WK&D STARTED FROM A SINGLE LEATHER HIDE

WK&D STARTED FROM A SINGLE LEATHER HIDE

✦ We spoke with Kylie Tucker to find out all about WK&D and Australian leather.

Kylie Tucker lives in the small town of Heywood, Victoria with her beautiful boy and truck driver husband. One day, she decided to start a little hobby business to help with cash flow, and to allow her to spend as much time as possible with her son.

She took a single piece of leather hide, and created something out of it. And that was the start of her beautiful business, WK&D.

The beautifully crafted items she created have grown in popularity and has become a proud label that guarantees quality products handmade in Australia.

It is lovingly crafted using only the best materials sourced from Australian businesses. From her single piece of leather hide, WK&D now produces a variety of products such as leather belts, key chains and even cat and dog collars and leashes.

All her designs use hardware in either solid brass or stainless steel for added strength and lifetime use. They have also been tested for durability and comfort. She handcrafts all of her goods and posts them Australia wide.

The boy behind WK&D

Young and business minded, Kylie’s son helps design and create WK&D products. They are thinking about new colours and expanding into other products like harnesses. What a way for both this young boy and WK&D grow.

We just love leather...

Kylie continually perfects the products she crafts, and to keep the quality at a high standard, she uses only beautiful Australian leather. These come in several colours, mainly earthy tones from blacks and browns to tan and red shades.

What Kylie loves about leather is it is a strong material, but soft to the touch. The perfect material for belts, dog collars and leashes.

As leather is a natural product, it is ideal for dogs and cats. It is breathable and the best choice for sensitive skin type dogs.

The collars are also eco-friendly, without any plastic or nylon materials. The collars can handle a bit of water as long as they are left to dry naturally.

With a little bit of tender loving care, leather products can last a lifetime. Basically, leather is like skin - it can also age, and sometimes it needs a bit of conditioner to keep its soft and supple texture.

It’s a dog’s life...

Kylie mixes quality Australian leather with solid brass or stainless steel hardware also sourced from Australian businesses. These are held together by screws and rivets. Kylie is proud to be able to source from local businesses for material from her communities. Her products are true blue-born in Australia and totally native!

Creativity involves a bit of fun, and Kylie also enjoys playing around with colours and textures to give a bit of razzle-dazzle to the collars. After all, some dogs have such a good life they don’t mind a bit of bling-bling to shine when they go out on a walk! Kylie uses conches and gemstones on custom designed collars to give a special touch. Studded collars are also highly popular.

Kylie cuts her own leather lengths so she can cater to any dog breed - even the largest of breeds can wear one of her collars. Using a 3.8mm thick leather for the bigger dogs and a thinner 2.2mm leather for the smallest breeds and even puppies, Kylie always puts the comfort of the animal as a priority when she is creating.

Leashes range in size from 90cm to 2m in lead length, 1.6cm to 5cm wide and come in several colours including black, brown, tan, redwood and old world tan. Talk about looking smart and dapper for a dog!

And for special occasions...

Since starting out, Kylie has expanded her products to a wide range and she even caters for special occasion items. These can be custom ordered for weddings, birthdays and Christmas.

At the moment, she is busy making beautiful, elegant belts for Father’s Day. Belts are 2.5cm, 3cm and 3.8cm wide and can be personalised. Trophy buckles are also fast becoming a trend in the WK&D selection. With Kylie’s skills and creativity, plus an added personalised touch, these belts make a truly special and unique gift to be cherished.

Back in May, Mother’s Day also kept Kylie busy with requests coming in. Kylie dedicates a lot of time to every single item. They are lovingly handcrafted, nothing is rushed and therefore quality is not compromised. And Kylie never tires of her products because each one is so unique, and the option to customise an offering means she is creating a new item every single time. It is a beautiful part of her work whenever she sits down and starts working on a product,

taking into account the personalised requests. It is like getting to learn about the product she is bringing to life, and the special meaning it is going to give to the person receiving it. You could say that each item is infused with a bit of soul, something that is lacking in a mass-produced object.

Another gift line that is getting popular are keychains. These come plain or with a brass plate that Kylie is more than happy to engrave. Each name, word or message that is engraved is like a little story waiting to be told. Sometimes while sitting alone in her workshop, Kylie wonders about what the person is like, or why a certain message has been chosen to be engraved.

Handmade with love...

All items start from a piece of hide that is then cut by hand. No machines are used. The holes are marked for Kylie to punch out. If the item is stitched, it is done by hand and the edges of the leather are burnished using a natural beeswax (locally sourced, of course!).

Kylie takes a lot of pride in creating quality from start to finish. Before sending off the item to its new owner, it is given two coats of Australian Made dressing, a GE-WY leather dressing.

It is obvious when you hold a product from WK&D, you know it has been lovingly made. Kylie truly loves what

she does. It is like a natural cycle and all the dedication she has put into it has brought her customers who are genuinely appreciative of her skill and work. Her customer base is growing Australia wide and even moving overseas.

Made in Australia... with love!

WK&D products are popping up in stores around Victoria and SA, so Kylie is kept delightfully busy bringing her creations to even more communities.

She is proud of her work, and being able to locally source for her materials makes her even prouder to present her creations as truly Made in Australia (with love)!

Kylie’s products are also available via the website with afterpay available and other payment options.

Customer service is a priority at WK&D. It is key to a good business and Kylie is always ready to help as best as she can. Her focus is on bringing customer satisfaction and sometimes even when a customer has made a mistake with a size or misspelt name, she tries her best to fix it. After all, we are all humans and everybody makes mistakes. Over the years, Kylie has gained the trust of her customers - she even guarantees a refund if they do not love what she has made. For Kylie, that’s the Aussie way!

Check out WK&D for beautiful Australian leather dog collars and leashes:

0456 321 013

admin@wkandd.co.au

www.wkandd.com.au

12 Griffin St, Heywood, Victoria, 3304