crossbreed belt fish smell

[gtrplyr]

I just received my Crossbreed gunbelt in the mail (black) and it smells like fish. I called Crossbreed and the woman who does the orders said she had never heard of this. I was wondering if anyone else has this problem and what they did to fix it. I have a holster coming next week from Crossbreed as well and am hoping that it will not smell like the belt.

Thanks!

[RogueXD]

Are you sure your not smelling leather. In some cases, its pretty close to smelling like fish. Also depends on how long its been stored. The smell can be strong, however, it will decrease over time.

[seattleducati]

Well my coworkers are probably wondering what I'm doing, but just smelled it and it smells like leather. So, no clue as to what's going on with yours.

[zac07]

I have seen posts about holsters smelling like fish some said it was a fungus or bacteria and some said it had to do with how they tanned it in some cases the people sent theirs back and got a replacement. Im not sure if it was crossbreeds products or not.

[Wired]

My horsehide did not smell; however, I have seen posts on here of this same issue. Try searching for the threads and I'm sure you'll find something.

[Edubya]

I would guess that it is in the dye. Mine is natural leather and it smells like leather. I love the feel and smell of leather.

Baking soda is a wonderful neutralizer for many odors, you might try to put it in a plastic bag with a cupful of baking soda. If that doesn't do the trick, lemon is the next thing that I would try. Of course I would consult with the company first about these efforts.

[gtrplyr]

Originally Posted by Edubya

I would guess that it is in the dye. Mine is natural leather and it smells like leather. I love the feel and smell of leather.

Baking soda is a wonderful neutralizer for many odors, you might try to put it in a plastic bag with a cupful of baking soda. If that doesn't do the trick, lemon is the next thing that I would try. Of course I would consult with the company first about these efforts.

A bag with baking soda is a good idea... I will try that. When I called Crossbreed they said try lightly spraying the back of the belt with fre-breeze or saddle soap.

[mtcraigco]

I'm never quite sure how to address this one so I'll just post a couple observations and leave it at that.

Genuine leather products always have an odor. Most folks find it to be a pleasant odor, a few don't.

The VAST majority of folks who mention the "fish" odor have,

A) read about a possible odor before they even get their holster and are therefore more likely to think 'fish" because that seed has been planted in their minds.

B) Are very new to the holster market and may possibly even be getting a CrossBreed as their very first holster and so have no experience with other leather products and hence the natural leather odor.

For the record I have done ALOT of sniffing of our holsters lately and have found none of them to be "offensive" nor do I think they smell like fish. I can see how an inexperienced person or one who is kind of expecting a fish smell might interpret it that way however.

This is the very first time I have heard of one of our belts smelling like fish. To me our belts smell even more like that typical leather smell and less like fish than our holsters and in my mind this further solidifies my feelings that it's just individual "interpretation" of what genuine leather always smells like, and the power of suggestion from folks reading about a possible odor and then worrying about it and half way expecting it.

As to treating the odor IF you don't like it, I don't have a concrete answer for you as I generally don't consider that to be an issue and in 99% of the cases it's not.

Just give it a few days to air out at first, I'd be wary of the lemon idea, but the baking soda might work and should not hurt anything.

[mtcraigco]

Originally Posted by Edubya

I would guess that it is in the dye. Mine is natural leather and it smells like leather. I love the feel and smell of leather.

I am pretty certain it is NOT the dye. We use totally different dye batches in our belts vs holsters. You can also stick your nose dang near IN the dye and there's zero odor. No good odor, no bad odor, just no odor.

The belts and holsters are also made from different leathers and sometimes leather from different suppliers and are made in different areas, the two never meet until they get packaged to ship out.

The only thing the belts have in common with the holsters in the manufacturing process is that they are both made from genuine leather and therefore smell like leather when finished.

[gtrplyr]

I appreciate everyone's comments. I had my wife smell my belt (it was laying on the counter) and she agreed that it defiantly had an unpleasant odor to it. She said she did not sense "fish" so much but couldn't really put her finger on it, as also agreed that it needed to air out and not to wear it until it dissipates. I wasn't trying to complain just looking for solutions, as I like the belt and want to wear it, but don't want to smell funky. Maybe ever since I quit smoking my nose just picks up on odors more than the average guy.

Thanks!