Log0040 | Coronado Leather Company

I had logged off work early and headed down towards Coronado. The leather company that sits next to the bridge offered a wide variety of crafted leather goods and I needed a new belt. The mass-produced known brand belt I had bought in a hurry for my elopement 5 years earlier had not held up. This time I was interested in getting one that would last at least a decade more than that.

There was no storefront, it was just a walk-in warehouse where they manufactured the goods. With no explicit hours I was hoping that there would still be someone I could speak to before the weekend. As it turned out everyone had left but for the owner. Brent, wasn’t concerned. He took my wife and I over to where the hook of freshly minted belts hung.

As we stood there and chatted he told us about all the products they made, how the leather was acquired, the economics, the market, the sales process and its entire evolution. The more he could tell I was interested the more he told me. I only spent a few minutes looking at the belts – we spent the next 45 minutes walking through his workshop. He began showing us the raw hides and polished duffles. His operation had grown significantly from when his parents ran the business. Previously they’d acted as a middleman, selling already produced products. Brent changed all that as he began to design and create his own line. Hiring a team and filling out a warehouse in the process.

They’d had to acquire machines and have others built so they could expand their line. Much of the leatherworking craftsmanship has left this country, and with it the necessary knowledge and equipment. Because of this the leather jackets still had to be produced in their workshop across the border where the skillset still existed. But mostly everything else was produced in the U.S. He mentioned how many of the main U.S ‘producers’ actually operate largely offshore, then stamp the products with 'Made in the USA' only after the components are assembled in the States. He made it clear that this felt a little disingenuous. I agreed.

I felt his energy as he talked about the process of craftsmanship. I could tell he cared. He really cared. Why else would he spend 45 minutes showing his workshop to a random couple who walked in off the street on a Friday afternoon. Didn’t he have better things to be doing? No, this was his thing. Leatherworks. He was right where he wanted to be.

Walking through the workshop made me think of my father. He never bores of showing people around his farm. Family, friends, friends of friends or strangers, he loves to drive across the land explaining his process. No question is off-limits. Neither is any time. He’ll take you on a rainy Saturday morning or at sunset on a Friday. His job is how he spends his days, and how he spends his days is how he spends his life. His lifestyle he loves. I don’t know how much of that I projected onto Brent and his leather company, but I felt there was at least enough joy in his work to want to buy that belt.