It’s been years in the making, but Nat and Fonz Corbett are ready to launch their game-changing leather-care product this month. Photo: Supplied.
A new product set to “revolutionise” the leather-care market is being launched at the Henty Field Days by Holbrook couple Nat and Fonz Corbett.
Its basis? A 100-year-old recipe “scratched on a piece of old paper”, obtained by a persistent young shearer who “kept asking around” about what he could use to preserve and protect his saddle.
“I’ve since discovered it was a very familiar recipe to many pre-WWI and at the time was very commonly used in the colonies,” said Fonz, who is well known in the local equine industry for his hoof-trimming services.
“A part of the product was derived from rendered animal tallow so essentially it was made up from what a lot of people had on hand at the time.”
That was around eight years ago and the success Nat and Fonz had with using it on their own products, and then selling it in small batches alongside candles and other products at local markets, gave them the impetus to dream big.
They believe the all-natural and traditional product will revolutionise the way people look after their leather goods – whether it be saddles, handbags, work boots, furniture or car, boat or aircraft interiors.
“I got the recipe from a really good horseman and shearer who had been given it by another knockabout,” said Fonz.
“What we love about this product is that it uses all-natural ingredients. It’s what really interested us; the recipe didn’t contain any petroleum-based carriers, paraffin waxes or any of those things that contain micro-plastics.”
The other remarkable thing about the leather conditioner is that it works three ways: to clean, condition and protect, all in the one application.
There have been a few minor tweaks, plenty of tests and some carefully considered fine-tuning along the way to finally be ready to launch the product at southern Australia’s largest agricultural event, in Henty.
Fonz has swapped kerosene out for essential oils, instead using lemon myrtle, which gives an appealing fragrance, great, he says, for the leather interior of vehicles.
They’ve had to do plenty of work on the chemistry side of the equation too, to ensure it stays stable in a range of temperatures.
The product contains good old beef tallow, which puts the natural fats back into leather and helps balance the correct PH levels lost in the tanning process and through general wear and tear.
The addition of natural wax creates a protective barrier on the leather’s surface, shielding it from moisture, dirt and UV rays and to prevent stains, discoloration and fading.
“We have sourced the finest ingredients we could, of natural origin and from as close to home as we could find. It’s probably one of the most natural and Australian-made products you will find,” said Fonz.
“We are also staying away from things such as lanolin. Lanolin is something that has been used in products like this as it was a byproduct of the wool industry, but it was never used back in the day.
“It’s been used since as a filler and the problem with that is, as a former shearer, I knew what would happen – the cotton on my shearing pants back then would rot and I thought that couldn’t be good for the stitching in leather.”
When the pair sold small batches of the product five years ago at local markets, they knew they were onto “something special”.
“The feedback was really good, everyone kept saying, ‘This is the best thing I’ve ever used!’,” said Fonz.
Once they decided to take the next step, a new name was called for and they came up with BEST.
“We wanted something that was simple, basic and easy to remember,” said Fonz.
“When I came up with the name, I was working in the mining industry.
“I thought, what’s a four-letter word that’s easy to remember and defines what it is? I was actually sitting back on the verandah in a pub, having a glass of red, watching some cats fighting when ‘Best’ came to me.
“Because that’s what it is, it’s the best product you will find for its purpose.
“At the end of the day, you can rock up and slap a piece of butter or some cooking oil on your leather and it will soften up, but our product is in a totally different category.
“It’s the reason why we’ve called it BEST leather care, rather than a saddle soap, moisturiser, conditioner or a sealer, because it does the three in one – cleans, conditions and protects all in one.”
Nat and Fonz have backed up the significance of the recipe with branding that highlights its deep-seated history. In the leather hide symbol, they have incorporated a broad arrow, an image closely associated with convict labour.
“The broad arrow was hot-ironed to brand government-owned property such as livestock and items made from wood,” Fonz said.
”It became so widely used to mark objects used by convicts that it became associated with the convict system itself, rather than just a symbol of government property.
“Some even said that the convicts themselves were marked with the arrow, since they were effectively government property too. We wanted to incorporate something like this to highlight not only where we’ve come from but also how far we’ve come as a nation.”
BEST Leather Care comes in a 140-gram tin and will retail for $29.99. You will find Fonz and Nat at site 372a in J Block at Henty and you can follow them on Facebook at BEST Leather Care.
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