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Saddleback Leather Company (SBL) is a Fort Worth, Texas, United States-based, privately owned American leather goods retailer founded in 2003 by Dave Munson. The company produces primarily bags and luggage, beginning originally with a single leather briefcase design, but has since expanded into many other areas including wallets, laptop cases, electronics cases, and other accessories for men and women. Saddleback is an online-only retail business that ships globally, with no current brick and mortar stores. The company focuses on a high level of quality and durability in their products, using full-grain leather, marine-grade thread, and minimal seams, as well as providing a 100-year warranty on every item. ==History== In 1999, Saddleback Leather Company founder Dave Munson was living in the Southern Mexico town of Morelia, Michoacán as a volunteer English teacher at Centro NOE. In search of a sturdy bag to carry school books, after poor experiences with the quality of mass-produced bags, he found a leather shop and asked the owner to make him a bag that he had designed. Munson used the bag extensively while in Mexico and upon returning to the United States found that many people admired its rugged beauty. Wanting to test its marketability, Munson returned to the shop in Mexico and had eight more bags produced, which he brought to his hometown of Portland, Oregon and quickly sold from the back of his Land Cruiser. With the success of his initial sales, he decided to move back to Mexico to have more bags made and start Saddleback Leather Company. After moving to Acapulco and Ixtapan de la Sal and failing to find manufacturing, Munson visited Leon, Guanajuato, known as Mexico’s leather capital. There he found an old leather craftsman, Don David, and his son to begin making his bags. He shortly moved to Juarez, Mexico where he rented a $100 USD a month apartment as home base. Munson slept on the floor with his black lab, Blue, with no hot water for three years in order to save money to have more bags made. The craftsmen sent up a few bags each month, and Munson would go to the Juarez bus station and take them across the U.S. border to El Paso, Texas. He first began selling his bags online on eBay, but quickly outgrew that resource. He started the Saddleback Leather website in 2004 and the business began to grow even more rapidly. By September 2006, Don David and family could no longer keep up with demand and Munson began sourcing a new manufacturer. Shortly, Munson found a small Leon factory with more capacity. Unhappy and frustrated with the inconsistent quality and deceptive practices, in October 2008, Dave partnered with his business consultant to open their own factory in Leon, TrueBlue Production. In June 2014, Munson bought his partner's interest in the factory and began the shift in the direction of social manufacturing. The company is currently planning its first brick and mortar presence in Fort Worth. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Saddleback Leather Company」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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