USB thumb drives made of leather and zinc alloy! Sounds more like a new piece of furniture rather than a USB device. Yet, it is no joke. Everything USB reports that the Japanese have done in again with taking something as mundane as a USB thumb drive and added a cool finish with a leather wrapping.

I find myself wondering though. What is the advantage here? Why would I for instance, want to go out and buy something like this? After, we all know it will end up costing more, right?

Think you’ve got enough leather between your luxury sedan and executive chair? Japan based company Lucas would beg to differ with their UG line of flash drives. Housed in a combination of a zinc alloy and leather, this flash drive really stands out from it’s plastic cousins.

Available in models from 128MB to 2 GB of storage, they feature a USB 2.0 interface, and have read and write speeds of 8MB/sec and 7MB/sec respectively. There is also a 32MB model but can only be ordered in large quantities. For an idea of pricing, the 512 model costs 7,800 Yen, or about $71 USD.