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How We Are Green


 

As Earth Day (April 22nd) approaches, I wanted to take the time to brag on how green we are. How green are we, you ask? Greener than Kermit the Frog. Well, almost.

First off, all the materials (well ~95%) we use are already green or earth friendly.  From the quality leather, to the cotton thread, it's all natural.  The only thing that isn't really natural that we use is the tools, which we reuse until the end of life for the item, which in most cases is 5+ years.  Come to think of it, the tools are metal with wooden handles, so they are natural, but the finishes on them aren't always (the varnish\stain and\or laquer). 

Our stains we use for the color on the leather are also all made from natural materials.  There have been a few projects that we have produced that we've had to used an acrylic paint and sealer, which is synthetic, but we don't often have to use those.

We use every scrap of leather possible, even if we have to design something just right for the size of scrap, often giving it away as promotional items.  Even the cotton thread scraps are used as much as possible.  There is one more item that is about as close to nature as you can get that we use. Beeswax.  Beeswax is incredibly versatile, and we use it for all matter of things, from coating the pattern on the leather to make the knife slide easier, to using it to help mold and seal edges.  It's like the MacGuyver of waxes.

Lastly, we reuse all shipping boxes as much as possible, even if it is taking an old box to cover the painting\staining area, we try our best to not be wasteful, and to be mindful of our environment.  When I was growing up, we were constantly reminded around this time of year to reduce, renew, recycle, and that is the mindset we use with every project we make.

We are always open to ideas on how to get greener or better help the environment, so feel free to suggest anything that may help with this effort.

Happy Earth Day!

-James Riggs
Riggs Leatherworks

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