Fridays are for the shop. Where Tuesday's issue is one maker's story, Friday is the buying guide: a short, seasonal edit of small-batch American goods worth owning (some on sale, most just worth it), with the week's real deals at the bottom.
This week it is leather. On Tuesday you put Leather Works Minnesota on the board, and we made the case for reading a wallet the way you read a boot: by the tannery, not just the country. So here are five American leather goods built to be carried for a decade, cheapest to dearest, from shops that will tell you where the hide came from. The Sale Wire is still at the bottom.
The Leather Edit
🇺🇸 Slim Cardholder, Orox Leather Co. (Portland, OR) ($50). Cut and stitched by a family shop in Portland's Chinatown, three compartments and an angled corner made for a front pocket. The low-risk way into a maker that backs every piece with a lifetime repair. → oroxleather.com
🇺🇸 No. 5 Cinch Belt, Colonel Littleton (Lynnville, TN) ($127). Made in a small Tennessee shop, on Italian bridle leather the Colonel names right on the page, so you know exactly what is around your waist. A dress-and-denim belt with a roller buckle, built to patina for years. → colonellittleton.com
🇺🇸 Johnny the Fox Wallet, Ashland Leather (Chicago, IL) ($145). Their best seller, cut and sewn in Chicago from Horween Chromexcel tanned about a mile from the bench. This is the wallet the tannery angle was made for: you can name the hide and the street it came from. → ashlandleather.com
🇺🇸 Medicus Dopp Bag, Orox Leather Co. (Portland, OR) ($150). A full-grain travel kit handmade in Portland, wide enough for the real contents of a shave shelf and built to soften with every trip. The bag you buy once and hand down. → oroxleather.com
🇺🇸 No. 18 Leather Portfolio, Colonel Littleton (Lynnville, TN) ($195). A padfolio made in Tennessee, hundreds of reviews deep, for anyone who still takes notes on paper in a room full of laptops. The desk piece that ages like a good catcher's mitt. → colonellittleton.com
The Sale Wire
Still live, verified this morning. Deals move fast, so check before you buy:
🇺🇸 Frank's Boots (Spokane): 28 one-off factory seconds, $300 to $700 → franksboots.com/collections/franks-factory-seconds
🇺🇸 Gitman Vintage (Ashland, PA): the Summer Sale, about 40% off US-sewn linen and madras camp shirts → gitmanvintage.com
🇺🇸 Faribault Mill (MN): the warehouse clearance and factory seconds, 122 pieces deep → faribaultmill.com/collections/warehouse
🇺🇸 Stormy Kromer (Ironwood, MI): the Outlet on Michigan-made caps, Original Cap at $28 → stormykromer.com/sale
Standing seconds programs (always worth a look): JK Boots warehouse, Nicks Factory Seconds, Truman Seconds & Samples, Easymoc Factory Outlet, Rancourt Outlet.
Every item above was verified for country of origin. No brand paid to appear. Some links may become affiliate links; that never changes what gets picked.
P.S. What is the American-made leather good you have carried the longest, and how has it held up? Reply and tell me. The best story becomes a pick.
The Quarterboard · quarterboard.co · @quarterboardco