MAKER OF THE MONTH
This sustainable accessories brand creates beautiful leather goods from British goat hides that would otherwise be discarded as waste
After discovering that thousands, if not millions, of goat hides left over from the British food industry were going to waste every year, founder Jack Millington, along with his childhood friend, Rory Harker, was inspired to find a solution. Having built amicro-tannery in rural Leicestershire (on the farm where Jack grew up), they launched their first range of vegetable-tanned, sustainable goat leather goods in 2017, and so Billy Tannery was born.
What’s the ethos behind your brand?
Our goal is to turn waste into worth through fresh thinking. The mission is to stop hides from UK farms from being destroyed and instead turn them into beautiful, sustainable leather and leather goods. Despite being ubiquitous, leather is misunderstood. We want to tell anew, more positive story. We celebrate leather’s links to agriculture and food, as we think transparency and traceability are the future of the fashion industry.
Talk us through the leather tanning process.
The main technique involves tanning the hides using bark extracts to turn them into leather, which takes one or two days. We then hang the leather to dry on specially designed frames. It goes off to alocal partner tannery for dyeing before heading off to one of our two workshops (based in Leicestershire and Somerset) to be made into bags and accessories.
What makes goat hide special?
Compared to cowhides, goatskins are smaller and tend to be softer. Despite this, they are incredibly durable so you get the best of both worlds. Goat leather also has abeautiful natural grain texture that varies from piece to piece, so we try to celebrate this with the design of all our products.
Tell us about your collaboration with Balmoral Estates.
We’ve been working on introducing deer leather into our range for a couple of years, as there are hundreds of thousands of deerskins going to waste in the UK each year. After a chance conversation, we were introduced to the team at Balmoral, who were keen to see their deerskins being used rather than wasted. We’ve been able to take them and return them as quality leather goods to be sold in the estate shop. You couldn’t ask for asouvenir more inextricably linked to the estate than that.
Bring the outdoors in
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