There is so much more that can happen with leather: This is the thought process that drives most new brands today
There is so much more that can happen with leather: This is the thought process that drives most new brands today
Chennai’s leather scene is as ebullient as its filter coffee. While a number of leather houses from Tamil Nadu export to high street and luxury brands, their identities are often veiled behind Non Disclosure Agreements.
Fortunately, over the last few years, quite a few homegrown brands from the city have launched their own lines using locally-sourced quality leather. As a result, we now have a clutch of leather labels offering a choice of high-quality Made in Tamil Nadu handbags, shoes and garments, often offering the same palette and trends as Europe.
Imran Pasha’s family has been in the leather business for more than 40 years. He works with Eastern European designers who often require quirky finishes. While doing short runs of leather for Bulgarian and Austrian markets, he noticed he was getting finishes not really seen before. That is when he thought of starting Myon for the Indian market. “We are taking our long standing legacy in the business and trying to turn it into a youthful, edgy, experimental product. As I make colours for the next season in Europe, we give a glimpse of that in our creations for the market here,” says Imran.
A sling bag by Myon
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Myon’s first collection that came out in May this year includes bags with classy floral prints. “When you think of leather, you would think browns, beiges, blacks, and certain distressed or smooth finishes. It’s unusual to think of leather in florals, prints that are embossed, metallics and stunning colours,” says Imran, adding that this is exactly what they bring to the table, while also catering to orders for leather furnishing.
There is so much more that can happen with leather: This is the thought process that drives most new brands today. Add to that the magic word “customisation” and you have got yourself an audience.
An artisan putting together garments for Urai
| Photo Credit: VELANKANNI RAJ
“From hot pink and fluorescent green to pastels, people are surprised when I show them options. Literally any colour you see on fabric can be done in leather,” says Kripesh Ram who started Urai with his sister Varshene Kripa in April 2022. Their workshop in Perungudi is a patchwork of bright hues with busy hands putting together leather garments like skirts, shorts, pants, and accessories. Their clients often want custom made jackets and add their own design inputs. Sometimes they also want their outfits to look like what celebrities are wearing.
A bag being made at Hyde Studio
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Hyde Studio, another brand rooted in Chennai and specialising in bags, is no stranger to such requests. Sometimes they get clients asking them to replicate designs from other brands. “That is something we don’t do, even though our USP is customisation,” says Ramya who has been running the brand with her husband Hari Madhavan since 2016, adding that the brand is more than happy to design something from scratch or even create a product as per the client’s instructions, but never a rip-off.
Hyde Studio has an online catalogue brimming with clean, minimalist designs of handbags, totes, slings, wallets, diaper bags and laptop bags. These can be further customised. “For example, if a left-handed user wants the zipper from left to right, we do that too,” adds Ramya. Depending on the size and detailing, the bags take anywhere between one to three days to be made. “It’s a beautiful chaos in the workshop,” she says, explaining the process. “It starts with pattern making, followed by choosing the right leather for that style. Post that, the pattern is cut and we start putting components together, working on the lining. The bag is then stitched and we decide how we like the edges. After completion, the bag is checked for quality and then packaged.” All their bags are made to order.
Hyde Studio
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
As much as they stand for quality of leather and chic creations, these brands are also unanimous about ethical choices. To begin with, they all source their leather locally from tanneries in Vaniyambadi, Ambur, Ranipet to offset some amount of carbon footprint, as well as engage these communities. “The best quality leather comes from these places,” says Kripesh.
“All our leather is responsibly sourced from factories that have LWG (Leather Works Good) certification. For this, the audit is done by an international group that states the leather is responsibly sourced, factories are clean and sustainable, and women’s rights are included,” says Ramya adding that effluents which is also an issue, is taken care of as it goes through Reverse Osmosis and is fine for irrigation.
Kripesh Ram, founder of Urai
| Photo Credit: VELANKANNI RAJ
“There is a lot of misinformation about leather, online,” says Kripesh. “The more I started involving myself in the industry the more it became obvious that leather is a byproduct of the meat industry,” he adds. Talking about where he sources his leather from, he says, luxury brands throw away good skin even if it has a minor imperfection. “I collect stuff thrown away and upcycle them. I get these from tanneries. My artisans and I then do some work on top of these, so they looks different. We do cut plates and prints, different kinds of printing where we apply heat to make it look a certain way.”
It was an incident during the first wave of COVID-19 that propelled Kripesh to start his own business. He worked with a fast fashion brand and was in charge of the production floor. “While most offices were closed, we continued to work with 400 people in close proximity. It was hot so we could not wear double layer of masks, and we had to keep touching the fabric. People were risking their lives just so they could earn ₹500 a day. When one person died in the unit I was overseeing, I realised I had to do something about it,” says Kripesh, whose main focus is on helping artisans and uplifting them through Urai.
Urai
| Photo Credit: VELANKANNI RAJ
Most of the brands popping up now are present in a virtual format. It helps that social media makes brands easily discoverable. And the fact that the clients are experimental has helped them take the leap of faith. “There is potential in the domestic market which was not the case earlier,” says Imran, who receives orders from Srinagar to Chennai. His plan is to introduce a new collection every two months; the latest being animal prints like zebra and leopard, metallics and foils, and colours as vibrant as canary yellow — a completely different mood from their last launch.
From Myon’s upcoming collection
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
For Hyde Story, orders from Chennai were limited when they started out. “Perhaps the market was conservative,” feels Ramya. But by 2019 with word of mouth, the orders from the city went up by 70%, followed by Bengaluru and Mumbai, with orders touching around 60 a month. Chennai is a stronghold for Urai too. 18-30 was the initial target group for Urai, but now Kripesh is glad to see his brand working well for those aged 40 and above as well. “Leather is for all age groups. It depends on the design, and that is what we are here for,” he says.
