HAND MADE WITH DRIVE AND PASSION

The start of Collins Leathers… Hi, my name is Renee Mackay and I am 16 years old. I run this business with my sister Stella 14 and Chelsea 18. You may find this a strange intro to a business, but it is important you know my background, so you understand the respect I have for my family and appreciation for the people who inspire you and give you the passion and drive in your life. We grew up in Australia with a crazy Dad and when I say crazy, the people who know Dave Mackay understand what I mean. When we were younger, we spent a lot of time at the motorcycle race tracks, watching dad race. Later on we overheard him putting deals together with bike shop owners, selling Collins Leathers motorcycle clothing. This was his brand, but I’ll get to that later. Dad used to work for a company in the UK called Frank Thomas, he would help them design motorcycle clothing and he became the importer for Frank Thomas in Australia. Dad was the first person in Australia to introduce the Frank Thomas Collection, a new concept where the motorcycle shop was fitted out with Slat wall panels and all the shop fittings, Dad basically built his own shop within their shop. This created The Frank Thomas department store, stocking every size in a range of colours that had never been seen before. Keep in mind this was at a time when motorcycle shops still used peg board for displays and you were lucky if a shop stocked 4 jackets. Dad also provided training to the staff, how to sell Frank Thomas motorcycle clothing. The problem was the quality of Frank Thomas’ clothing, it was so bad that 50% of the items failed. Dad had sold so much gear he had no choice but to learn how to repair zippers as well as stitching. Dad always jokingly said that if you were on the moon looking back at earth, there were two things you could clearly see, one is the Great Barrier Reef and the other was the Frank Thomas return pile. Dad worked hard to improve the quality of Frank Thomas gear and set up 25 shops around Australia, but when Frank Thomas UK closed down, Dad’s business finished too. Next Dad decided to get his own brand of motorcycle clothing going. He told us the story that he was sitting having a coffee Collins Street Melbourne with Barry Collins one of his best mates, writing notes in a note book. He was on the phone to Chris and Steve Collins, who did some work for FT, asking them if they could help him set up a small leather factory in Korea and they agreed. The only problem was the name, what were they going to call this new brand? Dad closed his note book and it was a Collins note book, he looked up at his mate Barry Collins and said that’s it, the new brand is going to be Collins Leathers. The rest is history. When we were young, dad would take us to the factory. I remember being amazed with all the leather piled up, as well as zippers and buckets full of studs. The factory did not just make the Collins brand, they had convinced other suppliers to have their clothing made by them as they needed the work. At the time I did not realise that my dad owned the company, no partners, just him. He always told people he worked for Collins Leathers, and it was not until later on that he told people he was the owner. Like my Dad said, how could he walk into a shop he had fitted out, then tell people he designed and made the Collins motorcycle clothing they were now selling, it was impossible. Once people know you’re the designer and manufacturer, it’s a natural reaction for people to give their opinions on your ideas. I have seen this myself, you try to explain to people what you are creating and all of a sudden, your own ideas become clouded by their input. So it was a hard sell for dad, so instead he just said hi guys, I used to work for FT, but as they have closed down, I now work for this other company Collins Leathers and - trust me mate - their gear is great. The main difference between FT and Collins Leathers was the quality, dad only used the best Australian leather and the best zips, even the seams were triple stitched. Dad made sure the quality was bang on and Collins Leathers was the only company that gave a 5 year warranty. To this day dad always points out, that you need Drive and Passion to succeed and you don’t tell people how good you are, you just show them that your products are the best. Collins Leathers took off and became a well-known brand amongst racers and road riders. Drive and passion together with top quality gear at affordable prices was the key to success As we all know the internet changed the face of business, prices fell and all people wanted was a cheap deal. When the import tariffs were dropped, the market was flooded with cheap, single stitched leathers and Collins Leathers had no choice: either produce junk gear or close. I remember the look on Dad’s face when Collins Leathers closed down ,a good freind of Dads Wayne Leonard Motorcycles took the last of the stock. This was the first dealer to take on Collins Leathers and the last dealer to finish. The sad look on my Dads face was something no daughter wants to see. But my dad did not fail, he just made the right choice, he would never produce leathers that were not safe for on the track. I still have happy memories of us kids playing on the sewing machines all day long to make the most outrageous (ugly) outfits. This in when I got the bug to create things. Being the business man he is, Dad was always on the lookout for new opportunities to earn a living. When we were on holiday in Bali, Dad spotted some bean bags, the next thing we knew he bought one and took it back to Australia. He got the sewing machines out and started making bean bags out of the fabrics he used for the textile motorcycle clothing. He put a stack of them outside our house with a for sale sign and before we knew it www.adorabeanbags.com is an up and going business. Dad’s other venture Mods or Rockers - a bike and Vespa scooter restoration business - started the same way. www.modsorrockers.com . It now has quit a reputation in Australia, as dad builds race engine for these classic old timers. He just never stops. I don’t know how my mum keeps up with him…. So enough about Dave my Dad, this is about us the new Collins Leathers, Renee, Stella and Chelsea. As I got older, I got fed up being asked the same old question, what are you going to study when you leave school? I just don’t know what to say, as all I have ever wanted to do is own my own business and as far as studying is concerned, every day with my Mum and Dad is a lesson. I started making pillows with custom designs which I sold in primary school, but after joining Dad on trips to China to visit the Canton fair, this really opened my eyes, I looked at so many products that we could have started selling online, but really, we would just be doing the same thing as everyone else. This is when we came up with the idea to start making hand bags, ladies bags at first but then we had a twist, let’s make waxed canvas and leather bags under the Collins Leathers brand. All we needed was for Dad to give us his contacts and let us use his sewing machines to make samples. We made our first samples and did a small production run in September 2019. It was a success and now we offer a custom service where you can pick the extra logo or symbol as well as your name making the bag your own. You may be thinking why would you buy a bag from three teenage girls, but just like Dave Mackay, we have drive and passion, and will go out of our way to make Collins Leathers as good as the day it started, we use the best materials and there is no substitute for quality, everything we make is designed to withstand the test of time. We are a family business using the best leather, zippers and studs for our bags, every bag we sell is checked and tested and has a 5 year warranty. Thanks for taking the time to read our story, and if you got this far and made the choice to buy one of our bags, thank you again. Keep checking out our website as we will be adding new products as we grow.

Dan Stauffer