THE TANNERY QUESTION
ON LEATHER PROVENANCE, ETHICAL SOURCING, AND WHY WHERE YOUR LEATHER COMES FROM MATTERS AS MUCH AS WHAT IT IS
MOST BRANDS DO NOT ANSWER THE TANNERY QUESTION. THEY DESCRIBE THEIR LEATHER AS PREMIUM. AS FINEST CALF. AS HAND-SELECTED FROM EUROPEAN TANNERIES. THESE DESCRIPTIONS ARE NOT FALSE, EXACTLY. BUT THEY ARE NOT ANSWERS. THEY DO NOT NAME THE TANNERY, THE COUNTRY, THE TANNING METHOD, THE SPECIFIC HIDE GRADE. THEY USE THE LANGUAGE OF QUALITY WITHOUT PROVIDING THE EVIDENCE OF IT. WHEN A BRAND KNOWS WHERE THEIR LEATHER COMES FROM AND IT IS GOOD, THEY NAME IT. WHEN THEY DO NOT NAME IT, DRAW YOUR OWN CONCLUSION.
WHAT TANNERIES ACTUALLY DO
A TANNERY TAKES A RAW HIDE AND CONVERTS IT INTO LEATHER. THE METHOD USED DETERMINES ALMOST EVERYTHING ABOUT THE RESULTING MATERIAL. CHROME TANNING IS FAST — DAYS RATHER THAN MONTHS — AND PRODUCES LEATHER THAT IS SOFT AND CONSISTENT BUT DOES NOT AGE WELL, DOES NOT DEVELOP PATINA AND DOES NOT HAVE THE STRUCTURAL DEPTH OF LEATHER PROCESSED MORE SLOWLY. MOST OF THE WORLD'S LEATHER IS CHROME TANNED.
VEGETABLE TANNING TAKES MONTHS. THE HIDE IS IMMERSED IN PROGRESSIVELY STRONGER SOLUTIONS OF NATURAL TANNINS THAT PENETRATE THE MATERIAL SLOWLY AND CREATE A FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT LEATHER. FIRMER. DENSER. MORE RESISTANT TO MOISTURE. AND POSSESSED OF THE STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY REQUIRED TO DEVELOP GENUINE PATINA OVER TIME. THE TANNERIES THAT DO THIS WORK HAVE BEEN DOING IT FOR A VERY LONG TIME.
THE NAMES THAT MATTER
IN ENGLAND, C.F. STEAD IN LEEDS HAS BEEN PRODUCING SPECIALIST LEATHERS FOR OVER A CENTURY. THEIR SUEDES AND WAXED LEATHERS ARE USED BY MAKERS WHO UNDERSTAND THE MATERIAL. IN ITALY, LA BIESSEUNO. IN THE UNITED STATES, HORWEEN IN CHICAGO, PRODUCING EXCEPTIONAL LEATHER ON THE BANKS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER SINCE 1905, SUPPLIED TO US IN THE UK THROUGH A AND A CRACK IN NORTHAMPTON. THESE ARE NOT NAMES FOUND ON THE PRODUCT PAGES OF BRANDS WHO DO NOT KNOW OR DO NOT CARE WHERE THEIR LEATHER COMES FROM. THEY ARE THE TANNERIES BEHIND 1812, AND THE ANSWER TO THE TANNERY QUESTION.
WHY PROVENANCE MATTERS
LEATHER PROVENANCE IS NOT AN ETHICAL ABSTRACTION. IT IS A QUALITY INDICATOR. A HIDE FROM A TANNERY THAT HAS SPENT DECADES REFINING ITS PROCESS IS A DIFFERENT MATERIAL FROM ONE SOURCED THROUGH COMMODITY CHANNELS WITH NO REFERENCE TO ORIGIN. YOU CANNOT FEEL THE DIFFERENCE BEFORE YOU BUY. YOU CAN ONLY FEEL IT AT YEAR TWO, YEAR FIVE, YEAR TEN.
THE TANNERY QUESTION IS THE CORRECT FIRST QUESTION TO ASK ABOUT ANY SHOE THAT CLAIMS TO BE LUXURY. 1812 SOURCES LEATHER FROM NAMED, WORLD-CLASS TANNERIES. THE PROVENANCE IS PART OF THE PRODUCT.
