Escape. Career. Life.
You travel to grow.
You work to build.
You live to feel it all.
Three rhythms. One purpose.
We design for how you move through the world, from long-haul travel to daily ambition and everything in between. What you carry should feel meaningful, lasting, and entirely yours.
From the sunlit streets of Australia to the storied tanneries of Tuscany, Republic of Florence was founded on a single belief: what you carry should be as enduring as your own story. Each piece begins in the heart of Italy, where leathercraft is still not a process but a tradition, hand to hand, generation to generation.
We work in small batches, not because it’s fashionable, but because it’s the only way to give each bag the attention it deserves.
Every design carries the rhythm of two worlds: the Italian heritage we honour, and the Australian spirit we live in. The result, European luxury without pretence, quiet confidence without compromise.
90% percent of the world’s leather is made for speed, chrome-tanned, coated, pressed into uniformity. A flawless surface on the outside, but beneath it, a truth that time eventually exposes.
We walk a different path.
Our leather is full-grain, vegetable-tanned, and hand-dyed in Tuscany. Just 10% percent of the world’s leather is tanned this way, and fewer still are finished entirely by hand. Instead of chemicals, we use tannins drawn from bark and plants, the same patient, natural process trusted for centuries. The result is leather that breathes, that deepens, that begins with its own character and gathers more with every year.
Every hide is hand-dyed, colour worked into the grain until it becomes part of the leather itself. No two pieces are ever the same, just as no two journeys are. With time, it softens, darkens, and carries a patina that belongs only to you, shaped by your hands, your travels, your story.
For a closer look at our finishes, visit our Leather page.
To us, leather should feel alive, warm beneath your hand, rich in scent, textured with the marks of nature, not the press of a mould. Our bags are not just carriers of things; they are carriers of moments:
The weekend away
The first big meeting
The long-haul flight to
somewhere new
Within every Republic of Florence piece, you’ll find quiet details that matter: hand-stitched seams, solid hardware, thoughtful compartments. Not made to be showy, but to be there in the moments when you’ll need them most.
We don’t believe in mass production. Instead, we work alongside small, family-run tanneries and workshops in Tuscany, each carrying decades of knowledge in their hands. Here, leather is honoured, not wasted; only the finest cuts are chosen, while natural variations are embraced as part of the story.
A Republic of Florence bag is never an impulse. It’s a quiet investment in time itself, crafted to live with you, to adapt, to soften, and to bear the marks of a life well-travelled. Every crease, every patina, not flaws but memories, making it more beautiful with each passing year.
We craft for the ones who carry more than belongings.
For the professional whose bag should rise to meet their ambition.
For the traveller who wants a companion that feels at home from airport halls to quiet country inns.
For the giver who seeks a gift that will be treasured not for a season, but for a lifetime.
Whichever path you walk, our promise is constant: a piece where beauty, purpose, and endurance live as one.
I was born in Florence, where the air itself carried the scent of leather and the steady rhythm of artisans at work. Years later, I met Kira in Australia, made it my home, and together we shaped Republic of Florence, a family brand that marries Italian heritage with Australian spirit, bound by a single purpose:
To create leather pieces that endure, that carry meaning, and that mirror the journey of the one who wears them.
We began in Florence in 2004, selling across Europe, the UK, and the US, before settling in Sydney in 2007. What began at local markets in Bondi and Balmain grew into a brand known for timeless design, quality materials, and genuine craft.
Our pieces are not shaped by trends, but by what lasts: form, function, and forever. Whether it becomes your travel companion, your workday ally, or a gift filled with sentiment, each piece is made to live with you and to grow more beautiful with time.
Welcome to Republic of Florence.
A place where purpose shapes craft, and timeless luxury is born.
This page is only the beginning. The story of our leather and why it matters runs deeper than any single bag. That’s why we created the Republic of Florence Leather Education & Lifestyle Series: to share what a lifetime in this craft has taught us.
We invite you to explore, to learn, and to carry something that gathers meaning with every passing year.
Because here, it is never just leather.
