What is Billy Tannery?
Billy Tannery is the first British goat leather company. Our leather goods – bags, briefcases, sneakers, and aprons – are handmade in the UK using goat leather that we tan in our own micro-tannery.
Why use goat leather and why set up your own tannery?
Our reason for starting was that not one goatskin was being tanned in the UK. Despite the growth in the goat meat industry, there weren’t any tanneries left that were willing or able to tan them. Rather than see them go to waste, we started down a winding road to building our own small tannery and to find a use for the leather.
Much like a microbrewery, a microtannery is more than simply a small tannery. Tanning in small batches allows us to focus on the details, on crafting higher quality and more environmentally friendly leather.
How would you describe Billy Tannery’s design aesthetic? Is it reflected in your own style?
Goat leather has a beautiful pronounced grain so our intention is always to keep our designs clean to show this off as much as possible. My business partner Rory leads the design side, but we work together to make sure our products reflect what we would like to buy ourselves.
