian reasons, which turn out to be REAL fur poached/processed illegally. That sure sounds like an unreasonable lot of work, doesn't it?
