Home-grown handbags – the story of Hayley Hanson’s leather goods business

The determination to source sustainable British leather and create beautiful accessories and furniture ‘off the farm’ was the main driving force behind Hayley Hanson starting her business in 2011.

Having grown up among a farming family and married a beef farmer, it was the process of wanting to use the hide of the heifer they had killed for their wedding breakfast that made Hayley realise there was a gap in the market for ‘home-grown’ British cattle hide and leather.

See also: Business start-up guide - Handbag maker

“The heifer we used was very attractive and it seemed a shame to waste the hide of a beautiful animal when it could be made into all sorts of stunning accessories that would be a token reminder of our special day,” explains Hayley.

“It hit me when we had to send the hide to be processed in Italy that there must be someone in this country who would be able to do something similar, and if there wasn’t there needed to be, hence where my business journey began.”

Since then, Hayley has established herself within the British leather industry, however she remains the only person to be producing leather goods that come directly from her home farm.

Home-grown handbags

Hayley lives with her husband and three children in Mid-Wales. Together they run Hayley’s family farm where their system sees them rear store cattle sold through the local market.

“I am lucky enough to have a resource that we are able to add value to in order to help support the existing farm business. Up until now all the products we’ve made have come from the hides or leather of animals from our farm,” says Hayley.

See also: Kitchen table and craft business ideas

“As we get bigger however, we do need a larger supply of hides that our farm can’t currently support and so we have just signed a contract with our local abattoir to use the hides of the three to four cattle that go through the abattoir each week.

“Like us, they are a small family business that has been operating for 150 years and share the same ethos when it comes to farming. Everything that goes through the abattoir is prime stock and we know what we are going get and can easily trace back to where the animals have come from.

“We have in the past experienced some negativity towards what we are doing, but I don’t apologise for anything. I make it clear on the website that we should be using every part of the animal and that each of the animals we use for our products has been ethically sourced.

“If someone specifically wants to wait to use the hide or leather from an animal that has died naturally we can facilitate this due to the traceability of our supply chain and this is somewhat of a USP for us.

“We have more of an issue with people being anti-farming than we do anti-leather,” she adds.

The making of the goods

Hayley explains that moving into the craft industry wasn’t necessarily a natural career path for her. “When I was growing up, I enjoyed making things but was never very good at it, so going into this line of business I’ve had to learn along the way.

See also: Turning a hobby into a business

“Initially, we started by asked people what they wanted and then figured out how to make it, rather than making items that people didn’t want or need, so the market has driven us and we now have a core range of products we can make.

“When it comes to making the goods, we enlisted the help of a product design company in the early stages of starting the business who have helped us find the right people to take some of our ideas forward.

“We now outsource the majority of the handbags as this is quite technical and also with three small children around, it’s not the safest environment for them. Then I make the smaller goods, and also have a network of local seamstresses who are also on hand to help.”

Hayley explains that from each hide she is able to get an average of four large handbags, two small handbags, lots of straps and labels and other small accessories such as aprons, coin purses and cufflinks.

“It’s surprising what you can get from one hide. All the scraps we also sell as craft bundles, so we minimise waste as much as possible.”

Cash is king

Coming from a farming family, the ups and downs of cash flowing in and out of the business has been a familiar concept for Hayley, but she reiterates that cash flow has been one of the hardest things about starting the business.

See also: Working capital: The basics

“I would like to get to a stage where we have a steady flow of leather in and out of the business which we can achieve by building a bank of regular stockists who we know will take a certain number of items each month. This will help us to know that we will have a regular flow of money coming into the business and gives us a level of security should we need it.

“We are also considering the idea of offering a finance option for our handbags the reason behind this being two-fold; one that it will make the bags affordable for a much broader audience, and two the monthly direct debits will also help with cash flow.

“Other brands do it, so it’s an option we are seriously looking into.”

Hayley also explains that the close relationship with her bank manager has also been a real help. “NatWest have been brilliant to me this year. I have been part of the NatWest Business Accelerator programme which has opened so many doors for us that we just wouldn’t have otherwise achieved, and in addition I am on text terms with my bank manager which is almost unheard of.

“If I have a problem or a question, I have been known to drop her a text, which for a small business located in a rural area is huge and has given me a real level of reassurance during my business journey to date,” she adds.

Looking forward

“My aim over the coming year is to make our supply chain and operating system as slick as it can be. We have to work eight months ahead of where we are today because of the lead time on the leather and the hides and so our focus over the coming months is to fine-tune our supply chain and tweak elements of the business such as our packaging, so we are then in a strong position to move forward with the business.

“My ambition has never been to be big, but I do want to be better and be able to focus on our 100 acres and what we can produce as sustainably as possible,” she says.

Share