COMMON Magazine Europe - SPRING 2017

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COMMON//SPRING 2017//
MASTERY IN LEATHER
ROBERT ETTINGER OF ETTINGER LONDON TELLS US HOW IT'S DONE
By Azhar Ahmad
Firstly, could you explain a little bit about
yourself and how the brand came about?
The Ettinger brand was started in 1934 by
my grandfather, and the head office and
factory were all based in London. My
grandfather had always been very
interested in fine craftsmanship and in fact
his father and grandfather were tailors and
had businesses making clothing. I joined
the business when I was 26 after studying
in England, France and Austria, and then
working in Germany for a manufacturing
company and in Canada for Mappins, the
jewellers, learning about the retail trade
and the jewellery business.
What’s the ethos behind Ettinger?
Ettinger has from the very beginning only
made the top end, using the finest leathers
and crafting them in their factory to make
some of the finest products available.
Although our factory has grown a lot since
then, we still pride ourselves on keeping
the level of quality at the highest level and
our products are only sold in the finest
stores around the world.
Can you remember what your first batch
of products were like? Did it take a while
to iron out all the creases and get a
product that was retail worthy?
Even from the very beginning, we only
took on leather workers who were already
highly skilled. So from our very first batch
of products, the quality was first class.
Now, of course, we do train young people
and it takes up to five years to get them to
the skills needed to be able to not only
make high quality but at a speed level that
makes it viable for the business. We still
source as much leather and all other
materials as we can from England, and
check each and every skin of leather that
we use to make sure it is of a quality level
good enough for Ettinger.
How do you go about sourcing the
different elements and materials for each
product?
Sourcing the finest leathers, linings and
fittings is critical, because without the
finest ingredients one cannot go on and
make the finest products. Apart from
buying as much as we can from England, if
there was an item needed in the
production that’s made in another country
which is of a finer quality, we will buy it
from there. For instance, the best zips
come from Switzerland and the best linings
come from Italy, so it is these that we use.
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