Awl Together Leather is built on a deep commitment to sustainability, environmental justice, and the revival of traditional trades. Our core mission is to divert textiles, leather goods, and footwear from landfills by prioritizing repair over replacement. We believe that sustainability is not an add-on, but the foundation of everything we do, and we aim to shift public behavior through accessible, inclusive, and skillful repair services.  

To further reduce environmental impact, the shop makes use of salvaged, secondhand, and deadstock materials whenever possible. We repair items that are often difficult to service elsewhere (including items that are heavily worn, no longer supported by manufacturers or don’t commonly fit on a regular industrial sewing machines) making us a key player in promoting a circular economy. Some examples of these oddball items have included patching the leather on vintage wood ski poles, altering a dog’s muzzle to allow a pup to visit their owner in hospice and recently, adding a neck hole and canvas backing to a boar hide (for a local pipe band). These are items that other repair shops would have declined, as many repairers stick to a specific lane (such as only working on shoes, or only on bags, etc.).  

We frame repair as both a climate action and a form of care, helping shift cultural attitudes around waste and obsolescence. Our hope is to address a lack of information around what is able to be repaired, when is “too far gone” and even how to find repairers local to you (for those not in Vancouver). Awl Together aims to educate our customer base through social media, public workshops, and interviews in publications like CBC, Style Insider, Stitchdown.com and Asparagus Magazine. Recently, we have been certified as “Green” (highest ranking!) by BC Green Business, as well as being “Water Friendly”!  

Commitment to sustainability is not a side initiative for us. It’s the foundation of the business. Every stitch, sole, and seam worked on at Awl Together Leather is a small step toward a more sustainable and equitable future in fashion and trades work.