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Revolutionizing Sustainable Fashion: How Fish Skin Leather is Redefining Ethical Luxury with Stanley Major: | Emily Blumenthal & Stanley Major

• Emily Blumenthal • Season 1

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Discover how Stanley Major, founder of Sea Leather Wear, is revolutionizing sustainable fashion by transforming discarded fish skins into luxurious leather alternatives. In this episode of the Handbag Designer 101 Podcast, Stanley shares his journey of upcycling carp, Nile perch, salmon, and sea bass skins into eco-friendly materials that are captivating designers and eco-conscious consumers alike. With insights from handbag design expert Emily Blumenthal, this episode highlights fish skin leather’s potential as a stylish, sustainable substitute for exotic leathers like crocodile and alligator. Learn how this innovative material, with its unique textures and minimal environmental impact, is redefining ethical luxury for the fashion industry and empowering emerging designers to make a positive impact.

Key Takeaways

  • Sustainable Innovation: Fish skin leather is an eco-friendly alternative to exotic leathers, turning waste into high-value materials.
  • Distinct Aesthetic: Unique textures and patterns make fish skin leather perfect for creating one-of-a-kind, ethical fashion pieces.
  • Ethical Luxury: Minimal waste and sustainable practices appeal to eco-conscious consumers and forward-thinking designers.

Our Guest, Stanley Major is the founder of Sea Leather Wear, a pioneer in sustainable fashion. His innovative work transforms fish skins from canneries into chic, eco-friendly leather alternatives, offering a unique solution to the growing demand for ethical luxury materials.

Host Emily Blumenthal is a handbag industry expert, author of Handbag Designer 101, and founder of The Handbag Awards. Known as the “Handbag Fairy Godmother,” Emily also teaches entrepreneurship at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She is dedicated to celebrating creativity, craftsmanship, and the art of building iconic handbag brands.

Find Handbag Designer 101 Merch, HBD101 Masterclass, one-on-one sessions, and opportunities to book Emily Blumenthal as a speaker at emilyblumenthal.com. 

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Speaker 1:

Well, I mean the catteries that would make fish that you and I eat have to do something with the skin. So we want to understand, because I came into this business at a later point in time it had started actually in the 1980s and he'd been doing this since that time. So, yeah, it was just, you know, a repurposing of fish skin that was going to be thrown out.

Speaker 2:

Hi and welcome to Handbag Designer 101, the podcast, with your host, emily Blumenthal, handbag industry expert and the handbag fairy godmother. Each week, we uncover the stories behind the handbags we love, from the iconic brands and top designers to the creativity, craftsmanship and culture that define the handbag world. Whether you're a designer, collector or simply passionate about handbags, this is your front row seat to it all. Welcome to Handbag Designer 101, the podcast. I am with Stanley Major of Sea Leather Wear. Stanley, I know this is your first time on a podcast, so I'm here to make this easy and comfortable, just like going to the orthodontist and getting braces. So welcome, welcome.

Speaker 2:

So we found each other on LinkedIn and, as always, I say, linkedin is a great place to hang out. What I found so interesting was about what your product is made of, because, having been in handbags for what feels like 800,000 years, I got to admit I'm totally unfamiliar with what it is and I've heard about it, but I just don't get it. So what exactly is Sea Leatherware? What is it made of? Where are you right now? What state?

Speaker 1:

This is Calgary Alberta.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so a province.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So my company started 20 years ago. It's had the same name since. The website was kind of had a major do-over about three years ago or so and I started an association. I had a company called Mermaid Leather, so his business involved tanning fish into leather. He had tried it on quite a number of species but concentrated on a few of them, like carp being one. So the tannery was in Ontario. At that time the tannery had closed but he was my mentor getting into this business and at that time he didn't have a web presence. This was around 2004, 2005. So because I had some experience in this, I made a website. But he was really the person who financed the cost involved in doing the research into removing the scales and the odor from fish.

Speaker 2:

Can I ask you something Just dropping right in? So I mean, look, you're in Canada. People have been resourceful. For hundreds, if not thousands of years. People have used fish skins. I mean, that's how people came up with the idea of leather-sweetened skins, right? Was there some sort of Native American connection, Like who came up with the idea? Was it somebody who knew someone who knew someone who said, hey, we can use fish for leather? Like, what's the origin story for that? I mean, this is why I wanted to talk to you, because I think perhaps it's underrated under value, but people just in my people, I don't think know that it's even an option. So how did this all come about?

Speaker 1:

I think, from what I know, his sister had been involved in the fashion business in New York and he had been approached by some interested parties in doing that, in creating a project for this, and maybe not the first time around, but he did eventually go with the idea. So the tanner he was picked in Ontario. I think it took about a two-year period to perfect the making of the leather.

Speaker 2:

And what fish is it specifically?

Speaker 1:

Well, mainly carp. So on my website there's mainly four types. There's carp I call it perch, but it's Nile perch salmon and sea bass. So these were commercially caught fish. They weren't farmed especially for the purpose of creating leather out of them, but they were commercially caught. So it's mainly carp. Actually, most of my stock at this time is that.

Speaker 2:

So who is catching the fish? Were you dealing with fishermen who were catching the carp?

Speaker 1:

Well, with the canneries, the canneries that were making fish for the food chain and carting the skins. So the skins were purchased and brought to the tannery for that purpose.

Speaker 2:

So was this one of those things that it was like, hey guys, you got some fish skins we can experiment with. And they said, sure, you got some fish skins we can experiment with. And they said, sure, Is that kind of how it went Like. Or was it hey, what fish would be the lowest cost, highest volume fish that we could experiment with? Or was this like someone from a department in Canada was trying to maximize on using wastage for good?

Speaker 1:

Not really. In fact, the carp originated from the United States, from Spirit Lake, iowa. Each of them had their own place of origin. The perch were from Lake Victoria, africa, the salmon were Pacific salmon and sea bass were Atlantic sea bass. So each in its own way were caught and so it was part of the consumption chain.

Speaker 2:

So they just had these skins and they were just disposing of them.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

What were they doing with them?

Speaker 1:

With the skins.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Well, I mean the catteries that would make fish that you and I eat have to do something with the skin. So we want to understand, because I came into this business at a later point in time it had started actually in the 1980s and he'd been doing this since that time. So, yeah, it was just, you know, a repurposing of fish skin that was going to be thrown out. You know, interestingly, since I started the website back in the beginning, I was approached by a lot of tanneries, I guess, that wanted to sell their fish skins and they contacted me on that account. You know the tanneries closed and you know that's how I've been operating my business.

Speaker 2:

So that's so interesting. So all of a sudden word got out that like hey, there's this guy in Canada who used to be in the US. He's in Canada, he's taking fish skins and turning them into products.

Speaker 1:

So I bet you were bombarded with people like trying to get their skins off their hands. No, I was more bombarded by leather manufacturers in Sialkot and Lahore, pakistan, who wanted to manufacture my products. So the fact is that I didn't have a lot of end products. I was just really selling the skins to designers or manufacturers that might want to use them. There were a few products that had been made which I carried onto my website, which are still there, which are belts, golf gloves and wash straps. These were made offshore with the leather. I haven't pursued making end products, but, you know, focusing on selling the skins to the makers.

Speaker 2:

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Speaker 2:

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Speaker 1:

I have to say that mine is not really sold by area. They're sold by the skin. So if you look on the website, I have some skins here to show you, but not a batch of them. But on the website you'll see a batch of them with some attachment tying them together. That's the way they're sold. They were grouped in locks of 50 or 100 or whatever. So in terms of wastage, there was no wastage. I mean skins that were sort of lesser quality. I called them factory seconds and I put them on the website at a discounted price. I mean, some of it's really sort of garbagey, I guess, so they might not have put on. One of the things that I have on the website is called crust. I'll show you a sample of it. This is called crust, so it's been tanned but it hasn't been colored, it hasn't been finished. There's another form of crust which hasn't even been stretched. They look like this oh God.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it looks like a dry rag. It's like sometimes they come clamped together and, in order to stretch them, something like this had to be used to spread them on the screen.

Speaker 2:

Wow.

Speaker 1:

And I'll show you. This is a sample salmon skin, so you might be able to see the stretch mark there.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's so cool, but it has it. Is that a stitch in the middle? Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So what this is is. This was a poorly tanned skin because the scales were still on it and for the most part, all the scales had been removed. I have a sample sea bass skin here.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Speaker 1:

So if you look closely, you can see those skin, but a few scales remained in it. Oh my God. What you can actually do is you can use tweezers or pliers or something to pluck them out. I'll see if I can do that here.

Speaker 2:

So are people buying them and plucking the scales out themselves?

Speaker 1:

Yes, Well, not so much. Oh my God. Okay, there we are.

Speaker 2:

Oh, it makes sushi Crusty sushi.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, for the most part the scales were taken out, but if the scales remain in, usually I've discounted the price of the skin for those that are interested in that.

Speaker 2:

Is there usually a seam in the middle because they're sewn together or they're not really?

Speaker 1:

No, there's usually not a seam. What I would say is the scales are sort of symmetrical, so if you were stitching them together you might be able to align them so that they it's difficult to notice where the seam is.

Speaker 2:

Do you find, though, that you know how alligator croc, all of those which they call exotics most of them are outlawed? Now Do you think and you know Nancy Gonzalez I don't know if you're familiar with her she was arrested, the whole thing of having an illegal exotic farm, and you know there are some places that will no longer allow it, or, if they allow it, the prices are so expensive? Do you think people can use this kind of fish skin as a replacement for exotic skin, if people didn't know the difference, because it carries a similar pattern?

Speaker 1:

My answer yeah, I mean. Alligators and crocodile have their patterns. Each of the fish type have their patterns. I'll show you what the different patterns are here.

Speaker 2:

And for those who are listening, definitely go on to the YouTube, because our friend Stanley is showing us actual visuals and I got to say for someone who didn't know anything about fish skin before, this is like the coolest thing ever.

Speaker 1:

This is what a standard salmon would look like.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Speaker 1:

Like this. One doesn't have the scales in the middle that you saw before, and salmon have the smallest scale pockets, which is, I think, what attracts them to many designers.

Speaker 2:

It's really interesting because obviously a fish is skinnier than an animal or you know any kind of animal. It looks like it would be good for a smaller, like a clutch kind of bag, without people even knowing what it is, because the pattern is definitely unique.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'll show you a couple of handmade items that were made with a letter.

Speaker 2:

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Speaker 2:

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Speaker 1:

So this is a handbag. The color of the leather there is called Mermaid Green.

Speaker 2:

Wow.

Speaker 1:

Now depending If I didn't know any better.

Speaker 2:

I would think it was Krakow. I really would.

Speaker 1:

Depending on the designer's tastes and interests, they might choose the design like this. So, or you know, it's up to the designer, but it's actually the same color, the same color of carb lead.

Speaker 2:

So would you say that this material lends itself more for trimming or patchwork like that than actually making a whole bag out of it, because I think, because it's so cool looking, especially with what you showed me with those bright colors, that I think it's a really nice addition to give it a little zhuzh.

Speaker 1:

It could be. This is a small wallet type of creation. I'm actually out of stock of this particular color, which is called seafoam, seafoam. Yeah, seafoam, but you can see where the stitching was done, right. So for a small item like that, it can be the whole outside of it. But yeah, it's used for trim. There's a wallet that used this for trim.

Speaker 2:

Okay. So for anybody who's listening, just so, they have a visual which is kind of like watching Top Chef and not being able to eat the food. So Stanley is showing me wallets and a beautiful bag with a really cool trim, and I just think this is such a huge opportunity for people to do things that are really unexpected. Now can I ask you not again, not being an expert in this field people who are vegan don't eat fish. Would people utilize this material and how would they categorize it? Is it leather? It's obviously not PU or chemically made. Would they call this vegan? What would it fall under?

Speaker 1:

Would they call it vegan?

Speaker 2:

It can't be right, Because it's fish.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think it's fish, fish. I mean, the way I look at it is it has the scale patterns that the the more exotic you know species have. If you're not concerned about what species have, but you like the pattern, you know it's there in the fish, I think I I showed you a couple of purses that were made with a carp. So there are some standard skins and there's some large skins. This is a larger skin.

Speaker 2:

Wow.

Speaker 1:

Okay, and then?

Speaker 2:

Stanley's showing me a skin that I got to say it almost looks like crocodile. If I didn't know any better. It's so cool. What fish is that that's?

Speaker 1:

huge. This is carp and that color is called goldfish.

Speaker 2:

So can I ask you? So this is actually skin that would have been was disposed of anyway. So you're basically making this almost more of a. I would even say this is like a sustainable skin, because you're taking something that would have been disposed of and reusing it and repurposing, wouldn't you?

Speaker 1:

That's the idea, yeah and yeah. So you don't find this in the animal world, it's only fish. But if you wanted to see the other patterns, another type that I have is perch. It's actually Nile perch and it has, I guess, what I call an intermediate scale pattern. It's a bit bigger than the salmon, but smaller than the carp.

Speaker 2:

It looks like a treated leather. Hey, can I ask you, is it pretty thin, like you would have to, because you know, with leather it's so thick like they need to skive it, which means removing the interior layer. What is the inside because? And how does that work?

Speaker 1:

is it strong enough that if you sew uh, the skiving had been done on the back, so so these are pretty much ready to use for your purpose. This one is called sea bass and I guess it tends to maybe have more leftover on the back than the other types, but for the most part, for the salmon, there's not a lot on the back that's leftover, so they're ready for use.

Speaker 2:

So let me ask you so you've built this website, how did people find you and say, like how'd you get the word out saying, by the way, you can use fish skins instead of animal leather? Like how do people because again I'm so unfamiliar with it Like I haven't seen this at my leather people or anything?

Speaker 1:

So I started this about 20 years ago. At that time e-commerce wasn't such a big thing, but it's a different horizon today than it was then. Then you could search. So I tried to make sure that I was well-positioned. If somebody was looking for fish leather and I kind of tried to include it in the categories of exotic leather suede leather. I've tried to include it in the categories of exotic leather suede leather. So I kind of tried to make it known that way. And you know, word got around and I don't know. I don't want to tell you. Word got around and I'm still going today.

Speaker 2:

That's amazing. So is it typically bigger brands finding you or do you find a lot of like? Emerging independent designers are like, hey, can I buy a few skins? And like do people place pre Go ahead?

Speaker 1:

I don't sort of have a list, an A list of celebrities that I've bought. I can tell you that a couple of the more interesting purchases that I had way back was when the United States was in Afghanistan. I had a purchase from Bagram Air Base, so somebody thought this was cool enough to order it. I also had a purchase from a Saudi Arabian princess. I'm not mentioning names. That's okay, but when customers I've often asked customers if they don't mind my including their pictures of their work on my website I give them the attribution. It spilled over into Google Photos from my website but, like many more, don't care to send pictures or, you know, it can't be bothered, but that's fine.

Speaker 2:

Right, right, right. Wow. This is the coolest thing ever. Stanley. How can people find you follow? You place an order. How do we do that?

Speaker 1:

Well, I've never been part of the Facebook world, but I was on LinkedIn early in its early days. World where I work, I was on LinkedIn early in its early days, so I'm active on LinkedIn. That's how we got in touch. Yeah, so most of the social platforms I don't have a presence on, but on LinkedIn I have a presence.

Speaker 2:

What is your website?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, the website is sealeatherwearcom.

Speaker 2:

S-E-A-L-E-A-T-H-E-R sealeathercom right.

Speaker 1:

Sealeather, where W-E-A-R.

Speaker 2:

W-E-A-R. Sealeatherwherecom.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Speaker 1:

So I ship from Calgary. Shipping is free with a minimum $100 purchase in North America. I sort of try to give an equal credit when shipping abroad. I can't always guarantee free shipping because of the nature of the cost of that, but I give some sort of credit. Canada is just coming out of a strike by Canada Post which has occurred over the last month and I'd say the postal service is still resuming and Canada Post has been the main way that I ship my product. So there's some incentive offered at this time, also sort of a skins bonus on account of the shipping delay.

Speaker 2:

Perfect.

Speaker 1:

I have promotions from time to time. Pretty regularly, there's a what's New page on the website and you can enter your email if you'd like to be notified of this, and that's how I'm reachable.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome, stanley Major, thank you so much of sealeatherwearcom. Thank you for joining us.

Speaker 1:

Well, thanks so much.

Speaker 2:

Thanks for listening. Don't forget to rate and review, and follow us on every single platform at Handbag Designer. Thanks so much. See you next time.

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