‘You can’t bring in robots’: the leather firm handmaking everything from wallets to cigar cases

The Guardian Business · 10/25/2026, 8:00:57 AM

In the third article in a series on high-end British manufacturing, we visit the Ettinger factory in Walsall ‘Our town is making jeans again’: reviving jobs and skills in Wales From feathers to pet portraits, Rolls-Royce rides high on custom craze “It is all down to attention to detail and everything we do is based around that.” Gary Billingham is demonstrating how the 28 pieces which make up an Ettinger wallet are cut from leather using a hydraulic press by the small team at one of Walsall’s last remaining leather goods factories. The edges of the pieces are thinned down so they are ready to be turned, glued and stitched together by hand. Continue reading...