Pride 🏳️🌈 2023
EQUALITY FOR ALL We are dedicated to providing a supportive and inclusive workplace. We are proud to have earned the titles of Top Work Place and Best Place to Work for so many years and we… Full Aritcle
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EQUALITY FOR ALL
We are dedicated to providing a supportive and inclusive workplace. We are proud to have earned the titles of Top Work Place and Best Place to Work for so many years and we know that part of why we earn those awards is that we have committed to creating a workplace that is supportive and inclusive.
Townsend Leather has always been a place of inclusion. For years we have been proud supporters of the Human Rights Campaign and have celebrated Pride Month in some way for almost a decade. This month we spread our celebration across a week of focused LGBTQ community-supportive mini-events. Showing our support for the LGTBQ community visually with clothing-vibe-stylin’ each day of the week. But, also taking meaningful action and are raising money for the Trevor Project. https://give.thetrevorproject.org/townsendleather
We started our week with everyone in rainbow-themed clothing. Rainbow clothing, rainbows vibes, and Nina and Mary even passed out Skittles and rainbow Twizzlers. The rainbow as an icon and flag, has been used since 1978 as a symbol for LGBTQ pride. The colors represent the spectrum of gender and a sense of inclusion of all (all colors).
Pride is visibility, pride is community, pride is resilience. Our celebration of the rainbow is a simple but meaningful action, to show we are here visibly in community.
During the week, we celebrated Pride by feeling the groovy colors and swirling zangs of 1969-inspired tie-dye.
Tie-dye can be a symbol of pride with its spectrum of colors and spiraling tendrils giving the feeling of pulling in and inclusion. But, beyond that, we wear tie-dye today in recognition of the origin of Pride Month, the Stonewall riots of June 1969. 1969, a year of fashion and future growth is also marked as a year of uprising and struggle. Police wrongly raided the Stonewall Inn bar, which turned into days of rioting and protesting.
The anniversary of that event grew into the month-long celebration of support, inclusion and fighting for equal rights, that we now call Pride Month. Unfortunately, there have been countless attacks on the LGBTQ community every year since the Stonewall Riots, so there is always more work to be done, more support to give, more visibility to create.
Flag Day coinciding with our Pride week made for a flag-filled day of symbolism and free-feeling vibes.
The US flag to so many, is a symbol of freedom. Freedom to be whoever you are. Freedom to have equal rights. Freedom to be protected from hate and violence. Freedom to live.
Freedom is a weighty word, it carries belief and meaning, sacrifice and history, and a flag can be a landing place for that weight of Freedom, a symbol, an icon, a beacon of hope.
We closed out our Pride Week celebrations on Friday with a bang, but of course continue to celebrate Pride, as an organization, all month and all year. A core value of being a Townsend Partner is Care, which embodies inclusion and support. Townsend stands as an entity of inclusion, diversity, and care for each other, especially for underserved communities.
We all wore our world-famous rainbow “LEATHER” shirts together and took many selfies, twinning, and group photos. But we also held a fundraiser, our Partners banded together and raised $600 for The Trevor Project!
The Trevor Project aims to see “A world where all LGBTQ young people see a bright future for themselves.” And our collective donation will help urge that along.
Right now, the landscape does not really look supportive of the LGBTQ community, there are a record number of anti-LGBTQ laws in action or in proposals across the country. In 2018 there were 42 anti-LGBTQ laws, in 2023 there are 417 laws and with that hate crimes toward the LGBTQ community are on the rise. With the misinformation, debates, anti-laws, and hate crimes, it is easy to see that young LGBTQ people feel pushed out and devalued. So it is not a coincidence that suicide for ages 10-25 are at the highest rate they have ever been in the US. We are facing a mental health crisis with LGBTQ youth at the center.
But, with the awareness, the support, and the action that our Townsend Leather Partners took and others have been taking, we can feel proud and hopeful that things can get better.
So not surprisingly, but very impressively, Townsend Leather will be donating $600 toward a mission of “ending suicide among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning young people.”
Almost a decade of being named a Top Workplace, we are proud and honored.
Once again, Townsend Leather has been named a Top Workplace for the entire Capital Region by the Albany Times Union.
Townsend Leather was built on the fundamental idea of creating great jobs that create great things. Red Kucel grew up in the leather industry, when he ventured out on his own, he gathered his friends and set out to build a company that they all would love to work at. Over 50 years later we still weave that idea into everything we do, make a place we love to work.
Since 2014 Townsend Leather has been recognized as a Top Place to Work in all the greater capital region. We feel proud of this recognition because it comes from the words and input of our employees. It is not a paid recognition, it is not a popular vote, it is based on true employee feedback and insight.
Our senior leadership team was able to pick up our award at the recognition ceremony. They represented Townsend in style and in fun. We are so proud of the company we have built together, the work we do and how we do it. We are looking forward to many more years of creating greatness.
On May 18th, 2023 a team of Townsend Leather Partners came together and had a lot of fun, in the largest running event in the Capital District of New York, the CDPHP Workforce Team Challenge in Downtown Albany, NY.
Organized by, and serves as the major fundraiser for, the Hudson-Mohawk Road Runners Club (HMRRC). The proceeds help underwrite many of HMRRC’s activities and offerings, including college scholarships, grants, free races for members, and the Just Run® Program, which encourages grade school children to run for exercise and fun.
At this year’s event, it was exciting to see over 7,000 registered participants collectively donate over $12,000 to this year’s Charity of Choice, Rotterdam Community Center. The Rotterdam Community Center is an open table for the people of Rotterdam and the greater Schenectady area of New York, where neighbors of all backgrounds can gather safely and without judgement to support, learn, and grow together.
At this event, Townsend is well-known for participating in and receiving awards in the T-Shirt Contest, where businesses/teams submit a custom design of their own to be worn that day, then it is judged the night before the race. With over 50 teams submitted into the contest, Townsend placed again this year winning 3rd place for the Most Motivational category for their “Unstoppable To The Finish” design!
All of this is an amazing opportunity to have a lot of fun with fellow partners, representing with our award-winning shirts, and taking fun group photos. This is another awesome way Townsend Partners encourage each other, not necessarily to win, but to do it together, motivate each other, have fun and be Unstoppable!
Townsend Leather is known, loved, and supported all over the world. We seek out the best of representation, those who love design, love the process, and love leather. We are excited to announce our newest partnership with The Dixon Group.
Serving: Washington, Oregon, and Idaho Located in the Seattle Design Center,
The Dixon Group, brings years of knowledge and expertise in the residential and hospitality community.
You can find your rep at our FIND A REP page or contact us at info@townsendleather.com
An elegant and distinguished leather, produced with a resilient yet supple finish and features a natural-looking embossed texture.
Our Classic Cowhide – a smooth, natural grained leather – has been well-loved for aviation interiors for decades. But, now we are pleased to announce our newest crowd-favorite, Majestic Cowhide. A textured-embossed finished leather. Majestic offers a very natural look – one that does not appear overly-embossed; it is a subtle texture that our customers, across industries, have been looking for as the perfect compliment
Majestic Cowhide provides great consistency in grain structure and uniformity of the texture throughout the hide, resulting in a superior cutting yield, outstanding wear performance, and all the refined beauty associated with the finest leather in the world, setting it in a dignified category of its own.
Designing with strength is what we see as the future of our industry, read more and see how Majestic Cowhide fits into your future, in the newest addition of Business Jet Interiors International: https://bji.mydigitalpublication.co.uk
With Majestic Cowhide, you can “Enable the usage of 50% more hides…”,
NBAA preview magazine expressed excitement at the introduction of our Majestic Cowhide to the market…
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Whenever your designs deserve a spotlight, we have the leather for you.
Many of our team took a moment to craft a special holiday card together. Some awkward moments, a couple of kidnappings, 1 drunken Santa, some shredded paper snow angels, some real snow fun, giant candy canes, and more… in true Townsend style, our team was full of creativity, fun, and weirdness. Click on the images below to zoom in on the details and greatness that the teams put together.
Behind the fun and silliness though is our heart and hopes from us to you – that as the year closes you can take a moment to reflect on the fun and memories you created, that you can share a laugh with someone you are close with, that you can enjoy treats (sweet and other), and can feel a moment of togetherness.
Happy Holidays from all of us at Townsend Leather to you.
We are so grateful for our customers and fans across the world, we love what we do, who we do it with, and who we do it for. Anytime we can take a pause and reflect on the things we have made and the joy we have put into it, is a special moment.
From our weird family of weirdos, to yours, happy holidays!
Townsend Leather has once again been named a Best Place to Work in all the great capital region by the Albany Business Review!
We are proud and honored, but not at all surprised to earn this recognition. Townsend Leather is made of people who care, who take action, who live with passion. And when you get a group of people like that together working toward a common goal of crafting something amazing – incredible things happen.
The award event was “Western” themed and the representing Townsend crew came in style. Toward the end of the event, when the moment finally came to announce Townsend Leather’s name, the group couldn’t hold back with excitement and Townsendyness and galloped their way to the stage with joy, see the video below.
Hanging out at the Marriot before the award ceremony, the Albany Business Review had set up some photo booth fun, an axe throwing, and they even had puppies! The Townsend group got into ALL of it. Arriving early to be sure to not miss anything and staying late to take it all in, the Townsend crew gobbled up this event just like they approach everything Townsend: with heart, drive, and fun. They left no game unplayed, no business card raffle uncarded, no drink undrunk, no photo opportunity missed, and took every chance they could to cheer, hoot, and celebrate each other.
One of the team wandered away and got lost and confused in the hallways of the large hotel, but even that could not dampen the spirit of this crew, like the true-Townsend problem solvers and action takers they are, they spread out like a trail of Townsend bread crumbs and lured the lost-one back, showing kindness and care to wait for him at the corner where he was last seen.
Once they were all back together again, they got right to the important part, eating dessert. With the dense chocolatey treat out of the way, they could then work their way through the lunch and the fantastically joyful sprawling conversation with each other, until finally a hush came over the crowd and all eyes turned to see the cowboy-hatted group, who all day long, had been laughing, cheersing, snuggling puppies, and truly having the best time of anyone there – gather together, climb onto their invisible multi-person horse and ride it to the stage in a fit of glee!
This is an award that is truly an honor to all of us at Townsend. It has meaning behind it, big meaning. It represents all of us together but does so by representing who Townsend is – individuals able to lean in on each of our personal strengths, coming together to make something amazing. We were proud to be in that room, we are proud to have this honor to hang on our wall, and we are proud to be Townsend.
We can’t wait until next year!
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