We use vegetable-tanned leather to line almost every Fado Made accessory. Vegetable-tanned leather is an organic process that ensures sustainability in your leather goods, so you know it will last forever. Veg-tanned leather is made by using vegetable tanning agents to replace the water found within the fibers of raw animal hides to alter the protein structure of the skin and turn it into leather. Though vegetable-tanned leather starts stiff, it will soften, age gracefully, and show more character over time.

We use chrome-tanned leather for the exterior of most Fado Made accessories. Chrome-tanning uses chromium sulfate to preserve animal skin and prevent rot, giving a soft yet mighty material. This type of leather offers many more options and finishes to help make your custom accessories one-of-a-kind. Though not as environmentally friendly as vegetable tanning, many tanneries have taken steps into making the process less impactful over recent years. Chrome-tanned leather tends to be more resistant to water, stains, and heat, making it incredibly resilient and reliable.

If you are looking for vegan-friendly materials, we are happy to offer fabric-lined cork as a leather alternative. Please specify when placing your custom order in the form.

Every Fado Made accessory is constructed and accented with leather cord to give our signature look. Leather cording is made by passing leather strips through a tool called a rein rounder, a sharp-edged circular hole tool used to give the cord a round shape.

We use both regular and naturally dyed leather cords, depending on what finish you are interested in. A regular dyed cord is made with a three-part process where the cord is coated in dye, heat sealed, dyed again, heat sealed once more, and then finished-coated. Regularly dyed cords will have a consistent and shiner look and even come in metallic finishes.

The naturally dyed cords are dipped in dye to absorb the color rather than coated, and then heat sealed. From the absorption technique, this type of cord tends to be more pliable and the color comes off as less vibrant, with more of a tie-dye appearance sometimes.