Some stories are told with precise dates and carefully organised figures. Others are told as one describes a sunset walk — without haste, without noise, leaving space for the landscape. Ours is of the second kind. It is the story of a Tuscan workshop, of the hands of artisans who have worked with leather for decades, and of a stubborn idea: that time, if respected, is an ally.

The 1990s: a workshop, few hands, many hours

Pelletterie D&D was born in the nineties, in a small artisanal workshop in Santa Croce sull’Arno — the historical heart of the Tuscan leatherwork district. In those years the Italian leather industry was going through a silent transformation: most artisan workshops were being absorbed by industrial fashion, ancient methods replaced by faster processes, vegetable tanning slowly replaced by chrome tanning.

In that context — against that context, in a sense — some artisans made the opposite choice. To preserve the slow method. To continue working vegetable-tanned leather in tannin vats, applying colour by hand, stitching it with waxed thread. Not out of nostalgia. But from a precise conviction: that quality cannot be industrialized.

We chose to stand on that side. And we stayed.

Santa Croce sull’Arno: a name for a place

Santa Croce sull’Arno isn’t a name filling fashion magazine pages. But for anyone working leather in Italy, it’s the most important address in the country. A small municipality in the province of Pisa, along the Arno River, where for centuries — literally centuries — leather has been tanned.

First documents about tanneries in this area date to the 1200s. By 1300s the city was already a node in the Florentine leather network. Eight centuries later, the same tanneries — technologically updated, but faithful to basic techniques — continue producing the leather we use every day.

Our roots are in Santa Croce sull’Arno, where our story began in the 1990s. The workshop later moved to Sesto Fiorentino, near Florence, where we work today. We remain connected to Tuscany’s leatherworking tradition through our materials, skills and way of making bags.

Vegetable-tanned leather: a philosophical choice

Every D&D bag is made from vegetable-tanned leather. Before it becomes material for a bag, the raw hide spends 30–60 days in vats containing natural tannins extracted from chestnut, oak and mimosa bark. Chrome tanning can reduce this process to 24 hours. We continue to give vegetable tanning the time it needs.

Why? Because slowly tanned leather has its own character. It breathes, ages and changes with the person who uses it. After ten years, a vegetable-tanned leather bag looks different from when it was new. It carries traces of its owner’s life, and those traces become part of its beauty.

Chrome tanning produces a more uniform leather more quickly and at a lower cost. We prefer the way vegetable-tanned leather develops over time. As we said, it is a philosophical choice.

Hands that know: thirty years at the same bench

The workshop has never been large, and we have never wanted to grow beyond a certain size. The reason is simple: leatherworking skills are passed on through working together, not through manuals. An artisan develops their craft over many years alongside experienced colleagues. That learning process takes time.

Some of our most experienced artisans have worked with us since the workshop was founded. They started as boys, and now their children work with us too. They can recognize good leather from the sound it makes when placed on the table. They know when to cut based on leather grain. They know exactly how much pressure to apply to hot stamping so the name imprints without breaking through.

This knowledge isn’t written anywhere. It’s in the hands.

The doctor’s bag: our specialty

Over the years, one product line has become our signature: doctor’s bags. Not by marketing strategy — but because Italian physicians, in the 1990s and 2000s, were looking for a type of bag industry was stopping to produce with necessary quality. Rigid structures, vegetable-tanned leather, authentic instrument compartment, artisanal hardware.

That silent request met our way of working. We began perfecting our models — Classic, Bassa, Bicolor — in dialogue with our physician clients. Their feedback shaped the product: right dimensions for A4 documents, removable shoulder strap for home visits, rigid instrument compartment for stethoscope, name personalization option.

Today, when a new medical graduate or independent healthcare professional searches for an authentic Italian doctor’s bag, they find us. It’s a silent recognition — thirty years of conversation with a profession that chose our leather for its working life.

Five languages, one workshop

At some point in our history, clients began writing us from other countries. France, Germany, Spain, UK, United States. They wanted authentic Italian bags and wouldn’t settle for industrial “Made in Italy.”

We chose to reach new customers without changing who we are. Today we speak Italian, English, Spanish, French and German, but all our bags are made in our workshop in Sesto Fiorentino. We have not opened branches abroad or outsourced any production stage. A bag delivered to a customer in Munich is stitched by the same hands as one made for a customer in Florence.

It’s a detail that makes us different from larger brands — and that forces us to remain small. It was worth it.

Hot stamping: the gift that makes the difference

We have always offered free hot-stamping personalisation on our bags: initials, a full name or a professional title. We press a brass die heated to 120 degrees onto the leather to create an elegant, lasting impression.

We chose to offer it free for a simple reason: an artisanal bag only makes sense if it becomes personal. A catalog bag can be beautiful, but a bag with your name is something else. It’s yours. Not anyone else’s.

When a family gives one of our bags to a new medical graduate, the name stamped into the leather makes the gift personal. It can accompany the recipient throughout a long career. That is the meaning of personalisation: a small detail with lasting significance.

Where we’re going

The world around us keeps accelerating. Clothes are produced in ten days, worn for a month and discarded within a year. Technology becomes obsolete before we have learned to use it. Everything seems to push towards faster production, lower prices and disposable products.

We take a different approach because we believe there is still a place for objects that last. A bag is a small, practical part of everyday life. With good construction and appropriate care, it can accompany you for many years, witness a whole career and even pass to the next generation.

Producing such objects today is a slow form of resistance. And we’ll continue doing it as long as someone buys.

Our promise

When you choose a D&D bag, you choose:

Tuscan vegetable-tanned leather, certified by the Italian Genuine Leather Consortium
100% Italian production, from tanning to stitching to assembly
Experienced artisans with decades of craft in their hands
An object to use and care for over the years
Hot stamping personalization — free, forever
Restoration and repair services through our workshop when needed

We are not trying to compete with fast fashion or become a global brand. We want to keep doing what we have done for thirty years: making bags with care, one at a time, in our workshop in Sesto Fiorentino.

Our workshop today and our only showroom

We sell directly online through our official website. Our only showroom is in Sesto Fiorentino. To see our bags in person, contact us for visiting hours and arrangements.

Read our About Us page for an overview of our story, today’s workshop and our services.

An invitation

If you’re looking for a bag that’s an object and not a product, a companion for the road and not a seasonal accessory, we’re probably the right place for you.

Visit our online shop or explore the category most interesting to you:

Questions? Write to us. We’re not a call center. We are the artisans. We reply one by one — calmly, as things are done here.

Bags that keep time. Tuscan roots in Santa Croce sull’Arno, made today in Sesto Fiorentino.

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Our Story: From Tuscan Workshop to the World