So, with the US leather bracelet promo well underway, and the UK’s upcoming, I thought now would be a great time to publish my thoughts on the leather bracelets themselves! I previously published a review of the Pandora bangle, but I have never got around to actually reviewing the leather bracelets before.
This review encompasses the braided leather bracelets, and not the recently-discontinued smooth leather bracelets. I did promise a review of the Pandora oxidised bracelet a couple of weeks ago, but I’ve pushed that back so that I can get this one out while the promos are going on!
Leather Bracelets – Overview
The Pandora leather bracelets feature a delicate, slim leather weave instead of a silver snake chain, but still have the traditional Pandora silver barrel clasp. They’re very light and flexible, and weigh a lot less than the traditional silver or gold Pandora bracelets! You can purchase them in a range of fun colours, or opt for more neutral tones in pearl, grey and black.
The braided leather bracelets are available in single, double and triple wrap (meaning that they will wrap around your hand once, twice or three times when you’re wearing it). Each of these is available in three sizes: small, medium and large. I own only a single wrap bracelet, in pink, and a triple wrap bracelet, in silver:
Both of them have a really gorgeous semi-metallic finish to them, which makes them almost shimmer in the light. The pink shimmer is very soft and delicate, while the metallic finish to the silver triple leather gives it a luminescent quality, stopping the darker colour from looking at all flat – I find it makes both bracelets more striking than a matte finish would.
Leather Bracelets and Charms
Pandora’s official guidelines regarding the maximum amount of charms for the leather bracelets are as follows:
The leathers are by nature much weaker than the silver bracelets, and the join of the silver clasp with the leather cord is particularly prone to breakage. Consequently, you shouldn’t put more than nine charms on your leather bracelet.
However, I still prefer to wear my leather bracelets with an even more minimal number of charms. One of the reasons for this is that the charms can’t be divided up into sections, as they can on the regular metal charm bracelets.
The leather bracelets only have threads by the clasp, unlike the regular silver or gold bracelets. This means that, while you will still need to screw your charms on and off, they will slide around the whole bracelet freely, as you won’t be able to use clips on the leather. However, you can purchase silicone stoppers from sites such as Amazon, which can be placed underneath the clips to hold them in place on the leather bracelet.
I think the leather bracelets are great for showcasing one special charm, too, as I do with my beloved enamel heart charm on my pink leather!
That being said, I do really like the look of some of the double and triple wrap bracelets with more charms, as can be seen in designs such as the one below! I just don’t find them that comfortable to wear, as I primarily use my leather bracelets as a lighter alternative to my hefty silver bracelets, and I don’t like how little control you have over how the charms slip around the cord if you aren’t using silicone spacers.
This brings us nicely on to…
How I wear my leather bracelets
While I do like the look of the leather bracelets on their own, my favourite way to wear them is in conjunction with my regular silver bracelets. This is especially true of the summer seasons, when I like to stack my bracelets and create a more casual look. The pop of colour that the bracelets can give (I only have silver and pink versions right now, however) also seems perfect for those warmer, brighter days.
This stack, utilising just the single pink leather, is more simple and offers a nice way to accentuate the pinks in my silver bracelet design. I wear this one all year round.
However, for any situations where I want something a bit lighter, such as when I’m on holiday or when I’m working, I like to stack a leather with the Pandora bangle. I really like the look of the leathers when you layer them up, and the bangle is perfect for this.
Durability
I’ve owned the pink leather for two years now, and the silver leather for almost a year – consequently, I’ve had a lot of time to see how well they’ve worn. I have heard that some people have found the leathers less durable than their silver equivalents, reporting problems such as stretching, the separation of the leather from the silver clasp, and a susceptibility to accumulating dirt. However, mine, as you can see, look pretty much as they did on the day I got them. I imagine that this is because I do not wear my bracelets with very many charms at all, and I wear them maybe once or twice every two weeks. Consequently, I don’t exactly put a lot of stress on them!
If you wear your leather bracelets a lot, or wear a lot of charms with them, then I would expect that you will see more wear and tear. I personally instinctively don’t want to put lots of charms on the leather, as I can just anticipate them grouping and weighing down the delicate leather.
Conclusion
I love my leather bracelets, but, much like the Pandora bangle, I don’t consider them an alternative to the Pandora silver bracelet. Instead, I think of them as complementary. The leather bracelets definitely work best if you don’t overfill them; they are not capable of taking the weight of lots of charms, and neither are they designed to. I remember that, when I first saw leathers, I was disappointed to find out that you couldn’t fill them up properly – however, I now like them just for their ability to change up a look, and inject some colour and variety into your collection.
Finally, I will note that I have never actually bought a leather bracelet outright – I got both of mine in the UK’s leather bracelet promotions. I do find them a tad expensive for what they are, with the single bracelets starting from £40 in the UK. I love the ones I own now that I have them, but I’m not sure that I like them enough to go and purchase one on its own – I’d always wait for a promotion.
Do you own any leather bracelets? Are you a fan? Let me know if you have any questions!
I think you read my mind with this post. I was wondering if I could get by with putting 2 more charms on my leather bracelet ? I already have 5.
Haha, that’s what I like to hear! ;) Well, while I prefer to stick to fewer charms, the leather bracelets are designed to be worn with 7-9 charms, so you should technically be okay if you do want to add a couple more. Just be aware that the more charms you wear with it, the more strain and potential for stretching you’re placing on it. The important thing is to make sure that it still fits your wrist nicely and not too tightly with the extra charms, as having too small a fit will exacerbate the pressure on the bracelet.
I don’t remember are there new bracelets coming out in the Autumn collection ?
Yes, one double leather – there’s a picture in this post: http://morapandorablog.com/2014/06/08/preview-pandora-autumn-fall-2014-collection/
Just an important thing to note is that you have the triple “silver” as named in the book. The grey only comes in the single and double as it does not have the same metallic finish. Many people do not notice this in the book and get surprised when they do not see the nice metallic finish in single or double!
Oh gosh, I did know that, but it completely slipped my mind when I was writing this review. Thanks for pointing that out – I’ll update the post! ^^
Ellie
Excellent review.
Thank you! <3
I have the single braided leather bracelets in black, dark brown, and pink. My Pandora store put clips with black silicone underneath them on my black bracelet and I had the Pandora bag charm between them. I changed my mind and removed the clips. I’m glad I did because they were tight. I left the bag charm on the bracelet. Most leathers I see people wearing here have no charms on them. I have the dangling ox Chinese zodiac charm I may put on the pink.
Lovely – I bet the brown and pink worn together might make quite a cute combination, actually! I haven’t actually tried the official Pandora stoppers myself, which seems remiss of me really. Perhaps I’ll go and ask for some when I’m in for the UK leather promo next week. Interesting that you didn’t get on with them – apparently the basic silicone stoppers you can buy are more popular.
I really like the look of dangles on the leathers, so I’m sure that would look great! I was thinking of getting a double purple in the promo myself and adding a couple of the new Winter 2014 star pendants to it when they come out in October.
My authorised retailer gave me some black silicone split rings to put under/inside clips to use on my double purple leather and they work brilliantly. I have 7 charms on it including the clips and they stay in place no problem. I’m planning on getting a single pink with the upcoming promo, and having seen your grey up close, I might get a double grey too. I’m hoping that by t
his time next year there will be a single blue available as I am already planning a design for it!
It’s silly really, as I haven’t actually tried the official Pandora stoppers myself! I found it quite annoying that my local store charge for them. ;) I might see if I can get hold of some next week during the leather promo.
I don’t think you can go wrong with the pink leather – it has such a pretty delicate colour to it! However, as Victoria rightly pointed out in her comment, my triple grey leather is technically the ‘silver’, which only comes in triple wrap. The single and double wrap greys are a more matte colour. I really do recommend the silver triple wrap, though, as I love the more metallic finish to it.
It would be great to see more versions of the blue, too – I don’t see what the point in releasing only one size of it would be! It’s a shame that it won’t be out in time for this promo, too.
You are totally a bad influence! I will see if I can replan my spending strategy to take that into account!
Lol, sorry about that! ;)
I am so happy I read this and the comments below, because when I got a free leather I wanted the grey, but when I tried on the single I thought it was dark and not very flattering. Instead I got the champagne (which I love now anyways), and now I know that it is the triple wrap I need to get because it is shiny.
Oh good, I’m really glad that we’ve been able to help you out! :D The silver triple wrap is really pretty – I do prefer it to the matte grey versions. It’s very versatile too, as almost any colour looks great with it. The champagne is gorgeous, as well, though!
Ellie
I’m sure about the double leather I think I like the single better. Isn’t the single bracelets more comfortable ?
Erm… I find the single wrap slightly more comfortable to wear with charms, but overall I don’t find that there’s too much difference between them. The double and triple wrap bracelets are slightly more fussy to put on, I suppose! Have you tried the double on?
I meant I wasn’t sure about the double leather lol. No I never tried it, I really don’t like the feeling of having too many things around my wrists
I got what you meant, haha! Well, if you’re not sure, you could always try both on in store and see whether you get on with the double or not. :)
Lol thanks
I LOVE my leather’s! I have the silver triple, the black braided one in single and double, a pink single one and four smooth ones (two black, one brown, one LE pink). I pretty much always wear them with clips only – with the Pandora stoppers underneath (my store just hands them out whenever I need some) :-) . Love the stacking look of them!! And mixing braided/smooth ones. And having the charms stay put make it a thousand times more comfortable to wear, I think :-)
It’s easy to tell that you love them from the lovely pics you take of them – they clearly inspire you! I’m very jealous of your LE pink bracelet, which is one I never managed to obtain. ;)
Ah, I thought that they would probably be more comfortable with the stoppers. I’ve just never really got around to trying them properly! I completely forgot to ask for some when I was in the store today, too… Too distracted by all the shiny things lol. Thanks for sharing such a nice and informative comment! :)
I also have the silver triple leather bracelet and I love it. I didn’t care for the gray leather bracelets. I only have two charms on mine. I wear it along with my silver Pandora bracelet.
Yes, I prefer the metallic silver to the matte grey – it just gives it a little lift and shine that makes it even prettier! Sounds lovely – that’s how I like to wear mine, too. <3
I bought the pink leather with the breast cancer ribbon and two clips on either side, as I was just told last Monday I have breast cancer. I very tiny wrist and find the small leather to be the best. But the charms always end up underneath and the pandora ends up on top. Not sure how to fix this, I really want people to see my charms does anyone have an answer for this?
First of all I am so very sorry to hear about your diagnosis – wishing you the very best and I hope you make a speedy recovery. It’s good that Pandora are such staunch supporters of the cause, they have a lovely range of pieces to promote the charities! :)
In regards to your question, what you describe is a very common problem with Pandora bracelets, and it’s not an easy one to solve! The only thing that you can practically do, seeing as your wrists are so small and you can’t go down a size, is to invest in some silicone stoppers and try and space the charms out. If the charms all bunch up in one place, they are going to be heavier and the bracelet will spin around. :)
Wishing you the very best,
Ellie
Thank you for this review, I wasn’t aware of the stoppers until reading all the comments.I will have to see if I can get them where I am as I would like to keep my charms in place, I don’t like them moving around.?I have only recently started my Pandora obsession, but already I’ve managed to purchase the single red leather(for Christmas) the single grey and the single pink with the HOPE charm and the double navy.I love the leather bracelets and love ready your posts.?
Hi Julia, the stoppers are widely available on eBay and amazon – have a look around and you can probably find some silicone ones very cheaply! :) They are really, really good if you don’t want the charms sliding around the leather bracelet (which can get really annoying!) – however I find that the stoppers are so hard to get on and off the bracelet, so if you like to change up your designs a lot they might not be for you.
Ooh I love your choices – the navy is on my to-get list! <3 Since this post I have added the double purple and the single red leathers to my collection – they're so beautiful and great for stacking with my other bracelets. Unfortunately I hear rumours that Pandora is gearing up to retire most of its leather stuff, which seems like such a shame! :( I've really grown to love the leather bracelets.
Glad to hear you're enjoying the blog, Julia, thanks so much for reading!
Oops…reading!!!
I have the double strand purple leather bracelet it just has two charms on at the moment. My daughter recently brought me a disney pandora charge from New York it is a genuine pandora charm but no matter how hard I try it just will not screw over clasp part to go on to the bracelet (I thought they were all standard size) do you have any suggestions as to why it might not fit and if I can do anything about it
I bought the double leather bracelet in purple a couple of months ago and although I’m quite happy with the bracelet when worn on its own, I’m not so happy when I put charms on it. The strand with the charms on just hangs over the other strand onto my hand I’m forever pushing it back. I think it is possibly to big, I don’t think it’s the amount of charms because I am only putting four on to the bracelet. Do you know if Pandora do an altering service, or can any jewellers shorten it?
Hi Carol! I know that Pandora offers a shortening service for the silver bracelets, but I’ve not heard of leather bracelets being shortened before. However I don’t know for sure. It might be best to go and chat to Pandora or your local store directly to see what they can do for you :)
Hi, just to let you know that PANDORA do do a shortening service for the leather bracelet. After phoning my local store to check if they did such a thing , they said bring it into the store we will have to send it away, it could take upto 3 weeks. So I took it into store on the Monday and was contacted on the Thursday to say it was back and ready for collection, I couldn’t believe how quickly they had done the job and all it cost was £6.00. Excellent service, well done PANDORA!
Hi Carol, that’s great news! I’m so pleased that they got it sorted for you, and so quickly, too. I’ve found the repair service in the UK very efficient too – they do seem to work to get the bracelets back as quickly as possible!
Thanks, too, for letting me know about the shortening service for the leathers, I had no idea that they offered that. And that’s a very reasonable price as well!
Thanks for the information. I searched for this post after I saw your post about the leather bracelet promotion. I always read your posts before I purchase ANYTHING Pandora (I only started buying/wearing them in 12/14). I’m not sure if I want a leather one. Thanks for your feedback.
You’re welcome, glad it was useful! I’ve actually grown to love the leathers even more since I wrote this review, if that helps at all. I have a few more colours now and they are perfect for layering with the bangles and charm bracelets. I still tend to only wear two or three charms on each, but I love how colourful they are! :)
Enjoyable read. I have a pandora bracelet…never owned one before so it’s taken me a while to get used to it…and of course since my other bracelets I can wear all the time I’ve had conflicting views of how to wear them. Don’t wear them in the shower, or in bed or clearing…
I do like the look of these braids…and since I’ve worn braided bracelets before albeit not pandora my question is can the pandora bracelets be worn at all times and with what ever you are doing?
Thank you, I’m pleased to hear that you enjoyed it! :) With the leather bracelets, it’s particularly important that you don’t wear them (as you say) in the shower or to bed, or to expose them to chemicals and creams. The leather is delicate and more prone to discolouring so it is best to play it safe! On the other hand, wearing them in bed can exert pressure on the clasp and cause it to separate from the leather cord.
Since writing this post, I’ve indulged in a couple more leathers and I love to stack them. They are really nice and light for summer as well! They are a little more fragile than the regular silver bracelets, but they are suitable for most day-to-day activities. I just wouldn’t expose them to water or chemicals. :)
So basically, from what I am understanding here (please do correct me if I am incorrect) is you have to do the same with them as with the silver ones…and have to keep taking them on and off like for sleeping or if you wish to sunbathe (because of the suncream) and also if you are doing housework in the sense you are using chemicals to clean with?
Yes that’s right! I’d recommend being even more careful with the leathers too as they really don’t take to being wet at all, whereas you can give your silver bracelets a bath with a little bit of dish soap if you want to clean them. :)
That’s such a shame as I really fancied one, but priced at £40 I think it is it’s a bit steep if you can’t do much with them or wear them in case you get them splashed slightly with water! I don’t want to take that chance and they suddenly break on me :( I must say..I think they should try making them much more durable..I actually thought they were till I read your review.
I’ve only just started being brave with my silver one in the sense I actually put my hands in water and didn’t take it off!!
Yes it is a shame that the leathers aren’t more durable. You do hear stories of them breaking relatively often, although I have never had a problem with mine yet (touch wood!) :) I have tended to get mine during bracelet promos as £40 is really quite a lot!
Hello again and thank you once again for continuing to reply, it is appreciated especially when I am deciding on something completely different…
Yes, after my last message to you went to you, I was thinking that. I thought ‘Well Mora has plenty of them and still buying them lol’
Yes, I have decided to try and have a go at one…but unsure whether to try other outlets like Ebay…I would not know how to get them through bracelet promos so my best bet would be somewhere like Ebay I think…
I am just unsure if I want to pay £40 out for it to break and Pandora not exchange it or anything…I am still unhappy at the fact when I was bought my bracelet as a Christmas present, and we exchanged it for a bigger size and consequently paid for it…I thought we would perhaps just get it exchanged for free under warranty or something.
Hi Sharon, no problem! You’re always welcome to mull things over here. :)
If you want to go the eBay route, I’d recommend the seller b*jewell*d. They’re located in Australia and they have a quite wide range of genuine Pandora jewellery to choose from. They have some discount leathers too :)
The only problem is that, if you go through eBay, you don’t get a warranty, so if it does break then you will have to pay for the repair. :( If it did break within warranty, then Pandora would be obligated to replace it or repair it for you – so that shouldn’t be a problem. Regarding your other bracelet, do you mean that you hadn’t worn the bracelet and they still charged you? :/ That’s not good at all!
Hi there…:-)
AH, right ok…I guess the best thing to do then is going to a Pandora store so it can be sorted out….
As for my silver one..I think I wore it once…bear in mind, just recently I have worn it more since i have had it…so I think I had worn it once or maybe twice…and I don’t mean kept it on and did things, I mean, put it on and then took it off again…so yeah, they charged which I found rather startling and worrying…..the one I have now is so big, I am able to actually slip it over my fingers to put it on as its now got that 1cm bigger as they tell you it does, but I am not prepared to pay for another one!!
**Correction** sorry just been corrected on that, and no, he didn’t pay again! That’s a relief then isn’t it lol
Hi Sharon! So you didn’t have to pay for the exchange? Glad to hear it – that would have been rather cheeky lol!
Hi there ? yeah that’s what I thought too ? I was knew to the whole experience I honestly thought he had!
Still very seriously considering the leather one….guess it’s like everything else…till you are brave…you won’t know! I keep wearing one of my hair ties (to put my hair in a pony tail?) on my wrist and look at it and keep thinking…you should be able to have something on you, and I keep having the urge to put 2 of my charms on the them!
Will keep you updated ?
Hiya… Got a question, you know the double braided bracelets? If you put charms on them can you put the charm on both braids rather than just the one? Tried one on but it was rather clumsy and while one part was on my wrist the other part wasn’t next to it but further down my wrist if you understand me.
Hi, I think I know what you mean, haha. You’d probably better off trying to put an equal amount of weight in charms on each braid… They probably will end up being a bit uneven, and the charms will probably move around while you’re wearing it. :)
Lol sorry! I worked out a way out to show you what I mean only to find out I can’t post photos here can I? ?
I meant when she tried it on my wrist one part of the braid was on one part of my wrist and the other part was further down… They weren’t together. Then I wondered if it was possible to keep both braids together and place a charm over the top of them?
You can if you have instagram or pinterest or any online image hosting thing like photobucket. Just copy the URL into a comment :)
As I can’t quite visualise what you mean haha!
Did you get my last message and a link to a photo of what I was trying to describe?
No I’ve not had anything from you sharon! :)
Sent you the pic of what I meant :( tried twice, do you have an email address I can send it to instead?
Oh right, where were you trying to send to? My email is mora0pandora@gmail.com, try that :)
Right I’ve tried again, doesn’t seem to have worked so sent it to your email… Check in your spam to make sure it’s not disappeared in there!!
Hi Sharon – I’ve received your email and will reply to you tomorrow! :D
I have a 3 layer black leather bracelet and I love it
At the moment I have over 20 charms on it and I’m still adding to it
It hasn’t broken or anything do I don’t know why they suggest 9 at a time
I’ve written mine every day for the past 3 years and is still young strong
The only issue I have with it is that it leaves black marks on my wrist but that’s an easy enough fix with a bit of soap and water
Glad to hear that you’ve had such a good experience with yours! :) I have heard from a few people who have had their leather bracelets come unglued so perhaps Pandora advertise that limit to be on the safe side. :)
leaving about 2 inches of slack. Start braiding. At about an inch of the way down
Hi Ellie! Can’t tell you how much I love this blog. I know this is an older post, so I hope you see this comment, but I just want to tell you that I have so much fun reading your blog and lusting after all the charms I’m saving up to collect! Quick question: I have a super thin wrist and so I have a lot of trouble with the leather bracelet “hanging” because it’s heavier on one side. I only have two charms on mine and even when they’re not bunched up near the clasp it hangs almost to the middle of my palm. Do you have any advice for how I can cut down on this problem?
Can you unwrap the triple bracelet to wear as a necklace? My wife has a double bracelet and I thought a matching necklace would look fab, but Pandora doesn’t make one.
I can’t see any reason why you couldn’t do that – the only thing you’d want to avoid is putting too many charms on it, as that might be a bit heavy for it if it’s being worn as a single necklace instead of a triple bracelet :)
Hiya,
Loving the blog! I received the black leather bracelet along with two charms for Christmas. And I love it! But the charms live underneath my wrist permanently. I was going to buy two stoppers so the charms sit in the middle of the bracelet and hoping the weight will keep it at the top of my wrist. Do you think this will solve my issue?
Any help would be appreciated!
Thank you!