By Design - a periodical from Townsend Leather
Townsend Leather crafts leather, by design. We live our team culture, by design. We work to meet every customer’s needs, by design. Our passion for design drives us and inspires us to… Full Aritcle
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Townsend Leather crafts leather, by design.
We live our team culture, by design.
We work to meet every customer’s needs, by design.
Our passion for design drives us and inspires us to share. Every once in a while we take a moment to gather some design-focused elements of what we do and who we are and curate them together in a periodical we call, By Design from Townsend Leather.
A glance into what’s new and whats spotlighted at Townsend right now, some tidbits that you will want to know, and a peek into who Townsend is behind the leather.
Our newest edition is available now,
you can download a PDF of it at this link:
www.townsendleather.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Townsend-Leather-BY-DESIGN-8_2020_.pdf
Or scroll down to view it right here, within our site PDF viewer.
You can see all editions of our highly-sought-after By Design Periodical here:
https://townsendleather.com/leather/resources/by-design
If you see something you love, a design inspiration, a leather you need… please contact us! We love to connect, discuss, and explore
info@townsendleather.com
[pdf-embedder url=”https://townsendleather.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Townsend-Leather-BY-DESIGN-8_2020_.pdf” title=”Townsend Leather BY DESIGN 8_2020_”]
Taking a moment to see where we are.
Townsend Leather is so happy to be in full swing again. For a few weeks now, we have had full production up and running. We have been pushing out lots of in-stock leathers and crafting all kinds of customs. It feels good to get our hands back on what we love doing.
Our team relishes a challenge and though distancing and masks are different, they do not hinder our team. With daily health assessments, critically monitored cleaning, six feet distance, and masks… we have been able to not just get back to work, but do so while feeling safe and therefore thrive!
Our dedication to each other has only grown through this time. With a Partner of ours facing some serious health issues, we banded together for small group, socially distant, story-swapping, and fund-raising lunches, in the end raising $4000 for a Partner in need.
We love crafting leather and custom pieces is something we excel in. We’ve taken time in the past weeks to find even more places that we could enhance efficiency and work to delight our customers even more. If you have ever wanted to know more about our custom strike-offs process, “take a peek inside the passion” in our newest casual video clip (below).
Sisters and VP’s of Townsend Leather, Sarah and Tricia, take you on a brief walkthrough of the process. With our full team geared up and ready, our passion for leather stoked, and our processes even more refined – we are anxious to take your dreams to reality. Contact us at info@townsendleather.com to start your own custom strike-off dream journey.
If you have a project in the works or just in dream stage, let us know. We are taking orders, we have stock ready to ship, we are in full production – making leather with love.
We are so grateful for the outpouring and continued message of love and support that we have received from so many customers and Townsend Leather fans over the past months. We are so grateful we have the tools, resources, team, and action-minded leadership to put us in a position where we can confidently and healthfully keep doing what we love.
We would love to hear from you during this unprecedented time, meet us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/TownsendLeatherCompany
Back in April, Townsend Leather President, Jared Eckler, was interviewed for the current edition of Business Aviation Magazine. The interview showcases Jared’s thoughtful responses to where he got his start and how Townsend fared through the earliest days of the COVID pandemic.
See the article here:
http://online.anyflip.com/yosh/ezgz/mobile/#p=36
Townsend is also featured in this edition with a heartfelt message from all of us to the industry, we are here to support, together.
The aircraft industry is an industry of connection. It is essential to our way of life and for bringing us into the future, we are proud to be part of it and we are proud to support this industry’s unfolding of a new era, in every way we can.
http://online.anyflip.com/yosh/ezgz/mobile/#p=16
Our passion for leather runs deep and we love being an American Made company with roots and history in our local community going back hundreds of years. The leather-stocking region of New York birthed Townsend Leather over 50 years ago and we still love the beauty and resources we are surrounded by in the foothills of the Adirondack mountains of our Townsend Leather campus which lead to that moment.
We are proud to be a Mortarr partner and be part of their inspiration and showcase broadcast, especially as we are a featured company in their American Made spotlight,
www.forum.mortarr.com/american-made
Townsend Leather is a “glass-half-full” type of place and so we feel strongly about the need for changes and growth – but we look to the future with hope and optimism.
Our American Made sensibility drives our pride for freedom in voting, in expressing, in hope. We are looking forward to a United States that is even more united for humans, for equality, for future.
Togetherness is a cornerstone element of Townsend Leather, it is what we have leaned on since the beginning of this pandemic and it is what we will lean on to grow and learn and listen, on into the future.
This 4th of July we invite you to find your own Togetherness celebration, it might not be physically with everyone you usually spend the 4th with, it might look and feel different, but togetherness can carry a sense of strength and hope and pride in it – when you focus on hope and growth and future.
Here’s to hand-crafted beauty!
Here’s to celebrations!
Here’s to the USA!
Here’s to freedom and voting and future!
Here’s to togetherness!
Love conquers all, even hate.
Because right now, listening, supporting, and loving is what matters most, we are proud to celebrate #PrideMonth.
Especially this month, we join in celebrating the overdue yet welcome news on the landmark Supreme Court ruling on Civil Rights Act Title VII that clearly states, “An employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender defies the law,” – Justice Neil M. Gorsuch
Actions based in inclusivity, togetherness, love, and progress will always be supported and celebrated by Townsend Leather. There is still so far to go, but as we look out to the horizon, we feel a sense of hope and peace at the path forward.
One way Townsend Leather is taking action this month is in renewing our support of the HRC.
The Human Rights Campaign and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation together serve as America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve LGBTQ equality. By inspiring and engaging individuals and communities, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBTQ people and realize a world that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.
The Human Rights Campaign envisions a world where lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people are ensured equality and embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community. www.hrc.org
It is a mission we are proud to be connected to and will continue to support.
We are also proud to be able to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the historic and moving ruling from our Supreme Court in favor of nationwide marriage equality. Progress takes struggle. Progress takes time. We are proud to be able to be witness to progress and eagerly look toward a future of even more.
ORDER SAMPLES
Tim Beckett has been an integral and dedicated Townsend Leather Partner for 15 years.
Tim has been long recognized by Townsend Leather Partners and every community he is involved with, as a passionate irreplaceable force of greatness. In 2020, one way that recognition took shape was in Tim being awarded as a 40 Under 40 recipient by The Albany Business Review.
This is the third time a Townsend Leather leader has been recognized for this prestigious award, and with the massive projects Tim has been heading up as well as being his 15th Townsend Leather anniversary – it comes at a great time.
Tim was selected as a young professional by The Albany Business Review as someone “who is vital to the capital region by helping make great strides in shaping our community’s future”.
Along with passionate hands in everything Townsend from Sales, Production, Traveling, Team… Tim also spearheaded our growth into The Stitch building and continues to use his keen eyesight to look to the future and build toward it.
Known in equal parts for his seriousness and jokes,
his drive and his care,
his business focus and his sense of fun…
it is no surprise that one of his most memorable quotes is of his love for mullets. Tim is essentially a human-mullet himself and he appreciates that vibe in others as well.
His interview with Albany Business Review is shown below, including his now-famous quote:
What quality do you most value in a colleague or teammate? Someone with a mullet. It is business in the front and party in the back. A teammate that works hard, doesn’t take it too seriously and is ready to have some fun.
That quote and his own business yet fun attitude inspired some of his team to shoot some glamour shots with some seriously fun new fashion. See the short video anniversary tribute to Tim here:
Tim Beckett
Vice president, Townsend Leather
Tim Beckett’s job with Townsend Leather has taken him to 24 countries, the Great Wall of China, a five star hotel in Dubai and the Taj Mahal.
Over the past decade, Beckett and his co-workers have worked with designers of yachts, New Balance sneakers, jets, casinos and Air Force One.
“The pride of being a manufacturer in America is something that a lot of people in the past few decades haven’t been able to realize,” Beckett said. “It is really rewarding to get to see, stay at, fly or even wear some of our products.”
What was your first job? Bailing hay at Model Dairy during the summer. There is nothing like farm work to teach you about work ethic.
What would you tell your 16-year-old self? You don’t want to be labeled as someone with potential. It means you didn’t use and push your abilities to the limit.
What is the biggest future challenge this area should be preparing for? Consolidation of many of the local governments, nonprofits and school districts would spur economic activity and creativity on how we can move forward. We have far too many organizations with overlapping responsibilities and high costs that deter more people from investing back into our communities and retiring here.
What quality do you most value in a colleague or teammate? Someone with a mullet. It is business in the front and party in the back. A teammate that works hard, doesn’t take it too seriously and is ready to have some fun.
What was the toughest choice you made professionally? In 2015, we had to close our sister company, Studio Vizto, a 50-person upholstery company, based in Orlando. The Viz was upholstering custom head of state aircrafts. Market conditions and consolidation ultimately made it unsustainable. The hardest part was letting go of all of the amazing people that we built such close relationships with.
Are you working on any side projects? We just finished renovating our building, The Stitch in Johnstown, for Townsend’s new offices. We are currently renovating other parts of the building for office space. There is more space to lease and we are hopeful to get a brewery or event space on the first floor.
Who are three people, dead or alive, you’d want at your next dinner party? Chris Farley, Michael Jordan and Teddy Roosevelt.
Age: 37
Industry: Manufacturing
Grew up/resides now: Gloversville/Saratoga Springs
Family: Wife, Rose; son, Lars, 8; daughter, Vera, 3
Education: Bachelor’s in business administration, University of New Hampshire, 2004
We talk often in small groups at Townsend Leather about, ‘what will success look like?‘. We strive to put mental imagery and careful words to define our goals – knowing that this definition, the very act of attempting to answer that question, immeasurably increases our chances of meeting that success.
What is interesting is – a success, as defined by Townsend Leather Partners, almost always looks like meeting some measure of a mile-post with the knowledge that we put our everything into it and did so with integrity to our values.
We’ve thought about ‘what does success look like’ for every day at Townsend Leather, and we answered it with – living and loving our values, doing what we do best, and doing it together.
“We are honored to be recognized by our team and the Times Union for another year in a row as a Top Workplace!
What’s even cooler this year is the additional recognition for our Values-based culture. Our values truly are our guiding force and aspirational to us in good times and tough times. We have learned over the years our Values have helped strengthen and improve the company’s longevity, resilience, and fortitude! We celebrate this honor in spirit and from afar, looking forward to the time we can celebrate together as a team!”
– Jared
Townsend Leather President
We do not set out with a Win as the definition of our success, we set out to live our values and live them well enough that others notice it. And that is what is so honoring about the 9 years of awards.
Values Recognition:
Townsend Leather – This company operates by strong values
“Townsend operates on values each and every day from how we reward, manage others, and treat difficult situations. … We have a strong value of family. We all take care of each other.”
Special Recognition:
Clued In Leadership
https://townsendleather.com/2023/lifestyle/top-work-place-2023
Townsend Leather has been recognized as a Top Work Place for the entire greater Capital District region by the Times Union, often receiving special recognition for our focus on values and our leadership. Townsend Leather has even been named THE top workplace in the region 2 times in that span.
Townsend Leather has also been recognized as a Best Place To Work for the entire greater Capital District region by the Albany Business Review for just as many years.
We have a literal award-winning culture because of our focus and attention to each other and each other’s hearts.
See more about the values we hold so dearly, that drives us each day, and each day to success:
https://townsendleather.com/the-townsend-story/mission-and-values
Early this year we also had the honor of being recognized for displaying the ideals, optimism, and hope for the future of our region that were held by economic development leader Edward L. Wilkinson, through receiving the Edward L. Wilkinson Industry of the Year” from the Fulton Montgomery Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Edward L. Wilkinson Industry of the Year Award given to Townsend Leather
Our leadership is comprised of 3 members of the “40 under 40” winners. Including president and champion of Townsend Leather, Jared Eckler.
https://townsendleather.com/contact/job
We have written and shared and photographed often of our awards and Top/Best Work Places wins over the years. Click around to see some of our highly regarded memories.
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