Every Escuyer wallet, cardholder and sleeve starts the same way: as a hide in a Tuscan tannery, slowly tanned with bark and wood extracts by a family that has been doing it since 1946. That tannery is Tempesti, in Ponte a Egola, between Florence and Pisa. This is the story of the leather, and of why we think vegetable tanning is still the best way to make it.

Our pieces are designed in Brussels and made in a small atelier in Portugal. But the character you feel when you open a Slim Wallet for the first time, and the way it darkens and softens after a year in your pocket, comes from Tuscany.

What is vegetable-tanned leather?

Tanning is what turns a raw hide, which would otherwise rot, into a stable and durable material. There are two main ways to do it.

Chrome tanning uses chromium salts. Developed in the 19th century, it is fast (a day or two), cheap and very consistent, which is why most of the world's leather is made this way today. The result is soft and uniform, but it stays more or less the same from the day you buy it to the day you throw it away.

Vegetable tanning is the original method, practised for thousands of years. It uses tannins, natural compounds extracted from bark, wood and fruit pods: chestnut wood, quebracho, tara, mimosa. The hides soak in these tannins slowly, over weeks rather than hours. The process is slower, needs more skill and costs more. But it gives leather that is firmer, holds a clean edge, smells of wood and earth, and keeps changing for years.

Tempesti: four generations of Tuscan tanners

Tempesti was founded in 1946 by two brothers, Tullio and Osvaldo Tempesti, who had both worked in tanneries before deciding to start their own. Between the 1970s and 1980s their cousins Giovanni and Giovanna took over, opened up exports and invested in new technology. The family is now in its fourth generation, and in 2026 the tannery celebrated its 80th year.

What began as a small workshop is now two factories in Ponte a Egola, in the heart of the Tuscan leather district along the Arno, between Florence and Pisa. Each plant specialises in different stages of the work.

Tempesti is a member of the Consorzio Vera Pelle Italiana Conciata al Vegetale, the consortium of Tuscan vegetable tanneries. Members follow a shared production standard, checked by an independent certification body (ICEC). A few commitments matter to us in particular:

• Hides from the food chain. No animal is raised or slaughtered for its skin. The hides are a by-product of the European meat industry that would otherwise be discarded.
• Metal-free. No chromium or other heavy metals are used in the tanning.
• Shared water treatment. The district's tanneries send their effluents to centralised purification plants, and waste from each stage is reused by other industries.
• Independent audits. Tempesti also holds a Leather Working Group Gold rating, traceability and social-accountability certifications, and publishes an annual sustainability report.

From raw hide to finished leather

Vegetable tanning is a slow sequence of steps, each done by hand or closely watched by someone who has done it for decades.

1. Preparing the hide. Cowhides arrive from the food industry. They are washed, rehydrated and cleaned of hair and flesh, leaving only the fibrous layer that will become leather.
2. Tanning with plant extracts. The hides turn slowly in large wooden drums with natural tannins. The blend shapes the character of the leather. At Tempesti, chestnut is the backbone; quebracho gives warm, deep colours; tara opens the palette to brighter, cleaner shades and even pastels; a touch of mimosa brings a softer balance.
3. Feeding the leather. Fats and oils are worked into the fibres. Some Tempesti leathers are fed with tallow for a full, rounded hand; others with selected oils for a firmer, drier, more defined feel.
4. Drying. The leather is dried slowly, so the fibres settle without stress.
5. Finishing. It is dyed, smoothed, sometimes buffed or pressed, and inspected hide by hide. Natural marks are kept: each one is a trace of the animal's life, not a defect.

The result is a leather that is alive. It has a scent, a weight and a firmness you can feel, and it is only at the start of its story when it leaves the tannery.

See it for yourself: Tempesti opened its doors to show how its leather is made.

Video: Conceria Tempesti.

Patina: leather that gets better with time

The real reason to choose vegetable-tanned leather shows up after a few months. Light, the oils from your hands and daily friction slowly darken the surface and give it a soft sheen. Corners round off, the leather relaxes and takes the shape of what you carry. No two wallets age the same way, because no two people use them the same way.

Caring for it is simple:

• Use it. Handling is what builds the patina.
• Keep it dry. If it gets wet, let it dry naturally, away from radiators or direct sun.
• Feed it occasionally. Once or twice a year, a thin layer of neutral leather balm keeps it supple.
• Accept the marks. Small scratches often fade into the patina with a little rubbing from your thumb.

From Tuscany to Portugal to your pocket

Once tanned at Tempesti, the leather travels to the small atelier in Portugal where our pieces are cut, stitched and finished. We design everything in Brussels with one idea in mind: keep it thin, useful and simple, and let the material do the talking.

Vegetable-tanned leather is usually associated with a short palette of browns and tans. We wanted the opposite. Working with Tempesti lets us offer a range of colours that is rare for this kind of leather: deep classics, but also bright and soft tones, and two-tone pieces where the outside and the lining are two contrasting leathers.

You'll find this leather across the collection:

• Card Sleeve: our thinnest and most minimal piece.
• Cardholder: small, slim and truly unisex.
• Slim Wallet: designed for the front pocket, with six card slots and a note compartment.
• Billfold Wallet: our most traditional shape, still slim, in two-tone combinations.
• Zip Wallet: a minimal zipped wallet with room for coins.

Our hand-dyed camouflage pieces are the one exception: they use a different leather.

Pick a colour, carry it every day, and in a year it will be entirely yours.

Questions we are asked

What is the Tempesti tannery?
Tempesti is a family-run vegetable tannery in Ponte a Egola, Tuscany, between Florence and Pisa, founded in 1946 by the brothers Tullio and Osvaldo Tempesti. Now in its fourth generation, it is a member of the Tuscan vegetable-tanned leather consortium and holds a Leather Working Group Gold rating.

How long does vegetable tanning take?
Vegetable tanning takes weeks, where chrome tanning takes a day or two. The hides turn slowly in drums with plant tannins such as chestnut, quebracho, tara and mimosa, then are fed with oils, dried slowly and finished by hand, which is why the leather costs more.

Is vegetable-tanned leather chrome-free?
Yes. Genuine vegetable-tanned leather is tanned with plant tannins from bark, wood and pods, with no chromium or other heavy metals. Tanneries in the Tuscan vegetable-tanned leather consortium follow a shared production standard that is checked by an independent certification body.

Is vegetable-tanned leather waterproof?
No. Vegetable-tanned leather copes with a little rain but it is not waterproof, and water can leave marks. If it gets wet, let it dry naturally, away from radiators and direct sun, and once or twice a year give it a thin layer of neutral leather balm to keep it supple.

Where does Escuyer leather come from?
Escuyer leather is vegetable-tanned in Tuscany by the Tempesti tannery, then cut, stitched and finished in a single atelier in Portugal, to designs drawn in Brussels. The hand-dyed camouflage models are the one exception: they use a different leather.

Escuyer. Considered design, made to last.