Editor’s note, January 2021: In our Featured Shop series, we shine a light on a standout shop from Etsy’s talented seller community, offering readers a behind-the-scenes look at their process and story. And as we spend more time at home these days, getting cozy and catching up on our reading lists, we’re taking a moment to revisit some of our favorites—like the story of this Alabama-based family-run business from November 2017.
With upwards of 16,000 sales, a rapidly growing team of employees, and a three-story HQ featuring a brand-new brick-and-mortar shop, the husband-and-wife duo behind Holtz Leather Co. have built a wildly successful empire out of making personalized leather goods together. But business and life haven’t always been easy for these Huntsville, Alabama natives. In fact, their leather shop was born out of the 2008 recession—which turned Rick and Coleen’s world upside-down. “We lost our house, lost our car, and went through some really humbling times a family,” Rick says. “We have six kids, and when we hit rock bottom, there wasn’t anyone that could house us all, so we were talking about splitting up the family.”
Shop the Holtz Leather Co. collection
That’s when Coleen got the idea to start a leather business on Etsy—a completely new endeavor that appealed to Rick’s entrepreneurial spirit. “One thing led to another, and before we knew it, we were producing simple leather goods,” he says. “Our first product was a keychain with a rivet. I had no confidence in sewing, but we read a lot of old books on leathercraft and leather making, and watched lot of YouTube videos.” What followed was a full-blown success story based on never giving up.
Read on to hear more from Rick about creating custom products, staying inspired, and what it’s like working with his high school sweetheart—then shop the collection.

Let’s start at the beginning. How did you and Coleen meet?
We met at church. I was 6 and she was 5, but I was a military brat, so I moved away for a few years. I moved back to Huntsville when I was 13. I remember the first Sunday we were back, I saw Coleen walk across the front of the church. In that moment, I fell in love with her. I had to work really hard to get her attention, but I did, and about five years later we were married. We’re still best friends to this day.
At what point along the way did you decide to start a business?
I’ve always had business ideas since I was 10 years old mowing yards. When I graduated high school, I went to college on a football scholarship, and then in our early 20s, Coleen and I started an embroidery business. After that, we stumbled upon a laptop parts business, where we would buy broken laptop computers, strip them down, and sell all the component pieces. We did that for five or six years with great success.
When did you get into leatherworking?
We experienced the crash of ‘08 and really lost everything. Around that time, Coleen stumbled on some things on Etsy that were selling really well. Up until that point, we had always kind of pedaled other people’s products, but we knew in our hearts that we always wanted to be makers. That was really our desire—we wanted a business that we could do together.








How did you learn leathercraft?
We taught ourselves everything, just trying to be very disciplined. We started with that leather keychain and when we listed it on Etsy, it started selling. I think our first sale was a set of six that we sold as groomsmen gifts. It kind of blossomed from there, and just really exploded with growth.
We’ve been doing it now for about three years, and we still have a lot to learn. We’re always learning, and I think that’s part of business. You always have to be in the mindset of being a learner, because if you ever get to the point where you think you know it all, you’re real quick to be humbled.
How have you gone about growing your product line? What does that process look like for you?
When we create a new product, it often goes through 15 or 20 prototypes before we think: This is exactly what we’d be happy to carry, or happy to give to a friend or family member—something we’d be proud of. That’s the way we look at it.
It took us forever to agree on zippers, actually, because zippers always break. When we created our shave bag, we actually had the zipper custom made to our specifications. From there, we tried it out and found that the water was absorbing into the leather, so we ended up buying local beeswax and melting it down to treat the leather. After that, you could literally pour water right into the bottom of the bag and there’s no damage to the leather. That’s just one example of prototyping, and how we teach ourselves things as we go along. It’s a lot of trial and error. It’s all about persistence and not giving up.







How do you source your materials?
We make everything here in the states, all the way down to our leather. There’s only a handful of tanneries left in the US, but we source all of our materials from them, and that’s a big deal to us. The type of leather we use is different, too. A lot of leather out there is very uniform. With ours, we try to incorporate the wrinkles, scars, brand marks, and those types of things so it’s a unique product. It’s not a wallet you’re going to find at any store. It’s going to be a wallet that actually has life in it, which is really neat.
Can you tell me more about the custom designs you offer?
All of our products can be personalized with initials or names. Our most popular custom item right now is our custom logo hat. We had this huge bin of scrap leather that we didn’t know what to do with, so we thought, Why don’t we try and see if we can make a leather patch out of this? Then we thought about burning somebody’s logo on it and stitching it to a hat. Since we added it to our line, we’ve seen explosive growth with it.
Where do you work?
We have a really cool space here in Huntsville. It’s a turn-of-the-century building that was actually a commissary for a local mill, so it has this deep, rich history. A friend of mine saw the potential, purchased the building, gutted it, and started restoring it to era.
It’s three floors, so we have our marketing offices on the top floor, and then the second floor is where we do all of our production. Our retail shop—which we just opened on Black Friday—is down on the bottom floor. This is our first retail operation, and we’re so excited because we have an amazing group of people that work with us between both businesses.







You’re a husband and wife team. What’s it like to work with your partner?
I think we complement each other really well—I tend to shoot from the hip and ask questions later, and Coleen’s really good about saying, Hey have you considered this? She has really great ideas. We build off of each other and it kind of goes from there. It’s fun—we love it.
With everything going on, how do you stay creative?
I think creative juices flow from just looking around. Take our personalized belt, for example. A belt is not an original idea, but putting a message inside the belt is different. We’re taking what’s out there and making it more unique.
Follow Holtz Leather Co. on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Photographs courtesy of Holtz Leather Co.
59 comments
DeUno from DeUno said 3 years ago
Beautiful collection! Good tips for Christmas presents! Congratulations on the feature!
Rhonda Stubbs from RhondaCorner said 3 years ago
What a great story and love your work. I will be looking forward to purchasing some of your products. Best of luck on your future endeavors.
Megan from MegansMenagerie said 3 years ago
Beautiful work! Congratulations on the feature!
TropicalGarden from TropicalGarden said 3 years ago
Great leather collection! Congratulations on the feature!
Vadim Moroz from VadimMorozArt said 3 years ago
Wonderful products! Congratulations on the feature! All the Best!
Jennifer and Gary Pierce from LoftAtticEarth said 3 years ago
Wow! What an awesome success story. Love how your ideas blossomed from adversity. Your designs are elegant and functional. Blessings to your family as our business grows!
Sally from SallysVintageKitchen said 3 years ago
Beautiful shop! Congratulations on the feature!
Susan Palomino from CricketnWillow said 3 years ago
Wow, these are just fantastic! Looking over them for a great Christmas gift for my husband. Thanks for sharing!
Kashuen Collectibles from Kashuen said 3 years ago
Beautiful leather work! Congratulations on the feature!
Debra Gilstrap from gilstrapdesigns said 3 years ago
Wow your story is so inspiring about not giving up and look at what you have now a beautiful shop with beautiful leather handmade products and it what looks like a really nice building. Much continued success!!!
Sherri from ButterflyFeetDigital said 3 years ago
Great shop, nice story, lovely family. Congrats on your success and the feature!
Sujata from TreasuredMemoryLane said 3 years ago
What a great success story! Beautiful work! Congratulations on the feature!
AnitasPottery.com from potterybyAnita said 3 years ago
Oh, I love the smell of leather! And to be surrounded by it all day would be Heaven! Your designs are so unique! And I'm glad to read that you found a way to use your "scraps" by making the hat logo pieces! Your little "helpers" are too cute! Best Wishes for much more success! ♥♥♥
accentonvintage from accentonvintage said 3 years ago
Awesome work! Great story!
Bozhena Fuchs from FuchsArtStudio said 3 years ago
A very beautiful store! Congratulations!!!
Martha Aguilar from ArteOtomi said 3 years ago
Beautiful story! Congratulations :) You inspired me...gracias.
Monika Moroz from NickoArts said 3 years ago
Thank you for sharing your inspiring story. Congratulations on the feature of your beatiful shop. I wish you much success :)
Tim and Brigita Cornwell from jacobswoodentoys said 3 years ago
Beautiful collection. Congratulations on the feature!
Georgia from JewelMeShop said 3 years ago
Great designs! Congrats on the feature!
Oonah from unatuna said 3 years ago
This is the part of America that makes me proud! Love your work!
Dara Barth from Bumbleweedz said 3 years ago
Congrats! beautiful family.
Yuri Pysar from Pysar said 3 years ago
fascinating story. Congrats on the well-deserved feature and continued success for the future :)
christelpaola from ConstellationKnits said 3 years ago
The products look amazing, congrats on the feature!
ClassicMemories from ClassicMemories said 3 years ago
Very nice shop and great items. Congrats on the feature.
Nicole from KarmaCodeOne said 3 years ago
Beautiful inside and out !! Cheers to much continued success
Elena from BetulaPainting said 3 years ago
Great collection! Congratulations on the feature!
Anna from FairyToysWorld said 3 years ago
So nice love story) Like your business! Good luck! You make very beautiful things!
Renee from RandMhandmade said 3 years ago
Beautiful shop! Congratulations!!
Cathy from msbijouxbeads said 3 years ago
Great feature! Such attention to details make your product beautiful, congratulations on your continued success!
Michael Robinson from CarvedAccessories said 3 years ago
Congrats your work is awesome, an inspiration
Amy Gunderson from amysfunkyfibers said 3 years ago
Just love the tote bag! The best to you and your success!
Maria from StyleGraphicDesign said 3 years ago
Great quality!!
Monica from ThreeBarDGifts said 3 years ago
Love, love your shop! Such a beautiful story! My husband and I met at church also and he was a saddle and tack maker for a while. Your story brings back many good memories! Congrats on the well deserved feature and best wishes to your family!
renee and gerardo from GTDesigns said 3 years ago
Robust gorgeous pieces!! Beautiful story too!! Congrats on a great feature!
Geri from JasperCup said 3 years ago
Love this ... I will be looking for Christmas gifts for sure. On a side note, these sorts of things are usually dull to read ... nice writing Aleksa Brown!
Olga Kaplina from KnitteditemsbyOlga said 3 years ago
Beautiful work.I wish you success.
Rosita from pillowlink said 3 years ago
Amazing story! And space of studio and kids! Wish you all the best for this comnig Holiday season!
Tatiana from TatianaGrit said 3 years ago
I admire!
Jennifer Tyson from LadyInPurpleBoutique said 3 years ago
Congrats on the feature Rick and Colleen! It's only through the difficult times that we find a strength in ourselves that we didn't know we had. I wish your family and shop much prosperity!
cindy Q. from mrsakarn said 3 years ago
Awesome love story and really nice work, congrats and much luck for many, many years to come!!!
Wendy from DrevanM said 3 years ago
Cool story...great looking products and shop. Congrats on the feature!
Rūta from CosmiaVision said 3 years ago
Good luck!
ciaffi from ciaffi said 50 days ago
Great work!!! Congratulations!! :-) :-)
Mariya from MagicArtForYou said 50 days ago
How interesting the process is developing! It's great that you managed to raise your business. And it is clear with what trepidation and love you treat your business. Good luck in your business!
Maeva from MaevaDraws said 49 days ago
Those bags are gorgeous!!! And what a treat to work with your other half and share this adventure!
Get Hired Now - Resume Writing from GetHiredNow said 49 days ago
Totally touched by your story and love the workmanship! You should be so proud :)
Gillian Northcott from esanivintage said 49 days ago
Wow great product and I LOVE the workshop/studio.
Karimova Svetlana from SvetKariArt said 49 days ago
It's very cool when a husband and wife are doing the same thing. I think it unites
Anna from LissiKids said 49 days ago
Very exciting story! I am always interested in reading about the "behind the scenes" of production; about the way people go from the first sale to success! Thank you and congratulations
branda Moreno from branda said 49 days ago
Congratulations!!!
Clayton said 48 days ago
Recomendo produtos de ótima qualidade Excelente atendimento Ótimo preço!
Savannah from DesignsBySavShop said 48 days ago
Beautiful leather creations! Congratulations.
Mariya from MagicArtForYou said 48 days ago
Thank you for the article! it's great that work is fun! you give your product filled with love! Any accessory complements the image, and even more so if it is made of high quality materials!
Ana C. Gomez from MixBerryDesignsShop said 48 days ago
Wow! I loved every piece. It´s amazing. Congrats!
Oriaku Onuoha-Bean from JewelryByOri said 47 days ago
Gorgeous designs! I love that handbag! Congrats on the feature!
Makayla Stahl from StahlDesignsCo said 47 days ago
Beautiful work! Congratulations.
Katrin from MiniFairyWorld said 47 days ago
Great collection! A very inspiring story!
Camilla from CraftConnectionsByC said 47 days ago
I love how pretty all of the products are, amazing!
Patricia Jenkins said 46 days ago
That some great things I see i love it so much