Leather
When crafted with care and under the right conditions – using safe products to dye leather, proper water treatment and energy-saving methods such as natural drying – leather can be one of the most durable materials available. Therefore, it forms the cornerstone of our main collection.
We work with full grain leather, which is the strongest, topmost layer of the hide. Rather than sanding, buffing or shaving it, the surface is kept intact to preserve its authenticity. It is a living material. Each hide tells a story through its growth creases and abrasions.
As we seek to reduce consumption, full grain leather aligns with a buy‑less‑buy‑better philosophy. It has a long lifespan, develops patina and has individual wear patterns, unique to each user. It is made to be used, repaired, and eventually passed down through generations. In addition, as long as meat and dairy are consumed, hides will remain a by-product. Turning these skins into functional designs supports a circular economy, whereas letting them go to waste or using them for lower-value applications, would be a missed opportunity.
Our types of full grain leather
European Gold Rated tannery partner
Each hide is carefully selected for its quality, longevity, and character. They are sourced from European LWG-rated suppliers. Why in Europe? Despite the existing flaws in our livestock farming today, Europe is a front-runner globally in terms of sustainable production. For example, a cow in Flanders emits up to 6 times less methane than one in Latin America. By opting for European leather, the transport kilometers between slaughtering, tanning and making the leather goods are also minimized.
Besides local sourcing and legislation, certification is essential. Specifically for leather production processing, this is provided by the Leather Working Group. They certify tanneries that work according to the highest environmental standards in water, energy and material use. From its early years, Lies Mertens worked with Richard Hoffmans, a family-owned German tannery that holds a Gold Rating from LWG, which is the highest certification level. They provide full traceability from origin to finish, and in addition to their LWG Gold Status, they hold a ECO₂L certification for energy-controlled leather. In addition, we organise regular visits to maintain close collaboration, develop custom tones, experience the material firsthand, or assess its suppleness and detail. It is a very slow, tactile and human process, centered on conversation and craftsmanship.
Limited editions in deadstock
Besides working with ‘new’ virgin leather, the label collaborates with Adapta, a French luxury deadstock supplier, to create small-batch pieces with deadstock leather throughout the year. Working with deadstock enables the creation of unique, limited-edition designs in exceptional leather, while supporting a circular approach. Also here, we specifically focus on traceability, ensuring we know where the leather comes from and how it was produced. This is particularly valuable, as deadstock materials often come with limited information about their origins. The same criteria applied to Hoffmans also apply to our deadstock partners, ensuring consistent standards across the entire supply chain.
Vegan alternatives
While we value traceable byproduct leather from European suppliers as a durable option, we continue to explore vegan alternatives. It cannot be denied that animal production is associated with a high cost. As written by sustainability expert Laurens De Meyer: “Today there are more than 1.5 billion cows, 1.2 billion sheep, 1 billion pigs and 1 billion goats on our planet. If you let all these cows do a conga line around the equator, you can circle the earth 90 times.” Thus, vegan alternatives remain important.
Over the last years, the label has been researching the use of vegetable leather production through innovative collaborations, which led to our designs in VEGEA and MycaNova®.
VEGEA is a plant-based alternative made from grape waste skins, seeds, stems, left over from Italian wine making. Blended with grape seed oil polymer and non-toxic polyurethane, it creates a durable and textured material. Founded in Milan in 2016 by three young entrepreneurs, they were awarded the Global Change Award for their concept and won the growth grant from the European Union.
MYCANOVA® is a double up-cycled product, made from mycelium. In 2020, we started a collaboration with bio-engineers from the Belgian company Citribel. They use sugar molasses - a residual product from the nearby sugar factory in Tienen - and ferment it into citric acid, during which mycelium is naturally formed. Until a few years ago, this was considered a waste product. The collaboration led to the mycelium being dried and ground into powder which, combined with binding agents and backing materials, became a vegan leather alternative. After two years of experimenting, adjusting, and testing materials together, a new double up-cycled product was born, named MycaNova®.
