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By Curtis Matsko , Founder of Portland Leather Goods Let me tell you a secret most people never hear: leather isn’t popular because it’s “classic.” Leather has lasted 7,000+ years because it’s a freak of nature—in the best way possible. Before anyone had supply chains, sustainability reports, or influencers arguing about real leather vs faux leather, early humans already figured it out. They didn’t have TikTok, but they had instincts. And those instincts pointed straight at f

At Portland Leather Goods, we design and build bags meant to be loved hard, used often, repaired when needed, and handed down.  That’s why we choose real, high-grade leathers—full-grain, top-grain, and nubuck—from tanneries we know and trust, many of which are certified by Leather Working Group (LWG), the global benchmark for responsible leather manufacturing.   Below, we’ll demystify the leather grades you see on product pages, explain how reputable tannery certification wor

Everyone says they want fast growth till they realize that it is not instagrammable!! That is the first thing you should know. The second is: nothing is permanent when you grow fast… especially pain!! Every 6 months, something will break and make you question your life choices. That is part of the journey. It does not mean you are failing. It means you are scaling!! (Oh my gosh that rhymed!) This is how you grow without losing your mind… Chaos is not a bug… it is a sign If yo

I am not here to give you the answer you want to hear… I am here to give you the answer that will help you fast-track your DTC company to success!! Are you ready? It is not your product. Success starts with this one mindset shift: You don’t sell stuff The first mindset shift that you will need to adopt, is that you are not an entity that sells stuff… you are a marketing company FIRST. “What the heck does that mean Curtis??? You sound like you don’t know what you are talking a

I do not care what all the social media experts say about writing out the perfect scrip so that your content goes viral. That is not me. That is someone else’s thoughts and personality!! Experts will tell ya that you NEED: - The perfect hook - Fancy edits - Captions engineered in an AI lab - And a script so frickin tight that you are scared to blink!!! I say…. Booo! Ya frickin boring!! That is not what social media is about. If you really want to win in 2026… or any year at a

In the early days of Portland Leather, people were constantly coming up to me with ideas. “Have you seen what this leather brand is doing?” “Everyone’s adding this feature.” “This company just launched that… we should too!!” And everyone would say the same thing: If they are doing it and it is working, we should be doing that too Wrong!! So many people hate it when I say this, but the people you are going against are not the reason why you win or lose. During that time, I sai

We think our mind is so big and bold and beautiful… but it has so many limitations and one of the things it likes to do is lower our expectations to keep us safe. That is great if you are avoiding a bear!! Terrible if you are trying to build a business! There are three big decisions that have changed the course of Portland Leather and they have all felt borderline stupid. But that is why I have learned to love the chaos. Our first, big, chaotic decision Before Portland Leathe

7 years ago, I began building what would eventually turn into a 9-figure direct-to-consumer brand from a one-car garage and a $35 scrap of leather. And today we have: Built the largest leather bag manufacturing company in North America Made over $500,000,000 in sales Launched our own app Opened up retail stores across the country How the heck did that happen?? Well… it was not luck!! Maybe just a little. I still remember our first Black Friday… we made ONE SALE. The next year

I always get asked how we kept the name Portland Leather after moving all of our manufacturing to Mexico like I committed some sort of brand crime!! Listen, Portland Leather started in Portland, but the people were not buying our products because of the hipster vibes, bear oil, and bikes. Our story has always been: - I was a crazy guy in a garage - Who had $35 worth of leather - Sold leather journals at art fairs - Moved to etsy - And bought a pole-dancing studio The focus wa

Portland Leather Goods has doubled revenue every year for the past 7 years and people always ask for the “secret” behind our growth… There is no secret, dumby!! We do not have the formula hidden in a leather-bound book only the Curtis’s of the world can access. But there are a few principles that most DTC brands ignore. Especially this one!! Simplicity scales. Let me show you how. Behind Portland Leather’s Success DTC brands are obsessed with being complex. They think more fe

Every day I get tons of DMs from AI people warning me that if I do not jump on the AI train now, I am going to lose!! Most of these messages are boring, robotic and do not know how to send a good message. So if you are a CEO or founder, and you are not sure where to start with this AI thing, this post is for you. What the heck is AI and what does it have to do with your business? In the most simple way possible, AI is a software that can make decisions, write stuff and analyz

Customers are the most valuable thing your business can have!! Your products do not matter and your fancy strategy does not matter if you do not have customers who love you! So if you cannot keep your customers happy, your business will die! Portland Leather has earned over 360,000 five-star reviews and I am going to share exactly how we did it. These are just a handful of things we do consistently and obsessively. So let’s break it down… Deliver Value so big it feels unfair

by Curtis Matsko — the guy who started in a garage and now owns a factory in Mexico Let me tell you a secret no one wants to say out loud on LinkedIn (probably because they’re busy posing in front of shipping containers they don’t own): Most DTC brands are just middlemen in disguise. They buy generic crap from a factory in Guangdong, slap a vaguely Scandinavian name on it, hire a UGC creator named Kayleigh to do an unboxing video, and suddenly it’s a “premium lifestyle brand.

You are not using linkedin the way you should be using it!! Everybody thinks that it is for business, professional updates, and all that boring stuff. Linkedin is NOT for business dumpy! It is to meet amazing people. One great friendship a year from Linkedin will make it one of the greatest things you will ever do. And for all of the jacked-bros reading this: The secret to living a long and happy life is not creatine!! It is relationships and people who actually give a damn a

There is one thing that will make or break your company!! How tightly are you holding onto the past version of yourself? One of my favorite quotes of all time comes from a book I have never opened… just read the title: what got you here won’t get you there. You cannot build an amazing company if you are stuck to the past version of it. And you definitely can’t scale if you refuse to evolve! I know this because Portland Leather has reinvented itself more times than I can count

I run a company with over 1,200 employees. And if you are a founder that is trying to figure out how to run a team, you better listen to this!! Being the boss of your company rocks. You can literally tell people what to do and they will do it…. But you are shooting yourself in the foot if that is how you are building. Micromanaging is for people who live in fear. I get it! You have a fear that your team will not deliver and that your business will fall apart without your fin

People love to pretend there is a secret formula behind entrepreneurship!! There is none! Becoming a founder and building something great comes down to a few core skills….Not a framework!! Just three skills that, if you develop them, give you everything you need to build. You cannot buy these skills.. They are simply things that only experience can teach you… Pattern-recognition Your ability to spot patterns will transfer over to every single part of your company and it is on

The biggest risk I ever took was borrowing $4,000 to buy a clicker press. And looking back now... it feels kinda stupid that I was so scared!! But that moment taught me everything I know about risk: Without it, you cannot grow. Risk is baked into everything. Staying at your job is risky. Leaving your job is risky. Going to college is risky.Not going is also risky!! Launching a business is risky. Working for someone else for 40 years is risky! There is no safe path. There is

People love to talk about discipline. The 4:30 a.m. wake-ups. The ice baths. The perfectly portioned meals in glass containers. The 27-minute workouts followed by journaling and gratitude and three hours of deep work in a chair that costs more than your car. And listen—I get it. I really do. Discipline is beautiful in theory. It’s reliable, consistent, and tidy. It makes for great LinkedIn posts and even better podcasts. But I’m going to tell you something that sounds like bl

People always want to believe founders start with some deep, poetic passion. Like there’s this moment where the heavens open and you “find your calling.” Nope. Not even close!! You want to know the real reason I started my company? I didn’t want to get a job!! That’s it. That is the whole emotional backstory. And here is the truth most people really don’t want to hear: The thing you love isn’t what builds the business- loving the game builds the business. Think about it: Desi