Mapping the Road to Success

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Some people just have a knack for finding their way without a map. Drop them in a vaguely familiar neighborhood with some major landmarks for directions and they can find their way anywhere.

Tony and Geri Valentino are two of those people.

The couple bought Boston Leather, a belt and accessory manufacturing company serving mainly the law enforcement trade, just over one decade ago knowing very little about the company or its products. But with the little information they could find, and a leap of faith, they took a lost company and began searching for direction until they found the road to success.

Landmarks

What is now Boston Leather started in 1938 under the name “Boston Novelty Company”. It began making various leather items including keychains, belts and buckle protectors, according to Tony. After just a few years, the company was concentrating more and more on producing accessories for police officers and security personnel, expanding its line of products to include cases for ammunition, handcuffs, defensive sprays as well as credentials and badges. Somewhere along the way, the business name was shortened to Boston Leather.

“No one knows the genesis of the name Boston Leather,” Tony says. “The original family’s name wasn’t Boston. They could have been from Boston, but the company was never in Boston. It was always in Chicago.”

Though the original owners are unknown, the Valentinos do know that ownership was passed down through the same family until 1983 when the last member of the founding family died. The company would change hands once more before Tony and Geri entered the picture.

“The man who we bought it from had bought the building and the business at auction,” Geri says. “He mainly was buying it for the property.”

Finding Home

The company moved to numerous locations throughout the Chicago area. The first building was situated in downtown Chicago and has since been torn down. From there the company found homes on both the north and south sides of the city. The Valentinos discovered Boston Leather in its fourth location.

“I was unemployed,” Tony says as the only explanation as to how he came into enforcement accessories. “Prior to that, I made luggage so I was familiar with the machinery and materials.” The exact specifics of belt and accessory manufacturing unfortunately weren’t so familiar.

Tony worked for the former owner, managing the company for three months before buying it outright. But even after Tony tried his hand at running the business, the couple was still taking a big risk.

“It was in the basement of this building which had housed an old dress factory,” Tony recalls.

Geri describes it as “a horrible, dark, dingy work area.”

Tony says, “The company was in bad condition. There were just four employees, the back orders were as long as a year, and the equipment was in awful condition.” He says the previous owner was running two businesses simultaneously and just couldn’t keep up with both of them. “Boston Leather ran down.”

Making a U-Turn

The Valentinos began by moving to the upper floor of the same building, a space that was not only bigger but also brighter and more open. When they were forced out of that building after the owner decided to turn it into condos, they found a new location just south of downtown Chicago. Five years later, that building too was sold to a developer, so they packed up and moved again.

This time, the change in location was more than just cross-town; it was cross-state to 1801 Eastwood Drive in Sterling, Ill. The 15,000-person town in northwestern Illinois appealed to the Valentinos for both its cheaper rents and its available work force, which Tony describes as “very good and dependable.” The brand new facility is a sharp contrast to the older buildings of this former industrial town.

Along with the change in location in July 1999, the new owners have rejuvenated the business. At 25, the staff is now six times the size it was just 11 years ago. The larger numbers are necessary to keep pace with the increased orders Boston Leather is getting.

“We sell more in a month now than the former owner sold in a year,” Geri says. She thought the previous owner might get upset at their favorable turnaround, but instead, “He kept saying, ‘No, I couldn’t be happier for you,’ just happy that we were succeeding.”

One of the main factors instrumental to the Boston Leather boom has been the change in marketing strategy.

“Their market philosophy was as far as they could drive in their cars and be back in a day,” Tony says of the previous owners, noting that approximately 96 percent of sales then were in the city limits. “Chicago is still our biggest area, our biggest single market, but it probably represents 45 percent of our sales now.”

Through the entire evolution, one thing still remains the same: Boston Leather only sells to dealers, not to end users or private or government organizations. The Valentinos also pride themselves on their ability to deliver quickly. Tony notes, “A lot of our new customers are surprised at our turnaround time. We are able to ship most orders in days. And many of them are used to waiting weeks.”

On the Road to Success

Boston Leather has been keeping up with the times, at least as much as times change in the leather accessories industry.

Tony jokes about the steadiness of the market. “If you were to look at Civil War photos, you would see the same items,” he says referring to the belts and ammunition holders.

The difference is in how the products are made. Boston Leather .uses the best available materials. All components and cowhides are from within the U.S. and assembled by American workers.

In response to requests, it has started producing some accessories with ballistic weave material, though leather is recommended and prefered for its durability and versatility.

The Valentinos know that service counts as much as a quality product. It’s fairly common for someone calling their customer service number to hear Tony or Geri’s voice from the other end. There is no voice mail system, and the answering machine is only necessary when the office is closed. “We do have a Web site–bostonleather.com–,” laughs Tony. “We’re technological there.”

Its signature products are belts, wallets and badge cases. “We probably have about 500 different cutouts for badge cases, and we’re very good at that. And our belts are second to none in the business.”

The Boston Leather stamp appears on the equipment of police officers, security guards, mail carriers, fire fighters and transit employees across the nation. To keep innovative products rolling out of their facility, they have created a line of accessories for police and rescue dogs.

The Valentinos have done with Boston Leather what all owners hope to do with a struggling business. But they didn’t have the luxury of a detailed history from which to learn.

They just have that extra knack of knowing which way to turn when there is no map to guide them.

Boston Leather
1801 Eastwood Drive
P.O. Box 1213
Sterling, IL 61081-1213
tel: 800-733-1492
fax: 800-856-1650

Above story first appeared in MADE TO MEASURE Magazine, Fall & Winter 2001 issue. All rights reserved. Photos appear by special permission.
Halper Publishing Company
633 Skokie Blvd, #490
Northbrook, IL 60062
(847) 780-2900
Fax (224) 406-8850
[email protected]