Skip to content

Complimentary shipping on orders over $250

Chiban
A tan full-grain leather messenger bag resting on worn stone steps.

Rugged.
Strong.
Beautiful.

Full-grain Ethiopian leather, cut and stitched by hand in Addis Ababa.

Discover the collection

Leather made by hand in Addis Ababa, by a workshop that gives young people the craft — and the dignified work — to build their own futures.

Our story

The collections

The Icons

The pieces our workshop is known for — made again and again, and better each time.

View all

An artisan in a workshop coat hammers a metal punch into a strip of red leather.

Made by hand,
made with purpose.

Chiban is a women-owned leather workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Every bag begins as full-grain highland cowhide and ends in the hands of an artisan who learned the craft here.

We are also a social enterprise. Chiban trains and employs marginalised and vulnerable young people — many of them former street youth — through skill-building, education and dignified, paid work.

Every piece we make carries a story of resilience, transformation and love.
Visit the atelier

The Leathers

Full-grain Ethiopian cowhide from a network of local tanneries, finished four ways. Choose by touch, by colour, by how you want it to age.

Learn about our leathers

Chiban means business.

Handcrafted partners in success.

Branded gifts for your clients and team, custom pieces made to your brief, or your own design brought to life by our artisans in Addis Ababa.

Enquire about gifting
Totes and backpacks hung on a white wall beside a window, under hand-lettered script reading “do all things with love”.

Follow the work

@chiban_leather

Letters from the atelier

New pieces, restocks and stories from Addis Ababa. Never more than we have to say.