Our Story
A Stash of Leather, A Passion for Beauty, and A Dream
Wild Things Leather Goods began as a mom just trying to find a well made bag and keep plastic out of the landfill. In 2012, when her third child came home six weeks into the school year with a broken backpack, she knew something had to change.
She headed to her sewing room with a pile of leather from her grandfather's farm and came out with not only a bag, but a dream and a passion.
“It was never supposed to be a business. It became one anyway.”
01
Curiosity, stubbornness, and the standard that doesn't move.
In pockets of time, as she raises and homeschools her nine children, Sarah Hatke Antonio has built a brand based on a passion for quality, a drive to continue learning and honing her craft, and a spirit to send beauty out into the world.
Not coming up through a leather program or art school, Sarah has taught herself about different tannages, how to cut and stitch and burnish, how to choose solid brass hardware that won't fail.
For years, she's worked with a baby on her back and small children circling her bench. Her children and husband are not just her family, but her critics, her customers, and her quality control. If something isn't good enough for them, it isn't good enough to sell.
That standard hasn't changed.
02
The bench came with her. So did the conviction.
The business grew quietly in Lafayette, IN, serving friends and small, local businesses. When her family decided to move south to Ave Maria, FL, she knew the business had to come, too.
Here in a town where entrepreneurs are found around every corner, the business has grown and flourished. As it grows, the Wild Things Leather Goods standards never waver. This company stands for beauty, quality, and care for our products and our customers. That will never change.
03
Every piece starts as a hide.
We source full grain, vegetable tanned leather processed start to finish in the United States. Vegetable tanned leather is the old way. It is slower, more laborious, and significantly more expensive than the chrome tanned alternatives that dominate mass production. It is also the only process that produces leather that gains a patina and genuinely improves with age and use.
The grain is left intact and the natural variations that reflect the history of the hide are features, not flaws. No two pieces are identical and that is the beauty of natural materials.
Wild Things Leather Goods pieces boast solid brass hardware throughout. Like the leather it highlights, it will gain a natural patina, but it will not corrode, crack, or fail. Each piece is carefully built and triple checked to ensure that it will accompany its user for years to come.
Made in small batches with care and commitment, our pieces are built to a standard our customers have come to count on and trust.
04
These pieces are meant to be used.
This is worth saying plainly: these pieces are meant to be used.
Vegetable-tanned leather develops a patina over time — a deepening of color and character that comes from handling, sunlight, and real use. A leather portfolio carried to a hundred meetings looks better after those meetings than it did before them. A Magnificat Cover carried daily for five years has a story written into it that no new Magnificat Cover can fake.
That's not wear. That's value accumulating. When a company puts its name on a Wild Things piece, it's associating its brand with something that will still be on someone's desk — or in their hand — years from now.
Brands that intend to be remembered.
What we believe — and what we build for
I
Made for memorable brands
We make leather goods for brands that intend to be remembered. Boutique hotels who want a welcome gift worth keeping. Family-run distilleries who send something meaningful with every case. Real estate teams who close with something other than a gift card.
II
Useful enough to keep
These are clients who have stopped asking "what's the cheapest thing we can put our logo on" and started asking "what's something our clients will actually use?" That shift in the question is how we know we're talking to the right people.
III
A direct, made-to-order process
We produce in batches of up to 500 at a time, so a run of 500 or 5,000 gets the same attention. Larger orders are welcome. Sarah will confirm timing with you. Lead times are 4 to 6 weeks as a typical starting point. Our Corporate Configurator lets you preview your logo and text directly on products before a single piece is cut. And once you've placed an order, you're working directly with Sarah Hatke Antonio.
“Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it.”
— Saint John Paul II, Letter to Artists
Preview your brand on a piece worth keeping.
Use the Corporate Configurator to see your logo on the bench before a single hide is cut. Batches of up to 500 at a time, larger orders welcome. Four to six weeks. Direct from Sarah Hatke Antonio.
