How I work
What happens between me finding a brand and that brand getting a profile on European Craftsmanship.
The method
It starts with reading
When I come across a European brand, I want to know two things: are they based in Europe, and are their products made in Europe. Many evenings I have a brand’s website open in one tab and my notes in the other, looking for one section: where the products are actually made. Sometimes it is right there on the production page, with the region and the name of the workshop, and it takes ten minutes. Sometimes I read everything a brand publishes, the about page, the materials list, the small print under a product description, and a whole evening later I still cannot answer the question.
The directory is being filled in public, one brand at a time. I am moving years of research onto the platform, and I check each brand again as I go, because I have learnt that “made in Europe” can quietly stop being true. So there is more to see every time you come back. You are shaping the direction of it too, for example which categories get covered next. Many readers and followers have sent me brands, and I am happy to learn about new ones every day.
Sourcing
How a brand gets onto the platform
Most of the brands here come out of my own research and obsession over the past years. I spend a lot of time online, sniffing out articles and brands in the places I visit regularly, and sometimes I come across a surprise that leads to more names I had never heard of. Some brands I find on social media, and Instagram’s suggestions have been spot on. Quite a few arrive as tips from readers or brands themselves, and I love to discover, read and learn about new brands.
Every brand I come across ends up in my backlog waiting for a proper review. If it passes the first two criteria, headquarters in Europe and production in Europe, I queue it for a profile, which I then write from what I find under criteria 3 to 7. Then the brand goes into the directory. Every brand goes through the same review.
The review
What I check
I look at seven things, in the same order, every time. The first two decide whether a brand gets listed at all. The other five help me write the profile.
All of it comes from what a brand publishes online about itself. I read it, compare it, and write it up. Not every brand shares the same amount of information. My goal is to make what is available visible to you on the brand profiles, so you can look at a brand and decide for yourself whether it is a business you want to support.
- 01
Headquarters
Whether the company is registered and operating in Europe. - 02
Production and craftsmanship
Where in Europe the products are made, and how. - 03
Values
The principles the company says it stands for. - 04
Materials
What is used, and where it is sourced. - 05
Sustainability
Practices, commitments, and any certifications held. - 06
Transparency
How openly the brand publishes its production, sourcing and pricing. - 07
Social media
What the brand’s own channels show beyond the website.
Not a fit
When a brand does not make it onto the platform
If I have read everything a brand publishes and still cannot tell where the product was made, I leave it off. That is not a judgement about the brand. This directory only lists brands whose production I can place, so one I cannot place does not belong in it. The same goes when the answer stays vague, or when I simply cannot find it.
Limits
What I cannot tell you
I have not stood in any of these workshops. I do not inspect factories and I do not audit anyone. Everything here rests on what a brand publishes about itself, and that is the limit of it.
Where I want to take this is to the makers: the workshops, the people, the places the material comes from. Getting behind the scenes and learning how things are made is what I would most love to do next, so who knows.
Until then, if you find something on this site that is wrong, tell me and I’ll re-check it.
Definitions
What “made in Europe” actually means
Production runs in tiers, and once you know them, brand websites get much easier to read.
- Tier 1
Final assembly
The factory where the fabric is cut and sewn, where a shoe is lasted, where a bag is put together. This is the stage closest to the thing in your hands.
- Tier 2
Suppliers to the factory
The mills that weave or knit the cloth, the companies that make the thread, the dye, the zips.
- Tier 3
Further back in the chain
The farms that grow the cotton, the tanneries that turn hide into leather.
For a brand to be listed here, Tier 1 has to happen in Europe. The making of the actual product has to happen here.
Does that mean every raw material comes from Europe too? No, and I do not pretend otherwise. Plenty of materials are bought elsewhere, and what I care about is whether a brand says so. When a brand writes that the cotton comes from Turkey and the zips from Japan, I trust them more because they are transparent about it. Where a brand documents that everything is sourced within Europe, I label it 100% Europe, based on what they publish about their own sourcing.
What I make with all of this information, you can find on the brand profiles. In the section “Notes from Lisa” you can read about my opinion or my thoughts about the brand.
Re-reviews
Why nothing is reviewed only once
A “made in” line can change without anyone announcing it, and so can the conditions behind it. I found that out the hard way, and I wrote about it in why I founded European Craftsmanship. So every brand gets re-reviewed at least once a year, and whatever I find goes back into the profile. If production moves outside Europe, the profile comes off the platform. I cannot promise I catch a change the day it happens. That is exactly why the yearly re-review exists.
Disclosure
How the money works
European Craftsmanship does not sell anything. You buy from the brands directly, on their own sites.
When you buy through a link here, we earn a commission from the brand. The links are always labelled. The price you pay is the same whether you buy through the affiliate link or not. The only effect it has is that you are supporting this work.
Brands cannot pay to be listed here. All brand profiles are free, as long as the brand is based in Europe and produces in Europe. What we don’t do is the classic sponsored post where you cannot tell what was paid for.
Roadmap
Coming later this year
Later in 2026 a brand will be able to pay for a Verified mark to confirm where they produce. Alongside it, Brand Partners will let a brand fund deeper coverage of its own work, such as maker stories or a look inside a workshop. A partner pays for the work and the space, never for the opinion, and anything written by a brand will say so plainly. But more about that soon.
Notes from Lisa
What we buy decides what survives.
My goal is to spread awareness about how things are made, and about what quality actually means. Above all I want to show you what fantastic European brands are out there and how they are approaching things differently by producing locally in Europe. I want to help you find brands that align with your values and make it easier to shop more consciously. That’s why I create the brand profiles, so you can see at a glance whether the brand is something for you. And on the other hand, I want to give European brands producing in Europe a home, a platform to be discovered, seen and celebrated.
Lisa Walter, Editor
Take part
I always love to hear from you.
Tell me what I’ve missed
Know a brand that belongs here?
If you’ve come across a European brand that you think fits here, send it through the form. I can’t reply to every message, but I promise I will look at everything.
Get involved
Do you produce in Europe?
If you make things in Europe and think you belong here, we’d like to hear from you. Head to our page for European brands to see how it works.