It Wasn't a Marketing Decision
I didn't sit down one day and decide natural materials would make a good brand story.
It's what the artisans I work with have always used. These are the materials that have been in Marrakech's workshops for generations — not because they're trendy, but because they work. Because the people who spend their lives making things know the difference between a material that holds and one that doesn't.
When I started Isli & Tisli, I wasn't going to change that.
But I did make specific choices about which materials, and where they come from. Those choices matter. Here's exactly what they are.
Raffia: From Madagascar, by Hand
The raffia we use doesn't come from Morocco.
It comes from Madagascar — imported directly, because Madagascar produces some of the finest raffia fiber in the world. The strands are longer, finer, and more consistent than most alternatives. For our artisans, that quality isn't optional. It determines what they can make.
Raffia is a natural fiber drawn from the leaves of the raffia palm. Once harvested and dried, it's split into thin, flexible strands that can be woven, braided, and coiled with extraordinary precision. It's light but strong. It breathes. It moves.
Raffia is the only material we work with that's versatile enough for both shoes and bags.
Palm straw, which I'll get to in a moment, works beautifully for bags. But you can't make a shoe sole out of straw that will hold up to daily wear. Raffia can do both. It has the structure to support a foot and the flexibility to wrap around it — which is why every pair of women's raffia sandals, raffia mules, raffia loafers, and men's raffia loafers starts with fiber from Madagascar.
The same fiber goes into our raffia bags — woven tightly enough to hold structure, soft enough to move with what's inside.
When a piece of raffia reaches the end of its life, it goes back to the earth. No synthetic residue. Nothing that needs a landfill to disappear. That's not a marketing claim — it's just what happens to a plant fiber when it breaks down.
Palm Straw: Morocco, North to South
Palm straw is different — in where it comes from, in how it behaves, and in what you can do with it.
We source palm straw from multiple regions across Morocco: the south, the middle of the country, and the north. Each region grows a different variety of palm, and each produces a straw with its own character — slightly different in texture, rigidity, and color. We use them depending on the product and what the artisan needs for a given weave.
This material has been woven into baskets, household goods, and bags in North Africa for thousands of years. The reason it survived as a material isn't tradition for tradition's sake. It's performance. A well-constructed straw bag holds its shape through heat, sun, and daily use in a way that a fabric tote simply can't match. The structure comes entirely from the weave — no internal frame, no filler, just tension between strands set by experienced hands.
Palm straw is exclusively for bags. It doesn't have the flexibility that shoes require. But for a bag meant to last through summers — a beach tote, a market bag, a piece you reach for without thinking — straw is exactly right.
Like raffia, it's 100% natural. It grows back. It doesn't require chemicals to process or a factory to produce.
Leather: Three Sources, Three Different Stories
Leather is the most complex material we work with — and the one where our sourcing choices are most deliberate.
We work with leather from three distinct sources, and each one is used differently.
Traditional Moroccan tanneries. The tanneries in Marrakech's medina are among the oldest continuously operating craft sites in the world — some have been working the same way for hundreds of years. They use natural methods and traditional dyes; the process is slow and entirely by hand. This leather carries a history that no modern facility can replicate. For us, it's part of our heritage and the story of where this brand comes from.
Modern Moroccan tanneries. The majority of our leather products today use leather from modern Moroccan facilities. These tanneries work with more controlled processes, more consistent finishes, and cleaner production standards. The leather is full-grain where possible — the highest-quality cut of the hide, the part that develops a patina with wear rather than peeling apart after a season. The men's leather sandals are built on this.
Italian leather. For our premium line, we import leather from Italy. Italian leather is a different tier — finer grain, more refined finish, worked to a standard that the global leather industry hasn't surpassed. The leather bags that use Italian hides feel and age differently from anything else we make.
None of it is bonded leather, synthetic leather, or PU. What we use does age. A pair of full-grain leather sandals, cared for properly, lasts ten years or more.
Why Synthetics Were Never an Option
Synthetic materials are cheaper to produce. More consistent. Easier to control.
I've never seriously considered them.
Partly because our artisans — Fatima, Lhaja Hlima, Hassan, Mohamed Said — have spent their lives working with raffia, straw, and leather. The craft and the material grew up together. Raffia behaves in predictable ways under practiced hands. Leather responds to tools that haven't changed in generations. You can't weave PU the way Fatima weaves raffia. The material isn't just a component — it's part of what makes the work possible.
But more than that: synthetics don't age well. They're designed to be replaced. Everything about Isli & Tisli is built against that model.
Natural materials wear. They show use. A raffia mule that's been through two summers looks like it has a story. That's not a defect. That's evidence it was worth making in the first place.
Women: Raffia Sandals · Raffia Mules · Raffia Loafers
Men: Raffia Loafers · Leather Sandals · Raffia Mules
Bags: Raffia Bags · Straw Bags · Leather Bags
— Anas, Founder · Isli & Tisli · Marrakech, Morocco
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