Our Journey into the Leather Industry

Discover the story of two leather artisans who built their business from scratch. Learning the art of leathercrafting without any expert guidance. Through hardwork, perseverance and making mistakes along the way, Hides and Thread has now come a brand known for its quality leather products.

Hides and Thread is a home-grown Singapore company that now mainly serves Corporate clientele. In addition, we continue to share our knowledge and skills through our workshops.

How it all started in 2016

Humble Beginnings

A strong obsession with leather goods and a keen eye for design led to the creation of Hides and Thread in 2016. We started with humble beginnings with a “mini atelier” set-up in a corner of an HDB apartment in Singapore (Public Housing in Singapore), creating only bespoke orders for customers through word-of-mouth. Every leather piece was meticulously conceptualised and painstakingly crafted from a small desk.

The Business Journey

Turning our Passion into a Business

Since then, our overwhelming passion for the craft have grown into a viable business. Hides and Thread has matured from a small home-based atelier into a proper working studio offering their own suite of products and related services. Today, Hides and Thread is a leather design house, a small scale production line and a leather crafting space for avid learners, serving both corporate’s and hobbyists’ needs.

What we stand for

The Brand Name

The brand is named “Hides and Thread” as these are the two key elements in every leather product – high quality leather (also known as "hides") and robust matching threads. The combinations of different types of leather and threads are endless. We are very particular about every detail that goes into our product, including the threads that we use. After multiple iterations of testing, we narrowed down our choice of tanneries and the accompanying thread to create the perfect match.

Team Hides and Thread

Jonathan and Gary are the masterminds behind Hides and Thread. They met in 2016 through a mutual connection and the immediately hit off during the first meeting. Both guys are obsessed with leather goods and will often have lengthy talks about their product ideas, share leather crafting techniques and debate over the best type of leather, tools or threads to use.

With Gary’s practical experience and technical know-how and Jonathan’s flair for business and finance knowledge, they mutually complement each other at Hides and Thread. Both are strongly passionate about all things leather and have the common goal of creating a brand for themselves and spreading their knowledge and experience in this craft.

  • Jonathan Tan; Co-Founder

    Jonathan graduated with a degree in Engineering from National University of Singapore (NUS) and first started his career in the financial sector. Despite enjoying his work, he always knew that he wanted to have a go at setting up his own business but was unsure of what that would entail.

    Since his teenage years, Jonathan was obsessed with leather products. He would often go into departmental stores to check out their Men’s leather goods section looking for new designs, feeling the texture of the leather and, of course, sniffing in the luxurious “leather smell”.

    Jonathan chanced upon leather-crafting back in 2016 where he first saw a friend creating his own leather wallet. After creating his very first leather project – a simple cardholder – Jonathan fell in love with the craft and never stopped leather-crafting since then. What started out as a hobby eventually turned into a realisation that this could be a viable business and the start of Hides and Thread.

    With his interest in leather crafting and flair for business, he is responsible for marketing and business development at Hides and Thread.

  • Chng, Gary; Co-founder and Creative Head

    Gary is a creator by nature and loves to create his own things from scratch. He has dabbled with materials from using fabrics and leather to create his own street wear and accessories, to creating his own furniture and Katanas with wood. Despite his wide exposure to these materials, leather making remains as his preferred medium due to its luxurious feel and endless possibilities.

    With an interest in the Japanese culture, he combined it with his passion for leather making and created the TRIBUTE By 79 Tribal Nation brand, which incorporates traditional Japanese fabrics with luxurious leathers in his small leather goods and bags. In 2017, Gary was a nominee for emerging designer at the Singapore Fashion Awards with his TRIBUTE bags clinching the runner-up design in the Emerging Designer category. He has also been featured on Lianhe Wanbao and The Peranakan Magazine for his works.

    Equipped with over 15 years of experience in leather making and design, Gary is the creative mind behind Hides and Thread. He is a master at all stages of creating a leather product – from conceptualising the design to pattern making and finally managing the manufacturing process. Gary is also responsible for managing the handcrafting process of our signature goods.

    Gary had prior experience as the head artisan at a well-established local luxury leather goods company where he was involved in designing their collections and was responsible for handcrafting certain bespoke orders.

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