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We only use the finest quality leathers processed especially for us to our own exacting standards by our partner tanneries. The result is radiantly beautiful traditional hides that effortlessly satisfy those ever-present requirements of modern life - practicality and durability.
The leather that we sell all comes from either fallen animals, or animals that are slaughtered for their meat.
As soon as the skins are taken off the animal, they are treated with salt to prevent them from rotting. In this 'wet salted' state they can be kept almost indefinitely.
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The tanner's first step is to remove the salt by rinsing in water. The hides are then 'unhaired' by soaking them in lime to open up the fibre structure before being scraped with a dull knife to remove the hair. This process is known as scudding.
The skins are then ready for tanning and this can done be with either vegetable extracts or minerals. The tanning process stabilises the hide material and imparts basic properties to the hides.
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Vegetable tanning uses tannin, from which tanning gets its name. Tannin occurs naturally in bark. The primary barks used in our leathers are wattle and myrobalans. The process involves immersing the hides for several weeks in pits in the ground, which contain tannin liquor. Vegetable tanned leathers are characterised by their tight fibre structure, rich leather aroma and flat, easily burnishable grain.
Mineral tanning uses chromium. In the raw state chrome tanned skins are blue and therefore referred to as 'wet blue'. Chrome tanning is faster than vegetable tanning (this part of the process takes less than a day) and produces a stretchable leather which is excellent for use in shoes, leathergoods and upholstery.
After tanning, the skins are retanned in large drums to give them their colour and characteristics. Once this is complete, the hides are stretched and dried to produce crust leather. This is then treated in a myriad of different ways to give its final appearance. These processes include polishing, staining, waxing and mechanical softening.
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