When it comes to luxury leather goods, few names resonate like Hermès. Established in 1837 as a harness workshop in Paris, Hermès has grown into one of the world’s most esteemed fashion houses—renowned for its meticulous craftsmanship, timeless design, and uncompromising commitment to quality. Of course, central to Hermès’ legacy is its use of leather.
The quality of the leather used by Hermès is of critical importance to their reputation, and in recent years Hermès have strategically acquired several tanneries. These aquisitions have given Hermès direct control over leather production from rawhide to finished product, and is advantageous for them in several ways. Owning their own tanneries not only shields them from market volatility and material shortages, but it allows them control over innovation and quality control, as well as allowing them to enforce the strict animal welfare and environmental standards Hermès prides themselves on.
Now, although the quality of the leather I use to make Toshi Straps is just as important to me (& my reputation as a strap maker), I am unfortunately not (yet) in a position to start buying tanneries to control supply. So instead, once a year, I take a road trip and travel around Europe to meet with some of the contacts I’ve made over the past 20 years of working with leather, looking for the best new leather I can find for my straps.
On my road trip last year I was told that if I was interested, some of the leather produced exclusively for Hermès might be available to me in very small quantities. Over the time I’ve been making straps I have bought leather produced by a couple of Hermès tanneries, but only ever from their general sale production lines, and I’d never had access to the leathers they use for their leather goods. I was therefore very interested. After some investigation, several conversations, and a little arm bending, the result was that I came home with a small amount of a purple calf leather that I launched as Ultraviolet. This has proved very successful – the leather is good to work with, produces an excellent & robust watch strap, and has been very popular with my customers. So, on this years trip, I was keen to meet this same contact and have another chat. I’m pleased to say that I’ve come home this time with not one, but three new leathers, all produced for Hermès, and all available now. So let me introduce them to you.
Chartreuse.
The first of these leathers I’ve called Chartreuse, and is what Hermès refers to as an “Epsom” leather. It is an embossed calfskin with a firm structure and a clean finish. Epsom is one of Hermès most popular leathers, and although it is more often used to make Kelly handbags, it makes a great watch strap too. I have a small amount of this beautiful dark green leather – for the photos I’ve paired it with butterscotch stitching, which I think works very well.
Pastel.
The second is a leather I’ve called Pastel. In Hermès terms, this is a “Clemence” leather, and is very soft. It’s the thickest of the three leathers (straps will be approximately 5mm thick) but it is very pliable and soft. Hermès Clemence leather is known for its durability, large grain, and soft, heavy, and supple texture. I bought a piece of Clemence in this soft pink colour. I know that pink isn’t for everyone, but I couldn’t resist.
Parisian Blue.
Finally, the last of the trio is Parisian Blue. This is probably my personal favourite of the three. It is a striking blue coloured leather with a good structure and a pebbled finish. This is what Hermès call a “Monsieur Grainee” leather, and is similar to the Epsom leather that Chartreuse is made from, but with a smoother finish and finer grain. I’ve paired it with butterscotch thread here, but it works very well with pale blue stitching too.
I hope you like them. There is only a small amount of each, but until they sell out they can be ordered from my website store.