Veg Tan Leather

Full grain Veg Tan leather, 1.8 mm thickness,100% cowhide

Sick of your leather bags flaking, breaking, splitting, peeling, ripping, flopping and stretching?

So were we.

The veg tan leather we use for our bags is a signature of Byrd Studios.. We like to think of our bags as a love letter to leather.

We use a full grain 1.8 mm leather which is thicker than what the average bag is made of, and 100% cowhide. This is the highest quality of leather that you can find, providing structure which is a key feature of our designs, durability and strength, but will also soften over time. Full grain leather has not been corrected to remove marks, and the entire thickness of the skin is used. This is what provides the strength but also the uniquely beautiful patina effect over time. 

We also use Veg Tan leather. No, that isn’t “vegan leather”. It describes the age-old tanning process which uses natural tannins, barks and vegetable matter to get the result instead of plastics or chemicals.It’s good for you, good for the tannery workers and good for the environment.

Veg Tan leather will also patina over time, resulting in that gracefully aged, authentic, real leather look. It’s not the sort of leather that will peel or flake and should last many lifetimes if looked after well. This results in slowed down consumption of fashion.  Veg Tan leather can take up to 2 months to tan, where Chrome tanning, done with chemicals, can take a day. Quality leather will last and can be loved and repaired many times over. 

The leather we use is a by-product of the meat industry that would otherwise be thrown into landfill. We fully support everyone’s right to make choices according to their values, but feel it's  important to acknowledge that “vegan leather” is generally made from one of two different plastic polymers; polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or polyurethane (PU). There are some interesting cellulose materials coming out, like cactus or pineapple “leather” but these can be quite limited in their use.

Pleather, PU and PVC split and break and can ultimately end up in landfill pretty quickly.

Byrd Studio celebrates ethical, sustainable and slow fashion.