Durability is sustainability

The most sustainable object is the one you never need to replace. We craft boxes, covers and holders meant to outlast trends, technology and most of what surrounds them. Built to be repaired if needed, handed down when the time comes, and never thrown away.

SUSTAINABILITY ICONS ASSIGNED ON
brand level FOR AUGUST SANDGREN

Verified by The Comarché, an independent framework that screens brands against real sustainability criteria, not self-issued claims. The icons below are awarded at brand level, meaning every August Sandgren object earns them by design.

UPCYCLED MATERIALS

A material given a new function, instead of going to waste.

Around 60% of every August Sandgren object is made from upcycled surplus, sourced directly from the European furniture and fashion industry.

NATURAL MATERIALS

Made from materials drawn from nature, not synthesised in a lab.

Every August Sandgren object is made from wood, leather or textile. All are either upcycled, OEKO-TEX certified, or made from natural fibres.

DURABLE MATERIAL

Designed to last, so the cycle of buying new can slow down.

We work only with materials chosen for their longevity, so each object is built to hold up to daily life for decades, not seasons.

CONSCIOUS LEATHER

Leather sourced with care: vegetable-tanned, plant-based, or rescued from elsewhere.

We work with the best leather we can find. Some comes from Sørensen Leather in Denmark, some is traceable farm to finished object through partners like SPOOR, and some is surplus from the European furniture industry.

MATERIAL TRANSPORT

Sourced close to where it is made, so the journey from part to finished object is as short as possible.

Every August Sandgren object is handmade in Portugal. Beyond the leather and fabric itself, all remaining parts are sourced locally, keeping the distance from raw material to finished object as short as it can be.

PRODUCTION | HANDMADE

Made by hand, in a workshop, by people who do this for a living

Every August Sandgren object is handmade in a single workshop in Portugal by a fourth-generation family of craftsmen. No factories, no shortcuts.

SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING

Packaging that earned a second life, instead of being designed for the bin.

All AS packaging is made from either left-over textiles (the nicely designed totes), recycled cardboard or biodegradable plastic (shipping bags only).

DISTRIBUTION

Shipped from close by, so the last leg of the journey is the shortest one.

We recently moved our entire warehouse to Porto, Portugal, where every object is finished and assembled. Since most of our orders ship within Europe, this keeps the final journey as short as we can make it.

"The precision OF THE CRAFTSMANSHIP,THE PROPORTIONS AND THE wonderful tactility OFTHE LEATHER ISA DAILY JOY."

"The precision OFTHECRAFTSMANSHIP,THEPROPORTIONS ANDTHE wonderfultactility OF THELEATHER ISA DAILY JOY."

Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen, Architect

AUGUST SANDGREN & THE COMARCHÉ

Sustainability has become a crowded word. It comes in many shades, many labels, and many agendas, and most of them are written by the brands themselves. We wanted to be measured by someone else.

The Comarché is an independent framework built to cut through that noise. It screens brands against verified criteria across the entire product lifecycle, drawing on certification schemes, third-party research, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

For August Sandgren, the appeal was simple. The way we have always made things, by hand, from materials others were going to throw away, in a workshop run by the same family for four generations, finally had a vocabulary to be judged against.

The Comarche Framework x August Sandgren

The framework assesses a brand across eight stages of how an object comes into the world and how it leaves it: Design, Materials & Extraction, Material Transport, Production, Packaging, Distribution, Usage, and End of Life. Around all of this sit the human questions: labour, human rights, fair trade.

August Sandgren is screened against every stage. We earn icons at brand level, meaning the standard applies to every object we make, not a selected few. Around 60% of our materials are upcycled. All production is handmade in Portugal. All packaging is reused, recycled, or biodegradable.

No framework captures everything. But being measured by one that does not belong to us, against criteria we did not write, is the most honest sustainability claim we can make.

limited edition