ORTER Detroit Leather Artisan - Antique Pickers - Admirer Of Old Things
It all began 23 years ago... I was 5 and had asked my father for a barbie for my birthday... Days later I was miraculously enrolled in Tee-Ball and being given my first leather baseball glove. Who would have known that at 5, a simple baseball glove would alter the course of my life. The affinity and love for baseball grew; I should mention my dad is an antique collector who's been dragging me to shows since I was in a stroller, so of course the collecting of vintage baseball gloves prospered in my life. I can still remember the first time my dad brought home Bick 4 leather conditioner and we spent hours cleaning an Al Dark endorsed 1940's Spalding Baseball Glove with saddle soap, a toothbrush and some Bick 4 (I think I was 8 and we had picked up the glove at the Centreville Antique Show in Michigan). From there on in - I was hooked... The genuine smell, feel and overall sense of "life" you get from holding a piece of leather in your hands became transcendent. I have literally been moving ever since, trying to figure out how I can fully sustain my life and obligations by the means of leather. From those prayers, thoughts and overall passion for life's most naturally beautiful and diverse product, ORTER was born.
What is ORTER? Well it means "ought to" and is also Retro backwards - a reversgram, a half-palindrome, a semordnilap - whatever you want to call it - it was inspired by my birthplace and my most inspirational city in the world - DETROIT. ORTER helps spell DETROIT and DETROIT defines ORTER. It has made me what I am, who I am, how I see and view the world. Through progress and change, DETROIT will overcome. "Ought To Detroit." As will the movement and brand we are trying to create and bring to the world. As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "If a man hasn’t found something he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”
At ORTER we pride ourselves on bringing you the finest, most well executed, lifetime proof, unique leather products, made from the heart. Each piece is handcrafted and put together by one our leather artisans, who are self taught innovators when it comes to working with leather. We offer a LIFETIME GUARANTEE against any and all manufacturer defects.
