Environment and Sustainability Policy
Caring for our Customers
We pride ourselves on doing the very best for our customers with expert advice, friendly communication, and great packaging.
Our small team have between us, many years of experience in making leather itself, leathercraft and leather restoration and conservation. We are happy to offer advice to help you make, repair or conserve your leather projects.
Accessing Advice
Please send us in an email to sales@theidentitystore.co.uk with photos and a description of what you are trying to achieve, and we will direct your email to the relevant team member.
We may offer you the chance to have a free 15minute video call if we think this will best help answer your enquiry.
Caring for our Leathers
We carefully select and source our leather working with tanneries and factories to offer sustainable leather cuts.
The leathers are carefully stored either flat or rolled, in a cool dry leather store. We take in how they are packaged to ensure they reach you in the best condition.
Storing your leathers
If you are not planning to use your leathers immediately, they are best stored somewhere dark, cool and dry, and not near a heat or light source. Vegetable tanned leathers should be kept wrapped in brown paper to avoid marking from UV light. Oil tanned leathers should kept wrapped and not touching other leathers. An ideal place is under a bed.
Soft Leathers
To remove any crease lines from soft leathers such as sheepskin, lambskin, metallics or suedes, you can lightly iron them on the reverse, placing the leather grain face down on the ironing board and placing as layer of grease proof paper over the back. Use no more than the cotton setting (**) and no steam. Alternatively, you can mist spray with cool water and stretch out the leathers working over the creased areas.
Caring for Our Environment
If you are drawn to making things from leather you don’t need much convincing, it’s an acceptable natural sustainable material to use.
The supply chain from farm to whoever sells you the leather is still not as transparent as it should be, but everyone in within it is well meaning, trying to make and honest and moral living, and aiming to do their best for you.
Leather is a co-product of animal husbandry. One part of it’s natural magic comes from being once wrapped round one of the eight or so animal species that have been domesticated over the last 12 thousand years.
Practices in this husbandry vary throughout the world. In the UK we are proud of our standards and keeping to them, and most farmers have a loving relationship with land and animals.
It is our aim to continually review, critique and improve all aspects of the business to protect and reduce environment impact where we are able.
We believe in the power of small change, of asking questions, of responsible sourcing and fair treatment of our customers and suppliers.
Working with groups like Compassion in World Farming, briefing our customers and interested parties through our leather training days, promoting our own range of water-based dyes and finishes, and developing some of our own UK made leathers; are just some of the ways we try to make a practical difference.
We always know we can do more and aim to do so.
Sustainability
Leather
Leather is a wonderful material, and treated well, will last a lifetime. This makes leather a sustainable alternative to the quick buy disposable goods that have become endemic to modern culture.
One way we source and sell leather is to use our contacts in the industry and offer leather offcuts and workbench pieces. This means our customers can not only benefit from small cuts, but also have access to some of the finest French and Italian leathers from British shoe, bag and belt makers.
Products
We have developed our own ranges of natural and water-based products to help care, protect and restore leathers – see our Veg Protec, Permacoat and PermaProtect products – click here
In addition, we are happy to offer advice and help in the restoration and repair of leather items.
Packaging
Wherever possible we try to use cardboard, boxes and packing materials sourced from other local companies ensuring packing materials are not single use. When we send out our larger leather hides, they are wrapped in card from a local upmarket glassware supplier. We also will use newspapers to pack out boxes minimising the use of plastic wherever possible. We have sourced padded envelopes that can easily to be parted into paper and plastic for recycling.
Dyes, finishes and glues are sent out using Ziploc plastic bags and wrapped in bubble wrap. This is to prevent damage and leakage in transit and ensure your items reach you in a protected way. You might find you can reuse any of the bags to case your leather items in, or to temporarily store your daubers and sponges when dyeing!
For our soft leathers, these are generally folded around acid free tissue paper to prevent creasing as much as possible. Fold lines can be removed by the application of a light iron on medium heat. Place the leather face down and use a layer of brown paper or greaseproof paper under the iron.
We work to balance ensuring your items arrive to you in good condition with our sustainable commitments, and we look to replacing plastic with recyclable alternatives where and when possible.
Animal Welfare and Farming
As well as being members of Compassion in World Farming we are involved in ways of working with farmers who are interested in being in control of the lifecycle of leather – from the beating heart through to the finished article, keeping an integrity throughout the process. This is potentially a very exciting and innovative approach that is being continually developed.
PLAYING YOUR PART
CARE – caring for your leather goods, or offering advice to your customers on how to clean and look after items, can enable the leather to last for many years
REPAIR – leather is an easily repairable material, it can be re-stitched, re-glued and patched, further continuing its life span.
RE-USE – picking up old, vintage leather items and repairing, re-colouring and re-treating them can give second or even third lives to items.
RE-PURPOSE – removing the leather from items that are broken and no longer usable and giving that leather a new purpose. For example, one customer rescued the leather from a sofa and made a messenger bag, apron, hat and waistcoat.
RE-CYCLE – even small pieces can be re-cycled into patches, repairs, or small items. Tiny pieces can be shredded to make a bonded material or used to make weighted stuffing for items such as door stops or boxing bags.
