“Ours is an American-made product through and through. Our low-cost competitors just can’t compete with our quality.”
—Colin Wheeler
What would you do if someone handed you a dead skunk? If you were Colin Wheeler at The Nugget Company, you would shrug your shoulders and give it a look. A dead skunk in the middle of the road? Maybe we can do something with it.
Colin Wheeler and his team in San Antonio, Texas, don’t spend much time dealing with dead skunks. As America’s premier sheepskin tannery and the leading producer of fine shearling leather in the United States, The Nugget Company transforms tens of thousands of sheep hides per year into the world’s finest all-American shearling leather, or leather that retains the wool. Since its founding more than 30 years ago, The Nugget Company has established itself as the premier American shearling tannery, producing sheep and lamb shearling of unmatched quality.
“We are a tannery that sells to other businesses,” Colin Wheeler explains. “Our customers cut up our skins and make them into retail-ready garments like footwear and vests, as well as saddle pads and other consumer products.”
“For the most part, we do two different types of tannages,” Colin says. “We do chrome tanning of sheepskin for shearling that is used primarily in the
