A wallet you buy once and carry for decades.
That is the whole idea, and it is the only reason this workshop exists. Full-grain leather, saddle-stitched by hand in Istanbul, covered for life. We could not find one that lasted — so in 2015 we started making our own, and every piece we sell still leaves our own bench.
The wallet in your pocket has a shelf life.
You know how it goes. The corner frays. The card slot stretches until cards start sliding out on their own. The “genuine leather” turns out to be a paper-thin layer glued onto something else, and by month fourteen it is peeling at the fold.
And when it finally gives up, there is nobody to tell. No name on the box. No email that reaches an actual person.
None of this is really about the wallet. It is about paying for something described as leather, finding out it was not, and having nowhere to take that. A small thing to be annoyed by — and you are reminded of it every time you pay for coffee.
So you buy another one. And another. Most people replace a wallet every year or two and never stop to question it, because that is just what wallets do now.
So we set out to make the one that doesn't
2015. Rather than buy another wallet, Atakan bought a full-grain hide, an awl and a spool of waxed thread, and made one for himself: no glued layers, no machine seam that unravels — cut by hand, saddle-stitched, edges burnished at a small table in the corner of our home in Istanbul. The stitches came out uneven and one corner sat slightly crooked. He carried it anyway.
Friends saw it and asked for one. So he made theirs too — a little better each time. Then their brothers and colleagues called. Those wallets were not fraying, not peeling, not stretching: the problem turned out to be solvable, and the requests kept coming.
“Would you make one for me, too?”
For five years it stayed a weekend craft — then the hobby became the work. In 2020 we made the hardest decision of our lives — Atakan left the desk job to do this full time — and gave the brand the name of the most precious thing we have ever made: Toprak. Today, Toprank Leather is a registered US trademark, and still a family workshop in Istanbul — just with more tables.
A hobby at a corner table in Istanbul. Atakan worked a desk job; Ayşe taught.
Their son Toprak is born — the name the brand would later carry.
Atakan leaves the desk job for the cutting table. The hardest decision, and the right one.
A registered US trademark, a family of three — and thousands of people who carry our work.
The family behind the workshop
No studio, no agency, no third-party factory. When you order, one of us makes it and the other one packs it — and once it's in your pocket, you're part of the story too.
Atakan
Worked a desk job until 2020. Cuts, stitches and burnishes every piece himself. If a seam isn't right, it goes in the scrap bin — not the box.
Ayşe
A teacher by training. Handles finishing, packing and every email you send us — which is why replies sound like a person, not a template.
Born in 2016. Our son, and the reason the brand is called what it is. Everything that leaves here carries his name — so it has to be worth it. Every person who carries one is part of this family.
Four things we don't compromise on
Honest about materials
Full-grain, vegetable-tanned hides from Turkish tanneries. We name exactly what a piece is made of — no vague labels.
Never mass-produced
Every piece is made entirely by hand, using traditional leatherworking methods — cut, saddle-stitched and burnished one at a time. No production line, nothing outsourced, nothing machine-seamed.
Responsible for life
Every piece carries a lifetime warranty. If it ever fails, we repair it or replace it.
Answered by a human
Write to us and you'll hear back from Atakan or Ayşe, usually within one business day.
Everything is made here, by hand
Our workshop is still in Istanbul, a short walk from where that first corner table stood. It smells of wax and cut leather, and it is quiet — the sound of an awl going through a hide, and thread being pulled taut, one stitch at a time.
We want to grow, and we are — by adding benches and training more hands, not by handing the work to a factory. Nothing here is mass-produced: every piece is still cut, saddle-stitched and burnished one at a time, using the same traditional methods we started with.
Three steps, and it's yours for life
No configurator, no waiting list, no fine print. This is the whole process.
Choose your piece
Pick the model and the leather. Every piece states exactly what it is made of, and what it will look like in five years.
We make it by hand
Cut, saddle-stitched and burnished at our bench in Istanbul, then checked one by one before it is packed. Delivered to your door by DHL, FedEx or UPS.
Carry it for years
With every day of use it develops a patina — the hallmark of true full-grain leather — and simply gets better with age. If it ever fails, write to us — we repair it or replace it.
“If it doesn't deserve our son's name on it, it doesn't leave the workshop.”
Four or five of them in a decade, none of them worth keeping, and no one to write to when the corner starts to go. Roughly the same money — spent again and again.
A wallet you'll carry trouble-free for years — and one that gets more beautiful as you use it: the leather develops a patina, and the two of you build a story together. Leather doesn't wear out; it ages. The only wallet problem you'll have left is choosing the one that matches your outfit.
Questions about a piece, a repair, or an order? Write to us directly — get in touch.
Toprank Leather® is a registered trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (Serial No. 98223004).
Handmade full-grain leather goods, crafted in Istanbul since 2015. Built to get better with age.
Handmade full-grain leather goods, crafted in Istanbul since 2015. Built to get better with age.