About Alaskan Leather

Crafting Alaska's Story in Leather Since 1986

We started in a one-room workshop in Anchorage back in 1986, when leather goods meant something different up here. While other makers were chasing trends in the Lower 48, we were figuring out what Alaskans actually needed—gear that could handle 40-below mornings and still look good enough for town.

Tom Hendricks, our founder, learned traditional leatherwork from his grandfather in Montana before moving north. He quickly realized Alaska demanded its own approach. The dry cold cracks inferior leather. The wet seasons test every stitch. And when you're 200 miles from the nearest shop, your gear has to last.

Today, we're still in that same neighborhood in Anchorage (though we've expanded to three rooms and a proper cutting floor). We're a team of seven craftspeople who know each piece by heart because we've made thousands of them. Some of our bags and jackets from the '90s still come back for reconditioning—not repair, just a refresh. That's what we're after.

We source our leather from American tanneries in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania that have been in business longer than we have. We know their hides, their tempers, their quirks. Most of our hardware comes from a family supplier in New England we've worked with for 28 years.

We live here, work here, and test every design in our actual lives before it goes up for sale.