Tusting traces back to a family leather business started in the 1870s. John and Elizabeth Tusting's son Jack grew up in the trade and served in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War; when he returned home to find the family tannery had been sold, he built his own in the same village rather than let the business end. A 1970s recession pushed most British shoemaking overseas, so the family pivoted first to importing leather and then, by the late 1980s, to manufacturing its own leather goods, a business now run by Alistair, a descendant of the founders.