CHILCO LEATHER FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Under normal conditions Chilco Leather typically delivers orders within 4 to 8 days to all countries in our shipping list.

All courier companies including DHL, UPS and FEDEX are experiencing large backlogs of orders due to a massive surge in demand for their services. However, lately they are operating within normal schedules with few delays.

As of July 16, 2020 shipping times are close to normal with orders being delivered within 5 to 10 days.

We will post any changes to delivery times here and throughout our website.

Chilco Leather wants to keep you informed about your order delivery and shipping process at all times.

When you place an order with Chilco Leather, you will be sent a shipping confirmation email 15 minutes after your order is picked up by DHL Express.

In this email, you will find a DHL Tracking Number link. Simply click on the link and you will be taken to the DHL Tracking Website.

Your order tracking number will automatically be entered into the tracking field on this page - just click the red button to view the delivery status of your order.

You can repeat this process anytime you like to see where your package is located, and how long it will be before delivery. In most cases, delivery is less than 1 week.

If you do not receive the above noted email within 5 days, please check your email spam (junk) folder to make sure it did not get placed in this folder. If this shipping confirmation email is not in your spam folder, contact us immediately using our contact us page here - please include your full name and order number so we can look up your order and get back to you ASAP.

We ship to the following countries using DHL shipping:

Australia     
Austria     
Belgium     
Canada     
Denmark     
Finland     
France     
Ireland     
Italy     
Luxembourg    
Netherlands     
New Zealand     
Norway     
Portugal     
Spain     
Sweden     
Switzerland     
United States  

Due to consistent issues with customs clearance, unexpected duties and substantially higher shipping costs, we do not ship to the following countries

Germany     
Greece     
United Kingdom

Yes we do. Any item purchased between November 15th and Dec 15th will have an extended return window of 15 days - for a total of 45 days from the date of delivery.

Chilco does not charge any taxes or customs fees on orders to most countries except Canada, our base of operations.

We have found it hard to predict if an order will be subject to customs scrutiny and subject to any fees. In many cases orders are delivered without any delays or fees.

However, some countries are more diligent, Germany being a good example, where we found orders were frequently check and fees applied. Hence our decision to stop shipping to Germany.

Yes! We provide FREE DHL or UPS shipping on orders over $99 to all the countries listed below. If your country is not in this list, we do not ship to your location.

Australia     
Austria     
Belgium     
Canada     
Denmark     
Finland     
France     
Ireland     
Italy     
Luxembourg    
Netherlands     
New Zealand     
Norway     
Portugal     
Spain     
Sweden     
Switzerland     
United States 

In most cases orders are shipped in 2 to 5 days - with 2 days as average. During holiday seasons, especially Christmas, processing time is closer to 5 days.

Once shipped, orders typically arrive within 4 to 5 days for a total of 6 to 10 days on average. USA and Canada orders are typically faster with a total of 4 - 8 day delivery from the date the order is placed.

All orders are packaged in a brown wrapper bag and then shipped in a DHL plastic bag provided directly from DHL.

Larger bags are carefully folded to fit DHL bags. This does not harm or damage the leather in any way. Shipping internationally is expensive, so keeping package size as small as possible is critical, and allows us to ship orders for free to almost any country in the world.

If you do not plan to use your bag immediately, after unpacking it, fill it with random clothes or other soft items to expand the bag. This will restore the shape of the bag in a short period of time. If you start using the bag right away, it will restore to proper shape very fast.

In the USA and Canada, total processing and shipping time is usually 4 - 8 days.

For European destinations and Australia allow 7 - 10 days, however, in 2019, the average time is comparable to USA and Canada.

New Zealand is less predictable and total processing and shipping time can range between 7 - 23 days.

Williams Lake BC, Canada. In the Cariboo Chilcotin Region of BC. It is in the heart of cattle and ranch country, and where our name orginated.

99% of our orders are shipped free (on orders over $99) to the countries listed here in our FAQ or found on our shipping policy page.

We use DHL Express or UPS for all our shipping. If you live in an area that is a long distance from any of their distribution centers, or one of their shipping partners, they will request an additional shipping fee from us. 

As noted, this seldom happens, but if you live in a remote location and this does happen, we will contact you immediately with the additional cost to deliver your order. 

You can choose to proceed with the order and pay the additional shipping fee, or cancel the order. You will never be charged automatically for additional shipping costs!

Crazy Horse Leather is made by applying a special kind of wax to the full grain leather surface. The wax enhances and helps protect the fibers and surface of the leather. The natural colour of the leather will change its hue a little over time and provide the much sought after antique look associated with Crazy Horse leather.

The information below explains the differences between most leathers used for leather goods today.

Full Grain Leather is the outer layer of leather exposed to the elements during an animals lifetime, typically from cattle, hence the name cowhide. It is the most durable and highest quality leather available.

Crazy Horse Leather is full or top grain leather treated with a specialized wax to increase it's durability and resistance to the elements - the process also give Crazy Horse leather that unique vintage appearance.

Top Grain Leather is also the outer layer of leather. However, it may be sanded or buffed out to reduce blemishes and even out the appearance of the surface. It is not as processed as some other forms of leather retaining much of the look many people seek in authentic leather products. Top-grain leather is soft and shows natural character.

What is Genuine Leather?

These days many companies loosely use the term "Genuine Leather" to market inferior leather products as high end leather goods. In most cases genuine leather is the secondary layer of leather split from the top layer (called full grain or top grain). This underlying layer of leather is usually treated and finished to look like full grain leather, but it is no where near as durable as the top layer - full grain leather. Leather goods made from so called genuine leather will not last long.      

If the price of a leather product sounds to good to be true, it is likely made from genuine leather, PU Leather (Faux/PVC) or bonded leather (Junk).     

Yes, it is full grain leather (sometimes top grain) and the strongest of all leather types available.

Crazy Horse leather is water resistant. The wax treatment helps the leather repel water and moisture, but you should not expose your Crazy Horse leather bag to rain or water unnecessarily.

This depends on the bag and colour. Typically the darker the leather, the more likely some (typically very little) colour transfer may occur. 

Use caution with a new bag. It takes time for the surface to toughen and develop a beautiful patina (that bright shiny surface we all associate with high quality aged leather). As this process occurs, colour transfer, if present, will diminish and completely stop.

Simple... It looks amazing and is made from strong full grain or top grain leather.

Yes, every product in our store is made by hand. Of course, when we say by hand, this does include the use of sewing machines, and where it makes sense, punches and stamps - for things like zipper pulls, rivets etc that are all identical on most of our bags. 

Our products are handmade for us by a small custom leather shop 60km North of Hong Kong. We work closely with this company to ensure our leather goods are made to the high standards we want in our products. This business relationship allows us to provide high quality leather goods at prices most people can afford.

If you are concerned that our products are made in China, Don't Be, most of today's luxury brands have a portion, or all of their products made in China. 

Search Google for "luxury brands made in China" and you will quickly find out the most expensive brands have many of their products made in China. 

However, this is not information they boast about anywhere in their marketing or websites. Many of these brands go to great efforts to hide this fact - even though many products from China are now made to very high standards. Nike, DC, Apple and Microsoft are only a few of the top brands who have many of their high-end products manufactured in China.

We are proud of the products we have made in China. Working directly with a small custom shop allows us to offer high quality leather goods at very affordable prices. 

We currently accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Apple Pay and G-Pay.

Plans are in the works to add PayPal as a payment option in 2020 - Date TBD

If the order is not being delivered within Canada, no taxes are added to cost of your order.

In Canada, any applicable taxes will be added.

Not at this time. We do plan to add this option in 2020. Date TBD

The CDC and other leading health organizations have stressed that the COVID-19 virus can typically survive without a host for 2 to 3 hours and up to up to 3 days in some cases. Considering it takes our orders 4 to 8 days to ship parcels from Hong Kong to USA, Canada and Europe, in our opinion the risk of transmission is extremely low, if not at zero potential.

The temperature fluctuations of cargo transported by air further reduce the viruses chance of survival. 

The main statistic to watch is infections of any employee in the postal services sector, shipping ports and courier companies. As of March 10, 2020, only one employee in this service sector is known to have contracted the virus, and this occurred while overseas on an extended stay - not from handling mail or parcels coming from Asia. 

Read the full article here. - https://link.usps.com/2020/03/10/

Based on this information, Chilco Leather will not refund any order for refusal of delivery/package. 

Returning a product is reasonably easy to do, please review this page for complete details.

Please refer to this page for our exchange policy and process. 

We only allow exchanges for damaged unused products within 30 days of delivery.

Except for the Christmas season you have 30 days from date of delivery to return or exchange an item. Please review our Refund and Exchange Policy here.

Any products purchased between November 15th and December 15th have an extended return window of 15 days for a total of 45 days from date of delivery.

Please refer to our Refund Policy page for full details.

After a refund has been approved, you will have your funds returned within 3 to 5 business days.

Once an item has been approved for an exchange or refund, we will provide a mailing address that is the closest to (or in) the country you are located.

We ship internationally so returns need to be sent to the correct warehouse for the country it is shipped.

Chilco does not charge any taxes or customs fees on orders to any country except Canada, our base of operations. 

We have found it hard to predict if an order will be subject to customs scrutiny and subject to any fees or taxes. In many cases orders are delivered without any delays or fees. 

As such, it is more economical for our customers, in most cases, if we do not charge any fees or taxes.

However, some countries are more diligent, Germany being a good example, where we found orders were frequently check and fees applied. Hence our decision to stop shipping to Germany.

So, the best answer we can provide is maybe. We know that is not the best answer but it is the truth. In most cases you will not have additional fees on delivery, but it may happen - we have no control over this.

Yes, all orders within Canada are subject to the required taxes for your location.

No, please refer to FAQ section above for more details on Customs and Duties

Chilco Leather does not include VAT in the cost of any products or during the checkout process. There is no VAT on shipping as we provide this free of charge.

We opted to not include VAT since customers are not always charged VAT or customs fees when their order arrives in their country. taking this into consideration, customers may save a substantial sum on their purchase.

However, please keep in mind that you may have to pay these additional costs when your order is delivered. Chilco Leather has no way to know if you will be charged any additional fees or not.

When it gets wet: Wipe it down with a dry cloth or pat dry with paper towel. Do not use a blow dryer or heating register as you can damage or warp the leather. Allow to air dry slowly away from heat sources. 

When you spill something on it that can stain the surface e.g. pop or wine:: Wipe it down with a cloth… First with a damp one and when you feel the stain is gone, dry it up with a dry one If you can, Do not to use detergents or chemicals as you may damage or lighten/darken the leather.

There are scratches and marks I want to get rid of:  In our opinion the scratching and marking of Crazy Horse leather is part of its appeal. How you use it and the marks on it make it unique. With time the surface will toughen and marks tend to fade. Although, it will never be 100% impervious to scratching and marking.

What if the leather fades?: Natural Leather creams and waxes are the way to go! Avoid chemicals or sprays. Which ones you use will depend on budget - there are many to choose from.

Lastly: Leather stretches and loosens over time, take some time to decide what you typically want to keep inside your bag. Over stuffing pockets can lead to a saggy appearance.

If your bag gets wet do not blow dry or place near a source of heat like a heating register. 

Simply pat dry with a towel or paper towels (recommended when the leather is brand new) and allow to air dry away from direct heat. 

Drying a leather bag too quickly may cause permanent damage to the leather fibers.  

At his time only the leather on our bags is biodegradable.  Some backpacks have cotton linings but most are polyester which is not biodegradable.

That said, our goal right now is to change the lining on all our products to cotton or canvas. Eventually we would like all our products to have no impact on the environment at the end of a products life cycle. 

Are aim is to have all materials used in the making of our products to be 100% biodegradable - and the parts which are not, 100% recyclable.  

Considering the majority of our products are leather, the only parts that are potentially recyclable are the zippers and lining. Some of our products have cotton/canvas linings, but many are still polyester.

Polyester (a plastic) can be difficult to recycle and Chilco Leather has firm plans in place to transition all our bag linings to cotton or canvas over the next 5 years. We are as concerned about the environment as anyone, and the sooner we can eliminate plastic from our products - the better.

Our choice of cotton or canvas for linings is simple, like leather, it is biodegradable, and should it end up in the landfill (many many years into the future) it will biodegrade in a very short period of time.