Pig Skin Lining Dilemma

4:20 AM

Major dilemmas have been brought up in the recent online shopping …

Are we purchasing Pig Skin Lining Shoes?

In fact, as I’m a non-Muslim seller, I really have no idea how to check on the pig skin lining at the first stage… Thus, I have made tons of refund / return / exchange to customers who complaint that our shoes are made of pig skin lining… :(

We checked with factory again and again, googling again and again and to be friend until now I am not sure either… (T.T) (forgive me as I’m not a pig skin lining scholar)

However, I think I have to make my effort clear up this thought…
(At least is a respect to my Muslim’s customer, I think… ** winks **)

First of all, how would we know that is not made of pig skin lining ?

Ok, this is how we work with factory. Every time when factory send us the new arrivals notice, they did indicate clearly on the material section whether it is made of leather, pig skin leather, PU leather, Cow leather & etc… I personally have come across few types of shoes which tagged with "Pig Skin Lining" but all those shoes I never uploaded it to our gallery. :D

Secondly, we have checked with factory why 3 dots still appears on the shoes ? Why ?

They told us that those are manmade leather. They are trying to make these artificial pig skins look more ‘genuine’. Simply because genuine pig skin leather raw material is very expensive… The genuine pig skin shoe would have cost over RM 200++ !!
Also, the way of arranging during production affected the outlook of shoes. Using PVC and Plastic material during production will create the 3dots looks as well…

The conclusion is we can boldly say that according to the information given by our factory --- Our shoes are NOT made of pig skin.

However, we understand that some of our Muslim’s customers still worry those are made of pig skin.

As we said earlier, we really are not the scholar of pig skin lining. We cannot check on science lab whether it’s pig skin lining or not… We are selling according to the information given by factory.


Therefore, to be fair to both Agape Boutique and Muslim’s customers, we feel it’s better that if you are sensitive on the Pig Skin Lining issue, with NO OFFEND, please DO NOT place order with us.

Of course we too would like to have more sales, but to create misunderstanding and to be crown with A NON-HONEST online boutique, I think this will be the best way :D


~ Happy Shopping ~
Agape Boutique

....................................................................................................................


Other related links that might help:
http://www.getzclub.com.my/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2442
(credited to Getz Club forum)
** please note comment posted by shamiey (counted from bottom # 4) is similar to what factory told us

author information goes here

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15 comments

  1. Puteri Gunung LedangJuly 27, 2010 at 11:59 PM

    Hey I actually get reference fro my sis who is sort of a "PRO" in the pig skin lining thingy..I actually burn some of the inner shoe to make sure its not leather..NOPE its not..burn smells like plastic.. SO not pig skin lining...YES pig skin lining mostly made in china BUT usually its the imitation of branded products..I'm so relieve actually its not pig skin lining...so gonna continue shoping here..*wink *wink...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Agape BoutiqueJuly 28, 2010 at 12:03 AM

    Dear Puteri Gunung Ledang,

    Thanks babe for clearing up the issue as a muslim buyer :)

    Love ya.. **wink**

    ReplyDelete
  3. Rahainah MustaphaAugust 3, 2010 at 10:55 PM

    Dear Agape Boutique,
    I'm really thankful that u did this post. and i may say that i have bought a few pairs of shoes that i'm still thinking that they'r made of pig skin but not from ur site (and the site don't entertain in refunding good :( )
    anyways, i apreciated ur effort on posting this post cos not many blog owners really care bout this and this proves that u do care bout the sensitivity of your customers whether they'r muslims or not :)
    and i will try the method showed by Puteri Gunung Ledang though i'm not sure if it still gonna convince me 100% O.o

    ReplyDelete
  4. Agape BoutiqueAugust 4, 2010 at 5:21 AM

    Dear Rahainah,

    Glad that this post helped :D
    We understand the importance of Pig Skin Lining to Muslim customers, hopefully Puteri Gunung Ledang idea worked...

    Happy Shopping...

    ReplyDelete
  5. dreamyAugust 20, 2010 at 11:13 AM

    i respect that you did this post to clear things up regarding this issues...keep up the good work and honesty and i'm sure more buyers will stick to your service!!! i indeed have been to a 'Halal' seminar organized by JAKIM, Malaysia and the truth is, it takes more than just 3 dots to certified whether or not it's a pig skin. and it's just not a normal 3 hole. too bad i can't really remember what are the other details of the dots...sorry guys!!! :p

    ReplyDelete
  6. Agape BoutiqueAugust 20, 2010 at 3:17 PM

    Hi Dreamy,

    Thanks dear for trying to help :D
    I understand that this is very important for Muslim customer, so we have to clear up the issue :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousAugust 27, 2010 at 7:04 AM

    Hi Guys,

    For me once I have doubt I won't a cafefullbuy it. In this case anything made from China I always have doubt sorry no offence. This is how I feel. What Agape have explained I do really really hope that's genuine.... As a Muslim we have to be extra careful. I am tempted to order some of the shoes and bags but need to really carefully select the material. Safe bet is to order febric material shoes or bags then is 100% safe I guess.
    My apology if I ffended anybody this is my opinion.

    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  8. Agape BoutiqueAugust 27, 2010 at 2:47 PM

    Hi,

    No problem dear, feel free to give us your opinion, we won't delete it :) hehehe...

    Ya we understand Pig Skin Lining is a big issue for Muslim that is why we come out with this post.

    Of course we understand that not everyone is convince with what we said but as far as I concern, and to be truthful to God and customer, this is what all the information I got...

    So, it's really depend on you guys wheather to buy it or not...

    I just hope this post will be fair bridge between Muslim buyer and Agape Boutique

    ** Cheers **

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousAugust 28, 2010 at 2:54 PM

    Hiya,

    Haha have bought lots of shoes online before I realized that the majority of the shoes have those 3 dots on the insoles :( So I decided to take my shoes to the cobbler, who clarified that they're definitely not pig skin lining. You can tell from the fabric/material - genuine pig skin lining would be more... fabric-like? Softer than the man-made PU lining anyway. None of my shoes are made from pig skin lining, thankfully.

    I just don't understand *why* they need to have the same 3 spots, it doesn't really give us the confidence to buy these things y'know? But anyway, thanks for posting this up Agape :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Agape BoutiqueAugust 29, 2010 at 1:30 AM

    Hi Dear,

    Yep, in fact I asked the same question like you "Why" they need to have the same 3 spots in most of the shoe.

    This is simply because they want to made it more "genuine" leather and the way of arrangement during production... Sound weird ya? But this is the technology which they try to copy everything !

    Thanks for your support :D

    ReplyDelete
  11. AnonymousJanuary 6, 2011 at 1:20 PM

    Hello dear, please refer to this link for further information on Pig Skin Lining.

    http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?id=2075

    (Linn)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Agape BoutiqueJanuary 8, 2011 at 11:28 AM

    Thanks Linn

    ReplyDelete
  13. miss elJanuary 28, 2011 at 3:56 AM

    wow thanks..this is what we call as 1 malaysia..respect each other..u're a nice seller indeed :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Agape BoutiqueJanuary 28, 2011 at 11:03 AM

    Hi Miss El,

    Thanks fo ryour support too :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. AnonymousSeptember 17, 2011 at 12:51 PM

    good info n good job agape boutiqe:)! but how to order oxford shoes..:(

    ReplyDelete