What is your name, position, and where the tannery is located?

Matt Bressler, VP of Sales and Operations. We are located at 120 Cooper Rd, Curwensville, Pa. 16833

What types of leather do you produce, and how have your offerings evolved from its beginnings in 1867 to now?

We only make 100% Vegetable tanned leather and we only tan jumbo or heavy native steer hides.

Of course over the years the use of leather has evolved, it once was a necessity for equestrian products because everyone had a horse. Although equestrian products are a very important market segment to us, leather has become a luxury and those markets (which did not exist in 1867) are very important and so our leather production has evolved.

Was there any unique relationship you had with leather that drew you into this line of work? And if not, how did you find yourself in this role you have?

Funny story, actually. Curwensville is my home town and I needed a job to pay for college. Wickett & Craig was expropriated form the Toronto city limits in 1989 because Toronto thought it was going to get to get the 1992 Olympic Games. It relocated to an abandoned cheese factory In Cuwensville, PA.

Needing to pay for college, I started in this facility working for a contractor that was turning this abandoned building into a tannery. I was then hired away from the contractor (with his blessing of course) and stared with Wickett & Craig as a laborer. I have now been in this building for a little over 29 years and will be with Wickett & Craig 29 years in February.

You were featured in a Popular Mechanics podcast (along with Jeremy Bennett of Filson), and you listed off some words I never heard: Charolais, Simmental, and Limousine (okay, I’ve heard that one, but not when it comes to steer). When you’re determining which hides to use, why do these come out on top?

Those three breeds are cream, red or brown in color and that allows us to make lighter colored leathers without the empty hair follicle creating a “shadow” like a black hide sometimes leaves.

We do use some black hides but we prefer the others.

In 2017 Wickett & Craig celebrated their 150th birthday (congratulations!) – was there any specific way the tannery celebrated? Was there a cow-shaped cake?

LOL, no, there was not a cow shaped cake.

We invited many of the local businesses to take a tour of our facility and join us on a luncheon. Some of which we do business with and others were just neighbors. Many people in our own community have no idea what we do here and that we are known worldwide. This was a great reason to celebrate and also educate at the same time.

We also had a picnic for the employees where our owner provided some very good steaks for all that attended.

While 150 years is long, on the podcast you mentioned some new hires, who are given the task to de-hair new shipments of hides, can’t even make it 150 minutes on the job and they leave on their first 9 o’clock break. Are there other parts of the tanning process most people might be unaware of that’s not for the thin-skinned?

I guess by definition there are a few other operations that may make a person squeamish but in general I think that the hide house (where the hair on hides are stored before we start them through the process) and the beam house where we dehair the hides are definitely the most capable to turn ones stomach.

As far as physically hard, heavy work, there are a significant amount of jobs here they will “run a person off”. There are no “cushy” jobs in our facility. Some are definitely harder than others but we are not making teddy bears here.

What is one thing you’re proud Wickett & Craig does — but would never boast about or put in their marketing?

Our commitment to the environment for sure. We discharge all of our waste water to the West Branch of the Susquehanna River after it goes through our own waste water treatment facility.

We take pride in doing what is right for the next generation and having your own waste water treatment plant is no small undertaking. There are barriers to entry in all markets and treating of the waste is definitely one that weighs very heavy.

What’s been one of your most worthwhile investments? (Does not have to be business specific; can be an investment of time, money, energy, etc.)

People, relationships, both internal and external. Our investment in good employees is probably our most valuable.

We also talk a lot about building relationships with our customers as well. To be quiet honest, if we cannot build a relationship with an account and are strictly considered a supplier or a commodity of sorts then that customer is not for us. We are a custom vegetable tannery and we take pride in our relationships.

Are there any common misconceptions you hear about leather that you’d like to set straight?

There are many types of leather that are all veg tanned. We get calls very often wanting to buy some “veg tanned” leather and what they really want is a natural carving leather. All the leathers we make are all veg tanned and the process that the leather goes through after tanning dictates what type of veg that it is.

What’s a story about Wickett & Craig that you feel doesn’t get told enough?

The story that needs told is not specific to W&C but for all veg tanneries. See, we get flack for raising our prices from time to time like just about every business. What the average consumer does not realize is that we are the last remaining of what use to be hundreds scattered across this country. Every little town had a tannery because it use to be a necessity.

The story I tell is this…“Gee Matt, you guys must be making a killing, you just raised your price on us again!” And my reply is this. “Yes, we are rolling in money that is why every millionaire and billionaire are building tanneries to compound their money…. this business is so profitable”…I generally get a few seconds of silence while they ponder my sarcastic statement but then they realize what I am saying.

As Wickett & Craig’s Sales Manager, I’m sure you’ve had to give your share of elevator pitches. A good chunk of this interview’s audience will be leather crafters. I’d be happy to give you an opportunity here to pitch what Wickett & Craig can offer. Why should a crafter choose Wickett & Craig as their supplier?

Wickett & Craig is 151 years old so our commitment to the tanning industry and to out customers could not be more obvious.

Our marketing is geared towards helping our customers tell their story. The video on the home page of our web-site was shot with a sole purpose and that purpose is for our customer to use it to help explain why their finished product is special.

We realize that in the retail world there are goods that separate themselves and the majority of those goods are because they are well-built and tell a story…this day and age everyone wants to tell a story.

Where can people find more about Wickett & Craig (links to online store, blog, Instagram, etc.)?

We are currently working on our social media presence and in the very near future there will be some great new information about us on Instagram so stay tuned.