Behind the Design: Seven Hills Collection

Written by: Thomas Brennan, Senior Director of Design

When I was young, my mom had a sweatshirt that I always thought was very clever. It was teal (the early 90s: a major era for both wild color and sweatshirt-centric wardrobes) and listed four cities in clean white letters: London with a simple drawing of Big Ben; Paris and little Eiffel Tower; Rome with a crude Coliseum, and most importantly, Lynchburg, Virginia, with a cluster of seven pointy hills. I’d never been to any of those other three cities and while I congratulated myself on getting the joke, I also couldn’t help but be a little impressed and proud that we too had a city-defining, sweatshirt-worthy landmark.

BEHIND THE DESIGN: THE NAME

At this point the story behind the name of our new Seven Hills collection probably seems extremely obvious, maybe even a little simplistic. For those who didn’t grow up here or haven’t seen my mom’s sweatshirt, the original footprint of Lynchburg, Virginia — Moore & Giles’ home since 1933 — was laid over seven named hills: Daniel’s Hill, College Hill, Garland Hill, Federal Hill, Diamond Hill, White Rock Hill, and Franklin Hill. The neighborhoods around each hill still form the vibrant core of Downtown Lynchburg, filled with charming old homes (including my own in Federal Hill!), a few remaining cobblestone streets, compelling museums, historical markers and other homages to the city’s past.

Turns out, though, there are many, many cities around the world with the “Seven Hills” nickname. Rome started the trend (though apparently they aren’t as proud of their hills as they are of the Coliseum? Interesting…) and there are at least 200 other cities who formally claim this nickname. While our City of Seven Hills will always be the one at the foot of the Blue Ridge mountains — the range referenced in the gently sloped pockets of the card wallets we’re giving out for 7/7 day — the meaning behind the Seven Hills Collection, fortunately, goes much deeper than a common local label.

The Story Behind the Hides

MOORE & GILES HISTORY

The Seven Hills Collection isn’t just a story about a place; it is a product line that couldn’t have come from anywhere else. A lot of that has to do with our history: Moore & Giles has spent over nine decades building relationships with tanneries, manufacturers, and artisans around the world and steadily compiling not just an inimitable leather library, but experience and insight about what makes leather great. Being in a rural area, we have direct access to unique raw material — local cowhides that could be tanned by the best tanners in the country. Our know-how allows us to recognize a unique opportunity and our decades-strong network allows us to bring it to life.

Where to send these hides? That was a no-brainer. Compared to visiting tanneries in Italy, Spain, or New Zealand, it’s an easy ride across fewer time zones to Horween in Chicago and Hermann Oak in St. Louis. These two incomparable American tanners are our foundational partners for this collection. Clearly, the leathers (Heritage, Dearborn, Halsted, and Essex) are the defining material of these Seven Hills bags. Once our local hides started coming back to us tanned, it was clear how high the bar would need to be for the remaining components of the bag.

Step 1: Deciding on Hardware

AN AMAZING MOMENT OF COINCIDENCE & FATE

Hardware was the first stop. We can appreciate that for most people who aren't around leather every day, it can be hard to tell what makes one brown leather different from another. Even though the Seven Hills leathers look noticeably more supple, more textured, more substantial than others (and I know you'll think the same when you feel them!), it's the hardware — specifically our zipper pulls — that serves as the most visible calling card of this collection. Seven undulating brass ridges lets you know the pedigree of your bag at a glance. A few bags don’t have zippers, including our handsome Massie Tote, plush Sydney Clutch, and our iconic Welden Clutch. For these, we developed a simple brass badge to sit beside our brand stamp. We liked it so much we added it to every bag in the collection for an added touch of distinction.

In an almost insufferable moment of coincidence, the design for the pulls was inspired by a Brancusi exhibit at the Guggenheim in New York in early 2020 where I had been visiting the manufacturing partners who would ultimately produce the lion’s share of the Seven Hills collection. Great things happen when an essential player in your production line is an easy train ride away.

Step 2: Choosing the Lining

AN ODE TO THE SEVEN HILLS

Next was the lining. If you leave Lynchburg early in the morning, 29 South is clear and it will take you less than 3.5 hours to get to Valdese Weavers in Valdese, North Carolina. The mill itself is full of raucous looms clicking out intricate yardage destined primarily for upholstery down the road in Hickory. Their development office, by contrast, was library-quiet but visually cacophonous with samples and swatches tacked up in compelling clusters. To have such talented craftsmen so close to home is a gift to the design process. We wandered through their archives, talked through our needs with their team, felt and debated blend after blend, and were able to make small improvements and tweaks throughout the process. The finished design — a classic herringbone with seven golden peaks interspersed throughout the pattern — came out looking refined, unique, and deceptively simple thanks to a process that was deliberate, familiar, and as corny as it may sound, neighborly.

Step 3: Finalizing our Namesake

IT'S MORE THAN A LANDMARK

Our Seven Hills Collection earned its name by being the point on the map where the complete slate of skills and materials needed to create premium leather goods coalesce. It is also the point far, far away from the crowded landscape of cheap, disposable goods. There may be other places labeling themselves as “Seven Hills,” but I guarantee none of them have leather like ours. Seven Hills is more than a landmark; it’s a landmark achievement.