OUR ETHOS

MAKU’s mission is to make useful, beautiful things from leather industry discards.

Our sheepskin slippers, hats, rugs and more are handmade using offcuts, seconds and deadstock. Our mantra is 'make use, not waste' and we try to apply this to everything we do – from production and packaging to our work environments.

MAKU aims to

1 make use of what leather industry mass production discards
2 make use of our own production offcuts
3 use what we find, as we find it – wherever possible,
nothing is further dyed or treated
4 sustain and/or revive traditional methods of processing and making
5 encourage others to create less waste through small,
positive behaviour changes

We value design
Through our simple, efficient product designs we hope to encourage our customers to 'waste less' generally. Many of our products offer an opportunity for specific 'small actions' that help initiate a greater societal shift to sustainability. For example, our sheepskin cushion covers are designed around the size of a standard pillow so customers can choose to use their old pillows to fill them rather than buy new cushion pads.

Instructions on how to fold an old pillow down to fit a square or rectangular cushion cover

Supporting traditional skills
For us, ‘make use, not waste’ naturally applies to more than just materials. Traditional methods of making are richly beneficial on so many levels yet are often not appreciated until lost. Wherever possible, we want to help keep traditional methods of making alive and have been quietly investigating ways in which we can incorporate and support craftspeople working with wool, natural dyes, leather finishing and more...

We are very excited to already use handmade wool felt commissioned as our slippers’ hidden underfoot cushioning. Our interest in traditional felt manufacturing and small-but-regular orders have allowed a team of craftspeople to now produce felt continuously, rekindling this ancient tradition in SE Turkey.

Wherever possible, we will continue to support such crafting communities through small-scale hand production of other useful, beautiful materials. We are also trialling new takes on some further traditional methods of making with the hope of introducing the results into our production process – we will share more details as things progress.