What is The Craft at MTL, ISA Next-Gen Materials’ hands-on leather-making workshop?

Transcript of the ISA Voice episode as recorded, with minor corrections to spelling and punctuation.

0:00 · Introduction

There's a sound you never forget, the hum of a tannery in action. Drums turning, hide horses moving, machines whirling, and people working in perfect sync. Tanning leather is not just an industry, it's a craft. And at ISA TanTec, the craft is more than something that embodies our leather workmanship. We teach it.

0:36 · What The Craft at MTL is

I'm Gordon Wemmitt, joining you once again for the latest episode of the ISA Voice. Welcome to The Craft at MTL, a two-day deep dive into the real world of sustainable leather manufacturing held right here at Mississippi TanTec, our Vicksburg, Mississippi tannery. But, this isn't your average workshop. It's where classroom learning meets the factory floor, where theory and practice come together, and students roll up their sleeves and even get their hands a little dirty. We invite designers, developers, material managers, and footwear experts from across the industry to step into a tanner's shoes to see, touch, and actually make the material that brings beauty, performance, and durability to their products.

1:16 · Who attends

Participation in The Craft at MTL is by invitation and is hosted two to four times per year. Each session can host an entire team from a single brand or a mix of curious minds from multiple companies, blending different experiences, styles, and stories into one collaborative environment. We found that the magic happens in that mix. When a color designer from one brand pairs notes with a sustainability lead from another, or when a product developer finally sees how the leather they've specced comes to life on the tannery floor. We've even had an instance where a product team shared how they recently solved a construction challenge that had been perplexing another brand for weeks.

1:53 · The new classroom

We just hosted our 10th session, and it was a special one, having recently christened our brand new classroom facility designed specifically for immersive learning, better acoustics, sharper visuals, and enough space to toss full sides of leather around.

2:10 · Day one: the classroom

Day one begins in the classroom, but not the kind you remember from school. This is an intensive, fast-paced session led by our own ISA leather experts. A balanced mix of people with diverse leather and shoemaking backgrounds. We get into every nuance of leather, from its rich history, types of livestock, tanning methods, to grain types, and what really makes leather sustainable. Attendees get a front row seat at how modern leather is made, and how it's made to meet and exceed today's environmental expectations. Every student is supplied all the physical learning tools necessary to fully understand every step of the process, leather type, and leather finish right at their desks. The curriculum moves from compelling on-screen visual content to pouring over full sides of leather laid on tables right there in the classroom. It really is a 360° view of leather making, but we don't stop there. Then, after a detailed breakdown of the leather-making process, the real heartbeat of the program happens.

3:06 · The tannery floor

We step out onto the tannery floor, and there's something powerful about that moment, especially for those who have never been to a tannery. You feel the energy of the process. You hear the rhythm of the drums, see hides transform right in front of you. Participants get to follow the full process from wet blue arrival to crust to finish. And it's not just observation, it's participation. Hands-on experience includes wet blue grading, loading drums, drying, milling, even applying finishes. Seeing the transition from the bluish raw material to beautiful nubuck at the final quality inspection. It's an opportunity to move with the leather in real time. For many, this is the first time they've ever connected the dots between the product in their hands and the process behind it.

3:53 · Why it matters

And that's the part where everything clicks. When sustainable sourcing, manufacturing processes, and finished material performance suddenly makes sense as a unified craft. The Craft at MTL isn't about selling leather. It's about building understanding between tanneries and brands, between materials and makers, between sustainability and design. When people leave Vicksburg, they don't just walk away with new knowledge. They walk away with new perspective. They see leather not as a static material, but as part of a bigger intricate system. One that reflects the people, places, and decisions behind it. And that's what The Craft at MTL is really about. Connecting the footwear industry to its leather crafting roots and giving the next generation of creators the tools to shape leather footwear's future responsibly. And as we welcome our 10th session, it feels like a milestone, but also the beginning. Each group that passes through adds a new layer to our story, new questions, new insights, new possibilities. The instructors at The Craft at MTL insist, the more we teach, the more we learn. And the learning never stops. So, to everyone who's joined us and everyone still to come, welcome to The Craft at MTL, where the future of leather is made one hide, one mind, and one story at a time.

5:02 · Closing and how to attend

I'm Gordon, and this has been a look at The Craft at MTL, a journey through the art and science of sustainable leather making, brought to you by ISA TanTec. If you're interested in attending The Craft at MTL, please contact your ISA sales representative for more details. Thanks for listening to the latest episode of the ISA Voice.