ABOUT US
OUR STARTING POINT
Our founder Kirk spent the majority of 2015 running a local charity based in the foothills of the Indian Himalayas, in addition he spent time visiting various underprivileged rural villages in a number of states across the sub continent.
It was during this period, and influenced by his experiences, Kirk first developed his vision of creating an ethical handcrafted leather ware brand. The idea was to utilise the knowledge and leather craft skills passed down through generations of villagers, to create affordable luxury products for European consumers. His thought process was, he would create sustainable employment for villagers, at fair rates of pay, creating beautiful products in positive and safe working environments. In addition to creating self sustaining employment opportunities across economically challenged villages throughout India, the business in time could use a percentage of profits to improve infrastructure in production villages, create vocational apprenticeship schemes to promote future employment and champion equal opportunities in the workplace for all its employees. The business was incorporated under the name Gurutaa Leathers in 2016 and the journey commenced.
THE JOURNEY SO FAR
We have built the business from a starting point of three families working from their homes in Pushkar Rajisthan, producing a range of under ten designs and selling these from a pop up shop in Shepherds Bush in West London in 2016, to today currently employing over 20 craftspeople working out of two workshops one in Pushkar and the other in Udaipur, both in Rajisthan, hand crafting our ever evolving range of over fifty designs and colours.
The shape of the UK high street has continued to change and experience new challenges during this time and to survive, successful retailers need to be flexible and innovative in their approach to marketing their products. We have found that the traditional shop front method of retail is too expensive and dependent on factors outside of our control, therefore since 2017 we have opted to take permanent but flexible pitches at renowned quality street markets in the South of England, the most notable of which is our permanent Thursday to Saturday installation in Winchester opposite Starbucks and Pret A Manger at the junction of High Street and Market Street.
You can also find us trading at Chichester High Street Market on Wednesdays from March through November, and a range of high end monthly and quarterly Sunday Arts and Craft events across the South of England at venues including, Guildford, Romsey, Bishops Waltham, Epsom and Farnham, please see our Where to Visit Us section on this website for a list of our planned events this year.
WHY CHOOSE RED LEATHERS?
Each product is a truly beautiful handcrafted piece, made to exacting quality standards by our professional craftspeople. Which means? You get a gorgeous looking, quality product that’s not going to fall apart after a few years of use.
We only create a comparatively limited number of products each year. You are daring to be different by choosing from our exclusive range rather than buying a mass produced fashion item.
Our workshops are safe, positive environments in which are people excel in their craft. You can be assured your product has been ethically made by an adult who is properly treated and remunerated.
Speciality Produced
Hand Made Products
Traded With A
Fair Price Worldwide
Wrapped And Delivered
For Your Loved Ones
THE FUTURE OF RED LEATHERS
As always the well-being of our team is at the forefront of everything we do and Kirk continues to make regular trips to our workshops in Pushkar and Udaipur in rural India where he spends up to six weeks meeting with the team, exploring opportunities to improve operation for the benefit of the team and the environment.
And of course these visits will include the development of the current product range and brainstorming final ideas ahead of launching new product designs each year.
We rebranded as Red Leathers (previously Gurutaa Leathers) in 2018 and launched this website together with an ongoing (hopefully helpful and informative but not bothersome) social media presence via Instagram.
We will continue our very successful weekly pitches in Winchester and Chichester, and selected Sunday events in other Southern England market towns as well as adding new events to the calendar. In addition we will explore opportunities to retail our products in quality boutique outlets and Home Sale “Bag Parties” where customers who love our products can share them with their friends and benefit from personal discounts and commission on sales made.
We hope you get an opportunity to visit us personally and we are crossing our fingers that you will be a regular visitor to the redleathers.co.uk website and an enthusiastic contributor to our @redleathers Instagram following. Thanks for taking the time to monitor our progress and all the best, Kirk.
