Skip to main content

Hermès removes all leather Apple Watch bands from its site

Apple Watch bands by Hermès.
Hermes

Luxury goods retailer Hermès has removed its entire range of leather bands for the Apple Watch from its online store.

Recommended Videos

The change comes just two days before Apple is expected to unveil the Apple Watch Series 9 and iPhone 15, and a week after Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman claimed that Apple was set to “move away from leather on iPhone cases and Apple Watch bands” for environmental and sustainability reasons.

In a series of posts on X last week, Gurman questioned how Apple’s expected pivot away from leather might impact its partnership with Hermès, which until very recently offered a range of luxury leather bands for the Apple Watch.

The Bloomberg reporter, who often calls it right with Apple’s plans, reposted a message on Sunday showing screenshots of Hermès’ website before and after it removed a link to its leather bands for the Apple Watch. 9to5Mac also shared an empty Hermès product page that until recently displayed a range of Apple Watch bands.

It’s unclear if the removal of the leather Apple Watch bands marks an end to Apple’s long-running partnership with Hermès, or if the high-end retailer is merely preparing to update its online store with a new range of non-leather — or possibly even leather — accessories on Tuesday. After all, at the time of writing, Hermès’ website still offers a range of leather accessories for Apple products that include AirTag key rings, AirPods Pro cases, and a calfskin case for the iPhone 12. Furthermore, Apple’s website is still showing several leather bands from Hermès.

Apple’s reported move away from the material could be confirmed as early as this week when it unveils the new Apple Watch and iPhone, possibly alongside a new range of synthetic bands and cases that may entirely replace the leather options.

Gurman said recently that he expected environment and sustainability will be “a larger than normal part of the September 12 launch,” so Apple might even have some relevant announcements to make in other areas away from the watch and phone.

All will be revealed in just a couple of days.

If you’re interested in watching a live stream of Apple’s biggest event of the year on Tuesday, then Digital Trends has a page explaining everything you need to know.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Apple could soon fix Wi-Fi access woes across all your devices
Setting up Wi-Fi on an iPhone.

One of the biggest hassles while traveling is the hunt for a decent internet connection, and then getting it to work across all your devices. The conundrum is now mainstream across hotels, lodges, and coffee shops — essentially all the establishments a person is supposed to spend a few hours of their day, but needs to fill a web form first before they can get internet access.

Apple will soon put an end to those Wi-Fi registration struggles. According to Bloomberg, the company is working on “a system that can synchronize captive Wi-Fi access details across the iPhone, iPad and Mac.”

Read more
There may not be an iPhone in 10 years’ time, says top Apple exec
A person holding the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max.

Well, whouda thunk it. A top Apple executive positing the idea that in 10 years from now, the iPhone -- your beloved iPhone (unless you have a beloved Android phone, that is) -- may no longer exist.

Before your head explodes at the mere thought of Apple abandoning the iPhone in 10 years’ time, there’s also a chance that in 2035 there will be an iPhone 27, or whatever’s Apple’s calling it by then.

Read more
Apple just dropped a new watch band and wallpapers for Pride 2025
Apple Pride 2025 collection.

Apple just announced its "2025 Pride Collection," which includes a new Sport Band for Apple Watch, a dynamic watch face, and a dynamic wallpaper that will be available for iOS and iPadOS. The watch band is available to order from today and the watch face/wallpapers will drop in upcoming software updates.

Apple has been releasing special edition watch bands for Pride Month for almost a decade now, each with a different take on the rainbow/multicolored design. This year's is pretty straightforward, making use of bold stripes of color just like actual pride flags.

Read more