Small Tannery, Huge Goals
Our handmade leather goods carry a story that you can be proud to tell. Unique markings and scars are chapters in this story, not something to be covered up with plastic coating or left on the workshop floor. Starting from the land and working up, our small-batch tannery helps reconnect us to animals and farmers via a network of local leather artisans.
Shop Billy Tannery's range of handmade British leather goods and learn more about our story below.
A New Kind of Leather Co
Leather is a beautiful natural material, but it's much misunderstood. Instead of being tanned locally, hides circle the globe to be tanned as cheaply as possible. Prioritising price while using often shocking environmental and ethical practices. Millions are simply burned.
Due to decades of decline in the British leather industry, many thousands of goatskins leftover from the food industry were being thrown away or burned each year. Believing there must be a better way, we set out to find a solution.
In 2016, after unearthing centuries of local leather knowledge, we transformed a farm building in the Midlands into our own small-batch tannery- the first of its kind to be built in this country. Today we use both deer and goat leather to create our premiumeather goods.
Leather As It Should Be
At Billy Tannery, we produce leather as it should be. Sourced and tanned entirely in Britain, taking a food by-product that was previously wasted. We use bark extracts and a pioneering process that recycles 90% of the water and turns waste into compost.
All of our leather is full-grain and free from the plastic coatings and pigments found on the majority of mainstream leather goods. Our way restores the connection with the animal and the land. It's leather to be proud of.
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What Our Customers Say
What Our Customers Say
Absolutely stunning, a beautiful piece. The workmanship is amazing.
Absolutely stunning, a beautiful piece. The workmanship is amazing.
It is a very excellent piece of leather! Solid construction, the stichting is wonderful, it fits well round my double six-pack. The colour is a delight and the straps are a novelty. Thanks for keeping this craft going, of tanning and creating the goods/works of art.
