LAVIGNE LEATHER has been around for 36 years, if you don't count the leather shop classes in 1961
and '62. The original purpose of doing leather was an attempt on my part to avoid getting a real job.
It worked for a while.  In 1979 I was doing Renfests in a school bus along with my two Great Danes, 
With some help from a friend and a bit of luck, I  started selling belts to what was then Berman Buckskin
in Minneapolis. In 1981 I stopped doing the Texas Renaissance Festival, moved to Western Wisconsin
with my bride.