I always keep my eyes open whenever I’m out and about, and on a recent trip I discovered a wonderful leather produced by a tiny artisanal tannery in Tuscany. The leather is a true vachetta leather created from bovine shoulders, and given a full vegetable tannage before being dyed and tumbled. The result is a beautifully soft and pliable leather with a classic pebbled texture.
Normally I am cautious about buying leather from tanneries I haven’t used before, but the quality of this leather was obvious, and so I went a bit crazy and actually bought it in two different colours. Having made a couple of straps from it, and wearing them for a couple of weeks, I’m now ready to make these leathers available through my store. I am confident you will love them as much as I do. They are live now, and I’ve called them Indigo and Scarlet.
“Vachetta” is a term given to a full grain cow hide leather, produced using a traditional vegetable tanning process. The Tuscany region of Italy is renowned for vachetta leather, where tanneries have been producing it for generations. Vachetta leather is known for its softness. It has a smooth, buttery feel, and a gentle, natural sheen. Vachetta also has a reputation for strong patination, becoming even more beautiful over time. The leather I sourced has been produced by a tannery that has been producing vachetta leather for almost 200 years, and I have to say that they seem to know what they are doing, because this leather is wonderful!
The leather I’ve sourced produces straps that are around 5mm thick, so as you can see from the photos they are not thin straps, but this leather is very soft and pliable and so the straps are comfortable from the start. I think they are beautiful. I have it available in two colours – Scarlet is a bright red colour, and Indigo is a dark inky blue. I hope you like them.