We are delighted to present you with our first product collaboration – a timeless and functional hip bag that we designed with the young Swiss traceable leather brand MARAI.

Photography by Anna Rosa Krau, words by Dörte de Jesus

MARAI produces leather responsibly and transparently, with natural tanning agents from renewable resources and with local partners that are selected with care. The collection of bags utilises unused goat hides from the dairy industry (originating from small organic farms in the Swiss Alps) that would otherwise go to waste and be burned. All their materials, production sites, and manufactories are within a radius of 150 kilometers. This allows them to stay in close contact with their partners and to follow the various production processes at any time.

Like many other European countries, Switzerland burns tens of thousands of goat and sheepskins from the food industry every year. This has been taking place ever since the regional leather industry came to an end in the 1950s. Fortunately, some of these hides still find their way to traditional traders like G. Neuenschwander Söhne AG in Oberdiessbach, whose warehouse is now bursting at the seams. By using the precious resources on their doorstep, MARAI wants to raise awareness for this wasteful development and set a new standard for local production.

To celebrate the launch of our collaboration, we created the following still life story and interviewed traceable leather consultant Nina Conrad, who advises MARAI on responsible production and was in charge of setting up their supply chain. Read the interview here.

Our MARAI + THE LISSOME collection is available in our online shop.