Custom Leather · East Vancouver

Leather Passport Sleeves

Rogue Artisan builds custom leather passport sleeves one at a time in an East Vancouver workshop. Gordon Mielke cuts, edges, and saddle-stitches each sleeve by hand from full-grain vegetable-tanned leather or Horween Chromexcel. Pricing starts at $95 CAD. No two sleeves ship with the same spec — your travel document gets its own cover, not a warehouse pull.

What a Rogue Artisan passport sleeve actually is

It's a single piece of full-grain leather, folded and stitched around your passport with a small pocket on the inside for a boarding pass stub or a folded customs form. No plastic liner, no cardboard stiffener, no glued-in logo patch. The leather does the work.

I cut the pattern so the spine sits on the belly of the hide, where the fibre density is highest. That matters because a passport gets opened and shut hundreds of times a trip — the spine crease is where cheap covers crack first. Cutting from the right zone of the hide pushes that failure point out by years.

Two leather options are on the bench:

• Vegetable-tanned full grain — pale tan out of the box, darkens to a deep amber with handling and UV. The patina on one of these after a couple of trips is the whole point.
• Horween Chromexcel — hot-stuffed, waxy, supple from day one. Pulls a deeper colour, shows scratches that buff out with thumb friction.

Saddle stitch, by hand

Every passport sleeve is sewn on the bench with a saddle stitch — two needles, one continuous thread, each stitch locked against itself. It's slower than a machine lockstitch. It also can't unravel when a single stitch is cut, which matters when the sleeve lives in a back pocket or a carry-on side strap.

Stitch spacing runs about 7 SPI (stitches per inch) on the body and tightens to 9–10 SPI on the corners where the needle has to turn short radius. Thread is waxed Tiger thread, polyester, in the colour you pick. I run the awl through first, then the needle — the awl opens the hole slightly larger than the thread so the leather isn't fighting the needle, which keeps the grain from splitting on the back side.

Edge finish that holds up to a carry-on

Edges get sanded through three grits, burnished with water and a bone folder, then sealed with a wax-based edge coat. The bevel is cut before sanding so the corner profile is consistent all the way around. On a vegetable-tanned sleeve, the edge darkens with the rest of the leather as it ages; on Chromexcel, the edge stays close to the surface colour and just polishes smoother.

Fit, sizing, and what actually fits inside

The sleeve is sized to a standard Canadian or US passport — 88 mm × 125 mm closed. The interior pocket on the left inside panel takes a folded boarding pass, a customs declaration card, or two folded banknotes. It will not swallow a phone. If you want a phone pocket, that's a different build and we should talk before I cut.

Thickness on the body runs 3.5–4 oz (1.4–1.6 mm). That's thick enough to protect the booklet from being sat on in a seat pocket, thin enough that the sleeve still closes flat in a jacket interior pocket. The corners are rounded at a 6 mm radius — small enough to keep the silhouette tidy, large enough that the corner stitch isn't sitting on a stress point.

Vancouver-specific build choices

East Vancouver rain gets into everything. A passport sleeve lives in a coat that lives on a SkyTrain platform. Two build choices are made with that in mind:

• The thread is polyester, not waxed linen. Linen absorbs water and swells; polyester doesn't, so the stitch channels stay tight through a wet commute.
• The edge coat is wax-based, not acrylic. If it scuffs on a bike commute, you can re-burnish it with a fingertip and a bit of heat — no solvent, no re-coat trip to the shop.

If you commute by bike and the sleeve rides in a handlebar bag or a pannier, mention it in the commission notes. I'll bias the build toward Chromexcel for the waxy surface and skip the high-gloss edge in favour of a matte burnish that hides road rash.

How ordering works

Every passport sleeve is made to order. You pick the leather, the thread colour, whether you want the Raven maker mark stamped on the back panel or omitted, and any add-on like a custom dye colour. I send a spec sheet back before cutting so the build is locked in writing. Lead time depends on queue depth — get in touch for the current window.

Pickup is available at the East Vancouver studio. Shipping across Canada goes out via Canada Post or UPS on request.

Add-ons and pricing

Base price for a Leather Passport Sleeve is from $95 CAD. Add-ons stack on top:

• Premium leather (heavier cut or specialty hide): +$20
• Custom dye colour: +$8
• Raven maker mark stamped on the back: +$0
• No maker mark: +$10
• Surprise weird leather (whatever's on the bench that week): +$0

If you want a matching card sleeve or a coordinating bifold for the same trip, I can cut both from the same hide panel so the grain and colour match. Ask about a card holder or a classic bifold wallet as a set.

Care between trips

Veg-tan wants a light conditioning once or twice a year with a neutral cream — nothing with silicone. Chromexcel wants almost nothing; a dry cloth and the friction of your hand is usually enough. If the sleeve gets soaked on a SkyTrain platform, blot it with a dry cloth, let it dry at room temperature away from a radiator, then condition the veg-tan version once it's fully dry. More detail on keeping leather alive through a Vancouver winter lives in the leather care in Vancouver rain journal entry.

Frequently asked questions

Will it fit a non-Canadian passport?

Most standard passports (US, UK, EU, Australia, Japan) fall within a few millimetres of the Canadian size. If yours is oversized — German temporary passports run larger, for example — send the dimensions in the commission notes and I'll adjust the pattern before cutting.

Can I get a monogram or initials?

Yes. Initials, a short word, or a small symbol can be blind-tooled (no colour) or foil-stamped on the front panel. Bring it up when we lock the spec. Larger artwork is a different conversation and may push the build into the Raven Edition bespoke track.

How long does it take?

Depends on the queue. A single passport sleeve is a short build, but the bench runs one commission at a time. Email or call for the current lead time before you book a trip around the delivery date.

Do you ship outside Canada?

Shipping across Canada is the default. For US or international shipping, get in touch first — shipping cost and any customs paperwork get sorted before the build starts.

What if my passport gets renewed and the new one is a different size?

Rare, but it happens with some countries issuing slightly larger booklets. A new sleeve at the same spec is built at the standard price. Send a photo of the new passport against a ruler and I'll confirm the fit before cutting.

Why vegetable-tanned or Chromexcel instead of something cheaper?

Both are full-grain, which means the surface you touch is the top of the hide, not a sanded and printed correction layer. They age instead of wearing out. The trade-off is upfront cost and a longer break-in. There's a longer breakdown in the full-grain vs. genuine leather journal entry.

Get in touch

Email info@rogueartisan.ca or call (250) 719-1332 with the leather you want, the thread colour, and your pickup or shipping preference. If you're not sure what you want yet, that's a fine place to start the conversation too.