The beauty of our natural vegetable tanned leather

When we started our brand in 2014 our aim was to create something we couldn’t find in stores. Products that were not available at that time. Products that were in our mind for some time. We decided to create them by ourselves. With our team of friends, we combined our passion, knowledge and rough ideas to start our journey. Our own leather crafted goods brand. We chose the brand name Butts and Shoulders as this is an authentic term from the tannery. Something which is still a perfect match with the key aspects of our brand. As we like products that are made in the old school way without any concessions in quality we also knew that this means that we had to pick the best leather available. Leather in the purest form. Leather how it used to be before the mass production kicked-in.

Our first released product was our ultimate travel bag. We made it from the best natural vegetable tanned leather available in the market. And we still use it for all our products. To get your hands on this particular leather isn’t that easy. In fact, it’s more and more difficult to get this quality of leather nowadays. Therefore we work with the best partners in Europe. Some say that this particular leather will become the next gold. Who knows…

One of our brand values is that we want to create timeless pieces. For us this means that you also have to take the right leather that fits with this mindset. That’s how we came with the idea to use natural vegetable tanned leather.

Why natural vegetable tanned leather?

Natural vegetable tanned leather is leather without any pigment. That’s why the leather has its natural colour. It looks a bit naked. When you start wearing products made from this leather they will age over time. They will get darker by day- and sunlight. But also rain and spots gives extra character to this specific leather. And exactly this is what brings us to the base of this blog post. We’re so madly in love with products that gets better by time. Products that gets better through wear. It’s not common to buy products nowadays that last a long time. We see a lot of fast fashion brands and retail concepts. These brands and companies do not care about craftsmanship and true materials. What we admire are poducts that last a long time and will look more beautiful by using it.

Great example of slow fashion; a new pair of Butts and Shoulders Boots compared to a pair of one year old.

Why natural leather is like dry denim

The most popular item that also uses this key value is jeans and denim. Jeans will look better when they are worn, old and trashed. This has a simple reason. The indigo in which the cotton is dyed is totally blue. Indigo can’t penetrate the core of the thread, so by wearing (and washing) a pair of jeans the indigo goes off and the core of the cotton, which is white, pops-up. This means that jeans will become lighter over time. But this also means that they will become nicer, softer and more unique. Every pair tells another story. The story of the owner.

Our passion. Our lifestyle.

Our natural vegetable tanned leather is not doing the same as indigo on jeans. In fact it’s doing the opposite, it goes from a light colour to a dark colour with wear. The natural (naked) colour gets a nice warm cognac colour. Sometimes spots and rain fasten this natural process. This also means that the end result of every product of our collection will become unique. And that’s what we like! We get thrilled about products that age and change. The process is a kind of magical. It’s so cool to see your product change every day, in the positive way, through your own eyes.

A community of likeminded people

You will get an extra bond with your product. Like a friendship that grows over time. Maybe you have a friend with the same product, but you see their products change in a different way. You will compare them and it feels a bit of a game to get the best result. And that’s exactly our passion. And our lifestyle. Not the competition, but the stories. With our Butts and Shoulders brand we hope to reach the same likeminded people. People with the same passion and lifestyle. Enjoy the journey of our Butts and Shoulders products!

Also check our customer @005.00275 on Instagram. He dedicated this account totally to his Butts and Shoulders boots. Every now and than he uploads a nice update about the ageing process of his #275 pair of boots.