The Rambling Gypsy

From Race Tracks to Leather Stacks with Designer Custom Leather

• The Rambling Gypsy • Season 3 • Episode 13

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In this special episode recorded on-site at Designer Custom Leather, Tiff sits down with close friend, Courtney Nixa, to hear all about her unique journey. Having met through a chance connection with musician Josh Ward, Courtney shares stories from her time in the equestrian industry - before switching gears and forging her own independent path in the world of leather.

This episode is a heartfelt exploration of creativity, tradition, and the power of community, as Courtney's journey from horse trainer to skilled artisan unfolds with every stitch and story. 🫶

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Shop Designer Custom Leather: www.designercustomleather.com

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Music: “Blessed” by NAEMS
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Merch (coming soon): https://www.ramblinggypsy.boutique

Talk With Tiff here: https://www.tiffanyfoy.com/talk-with-...

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Find Tiff:
Website: https://tiffanyfoy.com
Instagram: / gypsymammatiff  
Facebook: / gypsymammatiff  
TikTok: / gypsymammatiff

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Production: SIREN Studio

The Rambling Gypsy podcast is a behind-the-scenes look at the lives of real Texans doing real sh*t. We're pulling back the curtains on our daily lives - and you're invited to laugh and learn along with us.

Links:
http://www.youtube.com/@TheRamblingGypsy
https://www.facebook.com/GypsyMammaTiff/
https://www.instagram.com/GypsyMammaTiff/
https://www.theramblinggypsypodcast.com/

Gypsy Horse Trainer Life Journey

Speaker 1

I put a blessing on it to real . This ain't metaphoric . We just put the I in iconic buzzing like I'm electronic . Ah yeah , I put a blessing on it . See me dripping in it 24-7 on it . I'm just being honest . Ah , holy water dripping , dripping from my neck to my creps . So I'm too stepping on it like .

Speaker 2

Hey everybody , I'm Tiffany Foy . Welcome to the Ramblin' Gypsy podcast . And today we are not in our normal which we really don't honestly ever have a normal but we are in a really , really , really cool place . Um , this is a very good friend of mine . This is Courtney Nixa . Say hi everybody . Yes , um , so we met , we're gonna , we're gonna , we're gonna go before this , before all this epicness that I don't know what all you guys can see here , but I will tell you that it smells like fucking heaven and I don't think I think I just messed up the f thing because I I was like what , 10 minutes before I'm supposed to drop the f bomb or whatever . But I think we can put , you can put like that's a new record on it slaying it I'm just slaying it right out of the gate today .

Speaker 2

Yeah , the last two days have been a fluctuation and if anybody follows my uh gypsy vocab , yeah , it's been a , it's been a show , Um . But anyways , yes , we met through mutual friend , Josh Ward . Yes , ma'am , yes . So if you guys don't know anything about Josh Ward , you should , and shame on yourself . So Josh Ward , musician , very , very good , very , very , very genuine soul , and you know we have Gypsy River Resort and we kind of labeled it as the Josh Ward weekend . I think that's what we have it categorized in our system . And you guys have been friends for how long ?

Speaker 3

About two years , I think he reached out one day about getting a bag and it blew my mind , cause I was a fan prior and um got to hang out a little bit . They invited us down to the river . We had to hang out and met a bunch of awesome people .

Speaker 2

I had no idea that that's how y'all's relationship started . No shit , I'll be down .

Speaker 3

There's a long backstory , if you will , but that's pretty much the extent of when we first actually got to know each other . Yeah , and we met him in green with a bag and he was the most just down to earth person , the sweetest , most genuine soul , absolutely .

Speaker 2

Yeah , such good people . Yeah Well , that's really ironic in here , my gosh . So we've had the Josh word freaking deal at the camp for such a long time and so , yeah well , that's really freaking cool , yeah , so met with a bag . That's how I met you guys . And then now here we are . I mean , don't call me out , but I kind of feel like you're my friend . Well , I would hope so . Yeah , yeah , yeah .

Speaker 3

So , um , you guys are you're from here , from San Antonio from San Antonio Originally grew up in San Antonio , moved to Seguin about my sophomore year of high school and have been on the same property ever since . So you graduated graduated from Seguin and .

Speaker 2

Matador and I'm a unicorn , yep , and you know our rivalry is strong . Yes , yes , it is .

Speaker 3

Yeah .

Speaker 2

Well , my dad , um who you know I've recently lost , but he's um's lived in Seguin for a long minute . I worked in the child care industry for a very long time , so I had a facility in Seguin for 13 years , so I know that whole area like the back of my hands . Yeah , so you guys are out here , you have horses , horses and dogs and cats and cows

Speaker 3

and donkeys and ponies and chickens , and so this property that you guys are on is 80 acres . The original property is 80 acres . Yeah , and it is absolutely beautiful . Thank you .

Speaker 2

Yeah , and you guys got in the horse business .

Speaker 3

I've been in the horse business business . I started riding when I was eight doing hunter , jumpers and whatnot , and then my parents got into some racehorses probably sophomore , junior year of high school and out of high school I went to about two years of college and it wasn't for me . I wanted , I didn't know , I did all my basics , got them out of the way and then I had no idea which direction I wanted to go Right . And so I told my dad I don't want to waste your money , I want to do the horse thing . And so I went to work for our trainer and I worked for him for about eight years out of high school , out of college , and then went out on my own for a little bit and did the training thing and then got kind of tired of the moving every three months city to city to city . It's a hard life . It's 24-7 . Like there's seven days a week , 24-7 .

Speaker 2

So I didn't realize , which is kind of I mean , that's kind of a catch-22 , I guess in the training side . But saying that I don't realize that a trainer travels is kind of stupid , because then I just had to catch myself Because I do . I have an exotic trainer that comes in and that's all she's done . She's , um , we are 10 years , part and age and she has been training forever and she has traveled all over the place . So , yes , now that makes sense . But then my mind goes into um , my family owns Los Indios stables , which have been horse trainers and they've been in the horse business forever and ever and ever , and four time world barrel champion and heading and healing and what have you . So there's a traveling there . So , for whatever reason , when you mentioned horse training , it's my brain is like where were you going ?

Speaker 1

What were you doing ?

Speaker 2

You got your wagon and a little thingy and you just amused it right on up and you just traveled .

Speaker 3

But no , I get it now . You literally pack up your stable every three months and move to the next track . It's a circuit , and so you either stay within state and you go to the tracks that are in state , or if you travel to different states . Some horses are there's bigger money , there's different stakes , races , there's different opportunities in different , or if you travel to different states .

Speaker 2

Some horses are . There's bigger money , there's different stakes races . There's different

From Training Horses to Leather Crafting

Speaker 2

opportunities in different states . So you're training horse racing Quarter horses .

Speaker 2

Okay , yeah , yeah , quarter horses , my exotic trainer that comes down and works with my camels that's . She started race horse training and it's really kind of cool . I'd love to have you two sit and have a conversation and listen to y'all stories on how cool that is . And because she goes back and tells the stories on how everything used to be just I mean , just hard and just into now where she , if you even walk up and your eyebrow is in the wrong direction , she's like I know , yeah we're not , we're not doing that today .

Speaker 2

You're going to mess up the entire vibe here . The herd is going to react the wrong way , but I guess in training for all those years , she it's is it's all changed , or but so you , okay , decided to go work for the trainer started from the ground up .

Speaker 3

Worked as the , as the stall cleaner , the basic groom , worked my way up over time to assistant trainer and then eventually took off , got my license and trained on my own .

Speaker 2

So it requires a license to train horses Yep . I did not know that .

Speaker 3

You've got to take a test , pass a test and keep a current license .

Speaker 2

What do they ?

Speaker 3

ask you in this test Don't ask me that .

Speaker 2

It's been so long . Do you get on the right side ?

Speaker 3

There's some pretty basic things , but there's some pretty off the wall that it's like , really you don't you don't need to know that I had no idea yeah . There's some , there's things to know . I mean there's a lot to know about , yeah , wow , how much medication they can have . Okay , the certain markers on the track , like there's all kinds of different odds and ends yeah and fear of horses ever more so the older I get , I never did weird how that happens , yeah . I never did growing up .

Speaker 1

No , I could do anything in the same way , I wonder .

Speaker 3

I just get more aware of the what ifs right and I know I break probably a little easier now . And yeah , I took too much time away from it , I think , and the longer I've been away from it , the more it's like and I say away from it , I've still . We have 20 , 30 horses like . I'm around them every day . It's just the getting on , the not worrying about what they're going to .

Speaker 2

You know , spook at what they're going to do , that might cause a problem , but it didn't used to bother me at all . Backed away from the training thing .

Speaker 3

And I backed away from training for a couple of reasons . I um one , I was kind of tired of the 24 seven , but it's the money in Texas at that time was just , it was not good . It's still not amazing , but it's a lot better than it was Right .

Speaker 3

And , um , I just didn't see myself traveling and doing that 24 seven that you 2013 , no doubt and um , one of the reasons I quit was my dad had a brain aneurysm in January of 2012 , I believe it was , and that was where I . I just didn't want to do it anymore and I , while he was in the hospital , I was braiding lead ropes , just something to do , and I taught myself how to cut braid custom lead ropes . And , um , in the racetrack , each barn has their , their colors like their stable colors .

Speaker 3

So red and white , blue and white , all the different combinations . And so I do custom ropes and that's where they were selling really well because I had a lot of ends with the racetrack Right . And uh , that's where one of my brothers told me to name it , make it a business , and I was like what do you name something like that ? And so he was like I don't know something like designer custom ropes , you know something like that . And so we started out as designer custom ropes and then little by little that changed . There were things that happened that we ended up doing . The ropes turned into people wanting like barrel racers wanting nose vans , bands done and all that kind of stuff . And so I was making those at teaching myself how to kind of tool the leather a little bit and do those things , but I still had to drive to new Braunfels to have them sewn , and so it picked up enough at Ludwig .

Speaker 3

Yeah , cause we talked about this Ludwig leather . And so finally one day oh , is it , opie , I ?

Speaker 3

think it was was sewing them and he's the sweetest man . And um , I just said you know , what does one of these machines cost ? Cause I mean by the the the time that I take to drive over , drop them off , pick them up , pay y'all to do it . And um , we bought a machine that day and I taught myself how to sew , and you've never sewn before , never sewn a day in my life , not a button , a clothing , nothing nothing taught myself how to sew on the leather show .

Speaker 3

Put it together . It came in on a freight liner . They dropped it off out on the road .

Speaker 2

I don't know . You know Nick has heard me say it a million times over some assembly required can fuck off .

Speaker 3

I fucking hate it and your shit came on a freaking freight liner in pieces , yeah , in pieces , and that thing is heavy , like obviously it came had to have a forklift to get it off . When I loaded it on the wagon I was like , okay , so how am I going to get this in the house right ? But I figured it out and I manned it up and got it in the house and put it together and experimented . How long did that take ? Honestly , it wasn't that bad .

Speaker 2

In a term of a six-pack , a 12-pack , an 18-pack . How many did it take to assemble ? Probably a 12 . A 12-er .

Speaker 3

Okay , all right , and I didn't . I'm horrible with reading directions . I cannot , I do not . I have to look at it and if it makes sense , I can get it done . If it doesn't make sense , I kick it and throw it away .

Speaker 3

It was pretty self-explanatory , even though I had never done it , but the right pieces went in the right places . I watched I'm good with videos , so I'd watched a couple of videos , um , and then just started experimenting and little by little that took off , enough that my brother was like okay , you need to change your name . You're not Ropes anymore . And that's confusing . People aren't going to understand .

Speaker 2

So you had first were . Brady Ropes what you're selling Then we have a sewing machine that shows up industrial clearly . Mm-hmm , you decided at that point .

Speaker 3

That's the original machine there it is . That's the OG , that's the .

Speaker 2

OG . So then what ? Did you just like ? Run over to Tandy and grab a piece of leather , or did you get like an old boot ?

Speaker 3

Well , I had the leather from I just want to .

Speaker 2

just I'm just going to practice what ?

Speaker 3

would you practice on ? I had the leather and some cowhide from making the nose bands .

Speaker 2

Okay , and I don't know why .

Speaker 3

I didn't make a nose band and so a nose band for some reason . The first thing I did was throw together like kind of like a pillowcase inside out and just kind of stitch the edges and then I flipped it inside out and I was like oh , that's kind of cute .

Speaker 3

That'd make a . And I think Brandy , I think , still has the original bag that I did . That was the first bag that I ever made no way , and I call it a bag . I mean she uses that . She still uses it . That was what 13 years ago .

Speaker 3

So , that tells you . I mean just even the first one . But so we changed it to . I didn't want to change it too much because I didn't want to lose my following Right , but I didn't want to start all over with a new page . So I just said designer , custom leather . So now we have no more ropes the og .

Speaker 2

And so from that point , you stopped the ropes , you stopped , they trickled off . I just didn't have time it didn't make sense .

Speaker 3

For one , it kills my hands . It took 20 minutes a rope . I did get it down to 20 minutes per rope , yeah , and for what I was making and my hands just killed me , right . It didn 20 minutes a rope . I did get it down to 20 minutes per rope , yeah , and for what I was making and my hands just killed me , right ? It didn't make sense . When I could , when I saw what I could , do what you could do with something else that didn't wasn't as challenging , so you started with your .

Speaker 2

You did your very first bag and from that bag , or the your inside out pillowcase , that turned into this bag , which is now turned into this huge , yeah , little huge but little family owned you , bubba , your mom and who do .

Speaker 3

You have two others , three two others in the in the actual leather shop and a person that comes in and helps with the embroidery . Which has turned into that in such a little wee bit of time . We have gone from a guest bedroom in our mobile home , basically Right , that overflowed into the dining room , that overflowed into the next guest bedroom .

Speaker 2

Are you hearing all the overflows , nick , do not be mad . We've got gold . We're going to get there , babe , we're going to get there .

Speaker 3

I took over my house with leather .

Speaker 2

You cannot walk in my house ever , yeah , ever , and we did this train wreck .

Speaker 3

My dad had a hay barn down there that's been there for about 20 years now . Yeah , and I had a friend that was a contractor that I called in told him what I needed . He gave me a quote . I said get after it and we closed in . Essentially it's a hundred foot barn that we closed in a 20 foot section 20 by what is that ? 45 . Yeah and made one room that was the shop and then a room off of that that was like our shipping room .

Speaker 2

That's my front door , the shipping and receiving area .

Speaker 3

You got to take big , huge steps and it's right where you walk in the front door . And then I didn't even tell dad I was doing it . So he came home from work one day and the construction crew was here and they were framing up and he was like what's going on ? Excuse , me .

Speaker 2

We have a family meeting .

Speaker 3

Better ask for forgiveness than permission .

Speaker 3

So he uh he was okay with it . I think he understood what was happening . And , um , I put an apartment above it because I was tired of the trailer house that I was living in and I wanted something a little more . After living on the road for years and years and years doing like apartments and hotels and all this , I wanted something a little more , you know , stable , and , yeah , nice . And um , I put an apartment upstairs and , um , quickly , we that's Bubba came into the picture about that point in time and um , we ended up having to frame in a whole nother room for the hides because we were out of room , like there just was no room for everything that was in there . And um , we framed in another room just for the hides and , little by little , we were finally able to sustain to where we made it it was possible to do the shop . And we , we got with another contractor and built the shop .

Speaker 2

So did you realize how quick and how fast that this was growing ? Were you nervous about the growth being that fast ? Were you just grab it by the freaking ? We were just having so much fun , oh my gosh .

Speaker 3

It's like you look up and it's like oh wow , this is really fucking happening .

Speaker 2

This is really happening .

Speaker 3

Little by little , it just kept kept to trickle in the right direction , right and slow enough that it wasn't I say slow enough , slow enough that it wasn't , like it didn't hit me blindsided to where I couldn't keep up and lose it all . But I mean it's , it's been nice to maintain .

Speaker 2

Clearly , you've been able to maintain your growth . There's a lot that .

Speaker 3

I'd like to do that . We could go a lot bigger , but I also know that that's when you start losing people , because you start disappointing people . And I'm a people pleaser , yep , and um , I try to keep . I'm a I don't want to say I'm a control freak , but , um , I like to have control of things and I don't like to . Well , this is your baby .

Speaker 2

It doesn't say design for nothing . It started somewhere and it started with you and you have to think I mean you're . You're the backbone of every single bit of this .

Speaker 1

Well , I never would have thought that I'd be making purses .

Speaker 3

I'm a tomboy , I'm not a , I'm not a girly girl . Nope , I've never had been way .

Speaker 2

Yeah , yeah , yeah , never dreamed he'd be making purses . And then there's that . Add that to your resume . So what do you do ? Well , you know I'm a big person . Well , nick , never thought she'd have goat farmer on there either but you know , whatever Never say never , when you're around people like us . I quit my career 20 years and you're so , and we'll get some snippets of Bubba , but this is .

Speaker 2

this is the husband that is now making purses in bags in your career of 20 years was search one instrument first there you go , there he is , there's the guy everybody , there's you , there he is , there's the man , yeah , but the did you . You didn't find it hard to jump in . I mean , that's , that is a commitment and a support of a marriage or relationship , and confidence and dropping everything . And look where you guys are right now . It's .

Speaker 3

It's so cool and so impressive and you'd be surprised how many people , people and there's another leather maker .

Leather Crafting and Family Legacy

Speaker 3

Before all of this , outside of the racetrack , before leather , I did a lot of dog rescue and I ran across somebody that but you're still doing it . I'm still doing it .

Speaker 2

I don't know if you've been in your backyard lately .

Speaker 3

But I'm just going to let you know I'm still committed , you're still doing it , but I'm not taking on any new ones . So I got you , I got you , but I did a lot of dog rescue and I ran across it's . This lady called me about something one day . Come to find out it was . It was about dog rescue .

Speaker 3

But come to find out , her husband did leather work , and so that piqued my interest , because I was still very new into the leather thing and I didn't really , and I was looking for any information , knowledge I could grasp from anybody that was willing to . You know , just share , right , and his name's Blake Jones . He's a leather king , I believe is the name of his company , nice , and he's in Laverna , okay , and so his wife rescued heavily pit bulls and stuff , and we got to know each other that way and he , I went in and talked to him and he was always very , very nice to share and his work's incredible , completely different from what we do , but absolutely incredible stuff . And he just , he just kind of opened a lot of doors for me , just in knowledge , trying to find out , you know , different types of leathers and different machinery that works certain ways , and just all the different things that I .

Speaker 3

Now I look at it and it's there's still so much to learn , obviously . But I see people that come in and they're kind of like blown away by some things and I'm like , oh yeah , that's just . And then I think about it . I'm like , but I didn't know that at one point either , so so like , yeah it's , it's interesting .

Speaker 3

But so the dog rescue thing was interesting to run into somebody that's in the same field .

Speaker 2

That helps when you kind of makes you think when things happen for a reason you know that's definitely when you cross people's paths like that . That's , that's really cool , A hundred percent , Really really cool .

Speaker 3

So one of the things that he told me I kind of lost track of what I was thinking about it . One of the things that he told me was at that point was how you'd be really surprised how many people can't use a pair of scissors , like on leather , or cut a straight line or see the details and things . And I was kind of like , oh yeah , but you know , that's teachable . Well , no , it's not teachable it's not .

Speaker 3

And um , so Bubba would come in on his weekends and his days off and he'd we'd be working and stuff and he'd just kind of come in and piddle and whatnot . And I was like he has the eye for things and whatnot . And some things were going on with his work and I was just like why don't you just come work for me ? Because I was like I could use the help . Yeah , and little did I know he took me up on it .

Speaker 2

Just done , didn't think twice and boom .

Speaker 4

I was driving 50,000 miles a year and it turned my commute walking down a flat of stairs instead of driving two to three hours every day . So I was like , are you sure ?

Speaker 2

Yeah , are you sure that you like me this much ? Yeah , how many barns do we have , and how many doors do we have that we can slam ? So yeah , yep , believe me , when I was on the road in the motorhomes and run around in 45-footers and big , which sounds bougie or whatever the hell it is , and everybody gets fucking panties out of her wide , but there was not enough doors I could slam in a motor home to get my point across I'm like you know what I'm gonna have to exit .

Speaker 2

I know there's not a rest area or a walmart or anything here , but I need to take a lap , I need to walk around this sucker before I end up going to jail for murder . But yeah , y'all got a lot of rooms , y'all can take a lap and walk it out . But you guys are , y'all are cool , cool , y'all work , y'all , y'all are , y'all are . I mean it's working , yeah , it's working .

Speaker 2

I don't think we spend hardly any time apart , Any time apart Between the Live together work together Everything . Yeah , that's a lot Yep Changed light bulbs together . Haven't tried to kill each other yet . Oh , it's still early , girl . What time is ?

Speaker 4

it yeah , 5 , 13 yeah , yeah , exactly .

Speaker 2

No , y'all are too cute , y'all are so cool . So you go in , we got , we have the bag started and then , um , I want to talk to you about the design aspect of this . Okay , so you started off and you made your first little sewing line and then you flipped it inside out and then what ? And then you said , oh shit .

Speaker 3

I just literally none of it had any plan , like none of it . That's the best kind . Everything is just something that literally I'll pop an idea in my head and I'm like , oh , I want to try that and , and then I I don't draw it out .

Speaker 4

I don't design it .

Speaker 3

I don't do it with like fabric first to make sure I don't screw something up .

Speaker 2

Yeah , I just I go all together .

Speaker 3

I go all in , I see it , I see a vision and I just try it and luckily , sometimes it works .

Speaker 2

So my family which is kind of ironic because you people can skin the cat however they want to , they can talk however they want to or whatever but this was um , or is my children's father family , right , fourth generation saddle makers and we're all very , very , very , very close . We have um , they're , they're still my family . I've never left that side of the family . We're all very close . So they own Camel Saddlery at the time . And then there was Hadlock and Fox and then there was Hadlock and Sons and did saddles and all the leather work . And Papa was the most amazing human being I have ever met , probably in my life , and was such an amazing father figure for me and we were extremely close and that was my ex-husband's father and he um actually patent the fiberglass tree , saddle tree , awesome , yeah .

Speaker 2

So um , and we lost him . Unfortunately , um at a very , very young age . He was coming out of home Depot at the crack of dawn . This man worked his ass off 24 seven , never stopped , and um and had a heart attack in the home Depot parking lot and so we ended up losing him .

Speaker 2

But um in the saddle shop . We were always in the saddle shop a lot and they tend their their own hides . Um did it all , and so , um , chet , and so my ex-husband didn't have anything really to do with the business whatsoever . So but chet , his younger brother has him and papa have have done , and he's kept it up for as long as he could . And so then they now have Hadlock designs , which they do , the leather watch bands and what have you . But Chet is by far one of the best master toolers and can cut and tool and fast and any design and any creation like nothing I have ever , ever seen . And I mean , there's it , you know , you've horse business , saddle business , leather business , whatever . There's circle y , circle j , double d , blah , blah , blah , and we could go on and list them for days and days and days and years and years and years .

Speaker 3

But , um , yeah , his tooling skills are absolutely going into Comal Saturday as a kid with my mom . Yeah , yeah , and there was . Yeah , I just that's good Grandma .

Speaker 2

Thompson in there , little tiny little that was . That was granny's mom and yeah , um , but great memories and the smell of walking in here is just like being in the freaking saddle shop . It's just , it's . It's so good , but , um , talking with them and how they've had to change and do and adapt from going from building saddles to their jewelry thing and they tour all over , they do all the major rodeos , um , but what I want to talk to you is so this fringe , and so you cut your own fringe . So Chet and I have talked about fringe and different things and he was like no , can't do it , can't , it's just this , it's just that . How did you , how are you able , or what made you decide that ? You know what ? You do your own monogramming , you're cutting your own fringe , you're braiding and you're lacing and you're looping , you're doing your own study , every single thing every detail , every single detail is all hand done every hole for the lacing is hand punched .

Speaker 3

Yes , four , five , five , five yeah how did you get ?

Speaker 3

into cutting this one piece at a time , and you have . Is it literally ? That's how it works ? Literally , one piece at a time , a quarter inch at a time . Yes , shut your face , and you have . Is it literally ? That's how it works ? Literally , one piece at a time , a quarter inch at a time . Yes , shut your face , and you got to keep it straight and you mess one up . You got to start all over . Wow , yeah , it's , it's tedious and it takes somebody that can keep the ruler in place and and that's exactly how it's done and a sharp knife and not cut your finger off . And yeah , it's one piece at a time .

Speaker 2

Literally one piece at a time , literally one piece at a time .

Speaker 3

Well , no wonder he says he doesn't want to do it .

Speaker 2

It's time consuming it's a whole job in itself . I know Chet very , very well .

Speaker 4

He's like , yeah , fuck man the first thing that I ended up working helping her yeah , I cut right through it . She just started , yeah Well cause .

Speaker 2

Chad and I had talked to a lot of a while back and and we were talking about the different textures and the different um , is it depth , or is it thickness or what ? I don't know what the hell you call that . But he was like yeah , no , yeah , I ain't doing it .

Speaker 1

Wait , I guess I'm doing it , right yeah .

Speaker 2

But we need to make sure that we do . We have a video of them to actually doing the cutting of the thing , Because that's yeah , who does that ?

Speaker 3

A lot of us , I so every one of us .

Speaker 2

Can you imagine what mine would look like ? It looked like my hair . It would literally look like my hair . I'd get fired on before I even walked in the door . What do you think , nip ? In fact , you need to go shovel the shit out of the stalls . You need to go catch a horse or something . To me , yeah , no way .

Speaker 3

We all do it . I make sure that's one of the things when people start . I make sure that's something they can do , because if they can cut fringe , they can do just about anything .

Speaker 2

Yeah , no shit .

Speaker 3

Yeah , so can you imagine yeah . Yeah , mom's mastered , it .

Speaker 2

Let me tell you what . I would like to put her in my pocket and just take her out on the town , If she is not the cutest damn thing in the world .

Speaker 4

Oh , she is freaking adorable , yeah , she is ?

Speaker 2

She is freaking adorable . Yeah she is . She is a little rock star . She is so cute . Yes , she is , and she sews her little ass off .

Speaker 4

She does , she works hard .

Speaker 2

And she's over there taking a break eating some snacks , just looking at you she's quick yeah . It just comes . It's kind of how chet is with tooling you get , you know , you say this is what I'm thinking or whatever . And yeah , I mean he can swivel and go , and I mean it is absolutely insane yeah , that that takes a huge talent .

Speaker 3

That's in patience , yeah , yeah .

Speaker 2

And the oldest son , Brett , is , is is got the tooling . He's been with them long enough . And then Tyler , Tyler's , Tyler can do it just as well in the sewing and all the things , but yeah , but to watch Chet tool and to cut with those knives and to pick up , I mean he doesn't blink an eye and I mean just goes nonstopstop , yeah it's yeah , it's , it's incredible that's

Leather Crafting

Speaker 2

a whole nother world .

Speaker 3

How did you ?

Speaker 2

figure out how , where to find your hides and stuff . So I mean that's , did you just sit around ?

Speaker 3

I mean it's a little fbi work on facebook . No , um , just I mean trial and error and a lot of people . Once you get to one place , a lot of people know other places and a lot of people are real secret . Get to one place , a lot of people know other places and a lot of people are real secretive about sharing where they get things .

Speaker 3

And so that's why I say it's kind of like an FBI word , because it took a while to find the right place and the place that I've found now I'm very happy with . They're very , you know , they help work with you . They have excellent customer service and they help work with you . They , um , they have excellent customer service and they have excellent quality hides and , um , I've gone through three or four and I'm sticking with what I've got right now , but , um , there's , there's multiples of them , though too , there's not , um , like , I don't get the exotics at the same place that I get the hair on hides , and so there's , there's different sources . So you have there's probably five sources , four or five for all the different things that we get . I mean , obviously there's others that we get here and there , but just our tried and true all the time orders . Right , there's about five different companies we work with , and do you ?

Speaker 2

you're clearly not going . Oh yeah , I'll take that one and then flip , and then flip , and then , oh yeah I do , you do I , they .

Speaker 3

They facetime me and flip through the hides and I pick the ones I want there you go , and when we go up there , they .

Speaker 3

Yep , and they don't mind doing it . One reason I left one of the other companies was because I kind of they stored . These people store the hides flat , like we do , like open-faced , and so it's easy to kind of see what's available . And the other company folds them hide-side in and just has , like you know , brazilian , colombian , the different types , and it's like you go in and they were willing to pull a couple , but then it kind of felt like you were being a bother and they you just needed to say I need 10 , and they take the 10 and I've . I don't settle for that , like I I want to provide what I would want if I was buying it Right , and I don't want to have a lot of waste and I don't want , so I pick what I what I want .

Speaker 2

I have a wholesale hide account , but it's not because I'm out doing this by any means or whatever . It's because I just want something cute to put on my floor and decor and what have you . But that's . I was a my sister , and them gave me and said , hey look , she would like to come in and , of course , with all the businesses or whatever , but that's exactly and it . I don't know which place you're talking about and but it may be the same place , but they are so freaking genuine and you can go in there and they will let me spend hours upon . And if I say , rip this one from 15 feet up in the ceiling and I want to see the fourth one down , they will bring that fourth hide down there and I go yeah , that's not it . I would murder someone . There is no way in hell .

Speaker 4

Her phone will start going off . It'll start ding ding , ding ding .

Speaker 3

Just random , it's them sending pictures . Pictures of hides , because they know her style , they know what I like and they're like hey , we've got these .

Speaker 2

Do you want any of them ? And I'll just go through and be like yep , yep , yep , yep , yep , yep , that's awesome , that's awesome .

Speaker 3

And then , if they know they're getting a load in , they'll call me , facetime me and as they , as they , open them and I can have first first choice .

Speaker 2

That's so cool . That's so cool .

Speaker 3

They're really really good people .

Speaker 2

How many different styles of bags do you have ?

Speaker 3

I don't even know the answer to that question .

Speaker 2

That's a big question .

Speaker 3

That's just what's currently on the website , like there's a several that we still do that we don't really offer a lot , so they're not necessarily on the site yet , but I mean there's definitely a handful of our tried and true bestsellers that stay on the website .

Speaker 2

You have a very loyal clientele , very , very loyal clientele , and I have really say that again , max , we currently have 18 . 18 . 18 . That's a lot . So I'd say there's probably 25 .

Speaker 2

Easy . Yeah , yeah , we currently have 18 , 18 , 18 , that's a lot , probably 25 easy , yeah , yeah , yeah . So the I I didn't realize how loyal the clientele was until , um , I really started researching the bag and of course , you know , I I love to do designs and all kinds of stuff , and that's when we had talked about that for branding and and what have you . And then that's when we were here and you were telling me about the resale deal and how that , and I think that is a really cool thing , where one these are one of a kind , they're handmade , they're here to last a freaking lifetime and then some , but to have it's . It's not really a swap meet , but it kind of is a .

Speaker 3

so to speak . It gives you an outlet that if you , if you're like you know what , yeah something you can sell it to somebody that appreciates and understands what it is , what it is , so that you can go get the next thing that you want , versus having to sell it for pennies on the dollar to someone that doesn't understand or know where it came from or know anything about it , and I think that is so important that how everybody understands exactly what goes in to one of these bags .

Speaker 2

What would you think that the time spent on this size of a bag man hours from beginning to end .

Speaker 3

Beginning to end .

Speaker 2

if I made it without my help and just myself , or I would say the whole let's say the whole team , because that's , you've got payroll involved , you've got time , you have time management , you've got supplies , you have all the things that are involved and blah , blah , blah , you have everything that's going on here I mean that's tough because when we're making them we're cutting out and making multiple at a time , right , and trying to get as many done at a time as we can , because we sell everything each sunday , right .

Speaker 3

But if I had to , per bag , I would say , with everybody's help and everything , probably with the whip stitch and the cutting the fringe and the , probably about a two hour period per bag , wouldn't you say ?

Speaker 2

With the whole crew . Yeah , but this is prepping . This is your .

Speaker 3

That's from the way they're laid on the table to where you've already laid out .

Speaker 2

If you're putting a puzzle together , you've already got your corner pieces set over here . You got your flat edge over here and then you got your miscellany . If we're putting a puzzle together , you got all the pieces are all laid out , so now we're going to piece it together with your whole crew .

Speaker 3

Piecing it together Once everything's I was talking about like literally the base of cutting the handle out the front , out the back , out all the pieces and then piecing together um , is probably a two-hour process . I mean , once it's all kind of prepped and just throwing it together is probably a . It's pretty quick really . Yeah , it's probably I don't know every bit of 30 minutes just to do the whip stitch , though yeah , the whip stitch alone is the handle and the top of the bag is about 30 minutes a bag .

Speaker 4

Whip .

Speaker 3

Whip stitch is , yeah , this leather lacing along the edge , yeah .

Speaker 2

So why is it called a whip stitch ?

Speaker 3

I have no idea , I didn't name it . Oh , it sounds like fun though .

Speaker 2

If you mess it up , you're going to get it .

Speaker 3

Yeah , it sounds like fun , though keep going . It's just , it's a um . I don't know why it's called that , but each , each piece is hand punched , and then the leather lacing is literally one piece at a time , right laced through and which is like a whip .

Speaker 2

I guess , like if you're whipping mashed potatoes .

Speaker 4

Yeah , I guess , so it's a whip because it goes If it's skeeter whip stitching , it's like five and a half six Skeeter is like .

Speaker 2

First of all , you need to get your stitch together . You ain't whipping it .

Speaker 4

But I think the really cool thing about this is we have automated this as much as you can automate a handmade item .

Speaker 3

Yeah , with the small crew that we have .

Speaker 1

It runs pretty smooth it runs very smooth .

Speaker 3

Everybody has their designated things they're in charge of so do you ?

Speaker 2

have days where monday tuesday is . We're cutting patterns days . Tuesday , wednesday we try , we're whipping , we're whipping it , no , no thursday , friday , we're whipping a good , yeah what are we doing here ?

Speaker 4

what are we doing ?

Speaker 3

we're whipping on friday complete chaos for the most part but never mind , I'm talking about the whipping on the fridays .

Speaker 3

So the whip stitch is basically the last step . So that's why he says on fridays it's most of everything gets whip stitched , as anything we can get done before friday can get whip stitched . But for the most part it's like those you

Weekly Live Auction Bag Production

Speaker 3

know . It's kind of like I don't procrastinate , but I feel like I do , because it seems like every week come Thursday , friday , it's like crunch time , right , and that's when we're getting the last bags put together , everything put together . Sometimes we go into Thursday , sometimes into Friday , and we haven't even put a bag together yet and we have to like rush , right , and it's like everybody you know head down .

Speaker 3

we're all business , we get it all done yeah , get a bag put together , throw it over on skeeter's table and then sometimes I get ahead of her and I pile stuff up in front of her . But I guarantee you by the end of the day she's caught up and she finishes it all . She is like a machine that's epic .

Speaker 4

She's a machine , she , just she , just incredible balls of walls the most I think we've done in one day is 26 bags .

Speaker 3

That's okay From a standpoint . You're talking Right . Everything's prepped and you just got to put them together , yeah .

Speaker 1

Right yeah .

Speaker 2

That one day was a whole week's process , Really Cause it's like so you guys do these um live Sunday sales right that are on Facebook and um , and we've talked about this and I've done it and I've watched it and I've sent several people that have purchased bags on the Sunday deal . So for you guys to prep every week , you your anticipation or your goal or your um quantity or whatever is that . Do you have a number ?

Speaker 3

Do you guys have as much as you can make , as much as you can as much as we can physically put together and sometimes there's stuff that started that we don't can't . We just run out of time , we can't do it Right and we'll save that for the following week . But these ladies , like you said , are so tried and true and diehard fans that I've sold items that aren't even finished on the live auction , like we'll tell them that we have something started , and they're like I want to see it , I want to see it , and so we show it to them and they're all in and they buy a bag before it's even constructed , which is incredible to me .

Speaker 2

I mean , I think that's you know that they trust the process that much . So yeah , it's fun .