Coterie Leather seeks to redefine luxury with its distinctive leather bags, small leather goods and accessories made predominantly from leather destined for landfill. 

Designer-maker Tracy Watkins originally trained as a furniture and related products designer and worked in Milan for a time after graduating, before moving on to an internationally renowned furniture and accessories manufacturer and retailer. It was while working as a product developer in the furniture industry that Tracy became aware of how wasteful the manufacturing process is, inspiring her to turn waste leather into luxury leather goods. “I’m passionate about sustainability and minimising waste, so all of our leather is ethically sourced or rescued from the furniture or fashion industry, and I make each bag personally,” she says. 

Coterie Leather now supplies independent boutique stockists as well as its own online store, and Tracy recently set up craft workshops from the brand’s purpose-built leather studio in West Wales.

Tracy says that even before the Covid-19 pandemic hit she’d learned the importance of adaptability. “Coterie Leather launched in 2007 and was soon hit by the global financial crisis of 2008. Overnight, my small business fell off a cliff so I had to adapt very quickly, and have slowly been building since then. So when lockdown arrived in March 2020 I had some experience of how to evaluate and adapt.

“I had recently moved to a new premises, invested in kitting out a purpose-built studio and launching new craft workshops, but I was fortunate that I had developed different income streams (a lesson 2008 had taught me). So, when my stockists were forced to close during lockdown and weren’t taking any stock I turned to social media and online sales, as well as developing the commission and custom-made side of the business. And when I wasn’t able to run the workshops I had just launched I turned to thinking about developing these into kit form. 

“I used it as a chance to work on new ideas and ranges, things I’d had to keep on the back burner due to never having enough time, so as soon as we were out of lockdown I had a new spring range ready to go, as well as new workshops ready to launch.”

Tracy says she’s excited for the year ahead, and the silver linings that Covid-19 has presented for the brand. “With everything going on in the world I think it has given people the chance to question their consumer habits, buy less – choose well, shop small – and support small businesses.”

As restrictions continue to ease, Tracy has focused on bringing customers new forms of entertainment via her leather workshops. “People are desperate to get out in a safe environment, to do something different,” she says. “From starting out making bags, then other leatherwork, it has been a natural progression to our latest workshop, where you can design and make your own leather sneakers.”

The first few workshops have been a massive hit, says Tracy, and teaching in person has been a breath of fresh air. “It’s so nice to have people in the studio again – there is a buzz in the air, they’re excited to be meeting new people, making something and just getting together to have fun, chat, and learn a new skill. These workshops will also be developed into kits you can craft at home – it’s the new ‘not going out’.”

When asked to pinpoint her proudest moment running Coterie, Tracy says she’s just glad to still be in business after 15 years “and opening my new premises; a much bigger space that I renovated myself”.

“Coterie Leather was founded on strong eco-conscious and sustainable ethics and this has been the driving force throughout. There are so many things that could have made me give up, but the support I get from my customers has been phenomenal, and particularly the feedback from workshops makes me so proud that I am still here and flourishing.”

Tracy encourages other women thinking of starting a business to research, plan, focus – and go for it. “It’s exciting and scary, but make sure it’s something you’re going to enjoy too. And don’t let anyone tell you what you should be. Coming from a background of product and furniture design, I was always told I was in a male-dominated industry but I’ve never seen it that way and haven’t let it shape what I wanted to do.” She is proud to be a role model for the Welsh government’s ‘Big Ideas Wales’ initiative, which seeks to promote entrepreneurial skills in young people, and hopes this will inspire other girls and women to “just go for it”.

And on being featured in the bank and Getty Images’ Female Focus #BeTheRoleModel initiative, Tracy says: “It’s a real shot in the arm.

“As a sustainable, purpose-driven business it’s been an uphill battle at times, but I feel the tide is turning for sustainability, and the focus on my business is a real boost. As a creative person I think we’re all self-doubters, questioning if what we do is valuable. But just the initial response I had from being announced as a Female Focus winner was personally so overwhelming, and I’m feeling even more inspired to keep designing and creating, and building the business and brand.”

Learn more about the winners in the experimental Metaverse virtual gallery.