Sieme weaves leather waste network
The founder of a new accessories brand predicts a more collaborative way of working that gives Italian artisans a bigger influence on design. She is also helping to boost ASPRI, a new association that gives fresh value to leathergoods manufacturers’ offcuts, with the aim of creating a more circular way of working.
At the top end of the luxury goods market, the skills that are needed to make handbags, shoes and other accessories by hand are passed down through generations and take years to hone. Italy is home to hundreds of small factories, some no bigger than workshops, where artisans diligently and patiently work, cutting and stitching the finest leathers. But it is these skills that are under threat, on the back of a recession in Italy that saw at least 100 small leathergoods makers fold in 2019, creating problems that the pandemic has exacerbated. The demand for handbags diminished during lockdowns, with plummeting tourist numbers, and leathergoods manufacturers’ association Assopellettieri suggests a nearly 40% fall in revenues in 2020.
US designer Cassandra Kane, who moved to Florence in 2017, felt there must be a way to help these small businesses and protect the skills. She had previously worked as an accessories designer in the US for fashion houses such as Zac Posen, finding a niche in leathergoods and forming partnerships with manufacturers and tanneries during frequent visits to Europe. A desire to work with the high-end makers led to a six-month Italian stay being extended indefinitely, honing her knowledge by spending time in a modelleria (handbag atelier) and prototipista, where she helped turn brands’ visions into beautiful accessories.
“The knowledge and precision is incredible, people have been working there for 40, 50, 60 years,” she says, speaking as part of a Co-Lab Career Stories podcast. “But what also struck me was even at the highest level, there was still a massive problem with waste; these family-owned factories were throwing away so much leather with no way to dispose of it in a way that wasn’t a financial burden. Leather is such a high quality, high value material – if we can’t solve the problem here, with the best-quality materials, how can we expect to solve it in the rest of the industry?”
The realisation led to conversations with the makers, and a plan to tackle the issue in a number of ways: creating a leathergoods brand, Sieme, that could use the offcuts; connecting artisans and small workshops with brands through consultancy services; creating an online platform for makers to sell directly to consumers overseas; and working with new association ASPRI, which collects offcuts and leather waste, creating a supply of material for young designers and creatives.
A force for good
ASPRI, the Association of Recycled Leather in Italy (Associazione di Pelle Recuperata in Italia), was launched at the start of last year and estimates 815,000 to 1.6 million square metres of finished-leather waste could be discarded each year (using data from tannery association UNIC and the European Commission). It collects this waste from manufacturers, offering financial incentives in the form of tax-deductible donations, and then repurposes the leather to local schools, emerging designers and artisans. The leather is also used for its education programme, through which young people, refugees and incarcerated people are trained in leather skills.
“Our hope is to create a structured system where we can collect this waste at scale, sort and repurpose it and resell it at discounted rates to students, independent designers, artisans and others looking to work with this valuable material while bringing awareness to circularity in our sector,” Ms Kane, who looks after international relations for the association, tells us. “We need to reimagine what waste is as these are extremely high value materials and recycling should be the absolute last resort.”
PPE pivot
At the start of the pandemic, the Italian government (like many others) ordered factories to stop production unless they could make personal protective equipment for the healthcare sector. Although it had not been her initial hopes for the beginnings of a brand, Ms Kane realised she could make the best of a bad situation by asking a factory in Prato to design mask-scarfs using Italian deadstock silks, linens and luxury fabrics. “You had all these highly skilled factories making 50-cent paper masks and it didn’t make sense – they weren’t automated factories, everything is made by hand. We could sell the scarves at a higher price, and support the factory and their skillset.” She launched Sieme to sell the scarves internationally, and went back to reorder as they became more popular. “I didn’t want to start with masks, but in the end was a great way to build the website, figure out the international logistics, and build the business infrastructure.”The experience building the logistics – including working out the shipping and tax – gave her an idea to offer the platform to other makers, reasoning that if they are tirelessly working all day, they do not have the time to set up websites and deal with tariffs and post. Products are sold at near cost price through Sieme Sample Sales, then the goods are shipped together after a two-week period, to cut down on costs. This also helped her to offer new products without overproducing and “making new collections just to have something new on the website, as we’re trying to be a sustainable and circular brand”.
Woven with love
She believes one outcome from the pandemic will be a move towards co-creation models, where brands use their factory partners’ skills in the design of articles, rather than designing elsewhere and products simply made by factories. The rich experience in these ateliers means they understand how to get the best out of materials, and some brands might not have the resources to hire specialists, especially for more niche products. “It is also a really collaborative way of working, it allows the factories to lead with the product they are best at delivering, meaning lower development costs, increased speed to market, less waste and fewer production changes mid-process,” she explains. Her consultancy work helps to make those introductions. “There is so much knowledge and expertise that can get lost in translation, so to bridge that gap is something I enjoy."
Sieme is almost ready to launch its original idea: leathergoods made with woven strips of high-quality leather offcuts. The bags will be ready in autumn this year and no two will be the same. “I’m not a leather artisan so the design was led by the factory partner that could really help me design the best way,” she says.
The next steps involve securing investments to expand, with the goal that a percentage of the profits will be donated back to ASPRI so it can continue to repurpose and recycle leather. ASPRI, in turn, now has 70 members and has received some “major commitments” from luxury brands. “We believe with collective partnerships and a little creativity, we can turn Scandicci, the leathergoods production capital of Italy, into a circular design hub that supports our local community,” she adds.
Ms Kane used the skill and knowledge of the artisans to help with the designs.
All credits: Sieme
