Our premium quality leather is tanned without the use of chromium. We choose to work with naturally tanned leather, not only because of its safety for people and the planet but also because it gives all our products their natural trademark look. To verify the absence of chromium, the leather is tested by independent laboratories. Instead of chromium, vegetable tannins are used in the tanning process.

Research has shown that a significant part of the environmental impact of leather occurs in the manufacturing process. Therefore, it is not only the chemicals used in the tanning process that should determine how sustainable the leather is. Accordingly, water, wastewater, air emissions, and energy use are responsibly managed at our tanneries. To ensure a best practice tannery, we work with Leather Working Group (LWG) certified tanneries: Conceria Nuova Grenoble and Shee Sen Leather Pvt.

If you want to know more about the tanning process of sustainable leather, click here.

To accommodate our customers that choose not to purchase animal products we've been on the lookout for a leather alternative. Apple leather is a durable and low-impact leather alternative. Made from residual apple waste, it's 100% vegan. In addition to providing a leather alternative, we are able to support innovation and development of new sustainable materials.

Apple Leather, officially known as AppleSkin™ is a vegan leather alternative produced at FRUMAT, an innovative factory based in Italy. AppleSkin™ is a bio-based material and utilizes the waste from the local fruit juice and apple sauce industry.

If you want to read more about the production of Apple leather, click here.

Next to leather, organic cotton is a material we use a lot, for the lining on the inside of our bags, the webbing straps, for our canvas items and for our tote bags. All the cotton fabric we use comes from Dibella India, an innovative organization based in the South of India that shares our values, ensures traceability up to farmer level and also ensures that the cotton farmers receive a fair price.

All our cotton is certified. The fabric of our signature lining is Organic Content Standard (OCS) and Global Recycle Standard (GRS) certified, and the webbing straps, dustbags and canvas collection are Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certified. The dyes used for our webbing straps are organic too.

We prioritize switching to recycled cotton fabric for our signature lining as a first step in lowering our materials impact. Avoiding or minimising the use of virgin fibres and increasing the use of recycled fibres significantly lowers a product's environmental impact - especially from water usage in the cultivation phase of cotton production. Before, it wasn’t industrially feasible to have 100% recycled cotton yet, that is why we started working with a mix of 30% recycled and 70% certified organic cotton. From 2022 onwards we will be shifting to a 100% recycled cotton lining.