By B. Crawford 

Australia is a ripper place with a fair dinkum reputation for sun-soaked beaches, corker landscapes and a western heritage of cattle stations, cowboys and outlaws. But, would ya believe it, the land down under is also home to Long Legged Cowgirls, a top-notch leather shop run by two sheilas who craft mean leather handbags, prettys, clothes and graphic art. Their gear is in hot demand, both here and abroad, but twin sisters Maxine (Max) Clifford and Calinda (Cal) King still have to pay attention to their family farm in Bridgetown, in the South West of Western Australia. 

“The great thing about our leather work is the flexibility,” Max says. “You just don’t know what will happen. Sometimes we have time to work, but sometimes, ‘Oh, the bull’s out! We better go get the bull in.’”  

Long Legged Cowgirls have an absolute passion for creating one-of-a-kind leather bags, bag “prettys,” and other vibrant, original leather artworks for lovers of all things western. “We’ve honed our skills in leatherwork for over 10 years,” Max says, “Combined with many more years of artistic experience to bring gorgeous, high-quality designs to our beautiful customers in Australia and around the world.”  

Clients across the world purchase leather goods from Cal and Max that reflect the western lifestyle. They focus their production on comfortable, convenient handbags like their latest build, the Wild Nights Festival Bag. Cal says, “We make small bags that you can just chuck on and take with you to a rodeo or concert and compliment your style.” 

Leather bags from Long Legged Cowgirls are unique pieces that speak to the individual taste of their clients: Vaquera Spirit, Coastal Cowgirl, Palomino Storm, Storm Pony, Steers and Stars, Two Faces, Blueberry Western. The names of the bags and leather bag ornaments reflect the cheeky humor of Max and Cal. “A lot of times you just look at a bag and the name just pops into your head,” Cal says. “It doesn’t have to make a lot of sense. It’s just what feels good.” 

The name Long Legged Cowgirls came from the same creative space. “Cal rang me up one day, and says ‘What do you think of this name?’ and it just stuck. After all, we are just a couple of long-legged cowgirls punching out awesome western gear. We want to inspire all of our long-legged cowgirls to live their best life and drag their wildest dreams kicking and screaming into reality; it’s kinda that simple!” 

It took many years for Cal and Max to bring their own business kicking and screaming into reality. The twins grew up on a 1,500-acre cattle station, oops, I mean a cattle farm. “We call it a farm,” Max corrects me. “Cattle stations are much larger properties to the north of us.  

“My grandparents bought the first piece of land and, parcel by parcel, continued to build the property we have today. It was amazing growing up on a farm! We actually had mainly sheep and pigs here growing up and moved to all cattle here maybe mid-nineties. We lived and breathed the farm; there were four of us kids, Mum, Dad and our grandparents out here and us kids did our share of the work. We had lots of good times working, playing and exploring.” 

As children, the twins didn’t always find the joy in dusty sheep yards. It was a challenge for their parents to build up their acreage, and there wasn’t much time or money for vacations. “I didn’t really enjoy working the sheep,” Max admits, “Once I started working cattle more, I thought, this is pretty good.”  

Max still lives on the family farm, Cal, a little closer to town, and both continue to raise cattle alongside their parents. The climate is mild, the rain is good and the land is well forested in eucalyptus and other trees. “It’s great to be raising our families here,” Cal says.   

The twins went to a regional university close to home, where they studied visual arts. “There were a lot of different views of what art is and what art should be,” Max said. “It kind of squeezed the creative life out of us.” 

The twins developed distinctive artistic styles. Cal developed a classic style that suits her down to the ground. Influenced by artists like Dustin Loftis and Cary Shwarz, Cal works with floral elements and pops of color for a no-frills finished piece. Max’s style is driven by the three C’s – cowgirls, cacti and cow skulls – bold, out-there designs.  

“We have been doing art our whole life in one form or another,” Cal says. “Our styles are just the same as they were back then.” 

When they finished at art school, Max and Cal went off chasing cattle up north (yes, on cattle a station). They then went their separate ways for around eight years, continuing to work in agriculture. They stayed in close touch with one another; then finally decided to move back to the farm and start a business together that would scratch their collective creative itch. “We didn’t know what the business would look like,” Max says, “but we knew we were looking for a creative outlet that would go hand in hand with farming. We are best mates; we talk on the phone daily. It was a no-brainer to work together.” 

Cal says, “When I lived in Esperance, a six-hour drive away, I knew an old guy who used to make miniature saddles out of leather. We also both enjoyed looking through Western Horsemen magazine, and those two things helped spark an interest in what we might create.” 

Max was the one who first led them to leather work. “I saw some leather tools for sale and we drove a four-hour roundtrip to pick them up; from there on in, it was a steep learning curve,” Max says. “That was about 13 years ago!”  

Long Legged Cowgirls started out making belts, tack, bridle and reins, and then they decided to create products that were more artistic. The handbags were perfect for that. The only thing the twins had to do was learn how to make them.  

Many times, Max and Cal took things apart to see how they were built. They bought books and combed the internet to learn. “Instagram has been a really incredible space for us to connect with other makers around the world and continue learning and to grow our business,” Max says. “We also did a week of classes with Barry King when he came to Brisbane for the Dimensions In Leather conference about seven years ago. We were tooling already by then, but it really set us on the path to honing in on our art, developing our drawing and tooling skills, and focusing on a smaller range of products with that artistic side in mind.” 

Their workshop space on the farm serves as an inspiration for their leather work. “Our workshop is something we are really proud of,” Max and Cal told me. “It’s not the biggest space around, but every time we walk through the door, we are reminded about the years of persistence that it has taken us to get where we are now. Our pride and joy, a Cobra Class 26 sits across from the doorway. We didn’t have enough money for it when we bought it, but we decided to order it anyway and work out how to pay for it later! It sits next to our vintage Singer Boot Patcher. Most of our furniture is vintage – vintage table, chairs and cupboards, we love vintage!!  

“Every year we cram a little more into the workshop and try to rearrange things to make better use of the space. We’ve added lino printing to our skills in the last few years and our tooling bench doubles as a printing space; we’ve got more interests we want to pursue and work it in with our leather work. Where we will fit it all in remains to be seen! We commissioned Australian artist Shona Underwood to create the painting The Long Legged Cowgirl, which sits in a place of pride in our workshop. She is a reminder of what we can do when we pull our boots on and go to work.” 

Long Legged Cowgirls focus is on creating one-off pieces for their clients, a work style that fits their lifestyle. “What works best for us is to create whatever we are ready to create and put it out there.”  

Max takes care of most product shoots, their website and social media. Cal keeps the books in top order and takes care of most of the materials orders, and they both work together in their workshop to make their unique leather products. 

Max usually has the country tunes cranking, loving Cody Johnson, Brooks and Dunn, Terri Clarke, Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney. Solid country. Cal seeks peace and quiet for her creative endeavors. Max and Cal don’t always agree on the choice of music or style, but they always manage to meet in the middle.  

“We do definitively have times where we disagree,” Max says, “but we are very tolerant of each other, being twins and all.”  

“I will show something I have made to Max and she will say, ‘Damn, that’s good!’” Cal says. “That would then inspire Max to level up; over the years we have really learned to encourage each other.” 

Today, both of the cowgirls have families of their own, running their leather business in addition to all the chores demanded by raising cattle and kids.  

In her free time, Cal loves to run. “I have a nice big kangaroo dog that runs with me. I love the peace and quiet of running.”  

Both Max and Cal are involved with their local agricultural society, something that has been part of their lives since their childhood. Even with leather work, farm work and community work, Cal and Max still have time to enjoy a cuppa.     

Having built a successful leather working business, Max and Cal feel the pull to create more art to go hand in hand with their leatherwork. They find inspiration in collaborating with other artists such as Shona Underwood, and Jess Garwood, a street artist, who helped the cowgirls with their business branding. They have also collaborated with Colorado Mohair artist Trish Terry for the last four years and Australian cinch maker Aleena Greenaway. “We love working with other creatives; it’s really exciting.” Max says. 

“The lino printing has really developed for us. We started with that because we were looking to produce our own materials for lining our handbags. It progressed to some art prints, thank you cards and we also released a lino cowgirl design on shirts late last year. The shirts were really successful and we’ll be following up with more of those. It’s just great to give our customers more options to be part of our brand. 

“We love a chat with our customers and to know a bit about them and we treat them all like our mates,” Max says. “We feel so blessed to have the support that we do; it’s not just our customers but our social media followers too that keep us pinching ourselves that we’ve built this brand and amazing community basically by doing something we love.” 

“The dream is always just to continue enjoying what we do, as long as we’re still excited about our craft and looking forward to stepping into that workshop to create; that’s the dream right there,” Cal and Max agree. “Of course, a more spacious workshop filled with amazing vintage furniture, racks of leather, western art on the walls, cowhides on the floor and maybe a neon sign or two wouldn’t go astray in that dream!” 

The Long Legged Cowgirls leather goods are a testament to the fact that there ain’t no boundary when it comes to craftsmanship. These skilled women are taking their craft to new heights and their creations are dead ripper. To her fellow leather workers, Max says, “Thank you for putting yourselves out there so we can learn as well. It feels like we’re part of things, part of an awesome industry.”  

  So, let’s raise a coldie to Long Legged Cowgirls for keeping leathercraft alive and kicking down under. Cheers!