Brown is where vegetable tanned leather started, and it is still where it is most at home. The tannins that turn a hide into leather are brown themselves, so a brown wallet is the material showing its own colour, with nothing to hide behind. It is also the colour that ages best, because every mark and every darkening only adds to it.
We make three browns, and they are more different than they look on a screen. Here is how to tell them apart, how each one changes with use, and which one suits you.
Every brown piece in one place
Twenty pieces across all seven models, from the Keychain to the MacBook Sleeve. Cognac, light brown and natural, plus the two-tone wallets where brown meets another colour.
Card Sleeve, Cognac€55 
Card Sleeve, Natural€55 
Cardholder, Cognac€75 
Cardholder, Cognac / Pink€75 
Cardholder, Light Brown€75 
Cardholder, Natural€75 
Slim Wallet, Cognac€110 
Slim Wallet, Light Brown€110 
Slim Wallet, Cognac / Orange€125 
Zip Wallet, Cognac€110 
Zip Wallet, Cognac / Orange€125 
Billfold Wallet, Blue / Cognac€140 
Billfold Wallet, Green / Cognac€140 
Billfold Wallet, Jungle Green / Natural€140 
Billfold Wallet, Khaki / Natural€140 
Billfold Wallet, Light Brown / Orange€140 
Keychain, Cognac€25 
Keychain, Light Brown€25 
MacBook Sleeve, Cognac / Pink€175 
MacBook Sleeve, Light Brown / Orange€175
Cognac
The classic. Cognac is a warm, reddish brown, the colour of the drink it is named after, and it is the shade most people picture when they think of a good leather wallet. It is our most complete brown: Card Sleeve, Cardholder, Slim Wallet, Zip Wallet and Keychain, and it lines the inside of the Blue and Cognac and Green and Cognac Billfolds. It also pairs with orange on the Slim Wallet and Zip Wallet, and with pink on the Cardholder and MacBook Sleeve.
Light brown
A paler, more golden brown, closer to tan or caramel. Light brown is softer than cognac and shows its patina sooner, which is the point: within a few months the places you touch most will be a shade darker than the rest, and the wallet will look like yours. It comes on the Cardholder, Slim Wallet and Keychain, and as the outside of the Light Brown and Orange Billfold and the MacBook Sleeve in the same pairing.
Natural
Natural is the leather with no dye at all: the pale, pinkish beige that vegetable tanned leather is when it leaves the tannery. It is the shade for people who want to watch the patina happen, because it changes more than any other colour we make. In a year it will be a warm honey tan; in three, something close to cognac, with a depth no dye can copy. The Card Sleeve and Cardholder come in natural on their own, and it is the lining of the Khaki and Natural and Jungle Green and Natural Billfolds, where you can see it darken next to a colour that does not.
How the leather ages
Brown is the colour that makes the strongest case for vegetable tanned leather. Light, the oils from your hands and simple friction all darken it, and the darkening is uneven in a way that looks right: deeper at the fold, lighter where it is protected, glossy where you hold it. Cognac deepens towards chestnut. Light brown goes amber. Natural goes from almost blonde to a full tan, and every stage of it is worth having.
Every piece is cut from Italian vegetable tanned leather from the Tempesti tannery in Tuscany, then stitched and finished by hand in a single atelier near Braga, in the north of Portugal. The edges are painted by hand, the logo is stamped in gold, and every wallet arrives in a presentation box. We design everything in Brussels.
Which brown to choose
If you want the wallet to look right from day one. Cognac. It arrives looking the way a leather wallet should and only gets richer.
If you want it to look like yours. Natural. It takes a few months, and the first marks can be alarming, but nothing else we make ages with as much character.
If you wear a lot of brown shoes and belts. Light brown matches tan and golden shoes; cognac matches darker ones. If in doubt, cognac goes with both.
If it is a gift. The Cognac Card Sleeve at €55 is a gift nobody returns. For something fuller, the Blue and Cognac Billfold is a classic with one surprise inside.
See every piece in brown leather goods, or browse the full small leather goods range.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between cognac and light brown leather?
Cognac is a warm, reddish brown, like the drink. Light brown is paler and more golden, closer to tan or caramel. Both are vegetable tanned, and both darken with use; light brown shows its patina sooner.
What is natural leather?
Natural is vegetable tanned leather with no dye: the pale beige the hide is when it leaves the tannery. It darkens more than any other colour, going from almost blonde to a warm honey tan within a year and towards cognac over several years.
Does brown leather get darker?
Yes. Vegetable tanned leather darkens with light, handling and time. Cognac deepens towards chestnut, light brown turns amber, and natural changes the most. The darkening is gradual and uneven in a way that looks right, which is what people mean by patina.
Which brown leather wallet is the most classic?
Cognac, in the Slim Wallet or the Billfold. Cognac is the shade most people picture when they think of a leather wallet, and both models are traditional shapes kept deliberately thin.
Where are Escuyer brown leather wallets made?
The leather is vegetable tanned by Tempesti in Tuscany, Italy. Every wallet is then cut, stitched and finished by hand in a single atelier near Braga, in the north of Portugal, to designs made in Brussels.
Escuyer. Considered design, made to last.
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