I had someone ask me about a sustainability trade-in program on Instagram this morning. It took me a minute to figure out what they were talking about, but once I did I realized I needed to clarify some things.

The Wright & Rede sustainability program has been in place since I sold my first wallet in 2012. It is the foundation around which I built my business.

There are three core values to my program.

- Make things well to begin with

- Take good care of them

- Repair them when they get old

Let’s take a quick look at how that all works.

Make Things Well to Begin With

I work exclusively with vegetable tanned leather from Wickett & Craig in Pennsylvania. I work with leather because, when properly maintained, it will outlast any other material I could find. Cotton is horrible for the environment. Linen doesn’t last as long. Synthetic materials are just different kinds of plastic. Leather is also a byproduct of the beef industry. The environmental impact of this does not escape me, nor does the fact that something had to die so I could make what I do. I am making something from the waste of a harmful industry with the hope, that if I do my job right, the impact of what I am making occurs only once because it doesn’t need to be replaced every few years.

I work only with vegetable tanned leather. Chromium tanned leather is the industry standard and represents the vast majority of leather produced. Chromium salts are carcinogenic and their environmental impact and the negative health effects on those that interact with them are well documented. Veg tan leather also has its downsides. Mostly in the form of the energy used to create it, the large amount of water used to process it, and the organic waste it produces. Any material I use is going to have an impact. Wickett & Craig has programs in place to reduce and manage their waste products which is why I do business with them. I’m also shipping leather from Pennsylvania to Ohio instead of across the globe.

Veg tan leather is also unique in its ability to develop a patina. With time and use its color will darken, get softer, and acquire a rich luster. Chromium tanned leather doesn’t do this. It just wears out.

Finally I hand stitch every single piece I make. I don’t do this to be cute. A proper saddle stitch cannot be done on a machine and will outlast any machine stitched seam by years. It is also easy to repair. We’ll get to that in a sec.

Take Good Care of Them

Every piece I sell comes with written instructions on how to take care of the leather (condition it every 6 months). I also tell every single customer who buys something in person how to maintain their leather at the time of their purchase. Again, I’ve been doing this for every single sale since 2012. When I got my studio space in 2018 I began offering in house conditioning service. If you bring your W&R gear up to the studio I will condition it for you. For free. Forever. It’s not a marketing strategy. I actually want these things to last as long as possible. (I’ve also been know to tease, cajole, harass, and preach to every customer who busts out their old W&R wallet to show me. “Have you been conditioning the leather????”)

Repair Them When They Get Old

I’ve been in business for almost thirteen years now. Nothing lasts forever. Some of the first wallets I made are starting to show their age and get loose seams. The fix to this is to cut the seam open, remove the old thread, and restitch the seam. They are designed to work this way. I want the thread to fail before the leather. The thread takes 5-15 minutes to replace. The leather cannot be replaced. The only time I charge for this is when the wallet is shipped to me (I charge $5 to pay for the return postage and packaging). If you bring it up to the studio and it’s a quick fix due to simple aging you won’t owe me a dime.

I also teach classes on how to saddle stitch. I do this to keep this knowledge alive and available. Every single person who has taken one of my classes has walked out the door with a successfully hand stitched wallet. With this knowledge they can now repair their own wallet, fix old boots, replace a seam, or even start their own leather working business. They can also teach this skill to other people. I have no way to measure this but I imagine the positive environmental impact of teaching people how to fix their own stuff is significant and lasting.

I Do Not Offer a Trade In Program.

Trading in your older stuff to buy new stuff is not sustainable. If I were to take my three year old car to the dealership and trade it in for a new one no one would say I was being sustainable. This is also true for leather goods. Anyone who tries to sell you a different story is just greenwashing.

Make good things. Take care of them. Fix them when they break.

Just a few of the items I’ve cleaned/condtioned/repaired over the last few years.

I remember the smell of it the most. Growing up a child of antique dealers I spent a lot of time in barns. Cloistered stacks of mismatched chairs. Bent cardboard boxes of plates wrapped in newspaper. Glass and brass doorknobs bereft of station catching sunlight from dirty dormer windows.

There is a smell to it. Dust, yes, but also wet stone and old carpet and the buttery, aged smell of old paper. Minwax. Solvents. All bundled up in a smell that says old and surplus and sacred.

There is a bit of sacrilege in these spaces. Items of personal value, deprived of their person, and left to gather dust. As a child walking down the narrow aisles I felt towered over. Their previous owners looking down at me, telling me not to bump anything, to not touch.

I have a steamer trunk in my studio from one of those barns in my childhood. It holds oil, paper, mat board, and the beginnings of work that will someday exist as not just ideas in my head.

The inside of the trunk is still lined with the fabric it came with. A blue on white floral pattern that now serves as the substrate for a topographic map of stains, and patina. The warp and weft of time wrinkled fabric making mountain ranges across its surface.

There is magic here too. In this interplay between man made intention and the chaos of time and circumstance. The pattern on its own is interesting, but it is the intersection of it and the stains that have come to inhabit it that make it singular.

I think I look for this in my own work. The uneven distribution of dye when rubbed into the surface of leather. The estuaries and tidemarks of wet chemistry brushed on heavy paper. Opportunities for collaboration with chance to make something greater than I could have on my own. Work that speaks of my carefully patterned intention and the mottled and frayed edges of the life that brought me here. The humility of ideas tarnished by reality but the more beautiful for their imperfections.

A small bit of that childhood magic found in hushed and dusty spaces.

I wasn't expecting too much to change last month. With the subzero arctic temperatures most of the bracelets are not getting much sunlight. It's like S.A.D.D. but with bracelets.  There is still quite a bit of variation considering that they all looked the same five months ago. 

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

No Image.

#6

No Image.

#7

#8

#9

#10

#11

#12

No Image.

#13

No Image.

Leather Care Tutorial

 The best thing about high quality, vegetable tanned leather is the way it ages. Instead of wearing out, a well treated piece of leather will age like a good Scotch. If you want your new leather item to look better in five years than it does today, you are going to have to take care of it. Below I have detailed the the complete process of restoring an old leather document case. Most of the time you will only need to oil or condition your leather (steps 4-7). If it has been a while you probably want to start with Step 1.

**All conditioners will change the way that leather looks to one degree or another. Always test on a small hidden spot first to make sure you are okay with the change.

This document case used to hold life insurance certificates. It is a little over fifty years old. Judging by the feel of the leather it hasn't been treated in a long time. How can you tell if your leather needs to be treated? Leather is tanned flesh and just like your flesh it will feel stiff and dry when it needs a little attention. When your leather looks dull and is not as supple, it is time to condition.

Step 1: Start with a clean, flat surface. This is actually important. The leather will be more susceptible to scratching and creasing when it is getting conditioned. If there is something sitting underneath your leather while you are buffing there will be scratches when you flip it over.

Step 2: Start by cleaning the leather with a good saddle soap. I always start by cleaning the leather. There is a good chance you've gotten some kind of junk (hand lotion, fry grease, motor oil) on the leather which will cause the oil in the next step to absorb unevenly. Blotchy only looks good on Rorschach tests.  Here I am using Fiebing's Natural Saddle Soap. Make sure you are using saddle soap and not "leather cleaner". Most cleaners have alcohol or solvents in them that will dry out the leather. Pour a little water into the lid of the container, lightly moisten a rag (old t shirts are great for this) and work up a good lather on the soap. Take the soapy rag and start gently working the lather into the leather in a circular motion.

Don't forget the edges. The oils in the soap will start to absorb into the leather. It will start to darken and get softer. As the soap dries the oils will sink deeper into the leather and help pull in the oil in the next steps.

Step 3: Let it dry completely. This can take as little as a few hours, if the air is very dry, up to over night. Usually, I would recommend over night. If there is any water left on the surface of the leather it will prevent the oil in the next step from soaking in properly. Again, Rorschach. 

Step 4: Pour a small amount of oil on to a clean soft rag. What kind of oil? Neatsfoot and mink oil are the traditional answers. Olive oil will also work, but this does tend to darken the leather quite a bit. Variations in different types of olive oil can also cause unexpected results. Work the oil around on the rag to distribute it evenly. If you put a big blob of oil right onto the leather your going to get a big dark splotch.

With a swift and light circular motion, begin to apply the oil. You don't need to grind it into the leather. Remember that the top grain on the leather will be delicate at this point. Try to not let the rag rest anywhere for too long or you'll get a darker patch there. You can tell how much oil the leather needs by how quickly it absorbs the oil. Keep adding light coats of oil until it absorbs at a less dramatic rate. 2-3 coats should be enough.

Here you can really see how much the leather darkens. As the oil works it's way deeper and the surface begins to dry it will lighten up a bit. Well conditioned leather is always a little darker after being treated though.

Step 5: Once you have a nice even coat of oil on take a moment and really work it in using your fingers. The heat from your hands will help the oil penetrate deeper and you won't have to condition as often.

Step 6: After letting the oiled leather sit for 24 hours it is time to apply a little waxed based protection. Oil will soften the leather and keep it supple. It will also dry to a sad looking matte finish. Wax will bring back that just oiled glow and will also provide a little water resistance. Here I am using Obenauf's Heavy Duty LP. Huberd's works well too.  A good leather protectant will smell like bees wax (from bee propolis, a resin bees produce to make the hive waterproof) or a campfire (from pine resin which pine trees produce to make pine trees waterproof...). Do not use anything labeled as a leather sealer. Most of these are acrylic based and will eventually fail and peel off or crack; taking the top layer of leather with them.  If it smells like chemistry find something else.

Apply a light coat of wax to the surface of the leather. If you apply too much you'll only have to spend more time buffing it all off at the end. You aren't really worried about feeding the leather at this point. Just get a nice thin layer on and work it into all the creases and ridges with your fingers.

Make sure you get the areas along the the stitching and any creases or folds really well. This is where the leather is most vulnerable and you want a little extra protection there.

Step 7: Let the wax dry over night. In the morning the surface will feel a little tacky and have lost it's luster again. This is the fun part. Take a large clean rag (I like old bandannas for this) and start buffing. Light and fast is best. You can tell if you are doing it right because the color of the leather will deepen and it will start to shine. The more you buff the more it will glow so spend some time doing this properly.

Here you can start to see the difference. The bottom section has been buffed. It has a richer color, a satiny luster, and is no longer tacky. If you went a little nuts with the wax you might be buffing for a little while. Just keep going until there are no dull spots and the surface looses its tackiness. 

I like to let the wax cure again over night at this point. This step might be unnecessary but why accidentally screw up your hard work after all that.   You're all set for the next 6-12 months.

Have trouble remembering when to recondition?  I'll remind you! Sign up for the Leather Maintenance Mailer and I will send you a reminder once every six months.

Well, I'm not sure what to say. I blame the holidays.  Here is the Weathered Leather Experiment bracelets three months in (The It's in the Mail Edition).

**Editor's Note** #4 & #9 were photographed by me at the Last Minute Market. Thanks for stopping by folks!!!

#1

#2

#3

#4

 

#5

 

#6

 

#7

 

#8

 

#9

 

#10

 

#11

 

#12

 Hopefully #12 isn't still sitting out in the vineyard?!?!?

#Bonus Round

We are already starting to see a few changes take place. This is the two month Weathered Leather Update. The October Edition:  

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

Welcome back #7

#8

#9

#10

#11

#12

Bonus Round

(Because I'm a sucker...)

**Applications are now closed. If you are just getting here from Facebook or Instagram make sure to sign up for the mailing list to get the drop on fun projects like this.

I spend a lot of time talking to people about how the leather I use  is the kind of leather that ages well. There is a lot of use of the word patina. It's a beautiful and individual thing, but kind of hard to show people if you don't have lots of well worn stuff.

The even cooler part is how each piece will develop its own character based on how the person uses it. Every item I make is handmade and unique, but that is only half of the equation. The other half comes from the people who buy it, carry it around, beat it up, and live with it.

So I have devised an experiment. Twelve lucky individuals will receive a free bracelet. Each one will be numbered and unfinished. In exchange for this bracelet I ask that they document the aging process over a twelve month period.

The nitty gritty:

• These are free. You don't have to pay anything for them.
• Each bracelet will arrive unfinished with a single coating of oil on it.
• Each will have a number so we can all keep track of them.
• Once every month I will send out an email reminder asking you to snap a photo of your bracelet and fill us in on any interesting developments in the life of the leather (IE. my dog chewed on it. I spilled beer all over it. I took it to the beach. I just put some conditioner on it...)
• By submitting photos you will be giving me permission to publish them on the internet. I will not share any of your private information with anyone, ever. Instead there will be an update, for example,  from bracelet 3 of 12 with the picture you shared that month.
• Only one bracelet per person.
• Only 12 bracelets will be made available.
• Please measure for bracelet size carefully as I will not be replacing mismeasured sizes.

The don't be a jerk clause:

• Hey, don't be a jerk. Yes, it is free, but I expect you to send in some pictures and follow up on my emails. I'm too small of a business to give away stuff for nothing. So please help me out and stay on board for the full 12 months.

If this sounds like fun to you email me at Rede@WrightandRede.com with the subject line the "The Great Weathered Leather Experiment."  I will only accept the first 12 emails I receive. Sending multiple emails will only annoy me. If you are one of the first twelve I will send you an email asking for your bracelet size and the address I can mail it to.

Looking forward to seeing how this works out. Stay tuned for exciting updates.

I've decided to start a campaign to reclaim the meaning of the word "value".  It is an idea that we all understand, but is very difficult to define. I think this is why it has been so easy to co-opt.  I consider the meaning of the word value to mean something's intrinsic worth relative to the  demand of obtaining, or maintaining, that thing. 

A personal belief that one maintains despite the pressures of the outside world. A work of art that has inspired countless people and been preserved through centuries. A cast iron skillet bought at a hardware store that gets better and better, but only if you take care of it. A grandfather's journal from World War II which sailed across oceans, was sheltered from bombs and bullets, and carried through all the years of his life.  These are things of value.

Value does not mean a cheap deal. I'm tired of seeing things that are labeled "value brand", "great value", "value sized". When you begin to think about value in terms of its real meaning then you have to question where the deal really is. If you are willing to sacrifice next to nothing for something then it must be worth next to nothing. So is it really such a great deal to get a great price on something that is nearly worthless. To say it in another way, "value is a function of hard work and ingenuity rather than the product of financial acrobatics, clever arbitrage or casino capitalism." (from the Rustbelt Almanac)

Nor is value created by paying a high price. Does a plain white t shirt have a greater value just because it cost $120 (sorry Kanye)? Is a high-end sports car valuable? To a banker? To a single dad? To a carpenter? Value is not a function of cost alone but a reflection of cost versus intrinsic worth. 

Fads will come and go. Sticker shock and impulse-buys will get paid-off or used up. Many things will quickly pass through our lives, but it is the things of value that stick with us. Yes, you might have to work for them. Old leather boots need saddle soap and conditioning. A classic Mustang is going to spend some time on blocks getting fixed. An old cookbook has to be handled with kid gloves and protected from stains. Personal convictions will have to be reenforced and rallied when the tide is contrary. Trends will wane,  bills will be paid-off, what is hot today will fizzle tomorrow, and cheap deals will be quickly used up and forgotten. Things of value are those which we endeavor to carry with us. When the price is paid, it is value that remains.

I try to keep this idea a constant in my life. When I'm designing something I always try to ask myself if I'm responding to a trend or will this be something that will still be relevant decades from now. Not only does this apply to the things I produce but also in the way I live. I try to think not only in terms of "are the sacrifices I make equal to the life I am living", but also "am I living a life equal to the sacrifices that I am making for it". It is through this filter that I am able to figure out how to invest myself in the things that are really of value to me and avoid the things that seemed really important at the time but weren't. What are the things that you value?