Introducing Farmsneaker

One of the bi products of beef is a hide - the hair covered skin of a cow. These traditionally are turned into leather, but due to a lack of tanneries left in the UK and current geopolitics, their value has plummeted and recently some have even been landfilled, which is such a waste of what can be an amazing material. During covid I got involved with a project to collect our hides from the abattoir and with others get a supply chain going for traceable Pasture for Life leather. Now I am finally getting to turn that traceable leather from our farm into products, which is probably the most exciting and long awaited part of the whole journey.

So on 12th September the trial Farmsneaker event was held at Park Farm. With 8 keen attendees I ran a day long workshop where people made a pair of sneakers / trainer from our leather, from our cows. The attendees had previously filled out a form giving their shoe size and chosen options for the leather colour, laces, sole colour and eyelet metal finish, so that on the day all the bits were ready and every pair made was different and personal to the owner.

The morning started with a talk about the farm, leather and why this material was different, then we got down to marking out the uppers and fronts of the sneakers, and carefully cutting these out.

Join our next Farmsneaker event on 18th September 2026!

New website www.farmsneaker.com