FREMONT – What started off as a hobby four years ago for Brandon and Scott Wright has quickly grown into a national company that manufactures custom-made leather gun holsters and belts.
Wright Leather Works has five employees, but the Fremont group is producing leather gun holsters that cater to the needs of concealed-carry permit holders across the country.
“We started out of my dad’s garage just doing this as a hobby,” Brandon said. “We started making a few holsters for people and got a little bit of notice and we decided to turn it into a business. We built a building on my dad’s property and just started to outgrow that.”
It was just four years ago when Brandon was seeking to make a holster that fit his needs. When he was not successful finding one that he liked in stores or online, he decided to make his own.
“We’ve always been hunters, and when we went to get our concealed-carry license, there was just nothing out there that I liked to fit my needs. One day I told my dad, ‘Let’s just make our own,'” Brandon said.
Brandon said he and the family began noticing other people were seeking more specific needs to holster their guns, ranging from guns with larger magazine holders and sight scopes attached.
From that point on, the Wright family knew they could turn their hobby into a business.
Along the wall of their shop is an array of models of popular pistols, providing models for each order to be custom fit so that the leather, purchased from a St. Louis tannery, will fit the gun like a glove.
“The main thing that sets us apart is we offer so many pistols and the way we handcraft everything. There’s still a lot of people that like leather,” Brandon said.
The family moved into their new building, 2789 Hayes Ave., in May of 2015 and quickly began filling orders.
Prices for the holsters range from $54 for a magazine holster to $68 to $254 for guns holsters depending on the size and type of weapon.
While some gun buyers prefer molded plastic called Kydex, Brandon said the old-fashioned leather holsters are customized and crafted for each order individually.
“I think what sets us apart is the attention to detail. We understand these people. We know that not everyone is the same, so we pay attention to that sort of thing and be helpful to old and new carriers,” Brandon said.
The Wright family business has grown through word of mouth from and through national gun publications.
Many of the sales are shipped throughout the country, as well as a number buyers in Sandusky County.
“You get writers from national publications (Guns and Ammo, American Rifleman Magazine and Conceal and Carry Magazine) and they start to like your ideas and designs and they write about them,” Brandon said. “Back in 2012, I talked to one of the editors of American Rifleman Magazine and he said, ‘I’m doing a story on the pistol of the year and I don’t like the holster, Make a holster, if I like it, I will put in a blurb in my story,’ and he did.”
A typical order takes about four to six weeks to fill, as the team orders leather from St. Louis, where it is outlined in a pattern by Brandon’s dad Denny, who sends it to be cut and wet-treated. The holster is then dried and stitched.
Despite the debate on gun laws, Scott said the business is growing and shows no signs of slowing.
“Gun sales aren’t going down, which is good for us. More and more people are carrying and wanting to protect themselves,” Scott said.
Even if holster sales slow due to future gun law restrictions, Wright Leather Works makes custom belts, coasters and wallets, all from their American-tanned hides.
Want to know more?
http://www.wrightleatherworks.com/
419-307-6191
cshoup@gannett.com
419-334-1035
Twitter: CraigShoupNH
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