July 09, 2021

we love paper, but that's not all we care about

Hi,

By now, you surely know about our love for extra-smooth natural paper and fragrant leather, tanned with plants, herbs and wood, from an Italian, family-run tannery.

But that's not all we care about.

At paper republic, we do our best to work in a sustainable manner - from office life to production and packaging, for the environment, for society, and for our communities.

What does this mean, specifically? Let us tell you a little bit about how we do things at paper republic and why...

1. We create products that last a lifetime

We craft authentic products that get better with age. Our leather journals and portfolios are made to become your companion for life, and their content designed to be changeable and adaptable to your needs. We believe that the best way to be sustainable is to make things that last, products which can be passed on to the next generation. This also means we put the highest level of attention towards exceptional craftsmanship and high-quality materials.

Learn more about our products.

2. We do things ourselves

We do as much as we can in-house. For us, it means that we can supervise the entire value chain from A to Z and keep a close eye on the quality of our products.

From the cutting, splitting, sewing and embossing of the leather, to knotting the elastic ribbons, to making the packaging boxes, to assembling and packaging your orders, we do the work ourselves!

This way, we can ensure that every step of the process is done in a way that is respectful of the environment and of our employees.

Get to know our team.

3. We use only sustainable materials

We only use vegetable-tanned full-grain soft cow leather. It is made without chrome or chemicals and certified by the Genuine Italian Vegetable-Tanned Leather Consortium. This ancestral tanning method is a slow artisanal process: it takes on average two months to tan and dye a cow hide (compared to a few weeks for industrial chrome-based leather).

We buy our leather hides directly from a family-run tannery in the heart of Tuscany. The leather comes from European cattle, from which no animal is killed only for their leather (it's a by-product of meat production).

Read more about our leather here.

4. We use only natural, entirely acid-free and certified paper from Europe

The writing paper we use for our notebooks is made in European paper mills. It is entirely acid-free and FSC-certified. All our packaging boxes are made from recycled cardboard.

The Arctic Paper mill produces our Munken paper, which we use the most for our notebooks. This paper is Cradle to Cradle Certified®. This is a globally recognised standard for safe and sustainable products. By applying the Cradle to Cradle design principle, Arctic Paper is not only minimising any negative influence on the environment – they are going even further, aiming to leave a positive impact.

Find out more about our paper products.

5. We don’t throw anything away

We really try not to waste anything. We cut our leather neatly, using up as much as possible. The pieces of leftover leather are used for small give-aways - some of you might have gotten one of our surprises? If we still have leather left, we donate it to charitable organisations or schools.

The last time we had leftover paper, we spent an evening making them into origami figures, which we added as a little surprise to your order.

Products with small defects or products which are not in our main collection anymore are sold once a year in a flea-market or in mystery bags.

We sincerely hope that, when you hold your grand voyageur leather journal and write in our notebooks, you can feel the effort and care we put into our work. We love a pretty patina and smooth writing paper but caring about our environment is just as much a part of our identity.

Thanks for being part of the republic!