How did the idea of creating Linden Is Enough come about?

Linden is Enough was co-founded by Slovak Daniel Caltik (acting Managing Director) and myself, Brazilian Mariana Leite (acting Creative Director) in 2014 in Edinburgh, Scotland. At the time, Dani was finalizing his studies in Business Management with Entrepreneurship, thirsty to create his own business and cause a positive impact in the world, and I was just starting out my degree in Psychology & Business, with a youthful eagerness to feed my creativity and artistic inclinations that weren’t necessarily part of my studies.

Influenced by the likes of Yves Saint Laurent, Iris Apfel, and Jimmi Hendrix – all enamored and avid consumers of the mystical and deep creative stimulation Morocco has to offer – we traveled to Marrakech, where we discovered the dying artistry of Moroccan leathercraft. From there on out our love for leather and traditional craftsmanship flourished and soon Linden is Enough was born.

Who is part of this project?

Linden is Enough represents the perfect balance of mine and Dani‘s complementary skills and points of view. From this partnership, slowly and steadily more talents joined as the brand naturally grew and developed.

Today we lead a close knit team of nearly 15 people, involved in production and craftsmanship, communication, strategy, sales and logistics. Our team is a diverse group of high spirited and creative people, connected through a common dedication to our brand values and each other. I’m very thankful for our team and it’s a joy to see that as we’ve expanded we’ve been able to attract such great people and create long-lasting relationships.

Where does your name come from, and what is its meaning?

Linden is Enough was not always our brand name. As any entrepreneurial journey, ours took many twists and turns over the years as we navigated the fashion and business worlds to find the right model for us.

At one point, we had two different brands, functioning under our holding: BennyBee and Linden. Both leather bag brands explored slightly different markets but at the end of the day had the same mission, so as we matured and got to know ourselves better as a brand and business we decided to merge the two, dedicating our full focus to one vision, and landing on the final name Linden is Enough.

Linden is a species of tree, considered a honey plant (perfect for bees and honey harvesting) which was symbolic to Dani’s childhood in Slovakia, where he was a beekeeper from a very young age. “Is Enough” was added to symbolize internally that one brand, one focus, one mission was enough for us, and externally that one handmade, full grain, vegetable tanned leather bag, crafted to last a lifetime, is enough!

The leather in your products is of exceptional quality, what can you tell us about it?

We proudly work exclusively with full grain, vegetable tanned leather – both cow (which we like to call Heavy Duty) and lamb (which we call Super Soft).

Full grain leather is the top layer of the animal’s skin and is therefore, the most resistant and unique. This is the outer layer of the animal, its original skin, which carries its lifetime of singular experiences. This also means that each bag may differ slightly due to the natural scratches and marks that the animal experienced during life – which, to us, makes the final product all the more one-of-a-kind and special.

Among the various tanning methods, vegetable tanning is the most traditional, natural and Earth-friendly. Moreover, it is the only technique able to give your leather unique characteristics and the gorgeous patinas that develop with use and age. This type of leather never wears out, rather, it deepens in color and carries the marks of the customer’s lifetime beautifully and gracefully.

Despite resulting in the highest quality and most durable items, both full grain and vegetable tanning are very rare to find on the market nowadays, due to their high cost, long processing time, and lack of uniformity. The result, however, is unmatched, and to us, unnegotiable.

Where do you manufacture your products? And who designs them?

All our items are designed in-house by myself and Dani, as we collaborate ideas, market research, crafting techniques, and style.

I tend to focus on the look and Dani makes sure the technical aspects are up to par, as he is a skilled craftsman himself. Dani has always been very manual and specialized in leathercraft as soon as we became enamored with it, in Marrakech.

“All our items are designed in-house by myself and Dani.”

He made many of our prototypes and collaborates closely with our workshop team in the development of new products.

Dani‘s know-how and this closeness to the production process and the craft itself highly influence the final result, as we’re aligned with our mission of top quality in all stages of development and production.

After the design process, the items are handcrafted in Morocco, where our passion for leathercraft was born. As Morocco is the home of centuries-old leather tradition, we wanted to respect those origins and help keep this dying art alive.

We have our own workshop and team of specialized craftsmen in Marrakech, and we’ve partnered up with family-owned tanneries over the years, where our team hand picks our leather hides in order to develop the best possible products. Each year, we return to Marrakech to visit our team and get inspired. When we’re there we like to spend time in the workshop, develop new products and explore new techniques and crafts.

We’re very proud to be able to be a small part of the history of craftsmanship in Morocco and bring true handmade top quality to conscious customers around the world. For a few years, we also had a workshop in Slovakia, in Dani‘s hometown, functioning out of his grandfather’s old farmhouse. But just like the journey of merging brands and names, we chose to focus on Morocco fully from 2019 onwards.

What is your best-selling product?

Our best-seller is the Soft Leather Maxi Tote Bag.

“Our best-seller is the Soft Leather Maxi Tote Bag.”

Ever since we launched this item, back in 2019, it’s been adored by loyal customers who often come back for more in different colors.

The bag is oversized, perfect for every-day, extremely light and flexible, making it gorgeous, comfortable, timeless, and practical. The Maxi Tote is closely followed by our duffles and messenger bags, which are our old-timers, part of our line since the beginning. They showcase exquisite craftsmanship and are saddle-stitched, which is a traditional saddlery technique only offered nowadays by heritage luxury houses.

What is your differential value compared to other brands?

Our greatest differential value is our quality.

Nothing compares to the quality of full grain vegetable tanned leather, and handmade items, especially when including saddle-stitching, as is the case with our Heavy Duty line. Hand-in-hand with quality, are our items’ durability and timelessness. We believe in having fewer and better things, reducing consumption and waste, and practicing sustainability through making (and in our personal lives, owning) long lasting, natural, items.

“We believe in having fewer and better things.”

As mentioned, we take great pride in keeping true craftsmanship alive and allowing consumers to get back in touch with real quality and handcraft. Nowadays, items that are handmade to last are so rare that customers have somewhat lost touch with the reality of what quality means, looks and feels like. We take it as part of our mission to help people reconnect and regain a deeper understanding of these elements that make our products truly unparalleled.

Likewise, what makes you unique at Linden Is Enough is the creation of high-quality products at affordable prices. How have you achieved this?

We achieve our affordable price point by executing most of our brand activities in-house, from production to communication. Our craftsmanship is not outsourced: we have our own workshop and team of dedicated craftsmen, meaning we are able to offer fair wages, while avoiding factory mark-ups (not to mention obscure working conditions), and keep close contact with production and quality control.

Almost all our campaign photography is also done in-house as I am a photographer and like to be actively involved in the creation of our imagery. Moreover, we are also a digitally native direct to consumer brand, meaning we cut out the middle men, being able to maintain a fair price without the additional wholesale commission that would be necessary if we sold primarily via resellers.

Finally, we are also a slow-fashion brand, which means that we don’t follow the fashion calendar’s demands for new collections each season. Instead, we launch new items at our own pace and most aren’t discontinued afterwards; we aren’t left with dead stock of seasonal, trend-driven items, and we don’t spend excessively on new product development, which would inevitably drive our prices up.

Complimentary to our operation itself is our team’s culture and mindset. We take personal ownership of our projects and strategies, taking it upon ourselves to do deep research and gain knowledge of every stage of the process. This means we stay smart, informed and lean. We don’t tend to make impulse decisions and are protective of our energy.

Do you sell worldwide? And besides your online store, do you have plans to sell in physical stores or organize pop-up shops with your products?

Yes, we sell world-wide! It’s always fun to see orders coming in from different countries – it makes us feel connected to people across the globe through our products and the collective belief in what we stand for.

We would love to sell physically in smaller concept stores or pop-ups, as our products are all the more special in person: the visual texture, feel, and smell are a delight for the senses. Hopefully that’s something we can achieve in the near future.

You work closely with traditional family-owned tanneries, creating a more ethical and sustainable supply chain and developing products that last a lifetime. Can you tell us more details about this? Is it true that most of your products are hand-sewn?

Morocco is famous and respected worldwide for its tradition in leathercraft, known for authenticity and high quality. Thus, there is no surprise that the country has numerous generations-old, highly specialized tanneries that focus on vegetable tanning.

We work with a French-Moroccan family tannery that specializes in the modernization of vegetable tanned leather and that is able to achieve the high standards of leather and variety of colors that we love to work with.

“It’s important to us that we know exactly where our leather is coming from and how the supply chain functions up.”

It’s important to us that we know exactly where our leather is coming from and how the supply chain functions up to the point where the hides are in our hands. This is due to the variety of methods and working conditions out there that affect both the final product and all the people involved. It can be quite frightening to realize just how harmful the mass leather industry can be, especially in countries with low regulation. So, it gives us peace to work with family-owned tanneries who we can shake hands with, where craft is still alive and taken seriously.

Yes, it’s true that most of our items are sewn by hand – more specifically our Heavy Duty (cow leather) line. Our Super Soft (lamb leather) items are handmade but machine sewn, as the leather is thinner and thus requires thinner thread and needles. However, our Heavy Duty items are all stitched by hand using the saddle stitching technique, which is a traditional method originally used in saddlery and only offered by a few prestigious luxury heritage brands. This technique consists of two needles simultaneously stitching from opposite sides of the hide, resulting in a “double-stitch” that doesn’t break or unravel – now you’re getting the gist of why they’re Heavy Duty!

You refer to your products as “leather companions”, as they are designed to accompany us in our daily lives and last a lifetime. We love this concept!

Thank you! As we mentioned, it’s really something we believe in, for both our brand and our personal lives: that fewer and better items are the way. Having things that you are proud of, connected to, that will last and have stories to tell!

We appreciate that all your products are ‘non-gendered,’ and your simple and elegant designs can be easily combined and adapt to a multitude of lifestyles, occasions, and activities. Was this positioning always clear to you?

Thanks again! Both Dani and I are generally quite minimalistic people; we’re not very heavy consumers, we aren’t too influenced by passing trends, and we believe in quality over quantity, so I think it came quite naturally to us that our items would be timeless, minimal, and transition smoothly through many environments and activities. Also, mainly at the time of the brand’s creation, I think we were quite influenced by British fashion and how classic pieces are still so big in the UK – it was what was naturally surrounding us.

When it comes to gender neutrality, I hold a strong belief also that fashion in general shouldn’t be gendered and specially bags! I mean, what’s the point? For example, it seems so silly to me that men walk around with mountains for pockets because it’s not manly to wear a bag! Or that women can’t carry briefcases – who says? I myself am not the most traditionally feminine person when it comes to my personal style and don’t appreciate being told what I can or can’t wear, so I assume there is the same wish for freedom of expression in our customers. At Linden is Enough, we like to say “for anyone, anywhere, with anything” to mean that really anyone can make a Linden is Enough bag their own (after all, with time it will carry their own stories), no matter where they are or what they’re wearing.

You also offer the possibility of customizing your bags. How does it work?

We offer customizations in the form of 3 letter monograms, for people who want that extra personalized touch. It’s quite simple: on our website customers can select the monogram option before adding their product to cart and leave a note with their chosen initials. The rest is up to us! It’s especially a thoughtful touch for gifting a loved one.

What are you currently working on? Do you have plans to launch new products or new versions of existing models?

We have quite a lot planned for 2024 that we’re very excited about.

We will be launching some new Maxi Tote color variations and we’re planning on branching out beyond leather to explore other handcrafts and materials – always staying true to top quality and durability which are part of our DNA.

We’re also looking forward to bringing our customers more information and insight into our production process and who knows, as you asked earlier, maybe the possibility of being physically present somewhere around the world!
I think the future is bright and busy for Linden is Enough and I’m eager to get the ball rolling!

I want to thank CC/magazine for having us. It’s truly an honor to be able to share our story with you and be part of your tasteful and beautiful curation. Hoping we keep an eye on each other for years to come.

(*) Images: Cover photo: Rolltop Rucksack (modelo Anthony Garcia (@anthonyhejdagarcia)), fixed photo 1: Dani Caltik, fixed photo 2: Market bag and photo slider: Maxi tote bag chestnut (modelo: Alakiir James (@alakiir_james)), interior photo 2: Duffle bag cognac (modelo Marília Galvão (@yumimariliia)), interior photo 4: Maxi tote bag black by Mariana Leite (@marimtleite); interior photo 1: Mari Leite & Maxi tote bag blue jeans by Vinicius Rocha (@vinicomfritas); interior photo 3: Messenger bag by Mariana Leite and Vinicius Rocha.

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