About six years ago, Ryan Buonamia got into the business of making custom leather belts, in Richfield, Minnesota. He named the company Carmine Jack Leather. About a year later, his partner, William (“Will”) Lynch, joined him.
“He asked me to help him build a workbench, so he’d have a better surface to work on,” Will recalled. “But I really got involved after helping Ryan make belts. It started out as something we could do together.”
From the get-go, they wanted the small company to be distinctive.
“Our company focuses on individually sized, handcrafted belts and other strap goods, like leashes and collars,” Ryan explained. “We wanted a leather that virtually nobody in the U.S. was using. We needed something that would make us stand out.”
That “something” turned out to be oak bark leather, which is tanned using the bark of oak trees. The heritage leather is manufactured by J&FJ Baker & Co., Ltd., Britain’s only remaining traditional oak bark tannery.
To make
