My Leather World.

 

How my foray into the leather world got started. I called it, ‘The Re-Birth of an Industry’.

I have been a clothing designer and manufacturer for over 20 years. After the economic crash, I got out of the business to focus on raising my children.

While they were in college and didn’t need me around. I got bored and wanted to get back to work. So I started a small boutique in the middle of Los Angeles.

Buying from importers and reselling to my customers. I quickly gained attention because of the location on a busy main street.

Surrounded by a few Consulate & Visa Offices, and other offices in the area, People & travellers would stop by looking to buy gift items to take home or for business associates.

They would pop in specifically asking for a ‘Made in America’ product.

I soon realised that it was a rarity to find items that was simply ‘Made in America’.

Most of the bags and clothing sold then in my store and surrounding stores, sold imported items, mostly Made in China or imported from someplace else.

I realised that there was a need, and if I could come up with a few items to offer my customers to fill that need & solve a problem at the same time.

I had always loved genuine leather bags, leather belts, clutches, and leather bracelets. Why not make small leather goods and offer them for sale in my store?.

Finding the genuine leather was not a big deal. After all, Americans consume the most meat in the world, and the by-product of this consumption is leather. There are a few car makers who need that leather and some furniture company etc, etc, but nothing else.

Making my leather goods, was a very big deal!. There are No leather industries left, Few factories, No workers. Finding sewers became my biggest challenge. Setting up another challenge, Funding? Forget about it!.

Naming my brand became my second big deal. Therefore, I named it after one of the oldest industrial cities in America, that was most impacted by the devastation of factories and jobs being shipped overseas to China.

Baltimore Bag Company became that brand name. Welcome to my world.