Wallets£85 – £195
Bridle Card Wallets & Billfolds
Six-card slim wallets, classic billfolds and zip-around travel cases. Saddle-stitched in waxed linen thread, edges burnished by hand.
T
Tanner & Bridle
Leather Goods · Est. 2015
——— Leather Goods Workshop · Northampton
Cut. Stitched.
Burnished by hand.
A small leather workshop in Northampton, working English bridle hide into wallets, belts, holdalls and one-off commissions. No machine stitching, no glued edges, no cutting corners. Every piece signed and dated — and put right, free, for as long as we're open.
Lifetime offer
Free re-stitch & re-burnish on every piece we make. Forever.
◆ One English tannery
◆ Hand-stitched, never machined
◆ Established 2015
◆ Lifetime repair offer
01 — The leather
One hide. One tannery. Twelve months in the pits.
Every belt, wallet and bag we make starts as a side of full-grain English bridle hide from a single tannery in the West Midlands — one of the last in Europe still oak-bark tanning in pits, the slow way, the way it's been done since the 1700s.
The result is a leather that doesn't crack, doesn't peel, and only gets better with use. Polish it once a year and it'll outlast you. We choose hides ourselves, side by side at the tannery — never blind, never online.
01
Saddle stitch only
Two needles, one thread, eight per inch. If one stitch fails, the next holds. Machine stitch unzips.
02
Hand-cut panels
Every panel cut with a half-moon knife on a marble slab. No clicker presses, no rotary dies.
03
Burnished edges
Slicked with gum tragacanth and worked with hardwood until they take a polish like glass.
04
Solid brass only
Roller buckles, D-rings, rivets — solid brass from Walsall, no plated zinc, no plastic.
05
Maker's mark
Initials of the maker, plus year, struck into a hidden panel. Traceable back to the bench.
06
Lifetime repair
Stitching loose? Edge worn through? Send it back. We'll put it right, free, for as long as we're here.
02 — The range
Three categories. Built to last decades.
We keep the catalogue small on purpose. A few wallets, a few belts, a few bags — each refined over years of bench work. Prices are fixed; the work is not.
Beltsfrom £120
Hand-Stitched Bridle Belts
Single layer of full-thickness English bridle, brass roller buckle, hand-skived loops. Cut to your waist measurement to the half-inch.
Bags£350 – £950
Holdalls & Document Cases
Weekenders, briefcases and rolltop satchels. Solid brass furniture, bridle handles, full lifetime of work in every piece.
03 — Bespoke commissions
A camera strap. A document case. A wedding gift.
About a third of what leaves the bench is one-off. Customers come with an idea — sometimes a photograph, sometimes a rough sketch, sometimes just a worn-out piece they'd like remade properly — and we work it up into a commission.
The first conversation is free. We'll talk through scope, hide colour, thread, hardware, lining and timing, and come back within a week with a fixed quote and a finished sketch. If it's not something we can do well, we'll say so.
4–6
Weeks per piece
£250+
From, depending on scope
2015
On the bench since
04 — From pattern to stamp
Five stages, all by hand.
I
Pattern
We cut a paper template from your brief — measurements, hardware, thread colour, edge profile. Held on file for any future commission.
II
Cut
Bridle hide is laid out grain-side up. Each panel is cut by hand with a half-moon knife — no clicker presses, no rotary blades.
III
Stitch
Saddle-stitched two needles at a time, eight stitches per inch in waxed linen. Twice as slow as a machine, and twice as strong.
IV
Burnish
Edges are bevelled, sanded through three grits, slicked with gum tragacanth and burnished with hardwood until they shine like glass.
V
Stamp
Marked with the maker's initials and the year, oiled, and sent out in cotton dust-bag. Lifetime repair offer in the box.
——— From a long-standing customer
“The belt I bought in 2017 has been through nine years of daily wear and looks better than the day it arrived. I've since had two wallets and a holdall made — all signed by the same maker. That's the bit you don't get on the high street.”
James H. · Customer since 2017 · Stamford
05 — Care & repair
Bring it back. We'll put it right.
Bridle leather is built to age — but it does need looking after. We oil and condition every piece before it leaves the workshop, and recommend a wipe with a neutral cream once or twice a year.
If something we've made ever fails — a stitch goes, a buckle wears, an edge gets scuffed beyond polishing — post it back to the workshop and we'll repair it free of charge. No quibble, no time limit, no receipts required. It's our work; we stand behind it.
Free re-stitch · Free re-burnish · Forever
06 — Commission a piece
Have a piece in mind?
Send a short note — what you'd like, rough size, any deadlines. We'll come back within a few days with a sketch and a fixed quote. No obligation, no sales pitch.
Workshop
01604 405 700Address
Tanner & Bridle
Unit 4, The Tannery Yard
St James Mill Road, Northampton NN5 5JW
Unit 4, The Tannery Yard
St James Mill Road, Northampton NN5 5JW
Workshop hours
Tue–Fri 9am–5pm · Saturdays by appointment