It was happenstance that Nick and Leanne Polidore started dabbling in leatherwork. But nearly five years after launching their North Wales-based Hemlock + Hyde, the sustainably focused accessories brand is doubling year over year with no slowdown in sight.
Formally launched in 2017, the handbag-focused brand is the brainchild of the husband-and-wife team who met while students at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Having studied illustration, neither had experience working with leather, but that didn’t sway them when a friend salvaged vintage hides and asked if the couple wanted them.
The hides, which they estimated to be worth around $3,000, had been used as part of a window display in a shop their friend worked in and were headed for the landfill before he intervened. Unsure what to do with them at first, they sat untouched in their home for years until one day, in need of a creative outlet, Leanne started making some catch-all bowls with them. Soon thereafter, Nick began dabbling in wallets.
At that point, they both started to wonder if their leatherworking could become a business. It would be a good blend of their backgrounds – Nick was an assistant store manager at Whole Foods and knew how to run a business, while Leanne was the art director of Philadelphia brand Printfresh, which at the time was a textiles company that has since transitioned to pajamas.
As they conceptualized a business plan, they harkened back to the materials they started with. The couple wanted to continue working with materials diverted from waste and sought a supplier that used leather that were a byproduct of the meat industry. Also important was using vegetable tanned leather rather than the more common chromium, which eventually finds its way into wastewater. When they found that in Pennsylvania – albeit in the central part of the state – they knew they were onto something. The couple sources from Wickett and Craig in Curwensville, which uses hemlock bark in the tanning process, something they carried into their name.
Hemlock + Hyde launched with a single circular bag and has since expanded to a dozen different styles that range from crossbodies to slings to handbags. The brand is known for its structured pieces, which take upwards of two days to handcraft and cost $180 to nearly $500.
The company recently got into hats, a signature staple in Leanne’s wardrobe, and will look to further offerings down the line, ideally expanding beyond accessories.
In their earliest days, the couple focused on local markets but have since transitioned almost exclusively to direct-to-consumer sales, which have exploded since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Last year was 100% [growth] over the year before at least, and then this year is on track do the same thing,” said Nick, who grew up in the West Chester and Collegeville areas.
Sales come from across the United States as well as Europe. That growth includes doubling production. Last year they produced about 450 pieces and are on track to hit around 900 this year.
Part of that is thanks to their robust social media following. There, they give followers ample looks behind the scenes at their creation process.
“We want to be an open book so that people feel like it's attainable for them because we get so many questions about leatherwork, about small business, and it's great just to help other people,” Nick said.
It’s also turning into an unexpected additional revenue stream. The company recently began selling the pattern for its Greta crossbody bag and will look to launch more in the future. In addition, Hemlock + Hyde has started selling scrap material to other makers, further diverting items from going to waste.
As much as sharing insight is part of the brand, so is education as they seek to inform consumers about the leather goods industry and their use of vegetable tanned materials. “We're showing these beautiful bags, they're uniquely designed, they're handmade, but the piece I think that seems to be the thing that everyone's excited about is watching the process of us actually making it,” said Leanne, a North Jersey native.
One day they hope to grow that even further and foresee moving the business from their North Wales home to a potential storefront. “I love the idea of us having a brick and mortar where we can also have monthly lessons in the back,” Leanne said.
How does Hemlock + Hyde fill a void in the market?
LP: I felt like most of the space, all the fashionable things were very soft and at the time very boho slouchy, not a lot of structure to the designs. Or it was the opposite – very masculine, maybe had more structure to it, but it was very Western looking. And so we felt like there was this gap where the fashion piece was missing. We love structure and so kind of bringing those two things together was really what we decided to do.
What inspires your designs?
LP: I'm very inspired by architecture, and also the utilitarian-ness of vintage bags. Those are two things that I'm always looking at.
What’s it like working with your spouse?
NP: It's not for everybody, that's for sure. I think a lot of people get hung up on details that aren't important, but we both went to art school, so we're used to critique. We critique to make the business better. It's not about the person. If you can separate yourself from that, I think you're in a good spot.
LP: I think the main thing for us is we kind of fill in the gaps. We have very different roles within the business even though we come together on a lot of things too. Nick's strengths are my weaknesses and vice versa. I also think we have really great communication skills. Because we both were essentially managers before we started our business, we had the skills of communicating. I think that has really helped us to be able to communicate with each other really well.
