What Does It Mean to Carefully Select Leather?

When I started sourcing leather for Fable&Hide I was inspired by vintage Coach bags. Before I made my own leather goods I worked on restoring vintage leather bags, and Coach stood out because their leather wasn’t just durable, it aged beautifully.

I knew from the beginning that the leather I used for Fable&Hide had to meet some very specific requirements. It had to be fully vegetable-tanned, aniline-dyed, dyed all the way through, and it needed to come in vibrant colors. After ordering sample after sample from different suppliers I landed on Buttero leather from the Walpier tannery in Tuscany.

Buttero has some traits people usually associate with chrome-tanned leather. It’s smooth, vibrant, and polished, and a lot of people familiar with leather think that’s what we’re using at first glance. But it’s not. Buttero is fully vegetable-tanned, and that’s a big deal because it combines a more environmentally responsible and traditional process with a finish that feels modern. That’s all without mentioning the rich earthy aniline veg-tan smell. 

When I talk about carefully selecting leather, this is what I mean. Every piece of leather I use in Fable&Hide goods has been chosen for how it l feels and how it’ll look years from now. The goal has always been to make things that last—pieces that don’t just wear over time but get better with it.