Shop Talk! March 2023

As I sit down to write this today, a little later in the month than normal, my thoughts are a bit scattered. So far this year, I have spent a lot of time in meetings because this is the nature of my role in the company now. I have grown my team of two full-time employees with nine contracted team members, to eight full-time employees and an additional company to manage in less than one year. It’s quite something to go from a tiny, intimate team to managing four times the amount of people you are used to. I’m trying to find my cadence as a leader, but am grappling with finding time to get my job done. Pondering this quandary made me think Michael Williams of Calavera Tool Works, the…

LYNN ASCRIZZI Lynn Ascrizzi is a freelance writer, artist, poet and home gardener who lives in a home that she and her husband, Joe, built in the woods in Freedom, Maine. In the past five years, she has written extensively for ShopTalk! Early on, she taught art and English in public schools and was senior editor, illustrator and art director for Farmstead, a national magazine for small farming and home gardening. Later, she was lifestyle editor, feature writer and syndicated columnist for Central Maine Newspapers. Her poems have been published in several journals and in two anthologies by Down East Books: “Take Heart: Poems From Maine,” (2013) and “Take Heart: More Poems From Maine,” (2016). GENE FOWLER A writer and performer based in Texas, Gene Fowler has written for Cowboys & Indians, Oxford…

Maverick Leather has a large selection of Horween Seconds available for purchase online and in their warehouse. The stock is constantly revolving with many different styles of sides and lots. It makes for a fun way to try certain weights, tannages and colors that you may have been wanting to check out. The tannery (Horween) goes through sorting/grading processes throughout production. Sides that do not meet their high standards will get rejected and sent to Maverick. These “seconds” may have been rejected at the tannery for a large variety of reasons, ranging from a color defect to brands, holes, scarring, loose break, drawn grain, tannery swatch cuts, etc. www.maverickleathercompany.com Give us a call or email with any questions. 541-797-2108 • info@maverickleathercompany.com…

For 18 years, I had a booth at the National Reining Horse Association Futurity in Oklahoma City. At some point every year, I would notice one hat picking its way through the cowboy-looking throng. It was shaped a little differently and stood out. As the snap brim fedora got closer, the figure beneath it would materialize in a tweed jacket. A pair of narrow spectacles and a walrus-style mustache completed the picture, and briefly made me think of Teddy Roosevelt. A braided bosal with reins and headstall would be slung over one shoulder of the professorial jacket. With a smile on his face and a new adventure to tell me about, Len Yule would have arrived. Len was born in Winnsboro, Louisiana, in 1946. He was raised in the community of…

Last year, I wrote a series of articles about digital marketing and search engine optimization. I was surprised to learn that among the readers who appreciated those insights most were the Amish. Although they didn’t plan on using that information themselves, they found it helpful to understand how folks were doing business, marketing and selling their products. Today’s topic is a little bit similar; it may not apply to everyone directly, but it’s interesting to know how it’s changing the way that people do business, particularly in marketing. When we hear the phrase “artificial intelligence” or “AI,” most of us immediately jump to movies like The Terminator or The Matrix, where the technology gets TOO smart and turns on us. While it’s rational to have a healthy skepticism about self-learning robots, most of the…

India’s leather sector revenue expected to drop 7-8% in 2023-24 Revenue for the Indian leather apparel and accessories sector is expected to drop 7-8 percent during fiscal 2023-24 (April-March), according to Crisil Ratings. The drop will be due to slow consumer demand in Europe and the US, despite a depreciating rupee. Indian leather apparel and accessories exports account for 85-90 percent of sector production, and 75 percent of this goes to Europe and the US. “Revenue is expected to be flattish in the current fiscal year (2022-23), after the robust performance last fiscal, riding on strong demand-rebound, which had taken it beyond the pre-pandemic level,” a Crisil Ratings report said. According to CRISIL Ratings Director Rahul Guha, demand for discretionary goods in key export markets — essentially the advanced western economies — has been…