How It All Started

After making my first leather bag in 2008 I carried it everywhere. To my job, on trips, to the coffee shop... I even took it on hikes. Everywhere I went I received compliments on my leather satchel and had a request from a former associate to make him one. Once I did this I wanted to make more & change up the design a bit.

After a year of dabbling and totally killing my wife Lisa's sewing machine I purchased a heavy duty leather sewing machine (Cobra Series 4) and really went to town. I honed my once lost high school elective of leather crafts to a new level of skill. I found a local, retired, master leather craftsman (John) and asked him to be my mentor. He & his wife took me under their wing and taught me all about leather & assembly. John & his wife Maria liked my designs so much that they came out of retirement to help out. John is a great Master Leather Craftsman and it has been more than a pleasure working with him & Maria. They know their stuff and have been making leather bags, belts, clothing, holsters, hats plus tons more for over 50 years! Once I started designing more items we needed more help and found not only a great guy but one hard working, knowledgeable leather craftsman when Craig came on board. One thing led to another and Craig suggested we add his friend Ruben to our collective on a part time basis in order to keep up with sales demand. So when things get busy around here we call in "the Ruben"!
Our latest member of the team is Max who joined us in February 2013. He has over 20 years of experience working in the leather industry & finds it a nice pace to work for a small, family owned business. His experience & knowledge will bring a whole new level to Rustic Leather.

My wife Lisa has always been supportive with Rustic Leather & offered her awesome people & accounting skills to the mix. She has been our customer service Goddess since 2010 and will take care of you as if you were family.

We wanted... or needed a family vacation in 2011 but still wanted to service our customers. We then added our neighbor & daughter's babysitter Theresa as our part time warehouse & shipping gal. She kept orders fulfilled like a real pro & so now she keeps things organized & shipped on an as needed, part time basis.

We now have our quaint little shop comfortably located in Del Rio Texas where most of our team lives. It is very satisfying to be able to help several families sustain themselves in these economically difficult times.

Anyway, we are a growing family owned business and Etsy has been a paramount part to our success. We love the hand made community here and feel blessed to be a part of it.

Thank you for reading my long winded story & being a fan of Rustic Leather!

~Dave