Why Owning Your Manufacturing Is the Ultimate DTC Superpower

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.”

BS!!

If you don’t own how your product is made, then you don’t actually own your business.

You're a marketer with an invoice.

From Garage to Leon (with a pit stop in a pole-dancing studio).

I started Portland Leather Goods in my garage. Literally. I had a $35 piece of leather and a dumb dream to make a journal that looked like it belonged to Bilbo Baggins.

Then came the art festivals. Etsy. Shopify. Then I upgraded to a pole-dancing studio in Portland (shoutout to the mirrors and the purple paint that took forever to cover). And now?

Now we’re making millions of leather bags a year in our own factory in León, Mexico — the leather capital of the damn world, or so they say!

We're vertically integrated. That means we own the factory. We employ the artisans. We fix the machines when they break. And if I want to make a neon green leather fanny pack that ships tomorrow? I don’t have to call China and beg. I just say, “Let’s go.”

Speed is a Superpower. Middlemen move like molasses.

Here’s the thing no one tells you when you outsource manufacturing:

Everything takes forever.

You want to change a stitch? Add a pocket? Try a wild color?

Get in line, buddy. That factory’s also producing 50 other brands' stuff, and you’re not their biggest client.

Meanwhile, we’re prototyping new styles in the morning, doing a photo shoot by lunch, and dropping it live on the site the next day. Sometimes we even do it all at once!

I’m not saying we’re magical. Ok, I am saying we are magical! Also, I’m saying control = speed, and speed = survival.

We Don’t Need Permission. Ever.

This might be my favorite part:

We want to launch a bright yellow “Almost Perfect” Crossbody with a green zipper?

Boom. Done.

We want to test a new mystery bag concept where nobody knows what the hell they’re getting?

Ship it.

We want to triple production for a viral drop?

Roll up your sleeves. Let's do this.

We don’t ask permission.

We don’t wait for approvals.

We own the factory. That means we own the timeline.

Margins Are a Bloodbath (unless you control them).

I know founders who lie awake at night haunted by their COGS spreadsheet like it’s the freaking Babadook.

They can’t fix their margins because their supplier sets the price.

They can’t scale because they can’t negotiate.

They can’t grow because their manufacturer has 12 other clients with more volume.

Us? We know our exact costs.

To the penny.

Because we make it.

Every time we tweak a process, reduce waste, or optimize a workflow — that’s real money in our pocket, not our supplier’s.

That’s how you get to 10x EBITDA.

That’s how you scale without selling your soul.

Creativity Doesn’t Live in a Spreadsheet

You think a Chinese supplier came up with the idea for Almost Perfect mystery bags? Hell no.

Our creativity lives on the factory floor — where artisans play, tinker, test, and try stupid stuff until it works.

That’s the magic. That’s the fun.

You lose all of that when your entire product line lives in someone else’s Excel file.

This Isn’t Just a Factory — It’s a Family

When I opened our factory in León, I thought I was building a supply chain.

What I got instead was something closer to a family.

Our people are artists. Craftspeople. Problem solvers.

They care about the product — not because we tell them to — but because it’s ours.

We celebrate birthdays together.

We fix problems together.

We ship 30,000 orders in a weekend together.

You can’t outsource heart.

And we don’t have to fake “authenticity” in our marketing — because it’s real.

It’s Hard. It’s Expensive. It’s the Best Thing I’ve Ever Done.

Let me be real:

Owning your manufacturing is not for the faint of heart.

It takes capital. Grit. Leadership. Late nights. Crying in the supply room (maybe other people, not me… ever!)

You’ll screw up more than you get right.

But when it works?

Oh man… you stop being a marketer.

You become a builder.

If you're building a DTC brand and wondering how to stand out — stop thinking like a middleman and start thinking like a maker.

Own your product.

Own your margins.

Own your process.

Own your brand.

Because the future belongs to the builders.

See you on the factory floor.

Curtis Matsko - CEO & Founder of Portland Leather Goods