Sustainable Vegan Leather Bags Handmade in Portugal
We asked our team in Portugal, what’s your favourite thing about your job?
Our bags are made in a small workshop near Porto, by a team of around 20 talented craftspeople.
They are heading off on holiday at the end of this week, for a month of summer vacation.
Our right-hand man and production manager David spent last summer at the beach in Spain, and is going to spend the summer hanging out with his little boy and renovating his house.
We will be creating the new tan collection together in September, when they get back from a well deserved break.
Their workshop has been in business since 1975.
Started by a young man who loved to sew handbags at home, he has now passed his successful business down to his two daughters – awesome sisters who run the workshop together.
I cannot say how amazing and open minded my team is.
As a traditional leather making workshop, they have embraced all of my left-field next generation materials and ideas with open arms.
I am probably their most annoying customer, changing every single traditional production material.
From plant-based vegan leathers, to internal structural materials, organic linings, to needing to vet every piece of glue, paint, and thread for animal products.
They trial new products for me all the time without complaint.
They are helping me towards my goal of creating vegan bags that are such a high quality, that they can eventually be sold second hand.
Do I wish my factory was vegan like me? Sure.
But do I also think that showing people in traditionally animal reliant industries, that there IS another way, is important and invaluable? Yes.
They have learnt so much from this project and are already speaking to NFW about using Mirum for other projects.
It’s such a great thing to transition traditional skills into new technologies.
Instead of shunning workers in animal industries, we can, through practice, show them that there is another financially viable way forward.
They embraced Lost Woods with excitement, as they had never heard of a plastic-free, cruelty-free leather, and bet that it might just be the future.
#veganfashion #sustainablefashion #slowfashion
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