iPhone 12 Cases in Leather & Wool Felt
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. The iPhone 12 Pro has the same footprint as the iPhone 12 and sits in the same class. An iPhone 12 Pro Max, by contrast, needs the large variant with “Pro Max/Plus” in the name.
No. Our CHESTER hardcase is not produced in this size, which is why it is not on this page. For the iPhone 12 we make sleeves: KINGSTON in leather, KIRKBY in wool felt with a leather front, and SHETLAND in pure Merino wool felt.
Yes, that is what the KINGSTON in the wide fit is for. It takes an iPhone 12 in a smooth clear case or a thin leather case. The slim fit is for the bare device. Chunky outdoor cases do not fit.
Yes. KINGSTON and KIRKBY have a charging cable cutout at the lower edge. With the SHETLAND you take the iPhone 12 out to charge it.
It is firm, and that is intended. A sleeve has to sit tightly without jamming, otherwise the device slides out when you bend down. After the first few weeks the material gives a little.
In our own workshop in Hamburg, Germany. Splitting, skiving, cutting, sewing, embossing and final inspection all happen here, and have done since 2011. The leather comes vegetable-tanned from Tuscany, and the Merino wool felt is mulesing-free.
It describes what the hide is preserved with: plant tannins from bark and wood rather than chromium salts. That takes weeks instead of hours and produces an uncoated leather that breathes and darkens over time. Our leather comes from Tuscany, where the process has been practised for centuries.
Not when dry. Vegetable-tanned leather can give off a trace when it is wet and then rubs against pale fabric. If the sleeve has been out in the rain, do not leave it to dry on a light-coloured cushion. This eases off after the first few weeks.
One question decides it: is your iPhone 12 currently in a case you want to keep? If not, take slim. If yes, and it is a smooth, thin case, take wide. With a chunky case with rubberised edges neither width fits, so take the case off while you carry it.
A folio case stays on the device and folds a cover over the screen. It adds bulk permanently, and its hinge is the part that wears out first. A sleeve stays in your bag while you use the phone, the iPhone 12 sits bare in your hand, and there is no moving part that can wear out.
The honest answer: it depends on how you use it. What ages first is not the seam but the surface, on leather as patina, on wool felt as a slight roughening at the thumb notch. Neither is a defect, both are use. Because we make to size classes rather than model names, a sleeve usually outlives the device it was bought for.
Because we work with two natural materials that will not take just any colour. Vegetable-tanned leather can be dyed in dark and light browns without coating the surface. We carry the wool felt in anthracite, red and white. Bright colours would either require a coating or fade after a short time.
Write to us with a photo. We sew in Hamburg ourselves, so we can look at a seam and tell you what can be done. And if a sleeve does not fit when you unpack it, the 30-day right of return applies.
The standard size. With KINGSTON “iPhone 17/16e/16/Pro + ältere bis 12”, with KIRKBY “iPhone 17/16e/16/Pro + ältere ab 12”, with SHETLAND “iPhone 16/16 Pro/16e + ältere ab 12”. The iPhone 12 is the lower limit of that class and expressly included.
Then you need the variant “iPhone 13 Mini / 12 Mini”. It is distinctly smaller. We have a separate page for it.
It outlives the device. Our sleeves are cut to size classes, not to model names. The standard class runs from the iPhone 17 back to the 12, so the next phone of the same size still fits inside.
With KINGSTON and KIRKBY, yes, both have sound holes at the lower edge. The SHETLAND in pure wool felt deliberately has no openings.
No. Merino wool felt is far softer than glass. The only thing that matters is that no grain of sand is sitting inside, so shake the sleeve out now and then.
KIRKBY and KINGSTON come in a fine rigid box with a lift-off lid and a silver ribbon across it. We emboss the silver logo onto the lid ourselves, with heat and pressure.
Because more raw material and more work go into leather. We buy whole hides, split them to the thickness we need and skive the edges so the seam stays flat. Not every part of a hide is usable, scars and thin areas end up as waste. Wool felt arrives as an even roll and can be cut with almost no loss.
No. KINGSTON, KIRKBY and SHETLAND get by without magnets and without metal parts that could touch the iPhone 12. A sleeve needs no closure, because the fit holds it. So nothing magnetic sits against a card in the front pocket either.
No, and we do not claim it is. Leather and wool felt take a rain shower and dry again, but they are not a barrier. If you regularly take your iPhone 12 into wet places, you need a different tool for that.
Both have a Merino wool felt body and a pocket at the front. The KIRKBY additionally carries a layer of Italian leather on the front and has sound holes and a charging cable cutout. The SHETLAND is pure felt, without leather and without openings, and is lighter and cheaper for it.
When dry, Merino wool felt smells neutral. When it gets wet it briefly takes on the typical wool smell, which disappears again as it dries. It is not scratchy, Merino fibres are fine, which is why they sit directly against the display.
Sometimes yes. What matters is not the manufacturer but the size. If your device is roughly the height, width and thickness of an iPhone 12, the standard size fits. Since we keep no measurement table for other brands, the safe route is a short message with the model name. We will tell you whether it fits.
The leather will be distinctly darker than on day one, glossy along the edges and a little softer where your thumb grips it. The wool felt will look almost unchanged, at most slightly roughened at the thumb notch. If you want a surface that stays exactly as it was when unpacked, natural materials are the wrong choice.
iPhone 12 case: hardcase or sleeve?
An iPhone 12 today is a device you kept, inherited or bought second-hand. In all three cases it is no longer about protecting something new, it is about keeping a working phone in good condition without spending a fortune on it.
A hardcase clamps around the device and stays there. A sleeve holds the iPhone 12 while you carry it, and you take it out to use it. For this size we make sleeves. Our CHESTER hardcase is not produced for the iPhone 12, so it is not on this page.
| Hardcase (not made for the 12) | Sleeve: KINGSTON, KIRKBY, SHETLAND | |
|---|---|---|
| Principle | Stays on the device | You take the device out to use it |
| Material | Plastic, silicone or leather over a hard shell | Merino wool felt and vegetable-tanned cowhide leather |
| Charging | Wireless with the case on | Charging cable cutout on KIRKBY and KINGSTON |
| Protection | Also when you drop it | Against scratches, keys and sand in your bag |
| For a 2020 device | Hardly produced new any more | The size stays, because the class stays |
| Over the years | Goes brittle, yellows, loosens up | Felt and leather adapt to the device |
| Who it is for | People who use the phone often and quickly | People who put it away and protect it |
How it fits: leather and wool felt on video
Two short clips from the workshop: the KINGSTON in full leather and the KIRKBY in Merino wool felt with a leather front. Both come in the size that holds the iPhone 12.
The iPhone 12 is the lower limit of our size class
Our size names read “ältere bis 12” or “ältere ab 12”, meaning older models down to the 12. Both say the same thing: the standard class runs from the current models back to the iPhone 12, and there it ends. That is not arbitrary, it is a decision about the material.
A device noticeably smaller than the class would have too much room inside and could slide out when you bend down. We could draw the boundary wider and list more models under one size, but then none of them would be held properly. So the class stops at the iPhone 12, and an iPhone 12 sits in this size exactly as it should.
For you that means two things. First, you can buy this sleeve without hesitation, the 12 is expressly included. Second, if you move to a newer device of the same class at some point, you do not need a new sleeve. The class reaches all the way up to the iPhone 17.
Leather sleeve for the iPhone 12: KINGSTON
The KINGSTON is the sleeve made of full leather. Vegetable-tanned cowhide leather from Tuscany on the outside, just under 2 mm thick, and 3 mm Merino wool felt inside. The leather carries the wear, the felt touches the display and the back. The contrast stitching is the only decorative element.
It comes in dark brown and light brown. Sound holes and the charging cable cutout sit at the bottom, the thumb notch at the top. And it is the only model in our range made in two widths, slim and wide.
On a device that has been around for a few years, leather does something you only notice after months: it turns a used phone back into a proper object. The device sits in something of quality, and the eye goes to the sleeve rather than to the worn back.
KIRKBY: wool felt, leather and a pocket at the front
The KIRKBY combines a Merino wool felt body with a front of Italian leather, holding a flat pocket for a card, a folded banknote or a ticket. It has sound holes, a charging cable cutout and the thumb notch at the top, so the same features as the KINGSTON.
Two colour combinations are available: dark grey-dark brown and light grey-light brown. It is the sleeve for people who step out of the house briefly with the iPhone 12 and do not want to carry a wallet as well.
SHETLAND: pure Merino wool felt for the iPhone 12
The SHETLAND is made entirely of Merino wool felt, 100 percent virgin wool, in anthracite, red or white. A pocket at the front, a thumb notch at the top, nothing else. No sound holes, no charging cable cutout, no leather, and therefore the lowest price in this selection.
It is the obvious choice for an iPhone 12 that runs as a second phone, lives in a workshop or in the car, or has been passed on to a child. Felt cushions, it is light, and if it gets dirty you brush it off. And if something does eventually break after years, the loss is manageable.
| Model | Material | Features | Colours | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SHETLAND | Merino wool felt | Front pocket, thumb notch | Anthracite, red, white | slim only |
| KIRKBY | Merino wool felt with leather | Outer pocket, thumb notch, sound holes, charging cable cutout | Dark grey-dark brown, light grey-light brown | slim only |
| KINGSTON | Leather with Merino wool felt | Sound holes, charging cable cutout, contrast stitching | Dark brown, light brown | slim and wide |
Which size to select for the iPhone 12
The iPhone 12 is not listed by name in the size selector, it appears as the boundary of the standard class. That class is the right one.
| Model | The variant you select |
|---|---|
| KINGSTON | iPhone 17/16e/16/Pro + ältere bis 12 |
| KIRKBY | iPhone 17/16e/16/Pro + ältere ab 12 |
| SHETLAND | iPhone 16/16 Pro/16e + ältere ab 12 |
Two common mix-ups: an iPhone 12 mini does not belong in this size but in the variant “iPhone 13 Mini / 12 Mini”, which you will find on the mini page. And an iPhone 12 Pro Max needs the large variant with “Pro Max/Plus” in the name. The iPhone 12 Pro, on the other hand, has the same footprint as the iPhone 12 and fits the same size.
Sound holes, charging cable cutout, thumb notch
Three cutouts that decide whether a sleeve gets used every day. KIRKBY and KINGSTON have all three, the SHETLAND only the thumb notch.
- Sound holes. The speaker stays open, so you hear the ringtone while the iPhone 12 is in the sleeve.
- Charging cable cutout. Plug the cable in without taking the device out. With a battery that is a few years old, this is the cutout you will use most often.
- Thumb notch at the top. A cutout where your thumb finds grip. Without it you are pulling at a smooth edge, and that is where badly made sleeves give way first.
The wide fit: iPhone 12 with a case inside the sleeve
After five years an iPhone 12 is almost always already in something. Often a clear case with a yellow tint, often a silicone case that has kept the back in good shape so far. Carrying a device like that does not call for a second case, it calls for a sleeve that goes over the one you have. That is what the KINGSTON in the wide fit is for.
The result is protection on two levels. The case stays on the device and catches what happens while you use it. The sleeve goes over it while you carry the phone and catches what happens in a backpack or a bag.
Slim is for the bare iPhone 12, wide for one in a smooth, thin case. Chunky outdoor cases with rubber edges do not fit even the wide variant, they catch on the felt.
Leather or wool felt, how to decide
There is no better choice here, only two different ways of ageing, plus a question of price.
Leather ages visibly. It darkens, picks up a sheen along the edges and keeps the traces of use. Mechanically it takes more, it wears through more slowly and forgives a key that once ran across it. If you want to use the sleeve for the next phone of the same class as well, this is the better buy.
Merino wool felt hardly changes in appearance, is lighter, softer and considerably cheaper, but more sensitive to sharp objects. If what you want for an iPhone 12 is mainly a good solution for an inexpensive device, take felt and you are doing nothing wrong.
Keeping a phone from 2020 in service
The least dramatic form of sustainability is not replacing a working device. An iPhone 12 still does exactly what most people use a phone for, and the battery can be replaced. What usually decides the moment of replacement is not the technology but the condition: a scratched back, dull edges, a device you no longer enjoy picking up.
That is precisely what a sleeve works on. It protects in the situation where most scratches happen, which is while the phone is being carried. And it changes the perception: a phone in leather or Merino wool felt looks cared for, even when it is no longer the newest one.
The same applies when handing it on in the family. An iPhone 12 with undamaged edges is more likely to be used on than replaced, and the sleeve stays in the household, because it fits the same size class as the current models.
Why a sleeve has to sit tightly
A sleeve in which the device has room is a pouch. The iPhone 12 slides out when you bend down, and that is exactly when it falls. So we cut tightly, and that is why a new KINGSTON or KIRKBY feels firm for the first few days.
That is intended. After the first weeks the felt settles against the edges of the device and the sleeve runs noticeably more easily. From then on it stays that way. That tolerance comes from the cut, cannot be bought in, and is the reason we can offer the KINGSTON in two widths at all.
Care and packaging
Leather needs as little as possible. Remove dust with a dry, soft cloth. If it gets wet, dab it, do not rub, and let it dry at room temperature, not on a radiator. Leather balms darken vegetable-tanned leather strongly, so when in doubt apply nothing at all.
Shake out the wool felt and brush it with a soft clothes brush. Dab out stains with clear water, without rubbing, and never put it in the washing machine, wool keeps felting there and shrinks.
KIRKBY and KINGSTON come in a fine rigid box with a lift-off lid and a silver ribbon across it. We emboss the silver logo onto the lid ourselves, with heat and pressure.
From the raw hide to the last stitch
Splitting, skiving, cutting, sewing, embossing, hardware and final inspection all happen in our own workshop in Hamburg, Germany, and have done since 2011.
Because we cut the patterns ourselves, a size stays in the range for as long as we decide. For a device from 2020 that is the difference between “still available” and “no longer made”.
SEE OUR WORKSHOP AND OUR STORY →One sentence to the right sleeve
Three models, six situations. Find the sentence that applies to you.
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Designed for Apple
Handmade cases that fit like a tailored suit – for iPhone, iPad & MacBook.
