Our Story

The Reclaim Cooperative

Every fish skin left behind is a material waiting for a second life.

We reclaim the skins that fish processing leaves behind and turn them into durable, distinctive leather, then handcraft it in small batches into pieces made to be worn, used and kept for years.

Where it began

It started with a question nobody was asking.

The Reclaim Cooperative began in 2025 in Kings Valley, Oregon, with a simple observation: fish processing leaves behind skins by the ton, and almost all of them are thrown away.

Nick, Dalton, and Mark saw something else. A material with a natural grain no tannery could invent, and a strength that belies its weight. What started as a way to teach tanning to high school students grew into a cooperative of makers, tanners and fishers working to give that material the respect it deserves.

Meet our partners

How it's made

Three steps from waste to wardrobe.

01

Reclaimed

We start with skins left over from fish already caught for food. Instead of heading to the landfill, they come to us.

02

Tanned

Each skin is cleaned and tanned with natural bark, with no hazardous chemicals, into supple leather that keeps the natural scale pattern of the fish it came from.

03

Crafted

Every piece is made by hand in small batches by The Reclaim Cooperative, with hand-selected finishing touches and built to last.

Reclaimed

Bark tanned

Handmade in small batches

One of a kind

The material

Unlike any leather you've worn.

Fish leather has a cross-woven fiber structure that makes it remarkably strong for how thin and light it is. No two skins share the same pattern, so every piece you own is one of a kind.

And because it begins as a byproduct, it makes better use of a resource that already exists, instead of asking more of the planet.

Alongside fish leather, we also work with natural elk, goat and rabbit hides. Each one carries its own markings, so no two pieces are exactly alike.

So expect your piece to differ from the photos in pattern, color and texture. That is not a flaw; it is the mark of a real material. Read our care & materials guide.

What we stand for

Waste is a design problem.

We believe the most sustainable material is often the one already in front of us. Reclaiming fish skin is our answer to that.

Made to last.

We would rather make one piece you keep for a decade than ten you replace. Quality materials and careful finishing come first.

Built together.

We are a cooperative at heart: fishers, tanners, makers and teachers, each doing their part to turn what was wasted into something worth keeping. When you bring a piece home, you become part of that work too.