Materials That Matter

From earth-friendly fabrics to ocean-sourced innovations, we choose every element with purpose.

  • What is fish leather?

    NAYLAS are made from food-industry waste that our fish tanneries transform into fish leather. Fish skin is typically tossed out, and re-purposing it is a form of upcycling—making use of materials that would otherwise be disregarded—that feels especially good right now. Our tanneries use only the skins of fish that have already entered the food system and are bound for refuse. Every one of those skins initially comes from salmon sourced from fish farms with third-party accreditation for responsible farming.

    We are acolytes, not inventors, of fish leather, which has been used for centuries by indigenous people around the world to make durable shoes and even to bind books; we have its crosshatch pattern of fibers to thank for its strength. We fell hard for the sumptuous texture—buttery like suede, yet as rare and as dazzling as you’d expect of something plucked from the sea—and the sleek look that’s as brilliant with a swishy skirt as it is with cropped wide-leg pants or slouchy workmen jeans.
Nayla Fish Tannery 2 Nayla Fish Tannery 1

Here's a quick summary of how our fish leather is made.

We work with two fish tanneries: one is perched on Iceland's north coast and dreamily overlooks a fjord; the other is located in Lyon, France.

Both of our tanneries operate in compliance with the European Union’s REACH standard, a regulation that protects the health of humans and the planet by guarding against harmful chemicals and other pollutants.  

1. Deep Clean

The fish skin is purified. Our Icelandic tannery, which is 100 percent powered by geothermal energy, soaks and thoroughly cleans the fish skins with water from a local well heated with renewable energy.

2. …More Deep Cleaning

The skins are refined of fatty oils and bleached, so that they can be dyed any color of the rainbow later on. 

3. Tanning

The skins are treated with tannins, compounds used to create structure, desired texture, and durability. Our Lyon factory uses a combination of organic tannins, such as mimosa and chestnut.

4. Re-Tanning

After getting massaged with nourishing oils, the fish leather feels supple and is ready to be dyed.

5. Softening and Finishing

Once the fish leather has air-dried, it’s passed through a softening machine that exerts intense pressure to make the texture feel subtly lived-in, so that your brand-new NAYLAS feel softly broken in and super comfy the second you slip into them.

Wild Rubber

We sustainably source wild rubber for the soles of the shoes.

We get our rubber from wild rubber trees in the Amazon rainforest of Peru. Wild rubber trees produce latex naturally, the way maple trees make sap. Rubber farmers make careful incisions in the trees to extract the latex, a milky liquid that fills their collection containers in the course of a few hours.

They then filter the latex, coagulating the rubber particles from the watery sap. The latex sheets or solid rubber is hung to dry, which can take anywhere from five to seven days, depending on the weather.

Wild Rubber

There’s no rushing this process, or the rainy season, which typically stretches from November to April, and means we’re not able to source more rubber, if we’ve run out, until the weather clears. There is something meaningfully unhurried about having to build these waiting times into our shoe production calendar. Once the wild rubber farmers have collected what they need, they leave the trees alone to regenerate. This is crucial: The Amazon rainforest provides 20 percent of the world’s oxygen, and many environmentally unkind industries are finding more economic excuses to cut these trees down.

The rubber tappers live in the rainforest, they have families to support, and wild rubber provides them with jobs and a steady income. Harvesting the rubber creates an economy in the Amazon that isn’t based on deforestation and supports the local population. The wild rubber on the soles of your NAYLAS are vulcanized, reinforced to be more flexible and durable for walking, dancing, gallivanting, and having a splendid time.

Our Factory in Lima, Peru

No conveyor belts. No machines cranking away at warp speed to maximize productivity. There are, instead, women and men at work, handmaking small-batch orders with thoughtful energy, artisanal flair, and an attention to detail that we’re profoundly grateful for and quite in awe of. The fish leather—which comes only in small strips (fish, remember, are small in comparison to cows, which yield larger hides)—is hand-cut and meticulously sewn together.The subtle variations you might notice in your NAYLAS is evidence of the fallible, inimitable human touch—and for that reason we prize these irregularities. 

Factory Photo 1 Factory Photo 3

Thank you so much to the employees of our factory for translating what we dreamed up into something tangible, fanciful, comfortable, and wildly unique.

Foam Inserts

Breathable foam inserts made with castor oil and other recycled materials inlay your shoes, so that every step you take feels cushiony.

We use sustainable materials and processes whenever we can, but our shoes are not 100 percent sustainable. We are committed to being as easy on the environment as possible, and we’re constantly striving to evolve to be more ecologically innovative.