VICUS wishes to restore the dignity of the leather into the market. Leather is a fascinating material, which absorbs the tracks of our life revealing, from generation to generation, the good and noble sign of time and human history. Since day one the purpose was to create the least possible waste and, have the lowest impact on the environment that surrounds us.
VICUS’s products are made exclusively by the finest and more traditional Italian leather, which is the vegetable-tanned leather of Toscana. This leather is the most ecological and sustainable material in the market, no animals are killed for their skins, on the contrary, the raw hides used by my suppliers are the discarded by-products of the food industry. For the supply of the leather, I rely on Tanneries that are part of the 'Consorzio Vera Pelle Italiana Conciata al Vegetale', certifying the quality, the provenience and, the excellence of the material I use. All the tanneries part of the Consortium have to follow strict rules on the production cycle to ensure the lowest impact on the man and the environment; they have to recover, reuse and recycle the elements used during the tanning process. Every single product that leaves my atelier has a label tag - that certificate those mentioned points of the production process - which can be scanned allowing you to discover more about the leather.
The manufacturing process of transformation only entails water and tannins, which is extracted from trees and plants of a different kind. Tannin is the central element that permits to confer distinctive colors and shades to the leather; it is responsible for the transformation of the animal hide into a compact and resistant material durable through the years. Thanks to the naturalness of the whole process of production, the vegetable-tanned leather presents tiny irregularities and colour shades that distinguishes each piece of leather from the other. Among the various tanning methods, the vegetable tanning is still nowadays the less used, it represents only 10% of the total manufactured leather in the world, that's because it is expansive, takes a long process to transform the leather, from 30 to 50 days, and it needs expert artisans to make the full process. Alternatively, the most used leather is the Chromium-Tanned Leather, which is produced using a solution of chemicals and acids. It is cheap, the process can be automated, and the production takes up to only one day. Typically it is mass-produced, and it requires little skill from tanners. Chrome, like any heavy metal, is extremely toxic and environmentally damaging. This kind of leather is the most used by big companies chasing volume, and profits at the cost of quality and sustainability.
The vegetable-tanned leather is completely natural: it does not imply toxic substances for humans or the environment. That is to say that once it has reached the far end of its existence, it can be easily re-assimilated into the natural cycle of biological elements. This leather mutates their color and shape, the aging does not compromise the beauty and the resistance of the creation, rather, it makes them even more fascinating, beautiful, and living. This kind of leather is metaphorically comparable to the human face since both tell who they are, where they have been, and how they have lived. Choosing a product made of Tuscan Vegetable-Tanned Leather means choosing a one-of-a-kind object that reflects the owner’s lifestyle.
If you are the kind of customer that pays attention to the eco-ethical questions on the one hand, and to the quality of the products on the other, you can escape the fast-fashion industry distinguishing yourself by buying a timeless, authentic, and ecological product in our store.