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Photos by Lexi Coon.
Becky Stayner works on a project for Biscuit Leather Company, which employs individuals to work as stitchers making leather purses, belts and other products.
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Becky Stayner came from a family of stitchers.
Knit goods, hooked rugs and family-sewn clothes were common throughout her home growing up. But when Stayner handmade a leather purse for herself, she had no idea of the company her hobby would turn into.
“I’m a food photographer; that’s my real job,” she said. “[I started making purses] because people were asking to buy the bag. Then I got invited to participate in a few trunk shows.”
Eventually, Stayner conceded and bought a business license to operate her brainchild, Biscuit Leather Company, out of Homewood.
“[When I opened the company] I also had decided that one of the reasons I turned it into a business is that my goal is to help people trying to get off of welfare, trying to make ends meet,” she said.
Around that time, she saw “A Place at the Table,” a documentary that reveals America’s ongoing fight against hunger. A story of one mother, who was working to get off welfare and support her family through a new job, made Stayner think of ways she could help.
“What I’m trying to do is to have my stitching done by independent contractors,” she said.
By doing this, Stayner said she would be able to keep up with more orders and also provide means to an income that doesn’t require family members to work odd hours.
“I saw this as a way for women or men to have that second job and also be at home,” she said. “Families who have to take on a second job, it means that they’re working daytime and nighttime or weekends and days. The end result is that they’re not at home with their kids.”
Now, her new project is to create a nonprofit called Biscuit Leather Company Workshop, or BLC Workshop, which will allow her to train stitchers and provide them with the tools necessary to help create one of her soft and buttery, biscuit-like bags. Stitchers will purchase the materials needed to make a bag, sew it together and then bring it back to the studio for inspection. As long as it meets all standards, the studio will purchase the bag back, providing the stitchers with additional income.
“It’s not made in China,” Stayner said. “Because it’s all hand done, there’s an attention to detail that you don’t get when you’re making something out of the country on a machine.”
Her company specializes in handmade leather goods such as belts, clutches and purses, with the best leather in the country, she said.
“With the exception of the Italian leather, everything comes from the United States,” she said.
Her main seller is the Original Grand Biscuit, which sells for $450 and can take about eight weeks or more to create.
“I hope we grow,” Stayner said. “I’d love to have a dozen stitchers busy.”
To learn more about Biscuit Leather Company and its products, visit its website, biscuitleathercompany.com, or email Becky Stayner at blstayner@bellsouth.net.
