Who's Who?

(L to R: Kenneth, Hillary, Michele, Shawn, Courtney)

Stickman Leather, LLC is a very small business! You've got me, designing, sewing, and finishing. Then, there's Hillary who helps me in the shop (along with my kids, sometimes if they want to earn a little extra spending money!)

My wife, Michele, keeps up with the business end of things and answers emails, takes phone orders, ships bags, balances the checkbook and all that type of thing.

I go down to Pike Place Market most Saturdays during the year and when I'm not there, Kenneth or Courtney can be found representing Stickman Leather.

That's it. Five of us.

We thank you for your support when you buy a Stickman Leather bag you are keeping 5 people employed.

~Shawn

Shawn visiting Roger at the Hide House
in Napa, California

Every once in a while I take the family on a road trip that leads us to the Hide House in Napa, California. That's where I get most of my leather.

This year, as soon as the kids were out of school we loaded up in the Jeep and headed down to Napa to see Roger.

It was great to see Roger in person and to look at all the amazing and beautiful hides of leather that they stock.

I was able to get some gorgeous leather, I'm especially excited about some of the blue leather I got.

The pallet arrived yesterday and I'm excited to build bags out of all this gorgeous new leather!

Most of the summer there will be a Stickman Leather representative at the Pike Place Market. I'm typically there on Saturdays! Come by and say "hi"!

Top 3 Must-Haves in a Great Leather Bag

Whether you buy one of my bags, or buy a bag from another craftsperson, these are the three things to look for!

1. Top grain/full grain leather.

A quality bag is made of the best leather, drum dyed so the color won't bleed.

Some manufactured bags are made of leather scraps in a process similar to creating particle board. Honestly, one way to tell is price. If you're out shopping and a leather bag is VERY inexpensive, the leather is either urine-tanned (as gross as it sounds) or made of urethane-coated leather scraps.

2. Nylon Thread

Any other type of thread will either rot or break.

3. Solid cast hardware.

Check for seams. If a buckle or ring has a seam then it will pull apart with use.

For a later post, I'll talk about bags that are pieced together - tip, a bag is more durable, the fewer pieces it is made with! If your strap isn't one continuous piece, it's a dead giveaway.

Follow Me On Facebook

I'm on Facebook! I update that nearly every day! Waaay more often than I update this blog! So, follow me there. Today I have my first of random and arbitrary specials for my Facebook followers!! https://www.facebook.com/StickmanLeather