About Us

Welcome to Hide Rugs — the UK’s destination for premium natural hide rugs, with one of the largest retail collections of cowhide, sheepskin, and reindeer hides in the country. We’re a family-run business based in the Wirral, dedicated to sourcing the finest hides from around the world and helping you find the perfect one for your home.

Every rug we sell is genuinely one of a kind. We photograph each hide individually so you can see the exact markings, tones, and character of the piece you’re choosing — because no two natural hides are ever the same, and that’s exactly what makes them so special.

Our Story

Hide Rugs was founded by Asta, a true natural hide enthusiast who built the business over many years alongside her daughter. Her love for hides, her eye for quality, and her commitment to genuine customer service shaped Hide Rugs into the trusted retailer it is today — and we’re proud to be carrying that legacy forward.

In January 2026, I (Ben Ellis-Gowland) took over the reins from Asta to begin the next chapter of the business. It’s not the first time I’ve stepped into a family-run natural materials business — I’ve worked in e-commerce for over a decade and also run The Natural Rug Company, the UK’s leading online retailer of bespoke natural fibre rugs. The two businesses share a philosophy I genuinely care about: a love of natural materials, traditional craftsmanship, and the kind of quality that simply can’t be replicated by anything synthetic.

What hasn’t changed is the heart of Hide Rugs — a family business built on a real passion for natural hides, run with the same care and attention Asta poured into it from the start.

Our Family

Hide Rugs is genuinely family-run. I work day-to-day alongside my two brothers-in-law, the three of us based at our warehouse on the Wirral, dispatching orders, handling customer enquiries, and personally hand-selecting the hides that come through our doors. My wife and two daughters love to visit and explore the warehouse too — they have a soft spot for the reindeer hides in particular.

Our small team is growing as the business does, but the family ethos isn’t something we want to lose. When you order from Hide Rugs, your rug has been chosen, photographed, packed, and shipped by people who genuinely care about the product — not pulled from a pallet in an anonymous fulfilment centre.

Why Hides?

Because there’s genuinely nothing else like them.

A natural hide rug brings a quality of warmth, texture, and character to a room that synthetic alternatives simply can’t match. They’re eco-friendly — sourced as by-products of the food industry, so nothing is wasted. They’re sustainable — properly cared for, a good hide will last for decades. And they’re beautifully individual, each one carrying the unique markings, colour patterns, and natural character of the animal it came from.

It’s a kind of natural luxury that’s becoming increasingly rare. In a world of mass-produced, machine-made, microplastic-shedding floor coverings, a genuine hide rug is something properly considered — an investment piece that earns its place in a home and improves with age rather than wearing out.

What We Stock

We hold one of the largest retail collections of natural hides in the UK — hundreds of individual hides across:

Every hide is hand-selected, individually photographed, and held in stock at our Wirral warehouse — ready to dispatch to homes across the UK and beyond.

What We Believe

Quality Above All

Every hide that comes through our doors is inspected and graded by hand. If it doesn’t meet our standards, it doesn’t make it onto the website. It’s that simple. The hides you see are the ones we’d put in our own homes — and many of them, frankly, end up there for a while before they ship out.

Genuine Customer Service

We’re a small team and we like it that way. When you contact us, you’re speaking to one of us — not a call centre, not a chatbot, not an outsourced help desk. We know our stock, we know our products, and we’re genuinely happy to advise on choosing the right hide for your space.

Sustainable Sourcing

All our hides are by-products of the food industry — nothing is ever farmed exclusively for its skin. We work with suppliers who can speak to the provenance of every hide, and we’re proud to offer one of the more genuinely ethical natural floor coverings on the UK market.

Aftercare That Lasts

A natural hide rug is an investment, and we want yours to last. That’s why we’ve written detailed care guides for every type of hide we sell — practical, honest advice based on years of working with these products. You’ll find them all on the site, and our team is always on hand for advice if you ever need it.

What You Can Expect From Us

  • Free next working day delivery to UK mainland on every order
  • 14-day money back guarantee — if your hide isn’t right for your space, return it, no questions asked
  • Individually photographed stock — see exactly the hide you’re buying before you order
  • Hand-selected quality — every hide inspected and graded by us
  • Personal customer service — talk to the people who actually know the products
  • Detailed care guides — so your hide lasts as long as it should

Come and Find Your Hide

Whether you’re after a classic black and white cowhide for a country snug, a sumptuous reindeer hide for a hygge-inspired bedroom, or a soft Icelandic sheepskin to drape over a favourite armchair, we’d love to help you find it.

Have a browse of our full collection, and if you’ve any questions at all, drop us a line at info@hiderugs.co.uk — we’ll be happy to help.

Welcome to Hide Rugs.

Ben Ellis-Gowland
Owner, Hide Rugs