Two Guys Who Tanned Leather for Someone Else

Phil Kalas and Dan Cordova met working the floor at Horween® Leather, the tannery that's run two miles from where Ashland's workbenches sit today. Years of handling hides for other people's products left them with a question neither of them could shake: why did they spend every day producing some of the best leather in the world, and never get to build anything out of it themselves?

So in 2011, they started Ashland, right here in Chicago. The first batch was small, made for friends and a handful of savvy shoppers. It sold out. The rest is fifteen years of small-batch wallets, belts, and everyday carry, still made a few blocks from that same tannery floor.

"Imagine being a wheat farmer who harvests grain all day but never bakes anything." That's how Phil describes working at Horween before Ashland existed. "It gives me great pride to make something of quality that people can pass onto their kids. We could certainly churn out wallets faster and cheaper if we cut corners on materials and workmanship, but I would never do that." Phil Kalas, Co-Founder

"When I make a wallet, I start with the best hides and simply try not to screw up something that starts so beautiful. We only use Horween Leather, so our challenge is different: we have to respect and represent the materials we spend our days making." Dan Cordova, Co-Founder