One of the most exciting things for me is prototyping. There's something about pouring your heart and soul into a project, then seeing it come to life as a completed product.

The Tucker was our very first product for Holtz Leather; it was a simple, classic design with no stitching and a single rivet - and it works! Six years later and it’s still a great selling keychain. 

You know how when you’re a kid and you just conquered some challenging thing and wanted your peers or parents to see you in your victory? When we stepped up into wallets, that’s exactly where I was! I had put in HOURS and hours into our first bifold wallet… and had to show it off. “Coleen! Look! I’ve been working at this all day, and I finally got it. What do you think?!”

Truth is, I’d been staring at it so long, and working at it so hard, I wasn’t prepared for Coleen to see it so differently! With the wind knocked out of my sails, that wallet went straight back to the drawing board, and the current rendition of The Big Dixie was born. We now have two traditional style bifold wallets!. 

Our prototyping efforts didn’t stay squarely on my shoulders for long - with the explosive growth our business was blessed with, there were way too many irons in the fire! Over the years we’ve had a number of contributors, and we have since branched out into more challenging designs! 

While I no longer pour over a small wallet in the basement, Coleen and I (and several of our kids) field test, tweak, dissect or otherwise pick apart every single one of our prototypes. In fact, our messenger bag was field-tested for well over a year (with multiple design edits) before we presented it to the public. Our Marketing Director has been using one since we launched; I may or may not be field testing round two… 

 Guess you’ll just have to stay tuned :)  

 -Rick