We are immensely proud and honored at the recognition Townsend Leather has received over the past 12 months.
It is exciting to work at a place where everyone loves what they do, they are working toward goals bigger than themselves, and are doing it while working together.
In the past 12 months, Townsend Leather has been recognized as having an engaged, happy, and effective team. We have been acknowledged as a go-to place for quality employment and meaningful work, in the region. Townsend Leather, because of its people, their values and teamwork has been recognized as a TOP WORK PLACE of 2014 by the Times Union, a BEST PLACE TO WORK of 2014 by the Albany Business Review, lead by a 40 UNDER 40 Influential Leader (President Jared Eckler) by the Albany Business Review, and just recently announced a TOP WORK PLACE of 2015 by the Times Union!
This year Townsend Leather placed 10th in the mid-sized business category for the Times Union Top Work Places recognition. That is a real accomplishment considering, over 700 total companies were looked at!
Townsend Leather also received special recognition as a part of our employee feedback. Townsend was awarded the “Clued in Senior-Management Team” award. This was in response to so many Townsend Partners expressing trust and high expectations in our senior leadership team.
This award is a reflection of our people and our work environment and we feel so honored to have publicly known, what we all know and see here each day.
You can see mention of Townsend’s special recognition and some photos at the Times Union website, Top Workplace Awards 2015.
It is the Townsend Partners, the Townsend community, the Townsend family that make Townsend what it is. All the Partners at Townsend who come every day to share their skills and passions, push things forward, and do so with a smile on their face – this is what makes Townsend a great company and a great place to work. Townsend Leather was awarded these recognitions for and by its employees. And it is truly the employees that have earned them because they are the people that ensure a positive and fulfilling work atmosphere. Townsend employees are some of the most passionate, hardest-working, and quality-driven people you will find anywhere. Their wholehearted and overwhelmingly positive responses to survey questions on subjects such as the company’s vision & mission, its leadership, its sense of teamwork and community, and benefits resulted in making Townsend Leather recognized as a Top Work Place and a Best Place to Work with 40 Under 40 Leadership.
See below for some photos of each award. As well as links to each full post.
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.
This honor is given to Townsend as a result of employee surveys sent out by the prestigious and tough-reviewing Albany Business Review. Because of the love shared and expressed by Townsend partners for Townsend Leather and their work here, we were chosen as one of the Top 30 workplaces in the entire greater Albany area.
Partners expressed praise for Townsend Leather’s leadership, culture, benefits, and work environment among many other aspects of work life. Everyone here at Townsend has such a high level of trust and feels valued for their individual and team contributions. It is exciting that this love of Townsend, that everyone here knows and feels, will continue to be shared and spread throughout the community with this announcement.
In late April of 2014, New York Capital Region’s premier news source, The Times Union, awarded 45 companies the honor of Top Work Place 2014.
Townsend Leather is proud and honored to have been selected as one of them.
Each year the Times Union explores the large Greater Capital District for worthy companies. Over 600 companies were looked at as potential Top Work Place honorees. Through detailed analysis of thousands of employee submitted surveys, The Times Union and Workforce Dynamics narrowed down the top employers in the region to just 45 companies.
Each of these 45 companies, were categorized into three size categories: Large (500+ employees), Mid-Sized (150-499 employees), and Small (35-149 employees).
Townsend Leather was selected as one of the top 15 Mid-Size companies.
“There is a family atmosphere here and everyone works as a team towards the same goal. ” – Townsend Employee
Townsend is excited to be awarded with something that all our many employees, customers, visitors, and fans have known for years – Townsend Leather is a truly great company!
To our great delight, “The Fabulous Beekman Boys” took some time out of their busy schedule to spend some time at Townsend Leather earlier this week.
Josh and Brent “Josh Kilmer-Purcell (advertising executive and NY Times Bestselling author of I Am Not Myself These Days & The Bucolic Plague) and his partner Brent Ridge (physician and former Vice President of Healthy Living for Martha Stewart Omnimedia) purchased the historic Beekman 1802 Farm in 2007″ – quoted from www.beekman1802.com, also known from their appearance on (and winning of) The Amazing Race and their own television show The Fabulous Beekman Boys, were on somewhat of a “celebrating the region tour” when they stopped in for an afternoon at Townsend.
It was such a delight to spend some time sharing our passion with this highly interested and engaged couple. Being such fans of expert craftsmanship and a ‘back to the earth mentality’, Josh and Brent seemed to be quite taken by all Townsend had to offer. Asking many questions and digging deep into the world of leather.
We were able to give them a detailed tour and explore all the different aspects of making luxury leather with them.
Brent and Josh run their busy farm where they handcraft soaps, cheese, and many many other goods in nearby Sharon Springs NY. They have a keen eye for quality and design and it was a pleasure to show pride in our own quality, colors and designs and share in their excitement.
Beyond just talking leather and our shared passions for great natural products. Brent and Josh were just fun guys to be around.
Image from www.facebook.com/FabulousBeekmanBoys
But it wasn’t all just laughs. They take their “studies” seriously and were genuinely interested in Townsend, our products, processes, and people. They wanted to learn everything to expand upon their already vast and varied knowledge base.
It was a great visit, full of interesting conversation and fun. We were proud to have Josh and Brent visit our ‘leather home’ and learn more about us. We are also proud of the impressive work they are doing in and for the region.
It is always a pleasure to host visitors to Townsend and an extra one to host visitors that want to learn and talk and explore. This is a meaningful visit for us and we look forward to growing our relationship with The Fabulous Beekman Boys in the future.
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.
We are immensely proud and honored at the recognition Townsend Leather has received over the past 12 months.
The 2015 Class of “40 Under 40” for Albany has been revealed, and Townsend Leather President, Jared Eckler is one of them!
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.
