How to tailor leather pants | SWR Handwerkskunst

"When you get into traditional leather pants, you're a different person," says Klaus Bensmann from Bad Hindelang.
He has been working with leather for 40 years, is a trained tanner and has finally dedicated himself to leather clothing. For this, he prefers to use deerskin. For his traditional leather pants, he mainly uses chamois-tanned deerskin. It was treated with fish oil during the tanning process. After a long tanning process, the leather hides are finally natural-colored on the inside and gray-brown on the outside. The chamois-tanned leather is particularly soft and supple, but also very robust and durable. For a pair of knee breeches, i.e. long traditional trousers, Klaus Bensmann usually sews four deer hides. The deer all come from local forests. This is very important to him, because his traditional pants also reflect a piece of his homeland.
The Trachtenkniebundhose consists of 90 pieces and is a trouser for traditional costume parades, family celebrations or even special occasions like a wedding. A particularly characteristic detail of the pants are certainly the bib and the distinctive bulging seams. Klaus Bensmann spends a lot of time and perfection on this. He produces a piece of tradition. His pants are all tailor-made, because such traditional trousers must fit like a second skin and should usually last a lifetime. When he finally hands over the finished trousers after several fittings, he knows that he has tailored a beautiful piece of clothing that is perhaps a heart's desire. And what the new owner will be happy about when he wears it.