About Us

Ashland Leather was founded by Phil Kalas and Dan Cordova, two long-time Horween tannery workers with a shared passion for high-quality leather.

Ashland Leather wallets are made exclusively with Horween leather, ensuring unmatched quality, durability, and timeless style. We back every wallet with a lifetime guarantee. if it ever rips of its stitching comes undone, we’ll repair or replace it without charge.

Phil Kalas, Ashland Co-Founder

“Imagine being a wheat farmer who harvests grain all day but never bakes anything.” That’s how Phil Kalas describes working at Horween before he started Ashland Leather Co.

His knowledge and passion for the tanning trade pushed him to create a business that allowed him to work with the leather he was producing, turning out a few beautiful and durable wallets for friends and savvy shoppers. Ashland’s first batch was a hit and the rest is history.

“It gives me great pride to make something of quality that people can pass onto their kids,” Phil says. “We could certainly churn out wallets faster and cheaper if we cut corners on materials and workmanship, but I would never do that. Everything that ships from our shop is a heritage American-made product that we guarantee for life.”

Dan Cordova, Ashland Co-Founder

Dan Cordova has been in love with leather for as long as he can remember. After two decades in the tanning business, his respect for the world’s best leather materials is unparalleled — heck, his last name is Cordova, after all, the Spanish city from which Shell Cordovan originated ten centuries ago.

“When I make a wallet, I start with the best hides and simply try not to screw up something that starts so beautiful,” Dan says.

“We only use Horween Leather, so our challenge is different: we have to respect and represent the materials we spend our days making. Our job at Ashland is to do justice to the leather.”