How It's Made

A lot of things just aren't made the way they used to, but there are a handful of craftsmen working to change that.

Making things the way they used to starts with the materials themselves -- it is notable that even most leather isn't made they used to. With the advent of chromium salts, the traditional method of tanning leather in large pits using tree bark has been pushed to the margines of the tanning industry, accounting for less than 10% of modern leather production. While traditional bark or "veg-tanned" leather takes weeks or months to tan, chrome-tanning is done in a day and shipped off; but the difference between the two is night and day. Veg-tanned leather is much more firm and durable than chrome-tanned leather, and with time and use it breaks in and softens, moulds to the contours of your body, and develops a rich patina unique to the person wearing it and their lifestyle. It ages beautifully, coming into its own as a proper heirloom.

Chome-tanned leather is rather flimsy, lacks the natural fragrance of veg-tanned leather, and instead of its finish developing a beautiful patina, it tends to crack and peel. It ages like an old car seat. 

What you will find on products marked "genuine leather" -- a rather misleading marketing term -- is chrome-tanned leather with the top grain, the outermost layer of the hide, removed. The remaining portion of the hide is split very thin, sanded, painted, and wrapped or stitched around some sort of plastic filler material. An abuse of the term "genuine", "genuine leather" is the worst of the worst.



The making process at Providence Leather starts with sourcing the highest quality veg-tanned leather possible. While always superior to chrome-tanned leather, not all veg-tan is equal. Much of the veg-tan leather available is tanned in large, spinning drums; the constant movement and agitation speeds up the process significantly, but at the cost of producing leather that falls short of its potential. Instead, I source leather tanned the old, old way: soaked in deep pits over many months, with gradual increases in bark tannins as the leather tans more and more. This very, very slow tanning process yields a full-bodied leather of exceptional quality. Things take time, and time is something there's no substitute for. 

All Providence Leather goods are made with full-grain, traditional veg-tan leather. No filler materials, no purse frames to hold a shape or glue. Waxed linen thread and hemp twine are used for stitching instead of polyester thread, and everything is saddle stitched by hand -- no machines. Not only does punching stitching holes and sewing by hand allow for much thicker thread to be used than what a machine would allow, the saddle stitch is also much stronger than the lock stitch produced by machines. Saddle stitching is very time intensive work and it takes skill and focus for aesthetically pleasing stitch lines, but the end result is superior. 



In addition to sewing the way they used to with the types of thread traditionally used, I also use solid brass hardware on everything, from belt buckles to rivets and burrs. All Providence belts have buckles made of solid brass, most of them made in Italy and Japan.

Even rarer in modern leather goods are the solid brass rivets and burrs used in the things I make. Neither the durability or elegance of traditional rivets and burrs are found in their much more common modern replacements, double cap rivets and chicago screws. Double cap rivets are flimsy in construction and their smooth finish is comparatively bland, while chicago screws always work themselves loose. But both are cheaper and faster than the old way. Traditional rivets and burrs require the burr to be set, the rivet trimmed, and what's left of the rivet "peened" or mushroomed over the burr using a peening hammer in order to lock it into place. These traditional rivets are virtually indestructable once properly finished and they look incredible: each hammer strike lives on as a shimmer, and each rivet becomes a textured dome that shimmers when light hits it.

From sourcing the best leather and hardware to studying each hide to determine which parts are best suited for this or that project, to using traditional tools and techniques to create the most durable, beautiful heirloom quality pieces possible, the ins and outs of the craft have filled several books and could fill several more. But you get the idea: the ethos at Providence is to trust in what is timeless instead of keeping up with the times. The result of materials, tools, and techniques that have stood the test of time is timeless leather goods that will last and last, long after they've come into their own as bona fide heirlooms.