International Women's Day
Townsend Leather is a Women In Business Focused company and we are proud to celebrate the equal balancing, smart and innovative, change efforts being focused on this year, on International… Full Aritcle
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Townsend Leather is a Women In Business Focused company and we are proud to celebrate the equal balancing, smart and innovative, change efforts being focused on this year, on International Women’s Day.
“Women belong in all places where decisions are being made… It shouldn’t be that women are the exception.” – Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Townsend is fundamentally built on challenging the status quo, always looking – instead of what is easy and done before, to what is best for our customers and what is best for our people – even if that means working harder to get there. We take the challenges of pushing the boundaries of leather, production, and culture seriously. We are heartfelt intent on balance, growth, and innovation for all, especially those that face marginalization and unfair barriers.
So, this International Women’s Day we celebrate our focus on Women In Business.
A critical element of Townsend Leather’s success, is it’s focus on putting decision making power in the hands of all. The small randomly selected Townsend Leather Partners shown in the photos above, as well as all Townsend Leather Partners are instilled with a sense of responsibility and direction-influencing power. Every team, club, or task-force at Townsend includes women voices, because as the Notorious RBG has said, women belong at the decision – not just impacted by it.
Our President, Jared Eckler, kicked off our International Women’s Day focus with a series of Facebook photos and posts, celebrating some of the women of Townsend:
But, for us, International Women’s Day is not a casual holiday, it points to a fundamental idea of Townsend Leather and is something we will be building on each day. This is a an ongoing story for us, so check back to see the actions we take and the way we build it, together.
We will be featuring stories of inspiring Townsend women over the coming months. But we want to hear from you too, share the story of the women who have inspired you with us:
Inspiring Women Stories
Collecting your stories of inspiring women
Established in 1969, Townsend Leather is bursting with excitement and pride at celebrating 50 years of leather crafting. 2019 is a momentous year for us, as we look back over 50 years of experience, stories, and history of leather and all the hands that have built Townsend Leather to what it is today and what it will be tomorrow.
We are putting a focus this year on “stitching together our past, our future, our history, & our dreams,” as we look back on 50 years of leather greatness and look forward to a adding a new building, new capabilities, and as always, building on our endless pursuit of growth and learning.
Stitching Together Our Past & Our Future:
Townsend Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary!!
In 2019, we celebrate our 50th Anniversary as a company. Throughout the year, we will take time to look back at and honor our roots and those from the past who helped us define our company and culture, as well as celebrate our evolution and our team today, and the beautiful product lines of leather and related capabilities that are paving the way for an even more exciting future for us and our customers and suppliers. We have a new building we are expanding into this year that we have nicknamed “The Stitch,” more beautiful products, offerings and services than ever, and an amazingly talented and dedicated team of creative people, inside and outside of our company that we are excited to work with in the goal of collaborating on stunning and innovative interiors using leather. We like the idea of “stitching” because besides it being what our customers do when they sew our leathers into gorgeous upholstered pieces, it reminds us how our work together to achieve something greater than the sum of its parts is what we do each day with such pride.
Thank you to all of you for the part you have played in our 50 years. Whether you are a customer, a supplier or vendor, or a Townsend Partner or representative, you have helped make us the company we are today and we appreciate you on our Golden Anniversary more than ever.
– The Townsend Leather Family
Our gift to Townsend Partners, fans, friends, family, and customers this year is what we are calling our “Designer Toolkit Card Pack”. 50 postcard-sized “tools”, in honor of our 50th year, bundled together for use throughout the year and beyond. Packs of these cards are currently being spread across the world from our Johnstown, NY headquarters, but if you want to be sure you get your hands on one, contact us at info@townsendleather.com to request your very own “Designer Toolkit”.
The toolkit comes complete with note pages and calendar cards, things to keep you in-the-know and organized, and some fun bits too.
The toolkit even includes an opportunity to fold a friend…
Your folded bovine buddy can even become a holder, a shelf, a mini-desk for you… she happily holds your favorite things for you.
We have been receiving photos from crafty friend-folders all over the world, make sure you share yours with us too! info@townsendleather.com,
www.instagram.com/townsendleather/,
www.facebook.com/TownsendLeatherCompany/
You can even get a little crazy... making your own postcard to drop off to your crush, falling in love with leather, warming hearts and tummies by gifting out a hot cup of coffee (coffee is a hug in a mug!), or even grab the spinner card and setup your own game of “spin the bottle leather card!”
The “Action Answer Aid” toolkit card was even used for a MARRIAGE PROPOSAL between two Townsend Leather Partners!
She said YES!
At Townsend leather, we passionately believe in the power of connection and meaningful relationships within the company, across the company, and outside the company.
We are proud to have been recognized as both a “Best Place To Work” and the “Top Workplace” in the Capital Region for 2018. Those accolades only come because of the people we are, the way we support and care for each other, and the way we inspire each other. We care about what we do, who we do it with, and who we do it for.
We are always looking forward to your stories, your photos, your questions – anyway you want to connect with us – we’d love for you to do it. info@townsendleather.com
Also, take note, one card in the pack offers instructions of a *secret* way to get an additional sky-focused gift from us ;)
Along with Townsend Leather, a few other exciting things are celebrating a 50th Anniversary this year. Just as Townsend Leather was getting started, the world was also celebrating the monumental Moon Landing event, the introduction of Scooby-Doo, and the invention of Fla-vor-ice!
And just a couple-hour drive from Townsend Leather’s home in Johnstown, NY, hundreds of thousands of people gathered to be part of the most historic concert in US history, Woodstock.
The website, Mental Floss, has a very nice recap of 50 things celebrating a 50th anniversary, along with Townsend Leather this year, here: mentalfloss.com/50-things-turning-50-2019
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Hi Partners,
With 40 new Townsend Leather Partners, friends, and family members joining our leather-magic-crafting team in 2018, I was pleased to see that my fear of losing the intimate, tight knit, family feel, and strong team-based culture as we passed 150, was unfounded. Quite the opposite, I feel – when people, heart, connection, and team are at the front of our values and culture, it’s actually the reason we can grow successfully and sustainably. We not only maintain this feeling of togetherness on one mission to provide the most lovable leather in the world while having fun, we are building on it!
2018 was a year full of stories, with one of the biggest being how busy we all were! As we enter our milestone 50th year in business in 2019, I’m proud to say our 49th year was one of our very best in sales, won by hard fought, amazing efforts by all of our 170 Partners!!
We are so excited for our expansion in 2019 to “The Stitch” on Grove Street and for much future success in our 50th and beyond!! Thank you to all of our passionate and perseverant partners in and out of the company, to our customers, and suppliers – I’m so proud of and thankful for all your dedication, efforts, and partnership!!
The late beloved Stan Lee of Marvel fame defined his signature sign-off as meaning “onward and upward to greater glory!” In honor of his memory and as one of the best story writers and tellers ever, I’d like to sign off with it – “Excelsior!”
Daring Greatly,
Jared
Throughout the celebratory year of 2019, you can expect to see even more stories and shared moments of stitched together ideas, reflections on history, foresight of our goal-future, and so much more. If you have Townsend stories from bygone years, or ideas of for our leathery future, or just want to connect, please do so – we would love to hear from you!
info@townsendleather.com
Join the conversation on Facebook: www.facebook.com/TownsendLeatherCompany/
Follow along on Twitter: twitter.com/TownsendLeather
and See all the beauty on Instagram: www.instagram.com/townsendleather/
On January 31st 2018, myself (Danielle I., pictured above)and 4 other Partners were chosen to go to a Ted Talk that was being held at FMCC. Some speakers at this Ted Talk spoke of the work that they had done revitalizing their own communities. Others spoke of what they had done to reach out to communities outside of their own. Hearing the perspective and advice from the speakers really sparked the flame inside of me to figure out how myself and Townsend could help also. I have always had a passion for helping others and often wondered what I could do to help the area that I grew up in and felt passionate about. It was not until I had begun my career at Townsend Leather that I had found a place that was incredibly willing to lend a helping hand.
We brought these ideas back to Townsend with us and at the next Ted Talk we explained some ideas that were mentioned at FMCC. A lot of talk began internally at Townsend and so many Partners were excited to get involved with bettering our community. Through talking with our seasoned vets here at Townsend, I found out that 22 years ago, Terry Kucel, along with our Partners, had donated a park to Johnstown. Partners Park was born in 1996. I was the ripe age of 8 years old at that time! When I found out that Townsend had already donated a beautiful park, I was firstly honored to work for such a caring company but second, I was curious to know if this park needed a little love!
Terry Kucel, Sarah Eckler and myself took a drive to the Park one afternoon and noticed that Partners Park did in fact need of some love from our Partners. Once we spread the word of the park, our Partners were excited to hear that we would be doing some cleaning, planting and construction to help revive it again. I had mentioned the park idea to a Partner that had helped bring Partners Park to life 22 years ago, and they were so excited to help this time around as well. That really warmed my heart. I loved seeing his face light up with joy knowing he would have another opportunity to help!
On April 26, 2018 about 20 Partners and myself began phase 1 of the Partners Park Clean Up! Though the weather was still slightly chilly, we put on our hats and gloves and got to work. The 1st phase was cleaning up leaves, garbage and debris from the park. It was amazing to see everyone together, working towards a noble cause. We had a nice lunch in the Park after wards and spoke about what is to come next.
Did you know?
Townsend Leather Partners donated their time to improve and restore a park located in Johnstown, NY almost 22 years ago (in 1996 to be exact).
I wanted to give a huge shout-out to all of our teammates who donated their lunch hour(s) and lots of hard work all for the good of Partners Park. We have some very special Partners who are selfless. I appreciate everyone who gave up their time to lend a helping hand. I am honored to work with you all.
A special thanks to Terry and Townsend for the support throughout this process. It is an amazing feeling to know that we work for a company that cares so deeply about giving back and helping.
Thank you, Townsend and Partners, for making this happen!
Our story-filled year was filled with awards, projects, giving, fun, hugs and so so much. It is impossible to stuff an entire year of memories, moments, stories, creations, love, and joy into one slideshow, but we tried! Once again, enjoy the video slideshow above, as a super fast snapshot of just a few of the memory-made moments of our 2018, as our 2018 Year in Blurview (photos are in a bit of a random order and certainly not fully representative of all the magical moments we had and experienced in 2018, but is a fun snapshot nonetheless) (see 2017’s year in blurview, here).
Some of the most proud moments we have at Townsend Leather, is when someone else has the chance to notice the things we see and feel here each day. We take pride in the quality of leather and are so proud when a customer calls to tell us how much they loved it too.
We take pride in our community, giving back, being present, aiming to be a positive force in the area, and we love when our Partners create great meaningful things, like restoring local parks.
We are proud of our Partners, the wisdom they have, the care the give, and it is even more pride-inducing when it is coming from our leaders and our President. We were all proud to see Jared’s words and foresight shared in the Business Journal article:
https://www.bizjournals.com/albany/news/2018/12/14/industry-roundtable-manufacturing.html
And of course we take pride in the team that we are, the work we create, the love and care we have for each other, and the type of workplace we’ve built. So it is especially exciting to have been recognized as the #1 Top Workplace and the Best Place to work!
https://www.timesunion.com/local/article/1st-Place-Midsize-Employer-Townsend-Leather-12825966.php
And certainly, we are proud of our future, our celebration of 50 years and everything good that is yet to come!
http://www.leaderherald.com/opinion/editorials/2019/01/a-fresh-start-in-2019/
For 50 years Townsend has been guided by values.
By a sense of team, family, grit, and growth and all that encompasses. This year we build on our long-standing foundational values, to vocalize, embrace, and cement three new values.
Townsend Partners together have established the list of values seen, valued, and carried by each of us as:
- TEAMWORK
- COMMUNICATION
- INITIATIVE
- FLEXIBILITY
- GRIT
After careful consideration and observation, we are proud to grow this list and add 3 new values that our Partners have always recognized in each other and in what makes Townsend great. We now take the additional celebratory step to formally add them to our Townsend Leather Cornerstone Values list:
- LEARN
- CARE
- OWNERSHIP
We closed 2018 out by looking forward and celebrating the people, moments, ideas, and values that make Townsend amazing. This marked a significant moment in Townsend’s history to turn our attention to Partners that embody these values and could help crystalize what they mean to Townsend for all of us.
Larissa introduced the new Townsend value of LEARN to the team, brining it to life through examples and explanation giving us a definition to incorporate and build upon:
LEARN
An openness to new experiences, experiments, and ideas with willingness to embrace failure, try again, and spread knowledge.
Ian put the idea of OWNERSHIP into our bodies, where we could viscerally feel the sense of urgency and importance this pinnacle value means, has meant, and needs to mean to Townsend with a definition of:
OWNERSHIP
Assuming responsibility for each issue, challenge, and opportunity to ensure the success and fulfillment of all partners.
And in true caring-style, Rebecca, Margaux, Pam, and AJ crafted the idea of care right in our hearts as a team. Expressing one of the most recognizable Townsend values, with a caring definition:
CARE
Putting Townsend’s values at the heart of all relationships, being mindful of partners, customers, and our work through practicing empathy and generosity.
50 years of craft and care have led us to this list of recognized and honored Townsend values, our next 50 years will be even better through our attention, growth, and cultivation of these values in ourselves and each other. We proudly look forward to seeking and celebrating so many moments of values-in-action at Townsend in 2019 and beyond.
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Townsend has always been at the forefront of technology, but we approach it through the lens of how can it enhance our artisans skills.
We seek out and explore new capabilities, processes, machines, vendors, and technologies with an aim to utilize the precision and efficiency of mechanics in order to augment the hand craft that our people have been perfecting for nearly five centuries.
Being the manufacturer means that not only do we have the luxury of testing, refining, and perfecting process in real-time on-site, but we also get to look outside the industry and gather ideas from all places, then adapt them to fit the needs of leather and our designers.
Our artisan craftspeople take serious pride in the leathers they create, especially when they get to explore something new. We welcome the challenge of any design and any dream. If you can dream it, we can make it.
This year we are excited to give special highlight to four of our newest and most exciting design capabilities, perfect blends of artisan craftsmanship steeped in history and experience, with state-of-the-art technology. With that blend of skills and capabilities, we are able to mix up any flavor – create a flavor of dreams, of design, of leather for any taste.
Digital Printing
In love with an image? A photo? A hand-drawn design? See it permanently, expertly, and perfectly reproduced in full color right onto the leather – through our Digital Printing process.
Laser Etching
Ink-free, but a lasting and impactful image. Engraved with lasers, your image, logo, or design pops against the leather background and retains a natural look and feel with our Laser Etching capability.
Perforating
Distinctly unique. Never before has the removal of something made such a design statement, but perfectly punching out pinholes of leather can create a subtle or striking pattern that becomes the perfect compliment to your design. Our Perforating options are sure to please.
and Quilting
The newest, in-house capability of ours. Really ties your design together. 3-Dimensional patterns, stitched right into the leather offer your designs a eye-pleasing tactile experience, crafted with machined precision under the watchful eye of our expert team, our Quilting capability.
Reach out to your Townsend Leather Rep for more information or to get your hands on samples. Or see them first-hand at our 2018 NBAA booth where we will have examples of each on display.
Dig a little deeper into the specs and examples of each on our Resources Page, where you will find helpful PDFs exploring each capability
- Digital Prints Sheet
- Laser Etching Sheet
- Leather Perforations Sheet
- Pretty Perforations Sheet
- Quilting Capabilities Sheet
Townsend Leather at NBAA 2018 Booth #823
Join us for our Drinks & Design Happy Hour at the NBAA Convention, Wednesday October 17th from 3 – 5pm at booth #823
Color craft your summer with Townsend Leather.
Now that it’s August, we’ve got our minds on savoring the rest of the summer.
Summer is full of zest, excitement, and adventure. We have been inspired this month by the bold colors of summer all around us – in our food, in our fashion, on our vacations . . . and we’ve been funneling this inspiration to our craftspeople who have created leathers in these vivacious hues. A rich and bold fusion reds and oranges have evoked a playfulness and reinvigorated our summer lovin’ senses!
https://townsendleather.com/leather/samples/product-lines/Duvel-Rustica-Cowhide-(RST)/
https://townsendleather.com/leather/samples/product-lines/Corked-Cowhide-(CRK)/
https://townsendleather.com/leather/samples/product-lines/Stacy-Garcia-Kinetic-Cowhide-(SG-KN)/
Turn up the heat with some fiery and exotic leathers
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A Flavor For Every Taste
Townsend has always been at the forefront of technology, but we approach it through the lens of how can it enhance our artisans skills. We seek out and explore new capabilities, processes,… Full Aritcle
