What is your name, your leather craft business, and where are you located?

Michael Stricklin. I own Loyal Stricklin and Loyal Bespoke, based in Nashville, Tennessee.

What types of leather goods do you make, or what is your role in the leather craft business?

We do a bit of everything, but focus mostly on bags and wallets. I love backpacks the most, which is what we’re making daily in the shop. We do a fair amount of other bag styles as well such a purses, totes, duffles and briefcases, but backpacks are 90% of it. We’re venturing more into clothing as we move forward too, and have hats now and will be adding some type of jacket next year in denim or waxed canvas. My interests are wide and it’s difficult to focus it down sometimes. I never meant for my company to be just leather, which is one big reason it’s not in the name.

We’re a small shop so most of the business and planning roles land on me. Mornings are usually governed by finances, ordering, emails, and planning the day. After an early lunch, I usually spend the rest of my day making what needs to be made, helping direct production for the rest of the team or prepping for the next run. I also design bags for other brands and manage their production, whether in house or at a partner facility so I’m usually trying to sneak their projects in between it all as well. My wife makes our wallets and purses and handles shipping and a lot of our photography. Our employee Zach, makes most of our canvas bags, so I’m always jumping back and forth to facilitate them or answer questions if they need clarification on a step in the process.

What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your leather crafting in the last six months (or in recent memory)?

I love the Crimson Hide Sanding blocks. I use the smaller ¾” wide ones. I used to have the wider ones but the smaller ones are much more practical. They’re awesome and only $25 or so. I have three, each with different grit, and use them mostly with edge painting or scuffing leather to get a better glue bond. They’re awesome and inexpensive. Highly recommend.

How has a setback, or seeming setback, set you up for later success in leather craft? Do you have a “favorite failure”?

A few years ago I took a 60 bag order from a big fortune 500 company. This was in January of that year and delivery was supposed to be in March. I didn’t have the money to pay for all the material at the time, so I slapped it on my credit card, which was already holding a balance higher than I felt comfortable with due to spring materials coming in. I waited 6 weeks on the leather, spent a month making everything once the material arrived, and then didn’t get paid for another 45 days. Then income taxes were due. It was a valuable lesson in managing risk, costs, and timeline over several months. My business was very small at the time and having all that cash tied up crippled me and brought production of timely-paying gigs to a halt.

There was a week or two when the money had yet to arrive but I had big bills due and I didn’t think we could make it work. Everything ended up fine, but it was almost 90 days later that I was finally paid. I learned exactly how much I hated NET payment terms and refused to do any work for large, multi-million dollar companies without at least a materials deposit up front again. It’s often those big companies that are the hardest to work with, and it’s important to not get lead astray by dollars signs and instead make the decision that’s right for your business. In the end, I had to use that money to pay off the credit card and my employees for their labor instead of being able to really invest back into the business.

It was a turning point in our business and in my ability to manage production and finances and an experience I often turn back to as new opportunities come up.

If you could collaborate with another leather crafter to make an item, which leather crafter would it be and what would you make?

I’m going to flip this on it’s head a bit and choose another medium. I’d love to work with a sculptor or metal artist to make something beautiful and wrapped in leather. Something abstract and wild and high-end. I don’t have a person in mind, but it’d be new and exciting and fun and a huge challenge in pattern making and execution.

What is one of the best or most worthwhile investments you’ve ever made? (Could be an investment of money, time, energy, etc.)

There are a few that stand out. Tools don’t make the craftsman, and there is no point in having the nicest machines or tools if you don’t have the skills to properly utilize them, but my best investment in money in my business have absolutely been my machines. I used to use the manual 4 ton and 8 ton weaver clicker presses, and they served my very well for 4 years, but I upgraded to a hydraulic clicker press last year and have never looked back. There is no fatigue at the end of the day if I have to click out a hundreds of pieces . The manual press would leave me or my employees wiped out and sore and make the next day’s work harder if we had a lot to cut.

I also upgraded my sewing machines this year and got 4 new Durkopp Adlers (669, 869, 868, and 1767 models). I’d always wanted these machines and they live up to the hype. The engineering is just so far and above the Chinese clones that they don’t compare. As a professional doing this for a living, it was a very necessary (and expensive) undertaking to get these machines so close together, but our quality of work has gone way up, and our headaches working out tension issues and breakdowns of lesser machines has been almost entirely eliminated. These machines are built to operated all-day long for 30+ years with relatively little maintenance needed, so it was a no-brainer for us. Despite the heavy initial cost, they will be cheaper in the end due to their reliability and ease of use.

As most people reading this are most likely hobbyists, I want to point out that there is nothing wrong with using budget friendly machines, craigslist deals, etc… and using them as-is or making them work well with some modifications. Tool envy runs deep in the leather world and you shouldn’t let it get you down if you see other folks buying these nice tools. There are a ton of great machines out there that will do a perfectly fine job for much cheaper and produce an unnoticeable difference in the end result. As I mentioned above, it’s not about the machines themselves. I have to be efficient and quick in my work, while maintaining quality because my livelihood depends on it. It was better for my situation, but might not be for anyone elses.

As for a lesson in time, last year I started Loyal Bespoke, which focuses on higher end projects such as gator, calfskin, and chevre wallets and bags. I worked almost every Saturday for a year on it, pushing myself on my designs, materials, and techniques to jump my skills ahead tenfold with help from friends on the leathercraft discord chat. I’m so glad I did it because it’s opened up a new world of clients. I still have my more expensive items on the shelf, but I’ve gotten several jobs for higher-budget projects from the proof of concept. I’m taking a little break from it now to work on private label work and spend more time with my family, but it was so important to dedicate some serious time into pushing myself into higher-end work over the normal line of goods I make and sell under Loyal Stricklin.

What’s an unusual or odd technique in your process that you’re pretty sure most people don’t do?

I’m not sure it’s too unusual, but my background is in Architecture, so I use architecture programs to finalize all of my templates and designs. It’s especially nice for making quick templates for one-off wallets.

In the last five years, what new mindset, behavior, or habit has most improved your leather craft?

Hands down, the most important thing has been meeting and talking with other crafters. The leather world was so closed off for the longest time when I got started. Messages for advice would go unanswered, and I also wrongly ignored people’s questions as well. No man is an island, and while youtube is great, there is nothing like talking through experiences with others. Build a community for yourself. Make friends with other leatherworkers. Share experiences and techniques, sources, and which tools to get and where.

Pay attention to other crafters, their instagrams and descriptions, and pick up tips wherever you can. I will say though, if you’re an absolute newbie, search out those youtube makers, lurk on reddit’s leathercraft subreddit or the Leathercraft discord group and pick up on some info first. Try to get a solid base and research done and pick up on the lingo. If you do find someone willing to help guide you, then remember to respect their time and develop a relationship with them that isn’t just you asking questions.

There has to be a dialogue.

Many people will help you, but it’s so important for it to be a two-way street and offer them what knowledge you can in return.

What advice would you give a smart, driven person about to get into leather craft? What advice should they ignore?

Plan. Plan. Plan. Always plan out your projects. Don’t wing it. You’ll always have a better result much faster. Use a straight edge. Use winged dividers to mark your stitch line to make it easier to line up your pricking irons. Get your techniques down first on scrap: stitching, cutting, edge finishing. Then go for the real thing. You’ll advance much faster. Don’t stagnate. Keep pushing yourself and yourself skillset once you get the hang of one type of project.

Also, don’t go buying every expensive thing you can right from the get go. Start with basics. If you love it, upgrade as you need to. It’s taken me 7 years to get all of the tools I have. Most of what I use now I’ve purchased within the past 3 years, and full 2.5 years after making a living doing this. You don’t need the best of everything on day one.

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?

I think bad recommendations get filtered out pretty quickly these days with how fast the online world moves. You’ll find the good stuff repeated pretty often. Just pay attention and never take one person’s opinion as the end all be all. Look at many sources, try things for yourself and piece together your own opinion. If a bunch of people are in agreement, there’s a good chance they’re right, but not always.

So much in leather craft isn’t “better” or “worse” but rather they’re different. Different tools and leathers yield a different aesthetic. Look at the type of work someone does before judging if their advice is right or wrong for you. Hobbyist leatherwork seems to have taken a luxury European path over the past few years, but there’s nothing wrong with Americana, or western, or whatever. Just remember that if you want a European look, that a western tooling specialist might not be the right guy to go to advice for and vice versa.

When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, or have lost your focus temporarily, what do you do? (If helpful: What questions do you ask yourself?)

The answer is always to step away, even if for a few minutes. I’ve walked away from projects for months until I felt I could get back on it and finish it correctly. Better yet, get to a beautiful place with a view if you can. Exercise. Spend time with friends or family. If all else fails, ice cream heals all.

Where can people find you (links to online store, blog, twitter, Instagram, etc.)

I can also be found on the leathercraft discord from time to time.