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What is Sheepskin?

To state the obvious, sheepskin is a natural product. Surprisingly enough, it comes from sheep. In this case, Portuguese Merino sheep or in the case of our rugs and gloves, other specialist breeds.

Being a natural product, each skin is different. The colour of the wool ranges from almost pure white, through shades of cream to brown and black. We do our best to match the colour of the wool on each pair of slippers, but from one pair to another and one batch to another there will always be a variety of shades. This is not a defect, but part of the charm of a natural product.

Likewise, while we do our best to keep the colour of our slippers as uniform as possible, from one batch to another there are often slight variations in shade. You probably won’t believe it, but the time of year the skins are tanned and the relative humidity of the atmosphere both affect the final colour. (By the way, all the dyes we use conform to the relevant EU regulations on health, safety and environmental protection).

The sheepskin we use in our slippers is produced by local tanneries in Alcanena, Portugal. It is vegetable tanned. No synthetic chemicals are used in the tanning process, only the bark and extract of certain plants and trees – mostly mimosa, chestnut and quebracho.

CorkyCraft products are naturally Portuguese: made in Portugal out of 100% natural leather, sheepskin and cork from local sustainable sources, straight from the manufacturer to your home.