ostrich
Struthio camelus · not CITES-listed
No photograph here yet. What belongs in this slot: the quill bumps raked by low light, which is the only way they photograph properly.
If you have never worn a skin other than crocodile, start here. The raised bumps are follicles — where the feathers were — and nothing else on earth looks like them, so nobody has ever been talked into believing an ostrich strap was something it was not. It wears hard, it takes colour beautifully, and it is the easiest thing on this page to check with your own eyes.
It is also the only skin we sell with no CITES paperwork at all. Farmed commercial ostrich sits outside the Convention entirely — no permit, no inspection, nothing to carry. If the whole permit question makes you uneasy, this is the strap that removes it.
the crown, and the leg.
Crown, quill. Only the middle of an ostrich hide carries the raised follicle bumps — the crown. The rest of the same skin is smooth. That is the entire reason a quill strap costs more than a plain one: one animal yields a limited amount of the part everybody wants. When a seller shows you a quill photograph and sends you a smooth strap, this is the cut they quietly left out.
Leg. The lower leg is scaled, and it reads as reptile at a glance even though it is a bird. It is a genuinely striking strap and it is a good demonstration of why looking is not proving. Two people can hold the same leg strap and one of them will say lizard.
Where ostrich sits against crocodile. Across this trade, ostrich runs somewhere below crocodile on price. It is not a lesser skin, it is a more available one — and the durability argument runs in its favour rather than against it.
the details.
| species | Ostrich, Struthio camelus |
|---|---|
| CITES | Not listed. Only the populations of twelve named African countries are listed at all, and farmed commercial stock sits outside the Convention |
| cuts | Crown (quill), leg |
| origin | Farmed. Country of origin and tannery to confirm |
| lug widths | 16 to 24 mm, including 17, 19, 21 and 23 |
| taper | 4 mm as standard — a 20 mm strap finishes at 16 mm |
| length | 115 / 75 mm standard. Short and long available |
| lining and stitch | to confirm |
| delivery | Hong Kong. Because ostrich is not CITES-listed, sending it overseas is a different conversation — ask us |
looking after it.
Ostrich is the most forgiving skin here. It carries natural oils and it tolerates a working life better than crocodile does. Still keep it out of standing water, still dry it away from heat, and wipe the quill bumps with a soft dry cloth rather than digging around them.