As we gear up for Earth Day next week, everyone at Townsend has the environment on our mind. So we couldn’t help but to remember back, to just over a year ago, one of our most popular blog posts.
The post below is a In Case You Missed It / Re-Share / RePost. Originally posted back in February of 2014 as a part of our ever popular “For the LOVE of Leather” Series.
The “FTLOL” Series was a daily exploration throughout the month of love (February) to explore and express a new reason to LOVE leather. It serves as an inspiration for loving leather, but also as a handy tool of leather facts and tidbits. You can see the full series here: Townsend Leather’s For The Love Of Leather
And the repost of our Environmental reason to love leather below…
Reason 6 in our month long love-fest of leather.
Today’s reason,
“I love knowing I am making a sound choice for the environment.”
LEATHER IS A BY-PRODUCT, A “LEFT-OVER”, OF THE MEAT INDUSTRY.
Townsend Leather is produced from cowhides that are sourced and tanned in Europe, then dyed & finished at our facility in the USA. Tanning converts cattle hides from an otherwise unusable byproduct of meat production into high quality leather. This keeps hides out of the waste stream. The tanning process is tightly regulated in Europe to assure minimal impact on the environment. The dyeing & finishing processes that convert the unadorned tanned hide into the beautiful colors and textures of Townsend Leather are also closely regulated in the US. Townsend employs no hazardous retanning chemicals and uses a complete water-based finishing system in all of its manufacturing. Townsend takes pride in our green efforts.
Not only is Townsend’s leather a sound choice for the environment, but Townsend as a company is a sound choice for the environment as well. With our active Green Team always at the ready, (see Earth Week and Clean-Up Event), and our company wide commitment to making the best environmental choices we can. Striving to make a positive environmental impact.
After the long cold winter, we at Townsend are excited to welcome in spring. You could say we have a case of Spring Time Fever!
Spring Time fever symptoms include: a unwieldy desire for bright colors, a magnetic attraction to newness, a strong desire to create and explore – and we’ve got it bad!
Team Townsend has been happily working on some exciting bold leathers with spring-toned colors, new textures, sheens, and effects.
Bold colors always bring new life to designs and help to make a piece pop, so we got your leather selections started by building a quick Spring Inspired Sample Lightbox, you can view it here, SPRING SAMPLES LIGHTBOX
The aRt & D Team has been at it agin as well. Fueled by the fresh spring air and longer days, our artists in residence have been creating some masterpieces and putting together an impressive custom sample display.
This year we went with a crazy fun and festive Mardi Gras theme!
We enjoyed some “Big Easy” flavor and tunes, while relaxing, dancing, drinking, chillaxing, and enjoying life. This party is always such a great time for everyone and a chance to clear away any stress from work and welcome in the Spring.
Some Townsend Partners even went all-out with fancy themed clothing, look at this stunning couple! Check out that cane! It lights up and everything!
The party included chef-crafted delicacies throughout the night including, Alligator Nuggets and Jambalaya!
Of course, what is a Mardi Gras party without beads, games, and prizes! Our masterful Master of Ceremonies kept the fun going with various ways to earn beads (all of them “SFW”) and handing out prizes to excited winners.
We had a full house, full of Partners, full of fun, full of good times, memories, and stories!
The dancing and tunes lasted late into the night and the fun lasted even longer. It was a super night of Townsend Leather Superheros having super fun! We are all already looking forward to next years party.
Jared Eckler, President Townsend Leather, has been chosen as one of Albany’s “40 Under 40” influential leaders.
The 2015 Class of “40 Under 40” for Albany has been revealed, and Townsend Leather President, Jared Eckler is one of them!
The Albany Business Review is the host and publisher of this prestigious award. They combed through over 500 nominations from the Albany area of leaders “under the age of 40 who demonstrate business acumen, leadership skills and community involvement. They set the pace of the local business landscape now and for the future.”
Townsend Leather’s own daring, caring, and leather loving President, Jared Eckler was nominated and chosen as one of the winners of this esteemed honor.
It is no surprise this honor is bestowed upon Jared. He has long been a positive influence at Townsend, as a coach, mentor, friend, and leader – even without his Presidential title.
Jared has been thoroughly involved in bettering, not just our company and Partners, but in the community as well, as a member of the CEO Roundtable, an active member of the larger PTECH community, getting involved in influencing Congressmen and Government Representatives for positive change, and more.
Jared leads with a sense of calm attention. He aims to bring a sense of positivity and fun to his projects (he even was signing his name as “Captain of Great and Fun” rather than President, for a while). One of his biggest passions in life is Townsend Partners, and it shows – clear and strong. He is never too busy to help a partner, he spends countless hours handwriting personal notes, taking time to meet with individuals regarding life goals, personal development, annual reviews, and just general inspiration. He routinely updates the entire company through small group personal meetings and company updates -not just providing facts, but relating it to meaningful emotions, attainable goals, and personal stories.
Being a voracious reader himself, he opens his vast library up to anyone interested and routinely provides personalized curated book suggestions.
Jared is able to put actions and ideas into bite-sized nuggets of wisdom like, with his recent focus on reintroducing our team with the word and meaning of GRIT, or utilizing a phrase that has become synonymous with Jared himself, “Daring Greatly“.
Our annual calendar and year-end message is brimming with Jared’s sense of calm, inviting positivity and inspiration and has been a welcome message for all that received it.
Jared’s sense of leadership and his ability to inspire others brings to mind a powerful quote of David Foster Wallace’s, regarding true leadership…
“The weird thing is that the word “leader” itself is cliché and boring, but when you come across somebody who actually is a real leader, that person isn’t cliché or boring at all; in fact he’s sort of the opposite of cliché and boring.
Obviously, a real leader isn’t just somebody who has ideas you agree with, nor is it just somebody you happen to believe is a good guy. Think about it. A real leader is somebody who, because of his own particular power and charisma and example, is able to inspire people, with “inspire” being used here in a serious and non-cliché way. A real leader can somehow get us to do certain things that deep down we think are good and want to be able to do but usually can’t get ourselves to do on our own. It’s a mysterious quality, hard to define, but we always know it when we see it, even as kids. You can probably remember seeing it in certain really great coaches, or teachers, or some extremely cool older kid you “looked up to” (interesting phrase) and wanted to be just like. Some of us remember seeing the quality as kids in a minister or rabbi, or a scoutmaster, or a parent, or a friend’s parent, or a supervisor in a summer job. And yes, all these are “authority figures,” but it’s a special kind of authority. If you’ve ever spent time in the military, you know how incredibly easy it is to tell which of your superiors are real leaders and which aren’t, and how little rank has to do with it. A leader’s real “authority” is a power you voluntarily give him, and you grant him this authority not with resentment or resignation but happily; it feels right. Deep down, you almost always like how a real leader makes you feel, the way you find yourself working harder and pushing yourself and thinking in ways you couldn’t ever get to on your own.”
– David Foster Wallace
On behalf of everyone at Townsend Leather, Congratulations Jared! We are proud to be led by you.
Congratulations, Jared, we are so proud of you!
My hats off to you!
Yeahhh!!! Well deserved! Congrats Jared!
Wow, congrats jared!
They got it right! So happy for you Jared. Very well deserved!
AWESOME, Daring Greatly showing True GRIT!
Congratulations Jared!
That’s so awesome Jared, something to be proud of!
Impressive. Well deserved.
Congratulations!
Isn’t it a wonderful feeling when you know what you want and you are able to get just exactly that? But, what happens when you just kind of know what you want, you know you want something “around here” something “kinda like this”, something “that feels like this”…
Because we are the manufacturer, we have the luxury of creating and customizing solutions to every customer need, we can provide exact color matches and make custom patterns but because we have some creative geniuses on our team with magical skills we delight solving the less specific needs as well.
Our tight-knit dedicated Sample Team has been given a couple of interesting challenges recently and they not only responded to them with joy, expertise, and perfect solutions – but did so in record time.
Sometimes you want to be able to explore some options and you “will know it when you see it”. A carpet sample, a fabric swatch, a sunset, a photo of a room… a simple thing can provide design inspiration, but may not give you the specifics.
Working from nothing but a print-out snap shot of a distinct looking room, our Sample wizards were asked to create a leather scheme for a designer to peruse.
One Sample Expert took on the challenge and was able to pull together an impressive array, a customized color scheme. She didn’t just look to match the specific colors shown in the photo (shown in the center of the image above), but rather spent time exploring the feel, textures, and essence of the image. Providing a wealth of leathers that each speak to different aspects of what first drew the designer to the image.
This custom scheme with its different ranges, selection of patterns, products, and textures was done so well, so thoughtfully, and so quickly – it nearly had the rep requesting it in tears. Nice work Sample Department!
BONUS!
And just for fun, at the request of a Townsend Partner, our Sample Department “Master Chefs” quickly and expertly whipped up a LEATHER TACO! It is truly stunning and nearly looks good enough to eat! Our Taco Tuesday was an extra fun blast with this addition!
If you have your own “Sample Challenge” that you need to consult the experts for, contact us today. We can get our team on it to create your own designer sample selection and move your designs from inspiration to action.
If you are looking for your own customized color scheme you search our database of approximately 1000 (and growing!) colors, textures, and qualities from our catalog of in-stock and standard leathers.
Samples are intended for potential customers. Townsend Leather sells to the trade only. If you are not a current customer you will be requested to complete a New Customer Form and include your Tax ID#. End-users should contact a professional designer or a Townsend Leather sales representative in your area for samples and sales information.
We will fill your online order with 4″ X 4″ samples of the items you selected and send them to you for delivery within one week’s time. Should you have special requirements for sample size or delivery schedule, please send us a note with the details or call us directly to place your sample order. And if you don’t see exactly what you need here, we may have it in our archives or we can very likely make it, just for you!
We take great pride in our level of workmanship and customer service. As an experienced, hands-on manufacturer, product quality and customer responsiveness are the cornerstones of our business. Townsend’s product lines of cowhide, sheep, lamb, calf, suede, and goat feature dozens of collections and come in hundreds of standard colors. Custom colors in any of our standard products are available with a quick turn-around time. We also supply genuine woven leathers, embroidered leathers, specialty leather products such as floor and wall tiles, and 3M Scotchgard™ is also available for our leather products.
This post in our “Guest Posts” Series, features our one-of-a-kind HR Director, Ben Towne. Ben is passionate about making our Partners healthy, safe, and happy and his passion is visible in his actions and words. Ben is a bottomless wealth of laughs and good stories, he has the casual close-friend vibe of a long-time high school friend, even just hours within meeting him. Ben takes his position at Townsend very seriously and has the knowledge and real-life experience to be a great listener, a man of action, or a knowledgeable resource whenever you need him to be.
Ben stretching his responsibilities as Gumby for HalloweenBen – the harbinger of fruit. the master behind Townsend’s Fresh Fruit Fridays.
The post below explores his musings on the history of the HR Department and his new efforts to re-brand the department and make HR an even more effective and even more impressive force at Townsend. By branching out beyond the stale stereotypes and embracing the Partner Culture that Townsend has – truly focusing on the people, our Townsend Partners.
Teaser: The Partner Department
If you were able to jump into a time machine and travel back to the dawn of the 20th century to a manufacturing plant in an industrial society where you could roam free, things would look a lot different wouldn’t they? The way of life would be different. Living conditions would be almost unrecognizable. The machines, the style of dress, the architecture, even the way that people spoke would all be different. Perhaps on your travels through the plant, you would stumble into a section of the building where the offices were held. You’d see the foreman’s office and maybe the owner’s desk. You might even get a glimpse into the company’s bookkeeping office. If you kept going though, you would eventually come across a door with the sign that said “Welfare Officer” on it. No, this isn’t the “system” that you and I might associate the word “welfare” with as we do today. This department is the great-great-great-great grandmother to the present day Human Resources department.
The “Welfare Officer” or the “Welfare Department” in a 20th century style manufacturing environment dealt primarily with the well-being of female and child workers employed at the factory. You must remember that at the dawn of the 20th century, the progressive movement was just beginning to hit full stride. Muckrakers and labor reformers were just beginning to expose the harsh working conditions imposed on many workers and were taking proactive steps to reform them. The Welfare Officer was responsible for making sure that women and child workers were paid what they were entitled to, properly fitted with clothes, tools, and equipment and in the event of a dispute between the worker and management, act as the facilitator for peaceful and meaningful labor negotiations.
If you jumped ahead with your time machine to the late 1930s and early 1940s, the “Welfare Department” in a manufacturing setting like this would no longer exist. It would have been replaced by the “Labor Management Department” about twenty years prior. At this point, industrial psychology and the profession of being an industrial psychologist were already born but still trying to find their place in the industrial world. The “Labor Manager”, working closely with his toolbox of industrial psychology ideas, would be more concerned now with recruiting top talent, exploring ways to motivate and retain employee and finding ways to appeal to employee emotions related to recognition and satisfaction. The Labor Manager would also field queries over bonuses, absenteeism, and tardiness, and act as a catalyst to improving employee morale. Sure, the Labor Manager would still be responsible for allocating workers to specific tasks, tracking production metrics, and forecasting staffing needs. But, manufacturing professionals during this time period are beginning to grow ever more aware of the importance of the human and emotional side of their workers and how that relates to business metrics.
By the time you pass through the 1960s and 1970s, you would view the demise of Labor Management Department, its name changed to the softer, more subtle, and quite frankly, more human, “Personnel Department”. Eventually you would land at the origin of the Human Resources Department in the early 1980s. Human Resources or “HR” for short encompasses a wide range of jobs in the field. Recruitment. Policy development. Payroll. Training. Engagement programming. Benefits administration. These are all duties of the Human Resources department today.
The name, though, simply does not make sense. It’s a misnomer if you will. Think, to yourself for a moment, about the name “Human Resources.” What image does that name invoke? What do you see when you close your eyes and say to yourself those two words? When I close my eyes and think of the title that hangs outside my door, I view myself looking at an industrial building with billowing smokestacks from high above watching thousands of similarly dressed workers carrying briefcases and wearing fedoras goose step into the building. On one side, they go in with a smile on their face. On the other side, they come out disheveled and frowning – used up from the work that was performed.
Break down the name to its most important part – Human. You and I. Your mother and father. Your son. Your daughter. People. People that are alive and breathing. They laugh. They cry. They hurt. They feel joy. They feel motivated. They seek comfort. They seek challenge. They shy away from conflict. They push the envelope. Everything that is inherently unique about being human is shared by more than 6 billion people across the globe. Human beings, in a business sense then, are not disposable nor should they be considered as such. They are not comparable to oil, natural gas, timber, aluminum, iron ore, or steel. When I close my eyes to think about the name, “Human Resources”, it becomes ever apparent that not all employees are not exactly the same. Every employee is different and has very different needs, motivations, and desires.
I believe that the essence behind the brand of Human Resources is going away. I believe other companies are too. In the early 1990s, Southwest Airlines renamed their Human Resources Department, the “People Department.” After all, that is what employees in any company across the nation are, aren’t they? They’re people. They have personal lives, personal struggles, they are motivated, they crave knowledge and challenges, they want to be rewarded, they want their needs satisfied, and they want to be happy. But most of all, they do not want to be viewed as a number or disposable “thing” that a company uses to make money with. They want to be the company in every shape or form. Southwest Airlines recognized this. By rebranding their Human Resources department, the instilled within their company an ethos that they would follow in the coming years after – the success of the airline is made from people. Their senior managers became more available to the entry level employee to show them how they do things at Southwest. They invented a cross training program so that any person in any position could do any job that may be asked of them. The revamped their employee compensation and benefits program and made a commitment to be as flexible with schedules for their people as possible so they could make family commitments, take care of personal errands or emergencies, and care for loved ones when needed. The whole premise that Southwest Airlines was built on was the idea of connecting people. Well, you can’t connect people with a low cost airline without investing in your own first.
Southwest was a true inspiration and reading it has not only inspired me but probably many HR Leaders throughout the world. It’s for this reason that I’ve asked our top of the line Marketing team to help me rebrand Human Resources at Townsend Leather. At Townsend, we don’t embrace the term “employee”. We refer to our employees as “Partners” – partners in the success of our business. They are Townsend Leather. Taking a page from Southwest Airlines’ playbook, I’ve asked the marketing team to help me rebuild the image of the Human Resources office into the image of The Partner Department. Like any smart company would do, the leaders at Townsend Leather try to do as right by their fellow team members as best they possibly can with the resources that they have available to them. We’ve built a recognition program. We’ve thrown down challenge after challenge and sought new opportunities for training and advancement for our partners. But we’re at a crossroads now. Human Resources – the image of Human Resources – is outdated. It’s stale. It’s old school. It’s boring. And frankly, it’s misleading. The partners at Townsend Leather are people, first and foremost. And it will be the job of The Partner Department to assist all partners and their leaders in any way possible with the very human side of business.
Let’s start calling it what it is – The Partner Department. The goal has always been, at its core, to help, motivate, engage, and recognize all partners that work for this great company. The goal always will be the same too. However, partners can expect more opportunities for engagement, programming, interaction, access to the department members, and the same calm and focused manner to find solutions to issues both professional and personal. That’s what we are here to do. That’s what will continue to do.
I recently read a fantastic article in The Albany Business Review titled “Turnover Stops with Her” by Michael DeMasi. The entire piece centers on a Success Coach named Erin Sandmann that is working with local businesses in the Capital Region to be a resource for their employees to assist them with whatever obstacles they come up against. The shear presence of Sandmann to hear employee concerns and offer solutions has driven productivity in many of these businesses up, turnover rates down, and feelings of goodwill to new levels.
Sandmann, like the Partner Department will do, is appealing to the people side of the company. Sandmann knows that no employee wants to be looked at like a number or some disposable piece of equipment. Instead, she acknowledges that employees are human beings first and that they have very real professional and personal needs. Imagine if every company looked at their employees this way and sought out solutions to help them. Imagine if every company built a Partner Department and was supported by fantastic people minded leaders like Townsend Leather is. Imagine the amazing effects that could come about from being involved with people on a human and emotional level.
Imagine.
For all those out there who say they don’t care about Valentine’s Day…you’re not fooling us!
What’s not to love about the smell, the touch, and the textures of leather? And of course we know the real showstopper on this day is the chocolate! There are not many things in the world that can stimulate the senses, arouse desire, and inspire closeness quite like chocolate and leather. Both have intoxicating aromas and cause an irrepressible desire to touch.
This Valentine’s Day, we want to give you something else to LOVE!
Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get…5 lucky winners will be contacted for shipping information to receive a special gift!
and fun to his projects (he even was signing his name as “Captain of Great and Fun” rather than President, for a while). One of his biggest passions in life is Townsend Partners, and it shows – clear and strong. He is never too busy to help a partner, he spends countless hours handwriting personal notes, taking time to meet with individuals regarding life goals, personal development, annual reviews, and just general inspiration. He routinely updates the entire company through small group personal meetings and company updates -not just providing facts, but relating it to meaningful emotions, attainable goals, and personal stories.
