Driving Our Economy Forward: Chattanooga Leather Works

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — From wallets to knife covers – Chattanooga Leather Works has everything your average executive and outdoorsman could possibly want.

Let’s see how Chattanooga Leather Works is driving our economy forward.

“I was looking to move back from Texas to Chattanooga. This is home. And reached out to some old family friends who owned a knife company. They saw a ton of success and they had a need for leatherwork,” said Ben Beasley, Owner Operator of Chattanooga Leather Works. “We had a really awkward shaped knife, and we couldn’t figure out. Couldn’t figure out what to do with our standard sheath practice, and so we were going to do leather for it. This sheath, yeah. I had a computer paper cut-out to what they wanted this thing to look like, and a razor blade, a bottle of glue. And they said, ‘Here, make it look good.’ And the process started there.”

“We started to realize it had its own wheels and we spun it off into its own company,” Beasley said. “Chattanooga Leather Works kind of took root there and we’ve been doing it ever since. Just knife makers coming to us needing the same services that we, as a knife company needed.”

“I’ve had a lot of cool opportunities come to me because of this, learning opportunities,” he said. “But as far as training, I mean, a lot of it was just on the job. And the books you read, and the YouTube videos you watch to kind of get us to where we are and to develop the program that you see. Most of what we do is catered toward the knife industry, but over the last couple of months and year, really, we’ve wanted some standalone items, just stuff that anybody could enjoy. And so, wallets, we’ve started down that road. We’ve done some bags and backpacks and different things like that. The little leather valet trays we have.”

“We like to keep as much as we can. Made in the USA. It’s really cool to not only make stuff here, but get stuff from other companies made here in the U.S.”