We caught up with Jack Millington and Rory Harker to find out more about Billy Tannery, the first ever entirely British goat leather brand.
How did Billy Tannery come about?
It all started when we discovered that not one of the thousands of goatskins left over from the UK meat and dairy industry were being tanned here. The best-case scenario was export half way across the world, but more often they would simply be destroyed. After a fortunate conversation with James from Cabrito Goat Meat, we decided to try to do something about this terrible waste and started down the path that led us to building our own tannery and launching the first British goat leather company, with a growing range of Billy Tannery products.
It’s an exciting time for Billy Tannery. Who are you collaborating with?
As well as our range of bags and accessories, it’s been fantastic to collaborate with a number of chefs and restaurants to create leather products with an extra special circular story. It’s particularly rewarding to work with chefs who are fans of cooking with goat meat and we have made bespoke aprons for James Cochran at 1251, tortilla holders for Santiago Lastra and have a handful of really exciting new projects in the pipeline. Last September we also launched our first footwear collaboration, creating premium goat leather sneakers with Crown Northampton which we will be following up this Autumn.
What is the future of Billy Tannery?
Our goal is to keep pushing ourselves to bring fresh thinking to the leather industry. There is still a lot to do to promote goat leather as a sustainable by-product of the food system and we believe that our links with Cabrito Goat Meat and with chefs gives us a unique platform to do this. We have a pipeline of exciting new products that are in development as well as plans or expansion beyond leather goods and to supply leather into other areas.
Where can people find and buy your products?
The best place to learn more and purchase our products is from our website billytannery.co.uk. In London our products are stocked at Dashing Tweeds in Marylebone and we will be exhibiting in the Midlands at Burghley Horse Trials this September. For any bespoke enquiries please do get in touch with Jack directly (jack@billytannery.co.uk).
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