Mr. S Leather Review: San Francisco's Leather Institution, Priced Like One

Alan Selby opened the first shop at 227 7th Street on June 17, 1979, with his partner Peter Jacklin, a leatherworker. The store has moved three times without leaving SoMa and has been at 385 8th Street since Labor Day weekend 2005. Richard Hunter has owned it since 1991. The company's Legacy Business Registry application calls him retired and says ownership will pass to the three officers who run the business, with Jonathan Schroder as CEO.

What makes it more than a shop is the workshop. The filing describes an in-house production team and more than 40 full-time staff across production, web sales and the sales floor. Mr. S says it was the first fetish company to bring neoprene into the scene. Heavy bondage goes out under a second house name, Fetters USA, which Mr. S presents as its own line. The sleepsack page says Mr. S and Fetters USA originated the all-leather sleepsack and have made them since 1988.

The product pages don't say where each piece is made. The leather page says most hides come from California tanneries, but I found no Made in USA label on any single item, and I'd want one before paying $159.95 for a pair of cuffs.

Mr. S's everyday leather cuffs are the Essential Wrist Restraints, $79.95 a pair. Each cuff is 2.5 inches wide, with soft garment leather over a latigo base, a rolled edge, one welded D-ring and a buckle. They fit wrists from 5.5 to 9.5 inches, the matching ankle pair is $89.95, and a Slimline wrist pair for 5.5 to 8.5 inches is $69.95.

On paper that's the right build. I'm more often the one wearing the cuffs than the one buckling them, so I read the lining first and the ring second, because a bent-wire ring with a gap can open under a hard pull. And a buckle holds where velcro gives way.

The Fetters Padded Locking Wrist Restraints ($159.95, or $169.95 for ankles) add padding, nickel-plated steel hardware and a locking post, with the locks sold separately. The Leather Handcuffs with Locks ($88.95) rivet two padded cuffs together and include two keyed-alike locks. The cheapest pair, the Neoprene Quick Restraints ($49.95), is neoprene and nylon that Mr. S pitches at newcomers, though its page doesn't say how it fastens.

The price is the problem. Our Stockroom review has Stockroom's own lined, lockable cuffs at $44 to $150 a pair, and Sportsheets' whole Under the Bed Restraint System, four cuffs and the straps that hold them to the bed, is $73.99. I can't tell from a product page whether an Essential cuff is worth $35.95 more than the cheapest Stockroom pair. For a first pair of leather cuffs, I'd buy the cheaper pair and spend the difference on panic snaps and trauma shears.

Go slow with the locks. Buckles pass the five-second rule once you've practiced them, meaning one hand frees the person in five seconds, but a lock only passes if the key is already in your hand. Fit every cuff so two fingers slide underneath, and read our bondage for beginners guide for the warning signs a hand gives before it goes numb.

Tip

Clip cuffs to the bed with panic snaps, which open while someone is pulling on them. A carabiner under load often won't.

The floggers are listed as hand-made, and priced like it. The Mid Size is $89.95, the Full Size $107.95, the ProGrip with 20-inch cow or bull tails $119.95 to $159.95, and the 80-tail Master Cowhide $289.95. The ProGrip page explains that bull gives a heavier thud with less force than cow, which is the kind of note I want on every flogger listing. Among the paddles, the Wide Leather Paddler is $69.95 and the 18-inch Classic $89.95.

I wouldn't buy a first impact toy here. Impact starts with your hand, a slow warm-up and the sit spot, and then a wide paddle, which spreads the force and is hard to land in the wrong place. Faux leather does that job. For real cow leather, Liebe Seele's paddle is 3.3 inches wide for $42.95. A Mr. S flogger makes sense once you know if you like thud or sting, and once the tips have stopped wrapping onto someone's ribs. Leather can't be fully disinfected either, so a flogger that has touched blood stays with that one person.

The leather collars I'd look at run from the Hardline ($69.95), two layers of garment leather 1.5 inches wide, to the Heavy Duty Posture Collar ($189.95). Mr. S calls the Fetters Locking Bondage Collar ($109.95) one of its most popular. It's 2.5 inches wide, latigo with garment-leather piping, with four D-rings and a locking post at the back for a lock you buy separately, in M/L for 12 to 17-inch necks and XL for 18 to 23.

Two things on the collar pages I'd ignore. The Fetters collar's page suggests using its side D-rings to secure the wearer's neck to the bed. And the Quick-Pull Choke Collar ($59.95) is latigo leather sold to tighten against the throat at the slightest pull of its front ring. Skip that one entirely.

Warning

A collar can be part of the look, but it's never an anchor point. Nothing should connect it to the bed, the wrists or anything else that can pull. No choking and no breath play, however experienced you both are. There's no safe version of it.

Its signature piece

Neoprene Puppy Hood

Stretchy neoprene, no zippers or laces, and a muzzle that comes off.

• $99.95$109.95 in XX-Large
• 16colors
• 104reviews on its page
• 8 wkfor made-to-order sizes

Options

• Ear holes · +$5
• Eyeglass slots · +$5

Visit Mr. S LeatherDirect link

"This is the pup hood that started it all," says its product page, and the city filing credits it with helping launch the puppy-play scene. It's $99.95, or $109.95 in XX-Large, in 16 colors, with 104 reviews on its page. The neoprene is soft and stretchy, with no zippers or laces, the muzzle comes off so a pup can drink without leaving the headspace, and it washes by hand with dish soap.

If pup play is your thing, this is the hood I'd buy. It's Mr. S's own design and costs a fraction of the leather hoods, which start at $169.95 for the Leather Lined Bag Hood and climb to $789.95 for the Scream Hood. One of them, the Breath Control Hood ($409.95), puts a rubber mask over the nose and mouth with a single air hole, and its page points out that someone can cover it. That's breath play, and I'd skip it for the same reason as the choke collar. Whatever hood you buy, settle a signal that works without a voice before it goes on, and keep watching breathing and skin color while it's on.

The heavy end belongs to Fetters USA. The Deluxe Leather Sleepsack is $1,895, or $2,410 with body straps and shoulder and ankle suspension, with a full measurement chart and nine weeks for made-to-order sizes, and the Deluxe Leather Straitjacket starts at $1,795. This is gear for people who already know what a scene in it looks like. Someone laced into a sleepsack can't free a hand, so never leave them alone, and leave the suspension options to people who've learned suspension in person.

The toy shelf is where Mr. S can save you money. It lists 49 Mr Hankey's toys, including the Perfect Penis at $130.95 in Small, $150.95 in Medium, $170.95 in L/XL and $194.95 in XXL. Hankey's own store charges $125.95, $149.95, $169.95 and $189.95, so Mr. S is $1 to $5 higher per size. Hankey's adds a flat $17.95 for US shipping, though, and Mr. S ships US orders over $99 free, so a Small costs $143.90 delivered from Hankey's and $130.95 from Mr. S.

The catch is choice. Mr. S lists the Perfect Penis in 75% soft only, while Hankey's own page offers 40% soft, 75% soft, Med Firm and Extra Firm. Hankey's takes no returns once a toy ships, and Mr. S refunds a dildo within 60 days only if it comes back unopened, which covers a change of heart before the seal is broken and nothing after.

Bad Dragon works the same way. Mr. S carries five Bad Dragon models, the Razor, Chance, Rex, Nokken and Flint, in preset Signature or Natural colors. Its Chance, in medium firmness, is $84.95 for the Small, $114.95 for the Medium, $144.95 for the Large and $199.95 for the XL, against Bad Dragon's own $95, $130, $160 and $225 before options. That's 9 to 12 percent less, and you give up everything custom. If the stock options suit you, buying here beats buying direct.

The rest of the shelf is wide. SquarePeg has 36 listings with the Egg Plug from $29.95, and electro play runs to 38 ElectraStim products and 16 from E-Stim Systems. E-stim is a skill of its own with its own safety rules, so learn those before you buy any of it.

Mr. S's own plug, the silicone World's Most Comfortable Butt Plug, is a solid silicone shell around a metal weight, with a narrow 1.5-inch stem, in five sizes from $34.95 to $69.95. Mr. S has sold the design for over 25 years. Even the Small is 1.3 inches across and weighs 5.5 ounces, so if you've never used a plug, our anal rankings start narrower.

Orders ship in plain boxes or plain padded envelopes with M.S.L. and the 8th Street address on the return label, which tells a nosy neighbor nothing. US orders of $99 to $224.99 ship free in two to six business days, and orders of $225 or more ship free by rush in two to three. Pick UPS 1-Day or 2-Day by 2pm Pacific on a weekday and the order leaves that day. I couldn't find what shipping costs under $99, so check at checkout, and a lost package isn't replaced until 15 days after it left the building.

The return window is the best thing about the store. Mr. S refunds anything sent back within 60 days, for any reason, if it's new and unused with its tags and packaging. Nothing worn, washed or used goes back, insertables must also be unopened, and custom or made-to-measure pieces can't be returned at all. Exchanges happen only in the store, so by mail you reorder and send the first one back, with your order number, or the refund comes as store credit. The return policy also warns of a restocking fee for badly packed returns, without saying how much or who pays the postage.

The separate terms page muddies that. It still offers store credit for unused returns with an RMA number, where the return policy promises a refund, so if a refund matters to you, confirm by email before you ship anything back.

You can call, email or use a contact form, and the contact page says staff are there seven days a week and usually reply within 24 hours. I found no live chat. Mr. S matches prices on identical in-stock items elsewhere, except on Etsy, eBay and clearance over 20 percent off, and its rewards work out to 2 percent back. I couldn't find what name appears on a card statement, so I can't promise discreet billing.

“Sixty days to send back unused gear for a refund is the best reason to order from Mr. S by mail.”

Note

Measure before you order. Most product pages print inside measurements, the sleepsack has a full chart, and custom or made-to-measure pieces can't be returned.

On Yelp, the San Francisco business has 4.6 stars from 241 reviews. Online reviews are thinner. Mr. S moderates the reviews on its own product pages, and its Trustpilot profile is gone, replaced by a notice that it was removed because something about it went against Trustpilot's guidelines, with no detail. I don't know what happened there, and I'm not going to guess. Google's reviews and the Better Business Bureau couldn't be checked.

One case is on the public record. On January 6, 2025, a private plaintiff, Blue Sky Forever, filed a Prop 65 notice against Mr. S that named DEHP, a phthalatePhthalatesSofteners used in PVC and jelly toys, linked to hormone disruption. Silicone, glass, stainless steel and ABS plastic don't contain them. More in the glossary, in gags. A failure-to-warn complaint followed in San Francisco Superior Court on June 5, 2025, and the case settled on December 23, 2025, for a $2,500 civil penalty and $18,500 in attorney's fees and costs, $21,000 in all, with reformulation or warnings as the remedy. Judgment was entered on April 10, 2026, and the record is on the California Attorney General's site. Mr. S's own Prop 65 page says it puts the warning on all of its products, wherever they ship, since it can't test thousands of items for every listed chemical.

The case was about gags, and a gag sits in your mouth, so for that one category I'd ask exactly what the ball and the strap are made of before buying from anyone. A gag also takes away the safeword, which is why our beginner BDSM kit guide leaves gags out while you're learning.

For a first leather purchase, Stockroom wins on price. Both shops make their own leather in California, Stockroom in Los Angeles and Mr. S in San Francisco, and both sell other makers' gear next to it. Stockroom's lined, lockable cuffs start at $44 a pair and its collars at $20, while Mr. S's Essential cuffs are $79.95 and a Hardline collar is $69.95.

Mr. S pulls ahead on everything around the purchase. It refunds unused gear for 60 days, ships US orders over $99 free and has staff on seven days a week, and its own range goes deep into pup gear, neoprene and heavy bondage.

Pups, first. The Neoprene Puppy Hood is the product Mr. S is known for, and $99.95 is a fair price to buy it from the store that designed it.

Then anyone moving into heavy bondage, since sleepsacks, straitjackets and the Fetters cuffs and collar come from Mr. S's own lines and are sized from real measurement charts.

Look elsewhere for a first restraint or a first pair of leather cuffs. Our beginner BDSM kit guide covers the first and Stockroom the second.