How Jack Millington Started England's First New Tannery in a Century on His Parent's Goat Farm

The Stitchdown Shoecast

For anyone who’s ever thought of quitting their job to make leather and boots, here’s the secret: just first make sure your parents own a goat farm in the British countryside.
Six years ago, Jack Millington was the lucky guy in that position, and he up and started what we’re pretty sure is England’s first new tannery over a century. Today, his brainchild Billy Tannery vegetable-tans micro-small batches of deer, pig, and of course goat leather, from which they create a growing range of small leathergoods…and some very choice footwear.
On the latest Shoecast episode, we speak with Jack about where his tanning epiphany came from, how he quickly corralled the knowledge necessary to set up a micro-tannery on the farm, and of course what kind of footwear Billy is making with goat and deerskin they’re producing.
But the highlight for us is Jack’s deep dive into veg-tanning: he lays out exactly how the process works, step by step, and sheds a ton of light on all of the intricacies and pitfalls that arise, especially on a boutique scale. Also if you don’t know what a “pure-finder” is, well you’re about to find out.
Give it a listen below!