ABOUT ALPîNE
The Story of Alpîne
My name is Mary. I’m a designer and leatherworker. My family moved to Switzerland with our dog Bonnie, an 8 year old black lab when I was 8 years old. We travelled by boat to Genoa and over the Italian Alps into Switzerland. Legendary for their cozy, elegant resorts, the Alps are the inspiration behind Alpine. The Alpîne look is a style reminiscent of cozy mountain villages where tradition and craft were valued. Every piece I create reflects my love for the mountains and the enduring bond between people and their animals.
A lifelong fascination with craftmanship and history
While studying anthropology, I learned to make primitive stone tools during archaeological digs in Europe. I’ve long been fascinated by early humans and their ingenuity—how they adapted to the cold as they migrated north into Eurasia, and how they transformed animal hides into essential clothing and accessories.
To take a raw hide and, with little more than a few hand tools, create something both functional and beautiful is deeply satisfying. When I work with leather, I often imagine those early hominids—standing on rocky steppes, cutting and shaping their hides. Across the millennia, I feel that connection to our shared human story and to the natural world that has always sustained us.
How Alpîne began
That sense of connection stayed with me. Years later, when I was a graduate student in Cambridge, living with my English Bull Terrier, her leather leash broke. I remembered the sturdy, beautifully made leashes I’d seen at home in Switzerland and traveled back to replace it—because in the 1980s, there was little to choose from here.
Somewhere in that moment, it occurred to me that I might try making them myself. And so, a small company - Alpîne - was born.
Today
What began as a company for dogs, now makes a variety of collars and leads for dogs as well as a few select bags and other accessories with leather, sheepskin and Biothane. A single broken leash led to a lifelong craft—one that celebrates quality, simplicity, and the enduring connection between people, animals, and the natural world.
Alpîne is a small family run company based in New England.