In the outskirts of Buenos Aires, there sits a small, old factory where a family of craftsmen—they’ve been at this for generations—works away tanning and stretching hides to be made into ridiculously cool leather bombers and bucket bags for the line Hare+Hart. Jennie Engelhardt (right) and Emily Harrison split their time between the Argentine city, where Jennie once studied abroad and where Emily moved post-college, and NYC, and their ties to this place is what got their label started: “One trip, I decided I wanted to have a custom jacket made, and it turned out awfully,” Jennie recalls. “The styles weren’t contemporary, but the leather and craftsmanship were of such high quality that we really thought, ‘This could be something.’ So we started brainstorming designs.”

Since launching in 2010, they’ve both sourced their leather and done production in Argentina, and they plan to keep it that way for awhile. “I think that at first the craftsmen we work with thought, ‘You young American girls—you don’t know anything,’” Jennie says. “But it’s been a few years, and I think they’re finally starting to admit that we might know something.” —lydia woolever