Our Story

Outis began in 2009, not in London but in the desert of Rajasthan. In an effort to change up my life, I had quit my job, left home and booked a one-way flight to India. The dream was to go over the Himalayas on a vintage Royal Enfield motorbike... despite the fact that I had no clue how to ride one. Needing some saddlebags for my trusty steed, I bought a buffalo hide and some Iron Age tools, and with the pure, blind enthusiasm that had guided me there, I went to work in the sweltering heat... and I loved it. Working with leather was like coming home for me.

 

Several thousand miles and a few catastrophes, close calls and compliments later I had decided that I would take my passion for leather working and turn it into my life’s work. Since then I’ve been refining what I make and how I make it, staying true to the traditional techniques and craftsmanship that made those first saddlebags so dependable on the road. I loved the process of hand making as well as the quality it produced, and back in London I started making wallets and selling them out of a battered old suitcase outside Peckham Train Station, and soon I was selling enough to warrant a stall at Old Spitalfields Market, where I can still be found today.

All our online products are made for you, to order, meaning less waste and more love goes into each one. We are happy to personalise anything with initials and debossing, and we also love commissions and custom projects, so if you have something in mind then get in touch.

As for those first trusty saddlebags, sadly they did not survive... they nobly sacrificed themselves for my left leg, when another rider ploughed into me during a blizzard, 4,000 metres up on the Rohtang Pass. Thanks bags!

 

–
David Williams
Leathersmith and Founder, Outis London.