_We explore this and other mysteries at Horween Leather Company, the Chicago tannery that makes for Viberg, Bass Weejuns and others

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It’s the stench that hits you first when entering Horween Leather Company, like a suffocating sucker punch – a pungency that has to be breathed to be believed. On a late summer’s day in Chicago, the receiving room on the ground floor of the US’ premier tannery is buzzing, quite literally, with salted and insect-ridden raw hides stacked high. And the smell, like heat, rises. “At this time of year, I can often get a whiff of a new delivery from way up in my office, which is a good couple of minutes’ walk away,” says Mr Nick Horween, 31 who, together with his 58-year-old father, Mr Arnold “Skip” Horween, runs Horween Leather Company.

But up on the floor where the finished product is packaged ready to be shipped out after months of artisanal production – six months in the case of shell cordovan; the highest grade horse-rump leather for which the company is renowned – the air is heavy with the much more palatable perfume that faithful customers recognise as unmistakably Horween. Those customers include fine shoe brands such as Bottega Veneta, Church’s and Grenson, among others.

This family-owned and independently-run tannery has been in business since it was founded in 1905 by Nick’s great-great-grandfather, Mr Isadore Horween. Today, when mass leather production has relocated to parts of the world where it is cheaper to churn out, Horween Leather Company is the last tannery in town. Most of the leather it produces is from cows (80 per cent); the remainder from horses (cordovan) and a small amount from bison. In recent years, the Horween name has developed a trademark patina of its own, becoming the shorthand for a premium product among those who champion American heritage and quality craftsmanship.

“People today are more conscious of what they’re buying. They purchase fewer things, but what they buy is better made,” says Mr Nick Horween. Shell cordovan is expensive, but renowned for its longevity as well as its beauty. A pair of shoes made from horse hind can last 30 years without the need for anything more than an occasional brush.

On our tour of the factory floor, we meet Mr Bernell Biddle, who has worked at Horween for more than 40 years and now runs the “liquor yard” where he tans hides for a living. A handwritten sign above one of the tanning tubs reads “butt liquor”.

“Bernell is a cook, he can tell from the smell of the liquor exactly what’s going on and what needs to be added or subtracted,” says Mr Nick Horween. It takes several years to develop the experience to know how to tweak this recipe to achieve the best end product. “The one thing every tanner will tell you is that you never know it all.”

To walk around the building is to take a step back to a time before factories became automated production lines. Most employees have worked at Horween their whole careers. “The average length of service is more than 20 years now. Jim Fuller, our receiving clerk, will clock up 50 years with us next year. He started here when he was in his late teens.”

The vast majority of shell cordovan is turned into bench-made shoes because the leather is incredibly hard-wearing and only improves in character over time. Cordovan leather (not to be confused with the rich burgundy colour of the same name) comes from horsehide, specifically the “shell”, a membrane on the horse’s backside that produces the most non-porous leather known to man. Each horse provides two shells, enough to produce one pair of shoes. Shell cordovan is expensive – partly because it is so labour-intensive to produce, but also because while demand has rarely been higher, supply has never been lower. Horse hides mainly come from French-speaking parts of Canada, France and other parts of Europe where people still eat horsemeat. However, these days, they are eating less of it.

Nevertheless, the future for Horween looks shiny with the recent arrival of a new heir. “Business is good,” says Mr Nick Horween, “and my wife and I had a baby boy, Samuel, a few weeks ago so the family name will live on.”