Holster, duty belts and accessory cases of leather appearing multi-laminate and process for producing the same

A laminate article carrier having numerous contours and crisp, well-defined edges whose exterior has the appearance of hand-tooled leather made by the process of:

• selecting a laminate having at least an outer layer, a core, and an inner layer bonded together;
• said outer layer made from a non-woven, randomly oriented nylon capable of accepting and holding a design reminiscent of tooled leather;
• said outer layer having a directional plane of greater stretch than its traverse plane;
• said core made from a closed cell polyethylene foam;
• heating said laminate to between about 250° F. and 330° F. for about 180 to 270 seconds;
• placing said heated laminate into a mold having different depths of deformation such that said laminates directional plane of greater stretch is parallel to the area of maximum deformation of the mold;
• compressing selected areas of said laminate in said mold at about 3000 psi for between about 90 to 180 seconds;
• thereafter cooling said laminate in said mold such that said selected areas of compression have a permanently reduced thickness, resulting in a laminate having well-defined contours and edges with the outward appearance of hand-tooled leather;
• and
• trimming said compressed laminate of excess, if necessary, to better define the article carrier, adding desired component parts and joining the edges said compressed laminate together to complete the desired article carrier.

A process for making a laminate article carrier having contours and crisp, well-defined edges whose exterior has the appearance of hand-tooled leather comprising:

• selecting a laminate having at least an outer layer, a core, and an inner layer bonded together where said outer layer includes a design reminiscent of tooled leather and where said outer layer has a directional plane of greater stretch than its traverse plane;
• heating said laminate to a temperature sufficient to soften said lamiante without degrading the outer layer design;
• placing said heated laminate into a desired mold having different depths of deformation wherein said laminate's directional plane of greater stretch is parallel to the area of maximum deformation of the mold;
• compressing selected areas of said laminate in said mold and subsequently cooling said laminate in said mold such that said selected areas of compression have a permanently reduced thickness resulting in a laminate having well-defined contours and edges with the outward appearance of hand-tooled leather;
• and
• trimming said compressed laminate, if necessary, adding desired component parts and joining the edges of said compressed laminate together to complete the desired article carrier.