Since 2015, we have cultivated a sustained relationship with Peruvian artisans to create cow horn buttons to ennoble our garments. 

This is how they are made:

 

In San Juan de Lurigancho—a district in Lima, Peru—a workshop of expert artisans work with cow horns by hand.

Each horn is washed, cut longitudinally, cooked over wood fire, opened, pressed, and finally cut into individual pieces that are hand carved into the final shapes. 

This process takes several hours.

As a result, we get smooth, firm, and durable buttons. Given that cow horn is a 100% natural material, each button is unique in its coloring and tones. 

The use of cow horn to make buttons and accessories is a very old trade in Latin America. In our small-scale production, horns are not expressly obtained for craftwork. Rather, a material that would otherwise be wasted is recovered. 

This trade has been the work of generations of artisans who have perfected the responsible treatment of cow horns.

The same process is used to make cow horn buckles for our statement belts. 

 

At SISA we are committed to fostering this chain of craftsmanship, fair trade, and artisanal collaboration through our accessories and finishing details. 

We also collaborate with artisans that work with combarbalita in Chile, and Huamanga stone in Peru, to make stone buttons.