Maui, Hawaiʻi · Milwaukee · New York
The leather behind every clutch
Axis deer were brought to Maui and have no natural predators. Maui Nui Venison harvests them for food. We are now one of the early businesses using their hides for leather products.
The Leather
Every Etkie material comes from a place. Glass beads, loomed in To'hajiilee. Fleece from the King Ranch in New Mexico. For leather, we wanted the same: a real place and named people.
That led us to Cass. He used to work at Maui Nui Venison, and he now runs Chital Impactful Leather, Maui Nui’s exclusive leather representative. Through him we met the Maui Nui team and visited them on Maui.
The result is a deerskin clutch, lined with King Ranch wool from the cutting of our capes. There is more to tell, and this is the first look. Join the list to hear it first.
01 — THE DEER
Brought here, and never leaving
Axis deer aren’t native to Hawaiʻi. They were brought to the islands in 1867 and were then eventually released on Maui in 1959. With no natural predators, the herd has grown to an estimated 60,000–100,000.
Hawaiian plants grew up without large grazing animals, and they have no defense against them. The deer browse native forest and the watershed that holds the island's water and soil, and ranchers have cut their cattle herds because the deer reach the grass first. Maui Nui's work is to bring the deer back into balance, not to remove them completely.
- ON MAUI
- ~70 years
- DEER THERE NOW
- Tens of thousands
02 — THE HIDE
Tanned in Milwaukee, sewn in New York
Maui Nui Venison harvests the deer at night, in the field, so they stay wild and stress-free until the moment of harvest. The hides from that harvest go to Chital, which holds an exclusive partnership with Maui Nui and turns them into leather. Ours is tanned in Milwaukee, at one of the few tanneries of its kind still working in this country.
From there the leather goes to New York, where Carina cuts and sews it into clutches.
The deer are harvested either way. The only question was what the hides were going to become.
The hands the leather passes through
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Maui Nui Venison
Harvested on Maui, Hawaiʻi
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Chital Impactful Leather
Hides prepared on-island
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Law Leather
Tanned in Milwaukee
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Carina
Cut and sewn, New York
THE LEATHER
One harvest, one tannery, one workroom. Every step of the leather is named.
THE WAITLIST
Deerskin clutch in Maui Nui hides, landing in December.
Small first run.