From Oaxaca, by way of Texas
My grandfather raised nine kids in Oaxaca on leather. Saddles, belts, bags, small goods made for other businesses to sell. One workshop, and every piece that walked out the door put food on the table.
My father worked beside him, not out of passion but to help the family eat. He learned the craft the way you learn anything you do every day. It became part of him.
When my father came to Texas he picked the leather back up, but this time it was different. Not survival. Passion, tradition, and a feeling of connection to home, hundreds of miles from where the craft started.
I grew up watching my dad in the shop. The smell of the leather, the sound of a pecan branch he fashioned into a maul hitting a stamp. I wanted in before I understood why he loved it.
Today we work on projects together. A belt for my groomsmen, a wallet, a wet molded bag for my wife. Whatever keeps the tradition alive.
Four available
We make in small, numbered batches. When a batch sells out, it is closed for good. No restocks, no reruns. This drop: four crossbody bags, all cut from one hide.
Four crossbody bags. I picked this beautiful chocolate out from one of my favorite tanneries, Wickett & Craig, wet-molded each one for at least 24 hours, then hand-cut, stitched, riveted, and finished every piece myself. No two are the same, because the leather is unique to each section of the hide.
The beautiful thing about 10 oz English Bridle is that it ages. The patina gets better the longer you carry it, and it's one of the toughest things you'll ever wear on your body. The first one of these I made for my wife. She wears it every day. That bag is No. 0001, the first piece ever made under the Lopez Leathercraft banner. These four are Nos. 0002 through 0005. When these four are gone, the batch is closed.
A structured crossbody with a wet-molded body, a full flap, and a solid brass button stud closure. Unlined on purpose: the leather is the lining. Sized for the essentials, your phone, wallet, keys, and a little room to spare. [Dimensions: __" wide, __" tall, __" deep. Strap adjusts from __" to __".]
No. 0001, off duty. Made for my wife before there was a batch.
I cut, molded, stitched, and burnished all four of these myself, at my bench in Dallas, with the methods my father taught me and his father taught him. This is the same craft that fed nine kids in Oaxaca. When you carry one of these, you're carrying that.
Rob Lopez, Third Generation
Wickett & Craig has been vegetable-tanning leather since 1867, one of the last tanneries in America still doing it the slow way. Their English Bridle is hot-stuffed with waxes and tallows. It is dense enough to hold a wet-molded shape for decades, and it ages into a finish no factory can imitate. All four bags came from one single side of chocolate.
Nobody is born knowing why one bag costs what it costs. Here is what the words on the spec sheet actually mean, and why they matter once the bag is on your shoulder.
Vegetable-tanned leather has a memory. Soak it, shape it over a wooden form, and let it dry for a day or more, and it holds that shape for the rest of its life. That is why these bags stand on their own. No plastic, no stiffeners, no lining doing hidden work. Just leather, taught to be a bag.
Every seam is sewn by hand with two needles on one thread, crossing inside each hole. A sewing machine locks a single thread, and when it breaks the seam can unravel. A saddle stitch cannot unzip. If one pass ever wears through, the other still holds. It is slower by a mile, and it is how saddles outlive their riders.
I sew with Ritza 25, a braided polyester thread waxed for the harness trade. The wax locks each stitch in place, sheds water, and keeps the thread from sawing itself thin through years of flexing.
Every cut edge is slicked with Tokonole, a Japanese burnishing gum, and rubbed until the fibers seal into one smooth line. A raw edge frays and drinks water. A burnished edge wears like the rest of the hide.
Every piece gets this stamp before it leaves the bench. If my mark is on it, I stand behind it.
There are only four of these, and there's no restock. The next batch will be its own thing. Leave your email and you'll hear about it before anyone else.
Every bag ships with the story behind it: three generations of leathercraft, from Oaxaca to Texas. Questions before you buy? Find us on Instagram @lopezleathercraft.
From Oaxaca, by way of Texas
Lopez Leathercraft · Dallas, Texas · Batch I · MMXXVI