Accessories Leather Supplier

TEAM SPIRIT IS AT THE CORE OF A YEAR-OLD, GROWING FAMILY BUSINESS 

Missouri company supplies leather and other custom cut parts, like sweatbands. And they offer leatherwork classes.   By Lynn Ascrizzi   Sometimes, what is small, nearly invisible and seemingly insignificant, is what holds things all together.   Such is the case with the humble sweatband, that important but little regarded band of leather or other fabric sewn inside the base of a hat’s crown. Various kinds of hats and caps, be they Stetsons,
Artisan Leather

TRADING IN HIDES AND LEATHER  

Andy Barta gained expertise in the business from the toughest of teachers   By Lynn Ascrizzi  After working for 55-plus years in the hide and leather business, Andy Barta knows a thing or two about weathering the ups and downs of the trade. His hands-on confrontations with adversity and his knack for bouncing back with fortitude, began for real in December 1955, one year after his father had launched the rawhide
Accessories Leather Supplier

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

Highly diversified, big city leather company ‘sources the world’ for finest tanned leathers, suede and nubuck   By Lynn Ascrizzi  Global Leathers, a wholesale/retail distributor based at West 35th Street, New York, New York, carries a richly diverse array of tanned leather products sourced from around the world, including exotics, metallics, natural hair-on leather skins and much more.    The 36-year-old leather company is owned and operated by its founder and CEO,
Accessories Artisan Leather

Joe Schussler of the Chap Shop: Living an Abundant Life

by Liisa Andreassen  When Joe Schussler was a kid, his father would take him to a little café for breakfast in their small Idaho hometown. It was there that he first got inspired to create art. While the inspiration was a simple can that had been converted into an airplane, Joe thought it was just about the coolest thing he’d ever seen and set out to create one of his own. He went
Leather

Corner of Amarillo and Western

Panhandle Leather by Gene Fowler When calling a contemporary business on the telephone, do you ever long for the olden days when you could actually speak to a real human being? Of course you do. That may be overstating the case…a little bit. But in these dizzy times of automation and virtual, online interaction, the relative lack of actual human contact often leaves me feelin’ a little…well, lonesome. Fortunately, there’s
Artisan Leather

Reflections of Friendship

Robb Barr’s contributions to the leather industry live on in his work   By George Hurst   In over five decades of working within the leather industry, I have had the privilege of knowing and working alongside many of those regarded as legends of the craft: Al Stohlman, Lou Roth, Robb Barr and more. Each of these historical figures have made lasting contributions to our industry that you can still see present in the most
Artisan Leather

Twenty-three Plus Is a Twenty-five! 23+

Joe Meling’s Pendleton Leather Arts and Education Outpost By Gene Fowler Location, location, location. Ordinarily, that overwrought marketing mantra doesn’t apply to most custom leatherwork outfits. Find a spot with internet and mail-order access, and you’re in business. But 23+ (Twenty-three Plus), the leather arts and education emporium operated by Joe Meling in Pendleton, Oregon, has what has to be considered a perfect location. “I can look out my front
Accessories Leather

Texas Leather Trim: Diversity is Key to Survival

By: Liisa Anderassen Greg Cooper, president of Texas Leather Trim, a family-owned and operated business, describes his business as a "manufacturer for manufacturers." He shares that it's gone through many evolutions during the past 50+ years, but says that he's in it for the long haul. Like many small, U.S.-based businesses, Texas Leather Trim knows what its like to change course when product demands dwindle or change and Cooper shares
Accessories Leather

SEEING THINGS THROUGH

Goliger Leather Company is enjoying a surge in 2021 sales  By Lynn Ascrizzi  Cheryl Rifkin, owner and operator of Goliger Leather Company, Inc. of Ventura, California, has been working with the successful business for over 30 years. “I run the company — everything. I do the books, process the orders, do the invoicing, answer the phone, do collections, check the inventory and figure out how much to order,” she said.  But Rifkin, 66, did not always run the successful family business singlehandedly. Seventeen years ago, unforeseen change came cloaked in shock and loss. Michael Rifkin, her husband of 20 years and then company president, died suddenly on December 5, 2004, at the age of 44.    “We had bought the wholesale leather business in 2000, from Michael’s dad, Marvin Rifkin, who had bought it
Accessories Leather

Big Bob’s Ball Gloves

NOKONA! The Only Baseball Glove Maker in America By: Gene Fowler "Leather is one of the most interesting materials known to man." -Rob Storey Cody. Cheyenne. Tombstone. Silver City. Durango. The landscape of the American West is strewn with place names that evoke region's wild, romantic, storied past. The small town of Nocona, Texas, near the states border with Oklahoma, honors an uncommonly rich legacy. Named for the Comanche warrior-chief,