What Is Vegetable Tanned Leather?

Vegetable tanned leather is a beautiful, strong material . It has an inner strength, longevity and ages wonderfully over time from just being worn and used. People always comment “it gets better with age”.

I make all my items using this leather which includes oak bark leather and English bridle leather. It is excellent for using in products which you want to be timeless, that people will love wearing and use repeatedly over years to come.

Strength, longevity and a beautiful patina equals a winning formula.

What does ‘vegetable tanned’ mean?

Vegetable tanned leather means it is leather which has been turned from animal skin to leather (tanning process) using tannins that are extracted from tree bark, leaves or berries. Hence the name ‘vegetable’ coming from vegetation.

Even though the word vegetable is used in the name, this doesn’t mean it is vegetarian or vegan. Leather is derived from animals so it is a meat based product.

Oldest way and the only way of tanning for many years

The process of tanning leather traces back to Ancient Greece around 2000 BC. They invented a way of treating animal skin to stop it rotting and making it useable by us for clothing and shelter for example. They used extracts from the bark of trees as the tannin agent creating the vegetable tanning process. It has evolved over the years, in some tanneries more than others.

Chrome tanning (the main way of tanning leather these days) came along in the 1800’s. This uses chromium salts as the tanning agent and it dramatically sped up the time for producing leather.

Three variations of vegetable tanned leather I use

• Oak Bark Leather from J&FJ Baker’s in Devon, England.

• English Bridle Leather from J.E Sedgwicks in Walsall, England.

• Vegetable Tanned Shoulder Leather from La Perla Azzurra and Tempesti S.P.A tanneries in Tuscany, Italy part of the Consorzio Vera Pelle.

Oak Bark Leather

Oak bark leather is one of the highest quality leathers around. It is from the renowned J&FJ Bakers in the village of Colyton, Devon, England where they produce the leather using the same traditional methods from hundreds of years ago. Hermès and high end bespoke shoe makers source leather from here.

Oak bark leather means it has been tanned using tannins extracted from the bark of oak trees. This method takes around 12 months to produce.

I use their bridle butt leather in my Felton range. It is 4mm thick taken from the best place on the cow which is the skin that runs down the spine. This produces a very strong leather.

The way I would describe the colour applied is it’s a lovely natural tone of brown or black. The mid-brown is a particular favourite of mine. You may find a white wax on the surface, this is normal and it will gradually feed into the leather to nourish it. The colour will then shine through.

On the underside you’ll see all the natural growth lines and markings from the skin.

This is perfect for belts and straps at full thickness which will last you a lifetime.

English Bridle Leather

English bridle leather is a high quality leather. It is 4mm thick and it has a smooth, almost patent like finish to the colour and surface. I use this in my Branton range.

Just like oak bark leather, it is perfect for belts and straps which you want to wear continuously and they pair perfectly with high quality denim for example where the two fabrics will age wonderfully.

This leather is from J.E Sedgwicks in Walsall, England where they use the traditional hand finishing methods from many years ago to give the leather its distinct look and feel. I’ve heard this described as smooth, robust and substantial.

English bridle leather has a lovely history attached, having been designed originally for bridles for horses to wear, a few hundreds of years ago. As it was created to be used in the equestrian trade it was important that it was strong and could stand up to heavy wear repeatedly. Hence why it is known as a top quality leather, particular for use in straps and belts.

Vegetable Tanned Shoulder Leather

The vegetable tanned leather I use comes from Tuscany, Italy. It is cut from from the shoulder and while it may start feeling firm, it softens to a buttery like feel.

The Italian veg tan leather comes from La Perla Azzurra and Tempesti tanneries in Tuscany, Italy. These are part of a consortium of 22 tanneries which form the Consorzio Vera Pelle in Tuscany, Italy.

This leather works excellently in small leather goods and bags, as well as belts for a mid range price point.

The 3mm thick leather goes buttery soft and differs from the other two leathers where it doesn’t have the waxy surface and the colour is dyed all the way through the hide. The surface patina that develops is beautiful and shows the signs of age & wear perfectly.

Please scroll down to read more about how this leather changes over time including how it reacts in direct sunlight and scratches.

HOW DOES VEGETABLE TANNED LEATHER AGE?

Appearance Never Stays The Same - as this type of leather is tanned in a natural way, the appearance of the leather will change over time but it’s one of those things that only gets better with age. See images below for reference.

• Patina: this is the main thing that happens and all of the below contributes to the patina. A patina is a soft sheen that appears on the surface which is a result of the ageing process. Honestly, once you use the leather the feel/texture of it is lovely!

• Colour: more pronounced on lighter colours and most definitely on un dyed vegetable tanned leather, the colour will darken and you can also start to get tonal differences.

• Softens with use: vegetable tanned leather starts out firm and hard but the more you use it, the more it softens. Different tanneries/regions will have a slightly different recipe but based on the same core principles. Leather from the Tuscan region in Italy will go a ‘buttery’ soft over time. Where bridle leather from England will have a more waxy feel.

• Affected by direct sunlight: if you leave the leather in direct sunlight it will strip the colour from the area exposed. I left a bag I had made in the sun without realising and the area in direct line of the sun went almost anaemic looking. As only part of the bag was in the sun, I had a triangle shape which had a lack of colour which made me gasp, this is back when I was learning. But the colour started to come back and it darkened with a lovely rich tone.

• Warmth of your touch: every time you touch the leather, the warmth from you hand will add to the ageing process and patina. This leather is affected by different temperatures.

• 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.