OUR HERITAGE
A LEGACY IN LEATHER. SINCE 1973.
Every Abas piece begins in the wild and ends on a workbench. Two places, two crafts, one house. All made to last through generations.
SOURCING
A BYPRODUCT, NOT A HARVEST
Wild American alligator is not an endangered species. Florida is home to more than 1.3 million, and under 1% are harvested each year as part of the state's wildlife management programs. Alligator meat is the primary economic driver of that harvest. The skin is a byproduct.
The harvest itself is highly regulated, drawn from the wild across the Southeastern United States, including Florida, Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, and East Texas.
To keep control over that process, Abas ownership purchased Black Diamond Alligator Tannery in Lecanto, Florida. Black Diamond tans wild alligator skins exclusively, under strict environmental standards. Owning the tannery means the material never leaves our hands between the habitat and the workbench.
CRAFTSMANSHIP
WHEN JIM MET FRED, 1973
Jim was a street artisan in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when he met Fred Bastian, an established leather manufacturer. Their first project together, a hand-crafted design concept, won the 1973 Leather Industry of America design award for personal leather goods.
Manufacturing was established in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1985, and it's been there ever since. Today, a team of one to five craftsmen cuts, stitches, and finishes every piece, specializing in American alligator and ostrich. One hide, one maker, start to finish.
FROM HIDE TO HAND: THE MAKING OF A CLASSIC
From raw hide to finished wallet, every step happens by hand. Join us on the Abas factory floor in Worcester, Massachusetts, for an inside look as our craftsmen cut, stitch, and finish our most iconic product, the Ultimate Alligator Bifold Wallet.
No shortcuts, no machines doing a craftsman's job. Just skilled hands and decades of experience, one hide at a time.