Salmon Leather Wallets

So, hands up if you've seen Salmon Leather before. Nope, me neither... apparently it's a thing! But not a very common thing, and that is what Tidal Vision want to address. Think about it for a second, each year thousands upon thousands of Salmon are caught and consumed, yet very few of us have ever heard of, let alone seen, Salmon Leather. So all those Salmon Skins are just being discarded somewhere, to end up in a Landfill or floating around polluting the ocean. Doesn't seem quite right that, does it.

Well, Tidal Vision have decided it was high time to get this sorted, and have come up with an innovative process to turn those byproducts, into a range of sustainable Salmon Leather Wallets. 

About The Salmon Leather Project Wallets

Tidal Vision wanted to have a wholly sustainable process in creating their innovative new wallets, and part of that is sourcing from responsible and sustainably minded fisheries. However, they ran into a small snag when it came to the process of turning the Salmon into leather suitable for commercial use. They explain; "We wanted to reduce waste and encourage sustainable fishing, but current aquatic tanning methods required harsh chemicals such as formaldehyde or chrome-based chemicals. 

"So we went back to the drawing board, and every ingredient in our proprietary aquatic tanning formula is certified as food-grade by the FDA. These natural vegetable-based tanning oils replace all the fish oils in the skin which preserves, strengthens, and gives our durable leather a familiar fragrance, similar to that of common cow leather tanned with vegetable oils."

The Salmon Leather Project consists of several different wallets, including a Bifold, Trifold and Ladies Tri. None of these are massively slim, though certainly not at the other end of the scale either. The thing about these wallets is that slim isn't the end goal, yes they give some thought to a sensible, appealing design that isn't overly bulky, but they're not trying to be the most minimalist wallet you've ever seen. The focus here is on a different type of innovation - of a sustainable process to up-cycle a byproduct into a useful, fashionable and sought after item.

That being said though, the Minimalist option (above) did catch our eye. This is Tidal Vision's nod to those who like to keep thing simple and slim. Whilst it may not be the most comprehensive of slim wallets, it certainly has a unique charm. It contains an ID card slot as well as a pocket for cards, and a middle pocket which can store folded notes.

The other item worthy of note is the "Slim" (below), which is a stripped back card case which attaches to a smart phone using what they describe as "smart micro-suction". I've honestly got no idea what that means, but it seems to work pretty well in the examples on their Kickstarter page. This allows 4 cards to be stored in the case which is attached to the back of your phone, and accessed using the pull-tab. It's something we're seeing more and more of, but it certainly looks pretty cool in Salmon Leather!

The design of the wallets is kept deliberately basic, with the unique pattern and texture of the Salmon Leather providing the style and attraction. We think it's a good choice to keep it plain and let that do the talking, as the unique pattern of each wallet from the Salmon skin used provides all the character necessary to make these wallets stand out.

The Wallets are currently available in 2 colours, Brown and Charcoal, though there is the possibility of more being made available as stretch goals, depending on the continued success of the project.

Salmon Leather Project Wallets on Kicstarter

The Kickstarter project is now beginning to reach its conclusion, but has been very successful so far. To find out more and to pledge, visit the Tidal Vision Salmon Leather Project Kickstarter Page. You can also check out their Kickstarter video below.