by Gene Fowler

Hey, don’t take my word for it. Mr. Baltzar said it right there on the internet for the whole world to see. “Frank Clegg Leatherworks produces the best leather goods in the world.” As the voice of the online European purveyor of fine clothing and accessories, baltzar.com, Mr. Baltzar should know. 

And from all the evidence and testimony I’ve gathered about the Clegg creations, I surely would not bet the farm that you could find better quality bags, briefcases, packs and other leather items than those produced by Frank Clegg and his sons, Ian Clegg and Andrew Clegg, in their Fall River, Massachusetts workshop housed in the town’s antique Barnard Mill. 

Shoot the breeze with Frank a little while and you’ll understand why. Like many of the best leatherworkers I’ve spoken with, Frank is curious to know how things work…how things are put together. In his free time, you might catch him building a guitar from scratch, repairing an antique fountain pen or sculpting with clay, making faces from molded leather. So, when his future wife gifted him with a Tandy leather kit in 1970, it was Katy who opened the door. In almost no time, the Fall River native was turning out belts and wallets, then briefcases and bags. He sold women’s bags and other items throughout (and beyond) New England, while earning an MBA from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. 

Leathercraft instruction, as we all know, could be harder to come by back in 1970, that distant pack of a dozen months in which, among other things, All in the Family debuted on TV. But with Frank’s curiosity and drive, he picked it up on his own. He does recall inquiring at one New England leather company where people viewed him, with a mild sense of alarm, as competition. But like I said, he figured it out. 

The competition that Frank did find among makers, he recalls, was not producing leather goods for men at the time. So, when he launched Frank Clegg Leatherworks around 1974, he added briefcases, duffel bags and backpacks. “I told myself I’d give it a year and see what happened,” he says. Well, a lot happened. At one time, he had eight salesmen on the road and recalls that he did especially well in Texas. 

Then in the mid to late 1980s, the sales landscape changed for Frank Clegg Leatherworks. “Stores began going out of business,” Frank recalls. “So many of the proverbial leather shops and luggage stores closed and by the mid ’90s just about everybody I knew in the industry was out of business.” But Frank adapted, changing his business model to focus on private label arrangements after receiving an invitation to partner with the American footwear and accessories brand Cole Haan. 

The Fall River leatherworks outfit stayed with Haan for about seven years, until Nike bought Haan out. “That got us through that rough period,” Frank recalls. 

And then…. there cometh…. the internet. 

“It changed everything,” says Frank. “Where it used to take you six months to get a catalog prepared, printed, mailed out and responded to, all of a sudden it takes only 10 minutes to get it posted and the whole world knows about it.” 

Today, adds Ian Clegg, about 90 percent of the Cleggs’ business is from their website and other digital platforms. The company has grown to 15 employees and shows no signs of slowing down. Much of its steady growth stems from a careful balancing act of maintaining tradition, while accommodating innovation. In the tradition column, many of the Clegg product designs remain the same as they were in the mid-1970s. The Captain’s Briefcase, for instance, was created in 1975. “I was working on a briefcase,” Frank recalls, “and I had the basic shape of the body, when a police officer came in. A captain. He had a pocket on his shirt with a pleat down the middle and the corners cut off like the design of my briefcase.” Frank replicated the pleat on the briefcase, and it remains one of his most popular items. 

The design for the Cleggs’ English Briefcase is based on a military backpack Frank had in grammar school. He wanted to create a leather briefcase that would remind him of that school backpack. Another visitor to the shop, a Texas lawyer in alligator cowboy boots, put the design over the top. He explained that he carried two or more briefcases all the time, and that sparked an association in Frank’s creative mind with saddlebags. So, he made the Texan two saddlebag-ish briefcases and created a yoke between them, so the hardworking attorney could carry two bags and still have his hands free for more. The Texas lawyer said they still resembled the English Briefcase, more than anything else, and the name stuck. 

Another popular item, known as the Lawyer’s Briefcase, was inspired by a shop visit from an accountant who said he wanted a bag big enough for all his papers and a change of clothes. “So, I made him a giant version of the Lawyer’s Briefcase,” Frank says. “He could even carry a pair of shoes in it.” Scaled down, the case was geared to courtroom orators and was still big enough to accommodate their 14-inch legal pads. 

Ian Clegg tells a story about the time one of the family’s briefcases helped a lawyer land a job. He had carried a Clegg case into the interview, and the case attracted so much positive attention that the applicant landed a partner position with the firm. Afterwards, one of the partners even came to the shop to see about getting his own briefcase. 

Dad Frank adds a true tale about a legal eagle who carried the same briefcase throughout a 38-year career. These mostly handmade gems are built to last. Barack Obama employed a Clegg case throughout his eight years as president. 

The Cleggs’ popular Signature Duffle “designed itself” around 1991. “A gentleman came in and said he was looking for a log carrier,” Frank recalls. “He cut the wood at 18 inches long and that was his only requirement for the bag, that it hold a foot-and-a-half-long log.” Frank designed straps that went under the bag for support for the woodman’s version. Shortening the bag four inches, he came up with the Signature Duffle. 

In the case of every product, of course, it’s all about the leather. “We’ve seen a million pieces of leather,” notes Frank, “but when we look at a good piece of leather, we still get excited like little kids. I love leather. I respect leather. And when the leather’s not right, the whole bag is not right.” 

At Frank Clegg Leatherworks, that most often means veg-tanned French bull hide or German steer hide, sourced from European tanneries that remain a proprietary secret. French bull hide is preferred because it’s so durable. It’s also a little heavier than other leathers and is generally cleaner because the French don’t brand their cattle or use barbed wire. Also, the bulls are not plagued by ticks. Often, the leathers utilized at Frank Clegg Leatherworks are belted harness leather and tumbled leather. 

Some of the Cleggs’ higher-end items are made of alligator, lizard, python and other exotics. Frank showed one San Francisco men’s style blogger, who visited the shop in 2014, an American Alligator Holdall bag made from the single skin of a 21-foot wild alligator. “They don’t get this big in captivity,” Frank told the blogger, “So we need to get wild skins for this.” The blogger acknowledged that the bag may cost as much as a modest used car, but added, “You’ll probably be the coolest guy in the office with this at your desk.” 

In addition to all the totes, bags, briefcases, packs and portfolios, Clegg Leatherworks products include belts, wallets, travel kits, iPad cases and more. 

Some 10 percent of Clegg sales come from retail outlets around the globe. A page on the company’s website lists such prestigious mercantile emporiums as The Armoury in NYC and Hong Kong; Engelska Herr in Malmö, Sweden; Double Monk in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia; Testoria in Busan, Republic of Korea; Adams & Sons of Owensboro, Kentucky; and other retailers in Atlanta, Beijing, Alabama, Little Rock, Malaysia, Helsinki, London, Norway, and closer to home, South Weymouth, Massachusetts. 

From time to time, Frank also continues partnering with other companies. In 2014, he teamed with designer Michael Bastian, who had been using Clegg bags in look books and runway shows for the previous two years. “Drawing on the spirit of vintage goods and American sportswear, the Michael Bastian by Frank Clegg collaboration reimagines 10 of Clegg’s classic silhouettes, infusing details like exotic leathers (check the teal pebble grain) and bold linings into the hardy goods,” reported Gentleman’s Quarterly. 

The Bastian-Clegg collection, gushed another GQ scribe, “combines hardy duffle bags with backpacks and totes conveniently sized for urban commuters and any guys with on-the-go lifestyles. Rounded out by small leather goods like an iPad case, a valet tray, and leather portfolio, the launch collection’s offerings are available in a sleek navy and black or a classically rugged olive and chocolate. By mixing canvas with leather, or suede and leather together, the collection mirrors Bastian’s penchant for modern American sportswear made with clean lines and masculine materials.” 

In 2015, Bastian’s appearance in the short film, The Sharp American, included the designer carrying one of Frank’s Aiden Duffles. 

When I visited the Frank Clegg Leatherworks website in late March, the newest product arrivals included an array of travel duffles, briefcases and backpacks in shrunken grain leather. Shrinking the veg-tanned leather “enlarges and enhances the grain character,” notes the site. “The distinct and sporadic texture possesses a durable yet soft touch, creating a truly unique product.” A variety of suede valet trays and goat skin card cases, wallets and fountain pen cases rounded out the recent arrivals. 

Near-future plans include a retooling of Clegg Leatherworks product lines for women. Delayed for a time by the pandemic, which turned out to be a quite active and hectic period for the company, the new line, as Ian told a Fall River reporter in 2021, “will feature new designer colors and be more fashion focused.” 

Watch the site this summer for announcements about some “one of a kind” pieces. Ian explained that the Cleggs occasionally will receive a bad leather shipment, which they turn into unique one-of-a-kind pieces. One such shipment turned into 750 bags, which quickly sold out. 

I mentioned the TV show All in the Family earlier because, with brothers Andrew and Ian poised to take over all aspects of the company at some point, Frank Clegg Leatherworks is a business that is truly all in the family. When Frank started the company, both of his parents worked for him for some 25 years. And Ian and Andrew have been soaking up know-how and how-to’s ever since working for Frank in high school, so you can look for the Clegg brand to thrive for decades ahead. 

And while Frank appreciates the declaration made by Mr. Baltzar and cited above, he echoes a refrain I’ve heard from every master leatherworker I’ve spoken with. “I’d like to always be the best,” he muses. “But you learn so much every year—you can learn a lot every day. And you find that the more you know, the less you know. The goal of getting better is always there. There’s never an end to that. And that’s what makes it special.” 

frankcleggleatherworks.com 

youtube.com/watch?v=yE97eoRc63s