Notable success in leather

I remember that about 10 years ago, my wife and I frequented a store somewhere in Concha Cruz, Muntinlupa City that was called the Leather Collection.  It was located in a large compound, and their showroom was very well appointed. There was one Christmas season when we shopped for our corporate giveaways there, and we had a heyday picking out small leather items in the store. Subsequently, we found out that it wasn’t there anymore.

Imagine my surprise when my TV crew came to me with a feature on this very same company for our Proud Pinoy Entrepreneur segment in Business & Leisure, the television show and they were able to interview the other half of the husband- and- wife tandem who started it all, Mrs. Yoling Sevilla, a very articulate lady who regaled us with stories of how the store started.

According to her, The Leather Collection is the grandchild of the first company put up by her husband 34 years ago, when they were newly married and were looking for a viable business for their budding family.

Quick Print Shop was born, but the couple found the business boring, and so they branched into design, her husband being a graphics and industrial designer. Back then, they only had one product, and this was the organizer with a leather binder. Dissatisfied with the leather component of their single product, they sought to learn more about leather and eventually branched out, calling it The Leather Collection.  Sadly, the mother and grandmother companies have since died natural deaths, but the Leather Collection flourished, their products now a much-sought after merchandize not only here, but abroad as well.

They started out with a work force of only five, with Mrs. Yoling Sevilla as the marketer. They positioned themselves in a corporate gifts show, joined the exhibit and saw the unprecedented demand for their products. But like all other businesses starting out, they had huge challenges to hurdle, not the least of which is learning the leather business.  Fortunately, her husband is a chemical engineer as well, aside from being a designer, so he set out to visit the country’s tanneries to learn the ropes of leather processing. Because they had to carve out a niche, they continued to position themselves in the corporate gifts market, which was then virgin territory.  At that time, it was only Ott Louie that served the need for corporate giveaways, but The Leather Collection raised the bar, with the corporate CEOs in mind. They came up with the leather organizer which was much better than the ordinary diaries, and this clicked in the market and was much in demand.

From there, the marketer in Mrs. Sevilla thought of other business accessories – expanding to leather brief cases, etc., and into lifestyle products as well, with bags and wallets.

Like any budding business, financing was also a major issue that had to be addressed. A small enterprise like theirs had very limited capital, but it was a case of leveraging their opportunities.  Leather is a very expensive material, and the processing is long and arduous, complicated and expensive to boot.

Then came a big opportunity for them. After they launched their product, in 1991, an order for P15 million was given to them.  It came at a time when, in Mrs. Sevilla’s words, “they did not even have P1 million”. Well, even by today’s standards, this is still big money, but for a five-man crew, this must have been daunting. They had to rely on the customer’s downpayment to buy materials, and to work hard on suppliers’ credit.  On top of that, they also needed machines for such a big order, and they needed a much bigger space for production. Realizing that they needed financing, they spun off the company to The Leather Collection Inc.

At that time, they were still importing their leather because locally-processed leather had not met global standards. With their multinational customers, the peg was for products made in Italy, so they couldn’t compromise there. In a span of 24 years that the company has existed, much has improved in our local tanneries.  Their strategic partner, the Valenzuela Tannery, has certainly met the standards, and together, they have a happy and profitable partnership.

The leather craft is a largely European craft, and both The Leather Collection and Valenzuela Tannery were blessed with specific grants from the British Leather Company, among others, as well as grants from Italy and Germany for tanning and manufacturing.

The Leather Collection continues to work hard at their craft.  Before any collection comes out, hard planning sessions take place. The design process starts with the look of the product and this is specified to the tanner. There are many options, from imprinted leather with an alligator design, to the feel of the leather itself—do they want firm leather, or a supple one? The specs have to be meticulously articulated to the tanner, and the target market has to be specific as well for a collection.

How competitive are their prices? According to Mrs. Sevilla, “apples to apples, yes, but apples to oranges, certainly not.” When they exhibited in a global market in Frankfurt, they realized that their products are more in the low-high end, but locally, theirs are certainly very, very competitive, price-wise.

They also credit their working and personal relationship with their 35 employees as one of the secrets of their success.  They actually call them “kabalikats”, not employees. All their employees are regulars, not paid according to their output. Things have worked out well, but some stumbling blocks still find their way into the company.  During financial crisis of 2008 to 2010, which was made worse by Ondoy, for the first time in 24 years, they found themselves with zero purchase order. However, survival is something the Sevilla couple has mastered, and with 35 families counting on them, closing were not an option.

To budding entrepreneurs, this Proud Pinoy has a few words of wisdom:  “follow your heart…have a brave heart and persevere..it’s really all about heart, what you value.”

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

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