The vegetable tanned leather used in this bag is from Horween, a unionized tannery located one mile from Production Mode’s Chicago studio. Vegetable tanning is a slow, non-toxic process which uses tree bark to cure the leather and which produces hides with rich, warm, and uniquely variegated tones that improve as they age. In addition, vegetable tanned leather can be more easily and safely recycled than chrome tanned leather (the most commonly used and often quite toxic method of processing leather).
This bag is sewn at Production Mode’s Chicago studio by an artisan hired through Loom, a social enterprise of Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement Program. Production Mode pays a living wage to all workers in our supply chain.
Vegetable tanned leather retains the grain patterns, marks, and scars picked up by the animal during its lifetime. In addition, each natural colored hide has been hand printed. Each bag reflects these variations of the hide and hand.
Made in the USA