Written by Menswear Style in Interviews on the 1st September 2021

Established in 2017, Oliver Co. is a sustainable, vegan travel goods brand based in London. The company was started by Matt Oliver, a product designer who having studied sustainable design and previously worked in high-end watch design, wanted to apply both of his skills to create a sustainable brand with the same level of detail and craftsmanship. Our aim is to try and disrupt an industry and change people’s perceptions of sustainable products. Through using innovative new sustainable fabrics and working with high-end manufacturers, we want to create minimalistic, highly functional products for today’s world.

In a recent episode of the MenswearStyle Podcast we interview Matthew Oliver, Founder of Oliver Co. London about the story of how his DTC brand was started in 2017 after a career in watch design. With a focus on sustainability the business brings great product design to the vegan travel goods sector. Our host Peter Brooker and Matthew talked about the benefits of apple leather, the process of getting the business off the ground, and developments in the sustainable industry.

“We call ourselves a sustainably progressive accessories brand. We produce card holders, wallets, and various other products using some of the latest material innovations in the market. We work with high end manufacturers to create products that are designed to last because ultimately, we’re aiming to reduce our environmental impact as much as possible without compromising on the product design. We as product designers can help solve the climate crisis. We really need to be creating products that are good in terms of design and longevity, if not better, but inherently have a lower impact and are better for the environment. I saw an opportunity to create a brand which would focus on good design, good branding and desirability, whilst having sustainability and transparency built into the foundations from the outset." 

"One of the main materials we uses is apple leather which is a vegan leather that's made from apple waste from the fruit juice and compote industry in Italy. From a sustainability standpoint - the waste produced from the apple industry - there's a huge amount of it. A single tree can keep producing apples for hundreds of years and the apples are not grown specifically for the production of the leather fabric, the apple waste is produced as a by-product to the industry and it would end up in landfill or be burnt in most cases. The industry is constantly innovating in this area. It’s an exciting time to be a part of it.”

This is a shortened transcribed edit of episode 127 of the MenswearStyle Podcast with Matthew Oliver, Founder of olivercompanylondon.com. You can listen to the full version below or listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favourite podcast player.

We sit down with Matthew Oliver of Oliver Company London to talk about Sustainability, Luxury Vegan Accessories, and Apple Leather Wallets for our podcast show.