Italian/Tuscan Vegetable Tanned Leather
Tuscan (Italian) vegetable tanned leather is beautiful leather that develops a wonderful patina and goes buttery soft with use.
This leather is great for small leather accessories like card holders and bags where you want more of a softer handle than bridle leather. When this leather goes down to approx 1mm thick it works excellently, I feel, better than bridle.
It also makes for an excellent belt or strap at a more accessible price point. It won’t feel as thick as bridle leather but it still has excellent strength and longevity.
What is Tuscan vegetable tanned leather like?
Tuscan vegetable tanned leather has a wonderful history and tradition from the Italian region. The particular leather I use comes from a group of small tanneries (sometimes only 20 employees) in the heart of Tuscany. These tanneries are part of a consortium called the Consorzio Vera Pelle which was formed to preserve the tradition of Tuscan veg tanned leather and it also holds them to responsible operating standards (including water recycling, leather tanning uses a lot of water).
The biggest thing to know and learn about this leather is the appearance will change over time, it will never stay the same as how you bought it.
Patina
This type of vegetable tanned leather goes onto develop a beautiful patina and this ageing is what for me is its best strength.
Looking at the photo of the black leather below you will see it has a ‘matt’ quality to start with (leather - bottom right) then develops a sheen called a patina (leather - top left).
‘Buttery Soft’
You will notice it feels ‘hard’ to begin with and softens with use as all veg tan leather does. Tuscan vegetable tanned leather goes onto have what I would describe as a ‘buttery soft’ feel.
Affected by direct sunlight: if you leave the leather in direct sunlight it will strip the colour from the area exposed.
Scratches: if you bring a sharp object against it, it will take on the scratch. If you scratch your nails against the surface, it will mark. This is part and parcel of using this leather.
Smaller colour palette and not as vibrant: Vegetable tanned leather tends to have a more limited colour palette which have more muted tones.
Cut from the shoulder
The leather I use comes from the shoulder of the cattle. It produces a high quality leather but it is susceptible to stretch marks so you may see these on the surface. Leather from the shoulder is more economical price wise than leather from the spine which is used in the bridle butt leather I use therefore you can offer a more accessible price point.
Vachetta Leather
If you read or hear of ‘Vachetta’ leather, this comes from Tuscany. Vachetta is un dyed so it starts off as a pale natural colour and with exposure to sun, wear and your touch, it will develop into a darker brown. Louis Vuitton for example uses this on the handles on some of its bags.