Ubrique, our atelier and artisans are an integral part of the STOW story.
Provenance
Spain has an irrevocably close relationship with leather and Ubrique is the centre of luxury leather goods manufacturing.
“From dawn to dusk and dusk to dawn”. This is an old saying in the town regarding the long hours that workers would do, learning the trade, honing their skills and producing items to be sent all over the world. Times have changed through the generations but the skills have not. The town is stronger than ever and boasts being home to factories for the leading luxury houses in Europe.
Our own atelier
Through merging with our factory partner in 2023, we are proud to have our own atelier in the heart of Ubrique. Some of our artisans have been making STOW styles for more than a decade.
Nothing shows you know your supply chain quite like owning it and we know each team member and their families by name, fostering deeply personal connections that ensure both ethical treatment and uncompromising quality standards.
The making process
Crafting a leather bag can take as long as 10 hours from start to finish and involve more than 70 individual steps. Here are the main categories in the making process:
Cutting. By hand, by cutting knife or digital machine. The leather has to be carefully read to make sure imperfections do not find their way into finished bags.
Splitting and skiving. Removing the overall thickness of the leather and edges, leaving just the right amount to balance structure with finesse.
Bonding. Using a water based adhesive to add reinforcements or bonded suede lining to the leather. Since 2024 we do not use any plastic reinforcements in our bags.
Edge painting. A very delicate process done by artisans with very steady hands. This process alone can have many individual steps – applying primer coats, sanding and finally painting.
Embossing. Using a fine gold or silver foil to add the STOW logo and our "Made in Ubrique" seal of quality to the bags. Some bags have as many as four different embosses. This is also how we add personalised initials. When embossing is done without foil, this is called "blind embossing".
Sewing. This is one of the hardest parts of bag making to learn and master. A well sewn bag is the hallmark of a factory that knows what it is doing and takes its time to do things properly. Once every line of stitching is complete, all threads need to be tidied and tucked away – quite an art in itself.
Assembly. The hands which are often most visible. Using glue and traditional leather-working tools, our master artisans bring pieces of leather together into 3D shapes. If you are ever in Ubrique, you will undoubtedly hear the sound of the famous "goat foot" wooden hammer tapping away in the town's many factories.
