recently i got to visit the brooks factory in birmingham to see how they made a brooks saddle. i guess the most amazing thing is seeing that the entire process is done by hand, on machines that look like they're as old as time.



so a brooks saddle starts life as a chunk of leather. they only use the thickest part of the cow (the ass).



all the leather is cut out by hand using heavy dies





then the leather is soaked in a bath to soften it



and then meets its first press that gives it shape



it's trimmed afterwards





then it meets its second press







it then gets branded with it's model number



and of course the brooks badge




then the saddle gets its first good polish




meanwhile in another part of the factory, the metalwork is made (by hand, of course). the saddle skeleton is stamped out


and then punched into shape



titanium ones are harder, so they need to be heated to red hot first. brooks does this by putting them on the bricks, under two acetylene torches.