Horween Essex

Essex is characterized by its notably soft and supple feel, achieved through a proprietary blend of fats, oils, and greases that penetrate deep into the leather. Unlike typical vegetable-tanned leathers, Essex offers a buttery hand feel while maintaining the natural aging characteristics and patina development that vegetable tanning is prized for. The leather is fully aniline dyed with no waxy topcoat, displaying the full grain openly.

The leather finds applications in heritage footwear, particularly casual boots that showcase grain and comfort, as well as small leather goods including wallets, bags, and journal covers. Essex also serves as the base for Horween's waxed leather variants Dublin and Derby.

Essex was developed after three years of trials and production runs at Horween Leather Company. The leather was created by experimenting with tanning high-quality cowhide using the same liquor traditionally used for Shell Cordovan production. Development was motivated by customer demands and the company's desire to create leather that combined traditional tanning methods with modern techniques.

The company's approach involved starting with a modern wet-white pre-tannage before applying a full vegetable tannage using Horween's time-proven Shell Cordovan tanning liquors. This process allows the leather to benefit from both contemporary efficiency and traditional craftsmanship methods.

Essex starts with a modern wet-white pre-tannage and then receives a full vegetable tannage using Horween's traditional Shell Cordovan tanning liquors. The leather is drum tanned using natural extracts from tree bark, the same materials used to tan the company's Shell Cordovan.

Following the vegetable tanning process, the leather is enriched with a proprietary blend of fats, oils, and greases that penetrate deep into the material. This treatment gives Essex its durability, softness, and distinctive rich, rounded feel. The leather is fully aniline dyed, meaning it is dyed through but has no paint or polymer topcoat, allowing the full grain to be displayed openly.

Essex is available in weight ranges from 3.5 ounces to 9 ounces, with side sizes typically measuring 18 to 22 square feet.

Essex is notably soft and pliable for a vegetable-tanned leather, offering what users often describe as a buttery hand feel. The high oil content gives the leather a soft hand and natural aging characteristics, with a mild pull-up effect when the leather is bent or flexed.

The leather maintains the durability expected from vegetable-tanned materials while being more flexible than typical veg-tan leathers. This flexibility allows Essex to drape more than it stands firm, with some natural stretch properties. The surface finish is natural and matte initially, though the oils provide a slight glow to the leather.

Essex ages beautifully over time, developing a natural patina that absorbs scratches and scuffs into the leather's character. The aging process is enhanced by the leather's aniline dyeing, which allows the natural grain and character to show through without artificial coating.

Essex is available in several color options including Black, Natural, Brown Nut, and English Tan. A Dark Navy Blue variant is also available. The Natural color option develops a distinctive patina with use and aging.

The Essex leather serves as the foundation for other Horween leather variants. The company produces waxed versions of Essex under the names Dublin and Derby, which start with the same vegetable-tanned Essex base but receive additional wax finishing treatments.

Essex finds use in heritage footwear applications, particularly in casual boots that can showcase the leather's grain and comfort characteristics. Premium heritage bootmakers including Viberg and Unmarked use Essex in their collections, with Viberg notably using Dark Coffee Essex in their heritage boot lines.

While Essex is considered soft for heavily structured footwear applications, it is well-suited for casual wear boots where some flexibility and comfort are desired. The leather creates uniquely soft boots that display significant grain character and develop appealing patina over time.

Beyond footwear, Essex is well-suited for small leather goods including wallets, linings, tote bags, and journal covers. High-end leather goods manufacturers such as Libero Ferrero have featured Essex in their products. The leather is suitable for any product that can appreciate stretch and softness, making it an excellent choice for artisan leather crafting requiring premium traditional leather with modern performance characteristics.