Proof Before Promises - On creating the world’s first salmon leather from land-based farming
by Daniel Kristian Eddé Ankarstrand, Founder
June 4, 2026
I did not set out to work with salmon leather.
Kristian Eddé began as an exploration of craft and material, an upcycling project using vintage exotic leathers sourced from discarded luxury objects. I was drawn to materials with character, history, and complexity. Materials that carried something beyond surface and trend.
Regulations around exotic leathers have existed for decades. What became clear over time, however, was how difficult it is to work responsibly and consistently with reclaimed exotic materials at a meaningful scale. Rather than forcing a solution that did not hold up, I began looking for other materials with the same depth and tactility. Materials that could meet the demands of craft, longevity, and responsibility at the same time.
Discovering salmon leather was, at first, accidental. But it did not take long to understand that this material was different. Not as an alternative, but as a correction. Salmon leather is remarkably strong. Its fibers cross rather than run parallel. It carries a natural pattern that feels both raw and refined. Exotic, yet unmistakably Nordic.
But using a byproduct from the fish industry is only a beginning.
The more I learned about salmon farming, the harder it became to ignore the consequences of open sea farming systems. Not just for the fish, but for entire ecosystems. Disease, parasites, genetic interference. These are not abstract issues. They are structural problems.
If we were going to work with this material, I felt we had to go further.
Over the past three years, I have spent time in conversations with fish producers, processors, industry experts, and policymakers. Not to campaign, but to understand. To see where the real constraints lie, and where change is actually possible.
Those conversations led to a simple conclusion. Land-based salmon farming is not a future concept. It already exists. Closed systems designed for control, circularity, and care. Systems that allow production without compromising the wild salmon struggling to survive beyond the shoreline.
Together with partners in the fish and leather industries, we took the next step. The first batch of skins from fully land-based farmed salmon was delivered to the Icelandic tannery Nordic Fish Leather. After experimentation, refinement, and patience, the result became something that did not exist before. The world’s first salmon leather made exclusively from land-based farming.
For me, this is not a symbolic milestone. It is proof.
Proof that higher standards are possible. Proof that responsibility does not diminish value, but increases it. And proof that fashion, when taken seriously, can influence systems far beyond itself.
I believe industries change when value changes. When something once overlooked becomes desirable. When care, restraint, and quality become markers of progress rather than obstacles to it.
That is where I see the role of fashion.
Not as a megaphone. Not as education. But as leverage.
A small object, made with precision and intent, can carry more weight than a thousand statements. It can introduce a different standard quietly, but persistently.
The first collection made from land-based salmon leather is released in collaboration with Eleven experience and Deplar Farm in Iceland, alongside partners who share this belief. It does not ask for attention. It sets a standard
For me, this work is personal. Not because it is emotional, but because it demands responsibility. Toward materials. Toward systems. Toward the future we choose to build.
This is just the beginning. But it is a beginning grounded in proof.
/KÉ
