Yellow Earth | Our Story — Australian Sheepskin Since 1991

 

Where It All Began

Some businesses are built in boardrooms. Ours was built in a tannery.

In 1991, James and Elaine founded Yellow Earth in Melbourne's Laverton North with a simple but ambitious idea: to tan Australian sheepskin hides and supply them to the manufacturers keeping a proud local industry alive. From the very beginning, it was a family affair — their son Matt was there too, albeit a little too young to be much help, sleeping soundly on sheepskin rugs while his parents worked. Back then, Australia had a thriving sheepskin trade — ugg boot makers, wool product manufacturers, and craftspeople who understood the value of genuine Australian hide. Yellow Earth was right at the heart of it, supplying raw material and manufacturing OEM ugg boots for other brands across the country.

 

A Material Like No Other

Over the decades, that industry changed. Many of those manufacturers disappeared. But Yellow Earth didn’t follow them out the door — it evolved.

What started as a tannery grew into something much broader, because sheepskin itself is a remarkably versatile material. From the iconic ugg boot to plush seat covers, medical-grade sheepskin, baby rugs, car accessories, and home décor — sheepskin has a place in almost every part of life. It’s naturally temperature-regulating, hypoallergenic, incredibly soft, and built to last. We’ve spent over 30 years exploring everything this remarkable material can do, and we’re still discovering new ways it can bring comfort to people’s lives.

 

Makers, Not Resellers

That passion for sheepskin runs deep in our family. Growing up, Matt went from sleeping on the skins to packing orders for pocket money — learning the business from the ground up before he even knew that’s what he was doing. After completing a marketing degree, he brought fresh thinking to the table, helping shift Yellow Earth from a wholesale operation into a direct-to-consumer brand and building the online store that now reaches customers across Australia and beyond.

But the expertise behind the brand goes far deeper than marketing. Our background in manufacturing means we don’t just sell sheepskin products — we understand them from the raw hide up. We know how they’re made, what separates exceptional quality from ordinary, and how to stand behind everything we sell with genuine confidence. We’re not resellers. We’re makers.

Our factory began in Laverton North, expanded overseas to meet growing wholesale demand, and in 2014 we made a deliberate decision to come home — opening a new Melbourne factory because locally made still matters to us deeply, and always will where it remains possible.

 

Still At It Every Day

Today, Yellow Earth has grown to include three physical stores across Melbourne — our flagship at Emporium Melbourne in the CBD, our Black Sheep Factory Outlet & Workshop in Vermont, and our Black Sheep Australia store at Eastland Shopping Centre in Ringwood — as well as a thriving online store reaching customers across Australia and beyond.

And while the business has grown and changed over three decades, one thing hasn’t — James and Elaine are still in the factory every single day, well into their late 60s, doing what they’ve always done. James continues to work in the tannery, passing on his knowledge and training the next generation of tanners in Australia — keeping a rare and important craft alive. Elaine still personally checks and packs as many online orders as she can, because for her, every product that leaves the warehouse is a reflection of a lifetime’s work. It’s a standard she’s never been willing to compromise on.

Matt has been part of this business his whole life — and now, carrying it forward, he has bigger ambitions for what comes next. Australia produces some of the finest sheepskin in the world, but not all sheepskin is created equal. As cheaper, lower-grade alternatives flood the market, Yellow Earth is on a mission to show people what the real thing looks and feels like. Through the power of ecommerce, we’re bringing the very best of Australian sheepskin to customers across the country and around the world — because this incredible material deserves to be represented at its finest, and its reputation is worth protecting and showcasing the best of Australia.

That’s not obligation. That’s passion.

When you buy from Yellow Earth, you’re buying from people who have dedicated their lives to this craft. You’re in good hands.