When and how did you get the idea to found EARLY?
I have always found it fascinating to recycle old materials. Years ago, I used to sew pouches out of worn-out leather jackets from the flea market. In 2012 I then had the idea of producing a fabric hip bag. Back then there was a small leather manufacturing business in Heusenstamm – a relic from the golden age when Offenbach was still Germany’s leather capital. My father knew the owner and so he invited me to take a look around his workshop. There I came across a small rooms where leftover leather from production from the 1980s and 1990s was stored. A real treasure trove. I used these materials for my first vintage collection and later also for my label EARLY.
Leatherworking is a challenging craft. Did you teach yourself?
The boss of the leather manufacturing business allowed me to use his workshop back then and even set up a workstation for me. By looking over others’ shoulders, I learned the craft there practically as a career changer. The most difficult thing about leatherworking is that when you make a hole while sewing, it won’t disappear again. Fabric can be unstitched and sewn back again. With leather, every stitch has to be right. It is also a question of learning to understand the material. It is a natural material that has its own peculiarities. I first had to get a sense for it.
You are a vegetarian yourself. How do you justify it to yourself that you work with leather?
It is a dilemma. If leather wasn’t such a beautiful natural material with unbeatable durability, I would probably have stopped working with it long ago. But so far I have not found any alternative to it. And in fact you have to say that it makes sense to use it. On a global level, meat production is unfortunately increasing so much that leather is actually left over as a waste product. But production conditions of the kind that often prevail in Bangladesh, China or India certainly do not come into question for me. That is why I don’t want to work with dealers who can’t tell me with 100% certainty where the cow came from.
Valerie Sietzy
Where did the cows whose leather you process come from?
The skins that I use definitely come from German cows from German pastures, and in some cases from organic farming. I ask about that every time I order leather. It is also really important to me that the supply chains are clear and tangible for me. I personally know the people who produce this leather. I have regular phone calls with the company Ecopell from Bavaria. I have met the representative from the company Wet Green from Baden-Württemberg in person several times. If I am going to work with leather, I want to be sure that it is the best and most environmentally friendly that I can get.
And what is the situation with tanning agents?
Both of the companies that I work with tan using plant-based products only and guarantee that they do not use chrome. One of them uses olive leaf extract, a waste product from olive and olive oil production. The other works with rhubarb, certain acorns and other plants that have a strong tanning agent.
Some brands, particularly Stella McCartney, have been working successful with imitation leather for years. Would that be an option for you?
Absolutely! I have been looking for a suitable alternative for a long time. Unfortunately, there was always the problem for me that these imitation leather materials are PU-coated (Ed.: polyurethane), meaning that plastic has been processed.
Another drawback is their durability and the fact that they don’t age so well. That gives me a problem with my German production: If I make a product for which the usual wage here is paid, then the end product will have a certain price. And if my product is not durable, then it is difficult to justify that price to the customers. As a small producer, it is sometimes simply not possible to get really high-quality materials because you have to buy hundreds of rolls at once.
So have you given up hope of finding the perfect material?
My hopes are currently pinned on fine mycelium, a fungal network that is supposed to be very similar to real leather in terms of its structure, feel and properties. Hermès just recently made the first bag with it. I have known about the material for a few years already, but it was not yet ready for the market and you couldn’t order samples. Now hopefully that will change. Until then, the alternative to leather for me is textiles. I have made the decision that I don’t want to bring even more plastic into the world with my label. For that reason, I only use organic materials for the vegan line that I am currently working on.
Your new, vegan line is called EARLY STUDIO. Where is the journey headed here?
EARLY itself has a very clear aesthetic that I don’t want to change. By contrast, EARLY STUDIO can be all kinds of things, just not leather. It is a kind of platform for me where I can let loose creatively. The first product that I have launched is a T-shirt made of certified organic cotton with a print whose dye is also certified. In the spring a large shopper bag will then hopefully start production. It took me a really long time to find the perfect material for it. I think that I have succeeded with hemp.
Thank you for the interview!
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