It goes without saying that you can't get a genuine leather bag for the price of a faux leather one. The journey of a Utua bag from the designer's idea to the customer's shoulder takes several months - even years, and not a single compromise is made along the way.
All of our bags are made from high-quality materials by experienced professionals with decades of experience in making demanding leather products.
Life cycle of the Utua bag
Disposable culture is constantly in the headlines. Cheap prices are tempting, of course, but if we think a little further, nothing becomes as expensive as products that only bring joy for a moment. They are not sustainable in ideology, responsibility, or even quality.
We have considered the issue from the perspective of the entire product life cycle. With the Utua bag you will get a long-lasting friend, so it is worth spreading the one-time cost over a longer period. So when you use it for several years, either daily or weekly, you will get real value for your money.
High-quality, Nordic leather
The price of our bags is based on quality and craftsmanship. The leather used in Utua bags is mainly from by-products of food production in the Nordic countries. Here, animal welfare legislation is the strictest in the world, which ensures that the animals have good living conditions and therefore the leather is of good quality.
Leather production takes place in Italy in a Leather Working Group Gold Medal-rated factory, where the use of water and chemicals is minimized. The factory has a closed water circulation system, which means that no process water is discharged into the sewer.
Our selection also includes leather tanned with biodegradable vegetable oils , which is hand-dyed, which results in a vibrant, unique look on the surface of each hide.
At the heart of responsibility
Durable, timeless design, leather as a material, and high-quality sewing make Utua leather bags long-lasting, which reduces their carbon footprint.
By operating within the EU, we ensure decent production conditions and that both the tannery workers and the bag makers receive proper compensation for their work. In addition, all our partners are committed to complying with European labor laws.
Utua bags are handmade in Greece by two generations of long-standing artisans with professional pride.
Woman in the background of Utua
The woman behind Utua is Piia Vähäsalo. Her love for cheerful colors and authentic materials is easy to sense in our product range. The values she found important in her own personal life have also become Utua's values , and the company's operations are guided by them.
Utua's founder and chief designer, Piia Vähäsalo, is the company's primus-motor and inexhaustible source of ideas.
Roots in Northern Ostrobothnia
Our products are brought to life in our design studio located in the idyllic Wanhaa Raahe. Our roots are deep in the Northern Ostrobothnian landscape and spiritual life, and this is reflected in both our values and our everyday work.
Utua's store/design studio is located in Raahe, Pekkatori on the outskirts, at Brahenkatu 10 .
So, you should never buy anything for one-time use. A leather bag, when beautifully treated and well maintained, is a product that will last from mother to daughter or father to son, and also says a lot about the bag's wearer's appreciation for genuine natural materials. It is therefore worth spreading the life cycle cost of a Utua leather bag over several years.
