Creature comforts
1/8/2009

By JILLIAN STAMBAUGH

Eagle Staff Writer

AVON-Dena Hamilton, Avon, is somewhat of an expert when it comes to extending life. However, she doesn't dabble in magical elixirs, nor has she discovered the fountain of youth. On the contrary, she is the down-to-earth business owner of Leather Care Specialists and her online store, Great Leather, where she creates long-lasting leather goods and also fixes items to extend their use to beyond a lifetime.

In the early 1970s, Hamilton was introduced to leather as an artistic medium and she instantly took a liking to it. Her quest to learn as much as she possibly could about leather and how to create with it led her throughout the nation, from her hometown of Wichita, Kan. to the snowy mountains of Grand Lake, Colo. where she worked for a leather entrepreneur.

"When I moved to Colorado to work in the leather shop of a real master craftsman, he got me started in learning the differences between fabric and leather," Hamilton recalled.

While there, Hamilton moved away from hard leather handiwork to produce coats of the finest cow and sheepskin hides. After several jobs in the leather industry elsewhere, as well as contracting for leatherwork wherever she lived, Hamilton moved with her husband to Avon in 1996. There she began her business, Leather Care Specialist, working out of the bedroom of her small house.

Years later after her business began picking up, Hamilton and her husband moved to a larger house just a few blocks from Main Street where she created her own studio out of their 500-square foot basement.

She also added an "s" to the end of Specialist after recruiting the help of her two staff members, Berta Rohrer and Karen Douglass, who help her run the business and stay on top of customer orders.

Avon has appeared to be a great central location for Hamilton's business - she said around half of her repair service business comes from customers in or around Macomb, Monmouth, Peoria and the Quad Cities. The other half is spread nationwide.

As for her Web site, which features her repair business as well as a sample of the leather products she just began selling in the summer of 2008, Hamilton has found customers worldwide.

"I recently had a person from Spain purchase something from the Web site," she said. "I don't have many products posted yet because it's time consuming to put them online."

This month, Hamilton's uniquely designed leather drumstick bag is featured in "Modern Drummer Magazine," which has a circulation of about 103,000 worldwide and helps to spread the word about her products and services.

"The design for the Great Leather Drumstick Bag was the result of a collaboration with a friend of mine, Gary Sullivan," she said. "He use to play for Reba McIntire and is a world-class drummer. He's been using his original bag for 16 years. Many touring drummers go through two stick bags a year, so while my bag is very high end, it is definitely worth the money."

Having one of her products featured in a magazine was a true accomplishment and in addition, there will be a full product review in a few months.

"Getting into Modern Drummer Magazine was a real goal for me," she said. "It's a milestone for my business because it's the no. 1 magazine that drummers all over the world read," she said. "It was pretty exciting."

In addition to her drumstick bag, Hamilton also makes purses, different styles of belt bags, western scarves and slides and a variety of other small leather goods. She is always open to suggestions and is working on expanding her line.

"I think I'm going to start doing vests and coats but they're not going to be available right away," Hamilton said. "Garments take time."

Working with leather and learning the trade takes time - period.

"A lot of what I've done has been trial and error experiences," she said. "It's a lot like learning to use a computer: you can take a class and read a book but until you have your own project you want to accomplish and you try to do that, that's how you really learn."

When customers bring in leather coats in need of repair - ranging from fixing a small tear to re-dying a faded coat - Hamilton's seasoned eye can often spot the quality of leather from the outside, and if not, the backside of the leather can inform her automatically.

A few years ago, Hamilton was worried the saturation of poor quality coats would harm her livelihood.

"The market was flooded with some inferior quality lamb coats and I had some concerns because people were not really educated in the difference between lamb and cowhide," she recalled. "Then you add to it that a lot were poor quality. When they got a new coat and it tore, needed a repair or started looking faded in a short amount of time, I was worried they would become disillusioned with leather and wouldn't put money into a new one."

She found that not to be the case and her repair business and leather goods in general are still thriving.

"It is probably not as popular as when I first started because there used to be leather shops all over the country and now almost all of your leather goods are imported," Hamilton said. "You just don't see those kind of shops anymore, really, but if you go into any of the department stores, leather is still a popular product."

Because fewer and fewer people deal with leather repairs like Hamilton does, she has found customers to be pleasantly shocked by her end result, which often lends another lifetime to the mended item.

"There isn't really anybody that does what I do and the customers kind of feel hopeless," she said. "The idea that it comes back looking as good as it does is a huge relief to them."

Hamilton takes pride in her work, as does any crafter, yet she also has a humbling view on her relationship with the animals that keep her in business.

"My heart is really towards serving animals and people," she said. "Because I've discovered this connection and love with animals, I use my business to sometimes educate people."

Most of the hides Hamilton uses are shipped to her from California yet the animals were raised in Germany and Austria. She said the cooler weather in Europe leads to less ticks and the animals that also have no brands are healthy in life.

"My goal is to use hides only from animals that are treated well," she said. "If I buy hides knowing where they come from and they are very high quality, I expect they have been treated well."

According to Hamilton, many inferior leather products that are mass marketed today are coming from not only China, Indonesia or India but also the Philippines and Vietnam. Hamilton does not deal with low-quality leather, and when she creates new products the result can sometimes be surprising, both in cost and high product quality.

"For me to make a new product is fairly expensive because I'm not buying in large quantities and the really good quality leather has gone up in price," she said. "Leather is an agricultural product, so it fluctuates. Recently it has gone up quite a bit."

The main hides Hamilton works with include cow, lamb, goat, pig and deer. Her past experiences have also led her to work with exotic hides such as elephant and alligator and even furs. Today, Hamilton chooses not to trade in exotics but if someone needs an exotic item repaired, she will try to help.

"I did work with a man at one point that worked with exotic animals," Hamilton said. "I say that not because I'm happy about it but because it did give me a lot of experience.

"It does have to do with my relationship with the animal. I just wouldn't trade with furs and endangered species-there are things that weren't meant for us to eat that are not a product of food waste."

Through her business Hamilton believes she can educate others while continuing her own education, and one day, she hopes to contribute more to the leather industry and the animals that serve it.

"I'm still in the process of trying to explore and find out how ranching and packing houses are working," she said. "My goal, if I could make some sort of contribution to the world, would be to make some change so when you buy hides they have a stamp or seal that say they come from animals that were humanely treated and slaughtered."

With her business expanding to include her growing line of leather products in addition to repairs, Hamilton's timeless sense of serving others is ever prevalent.

"I like serving people, I enjoy it when people bring something in - a leather coat they love - and when they leave here afterwards and they go out and feel really good about their item."

For more information about Hamilton's business and products, call 465-9216 or visit her website, www.greatleather.com.