As you all know, we are HUGE fans of Soruka in store. We had another glorious delivery from them recently, with an amazing range of colours and patterns available (shop via our website to see our full range of Soruka stock!). We always have so many questions in store about where these amazing bags and purses come from and what their story is. We thought we would spend a bit of time this week, chatting all things Soruka and tell you a bit more about how this amazing brand started... 

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THEIR MISSION

Soruka produce one-of-a-kind handcrafted, environmentally friendly leather bags and wallets. Crafted by their expert team of amazing artisans, using scraps of leather which would otherwise have been wasted and gone straight to landfill. Soruka's mission is a simple one. To create beautiful, timeless collections whilst using high quality leather and preserving traditional techniques, supporting both the sustainable fashion and fair trade movements!  

SUSTAINABILITY 

Did you know that every year more than 500,000 tones of leather is wasted? 

Soruka decided that they wanted to be part of the solution to this global problem. Traditionally, the leather industry only uses the central section of leather cuttings to produce their products. This results in over 60% of the leather used to create traditional leather goods being wasted and ending up in landfill sites or rivers. Thus, creating a HUGE environmental issue. 

Soruka are on a mission to create beautiful bags, purses and wallets that you will use time and again, whilst still preserving traditional techniques, supporting the sustainable fashion industry and the fair trade movement. They aim to be a 100% zero waste company and try to use every scrap of material possible to handcraft all their products. All their artisans select the cutting and the right colours in order to transform unnecessary waste into their beautiful bags, crafting each product by hand. The result is a beautiful one-of-a-kind product made using the best quality leather and with the environment in mind. 

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ARE THEY REALLY ALL ONE-OF-A-KIND? 

Yes, it really is true - no two Soruka bags are the same! 

All Soruka bags are made from 100% recycled leather that would have been wasted by factories as well as other dead stock materials. Sustainability for Soruka, means to respect the material and use every part possible so that absolutely nothing is wasted.  

Dead stock means left over leather goods that are no longer useful to companies. This is then sold off due to overstocking, slight faults, too few quantities or items that are no longer in season. This can result in catastrophic amounts of waste! Soruka rescue as much of this dead stock as possible before it is thrown away. This dead stock is then given a whole new lease of life in the form of a beautifully hand-crafted Soruka bag or purse. 

Due to the amount of dead stock materials that Soruka use, it is therefore impossible to make two identical bags. Making each bag their artisans produce unique and unrepeatable! The colour combinations will always be different, meaning their can sometimes be slight imperfections and variations in both texture and colour. This just adds to their charm though and means you will truly be getting one-of-a-kind with each Soruka purchase. 

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THEIR ARTISANS 

All Soruka products are made with integrity and kindness. Each piece is handcrafted by their amazing team of artisans using traditional techniques that showcase their expertise and amazing craftsmanship. 

All Soruka bags are designed in a timeless way that would outlive micro-trends and seasonal trends - preventing further waste. The manufacturing process also involves little to no machinery, keeping the energy consumption for each bag very low! 

All Soruka bags are made in India by independent artisans from rural communities, which Soruka work closely with to help grow and develop their businesses and help production capabilities. This is one of the best methods of job creation in low income environments and creates ways of preserving generational craftsmanship. All Soruka's artisans are trained adults, who received beyond fair trade wages. This economic empowerment gives all their artisans the opportunity to support their families and develop traditional skills.