Episode 064 - Meet Fashion Powerhouse, Laura Young, President of Brighton

Taylor McAdams: Hey everybody, and thanks for listening to the Kiki roots up podcast. Don't forget like, subscribe and share this with your friends if you like what you see. And even if you don't, that's okay too. It's all about the views. Now today we are about to have some boss babe talk. I'm so excited that Laura is on. You're gonna get to know a little bit about her, but before you do, I just want to kind of set this up a little bit and tell you who she is. Laura Young is the president of Brighton. And if you're not familiar with Brighton, you should be go to your local boutique. Go to stores all around you. They have purses, bags, jewelry, you name it. They have it. And what's really unique about Brighton and the tie there is that not many of you guys know that we actually get to use licensees for our product here at Justin. So we get to have products that have the Justin name, so she's actually the president as well of Legion, which is our belt licensee. So you're gonna get to learn a little bit about their story and how it all started for them. But before we do that, Laura, thank you for being on the podcast. I'm so excited you're here.  

Laura Young: I can't wait to talk to you about it all. Thank you so much for having me. This is a real treat, and to be sitting right in the Justin showroom, right across the street from your showroom. 

Taylor McAdams: And if you've been watching the podcast for long enough, you know that from time to time, we have some recordings happening at the Lisa show at the Dallas Market Center. So right now, to set the stage for you guys, just so you know we said, is a big three day in August. It's a three day, four day, five day event that happens at the Dallas Market Center. It's the Western and English sales Association show where all the merchants have the opportunity to buy, sell, trade, you name it. It's happening here. So Laura, I know your schedule is so busy while you're here, and we're all busy. Yeah, well, I do appreciate you taking the time to be here. And before we get to know a little bit about Legion, everyone that's listening to the podcast knows that they got to get to know about who the person is first. So tell us about your story and how you got to where you are today.

Laura Young: Well, that's a long journey Exactly, exactly Bucha belts all over. Yeah. Well, you know, I joined Legion and Jerry Cole in 1991 so Wow, 33 years ago. Pretty amazing. Pretty amazing.

Taylor McAdams: 33 years of Western knowledge industry. Knowledge, yes.

Laura Young: And believe me, when, when I started, Jerry had, Jerry Cole is the founder of the business. He and his wife, Terry actually were high school sweethearts. And in high school, they had a little boutique, and they sold jeans like back in the late 60s and early 70s. And they bought belts from a company by the name of Legion L, E, E, G, I N, and it was owned by a couple of they were kind of hippies, and they made belts, and they made leather sandals, and they sold their belts to Jerry and Terry in their boot. And that was they were called Legion belts. And very shortly after, afterwards, Jerry and Terry bought Legion from Lee and Jenny. Lee and Jenny were surfers, and they lived near Venice Beach, and they actually preferred to surf than make belts. And so they decided they wanted to move to New Zealand, where the surf was better. So Jerry Cole and his at the time, Terry Cole. They bought the belt company, and they started making belts, and that's how it started. 

Taylor McAdams: Rest was history. And for you, when did you come into play in Legion?  

Laura Young: So I joined Jerry 20 years after he'd been headed, the owner and founder of Legion, making Legion belts for men and some unisex belts. He sold gene belts and sold some private label for people like banana republic the gap. And he way back in the day, he made some Western belts for Larry may hand. I know legends Exactly. And so he'd been making men's belts for 20 years, and he decided he wanted to make ladies belts because, quite frankly, ladies shop a little bit more than men do spend the money. So in the summer of 1990 he started making some ladies belts, and he had 37 salesmen. 35 were men, two were women, and they weren't that interested in selling men's belts, women's belts, selling the men's belts to men's stores. They knew, that was what they knew. They sold them to nice, quality men stores. They sold them to Western stores, and that's been Jean shops and things like that. But they really weren't that interested in calling on lady stores. So what? So one Sunday afternoon, I got a phone call from Jerry Cole, and he was wanting to learn a little bit about the ladies business, and I had done that for 10 years. Wow. And so that's how it kind of started, with a phone call with Jerry. 

Taylor McAdams: Okay, so think back, I guess, 33 years now, so let's say 43 years. Whenever you first started, you were fresh out of college, SMU. You went to SMU. Okay, so think about when you were first out of college and you were getting ready to get that first big job before 10 years before you moved to Legion. What was that like for you? Do you remember a specific moment in time where you're like, I was eating ramen? 

Laura Young: And so, yeah, because when I graduated from SMU, we had this routine. When you graduated at our house, you You practiced this routine with my with my father, you returned, you got your diploma in one hand, and you returned the credit cards in the other. So this was the summer of. 1980 and yes, I was not eating very well, and I didn't have a job yet. But anyway, make a long story short, a sorority sister of mine. I was a kappa at SMU, and a sorority sister of mine made belts in the little floppy bow ties like women wore back in the days as they were starting their careers. And I joined her in september of 1980 to help her with her ladies belt business and and scarf business. And so I was there for 10 years, and and, and that's what I did. I helped her in marketing, and then ultimately became the vice president of marketing for her company after for 10 years.

Taylor McAdams:  Oh my goodness. And did you when you first graduated college, did you ever think in a million years that not only would you be at a belt and scarf company for 10 years, but then that you would go on to be at another belt company.

Laura Young: Never, never. And I, when I left Jenny Johansen and moved to Corpus because my husband had gotten transferred, and I thought it'd be a good idea to go with him, I gave her a year's notice, and my husband moved to Corpus, and I stayed in Dallas for with our kids, and found our replacement. And then I moved down there, and about a year and a half later, I got that phone call from Jerry Cole. 

Taylor McAdams: And that was life-changing, too. I think, well,  

Laura Young: I'm so glad I answered the phone. You know, he might not have called back, but it really, it really was amazing. And basically he was doing some due diligence to potentially talk to Jenny johansson's Father. Anyway, that didn't all work out. And he asked me, Would you like to have dinner? And so I had dinner with him right here in Dallas, at the mansion on Turtle Creek, and we hit it off. 

Taylor McAdams: And the factory, at that point in time, they were still making that. They were still making belts in Los Angeles, in Los Angeles, yes, so you were here in Dallas. So I guess for 33 years you've been commuting from, well, Taylor, Texas area, Texas area, that's right to LA. 

Laura Young: I have commuted to LA for 33 years. Wow. You asked the question. Did I ever think? Like, yeah, when I just joined Jerry, I actually, literally started part time because I had a consulting job with a designer sportswear company here in Dallas and a little jewelry company. So at Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, I'd fly from Corpus to Dallas and work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday with Hairston Roberson, and then every other Thursday, I would work with for a Hunsicker for Medallia. She made those sterling silver luggage tag series, yeah, and then I started part time with Jerry Cole. And I just never dreamed he just wanted some help with his sales force. He had 37 salesmen. 35 were men. Two were women. Like the opposite, where I came from, worked all 28 were women. He just wanted some help to get the men's sales reps to call on men's stores. I mean, women's stores with ladies belts, and that's how it started. So we never dreamed we'd have a business like this.  

Taylor McAdams: Oh, I can. I can only imagine that you didn't. And for you to have the the knowledge that they were needing is so valuable, you immediately started the job with so much value bringing it to the table. And so I can't help but ask, I normally ask this question towards the end, but right now, I've got to ask you, what is your best piece of advice for someone that is maybe just going out of just graduated college, trying to get into an industry that is their niche, or pass that another piece of advice for someone who is loving their career but wants to maybe take it to the next, next level. 

Laura Young: Well, I think you got to follow your heart and you got to find you got to find your passion, and it's so important for you to find your passion. And I, for me, I love people, and I really love leading and helping people be their best. So I just think you got to find your passion and you got to be yourself. You got to be true to yourself, you know, always do the right thing and be authentic. So that that would be, probably my advice. 

Taylor McAdams: That is such good advice, truly, because there's been so many times in my career, even just the short time, that it's been of kind of like an identity crisis, and you have to be able to go back to who you are, your core values. And that makes you you, know that? So that seems great advice. 

Laura Young: You know, if you think about your parents, you know, they always say, do the right thing. You know, you are the company you keep meaning, hang out with the right people. Yes, and do the right thing. Just do the right thing. And I think that's sort of always been sort of foundational for me. You know, what would mother think? 

Taylor McAdams: You know for sure, especially if you can relate to a small town, right? They

Laura Young: because I grew up in Marshall, Texas, and your parents knew what you did before you got home from school. So don't even  

Laura Young: Let me just tell you, if you did something bad, your name was on the water tower. That is universe.

Taylor McAdams: Well, it's funny that you brought that up about being relational and staying true to yourself, and people will like you that better, because I was literally was literally just in the bathroom speaking with a random girl that I just met in the bathroom about we're not necessarily in any kind of business here at weso we're in the people business. It's all about networking and who you know and getting to know everyone. And I think for you, that's been the kind of keys to success. For you, getting to be able to go to Brighton. So I guess let's transition a little bit more into that. You said you started part time. I want to revisit that, because that is a success story right there. You know, you weren't you were hustling. You were back and forth, right? And then eventually you probably went on full time. Tell us about that. 

Laura Young: About a year and a half later, you my job, really, in the beginning, was to help these salesmen, the 35 band, the two women go. Call them ladies stores, more so than the men's the men's stores, and to help them sell in these ladies belts to ladies specialty stores. And that's what I did, just one at a time. And I just had a strategy and of getting them focused. We didn't redesign anything. We just, you know, said, You know, we need to teach you how to execute show up and show them, as was my motto. You know, I said, if you show up at three stores a week, call, show the line twice, you'll get an order and write me a note by midnight, Saturday night and every Sunday night, I published on my first little Lotus spreadsheet all 37 salesman's name. So if you were, you know, Frank Mumford, three calls, two, demos, one order. You know David Bennett, one call, one demo, one order. If you didn't write me, I'd say, no show. And I published the results, and I'd write each 37 salesman back in the individual note. And we do the same thing. And we did that from May till December of 1991 and instead of selling to 300 lady stores, we ended up selling 1200 lady stores. Instead of selling 200,000 we ended up selling 1,000,007 50 just by getting salesmen focused. Laura, so that's what we did. That's how we built the ladies belt business.

Taylor McAdams: And, you know, as a girl, a female, I can't help but cheer you on, because you really it took a lot to get those men in order. We can relate to that in the boot industry, you know, the Western industry and as a whole, there's probably primarily, predominantly men. And so good for you. But

Laura Young: You gotta, you gotta picture this. So it was May of 1991 and let me just tell you what had just happened, okay, and what in January of 1991 legion, and Jerry had gotten the license for Justin. And so when I joined to try to get these men to want to go call on lady stores. They wanted no part of that because they were so excited to have the license for Justin. I mean, that was pretty remarkable. So I had a lot of competition trying to get, still trying to get these men stores, men's sales reps to go call on lady stores. But the place was buzzing because it was such an honor to be given the opportunity to be the licensee for Justin. And then in 93 we got the license for Tony llama, and that was like, literally, for a company to be able to represent both Tony llama and Justin. I used to joke, it's like a beverage salesman getting rep Coke and Pepsi. So names in the industry. So it's been an amazing journey when the western part of the business, the women's part of the business, the men's part of the business. And, you know, we primarily sell independent specialty boutiques, not department stores, okay? So that's how we built our business and and that's about the people, because these are independent, small, owner operated stores for the most part, yeah, that make their livelihood, and the Western industry is the mayor. I mean, that's how can't get much more Americana than that? 

Taylor McAdams: No, you can't. And I think that provides hope to a lot of small business owners out there. I feel like a conversation I just had with a small business owner today, this week or yesterday, but this week was just, you know, I feel like we're getting outnumbered by the big box stores and Amazon. Let's just say that right now. And it was really cool to see hear this from you guys that you're like, No, we care about everyone, but especially the small guys. We care about them and empowering them and giving them the tools to then be able to go and sell 

Laura Young: And well, if you think about it, Jerry Cole and his wife Terry were the small guy. They had their own little boutique back in the day, so they never forgot what it was like, wow, to be the small to be the small guy. And that's sort of been a guiding principle of us is to help independent, owner operated retailers to make money. And we sell some bigger stores, like, of course, we sell calendars, and absolutely, and they're amazing, but yes, but foundationally, you know, it's 1000s of these small businesses throughout America that has made our business. 

Taylor McAdams: They add up, you know, like they change makes, makes $1 you know, and then $1 makes those pennies, which nowadays I feel like is a little bit harder with inflation. And that's a whole nother podcast episode. I'm sure. 

Laura Young: I don't know, my husband still has a coffee cannon. We keep our kidneys. Okay, good.

Taylor McAdams: I so appreciate that too, because I, my husband and I are old school, and we have a drawer that week or a jar that we keep, and we'll separate, whenever it gets full, we'll separate the quarters from the other coins, yes, and the quarters usually go towards like car washes or vending machines, and one day we might get there, we might have a time where there's no coins left, you know,

Laura Young: Yeah, be careful. One day I accidentally when I dropped the coins and I dropped my wedding ring in and lost it for eight months. I found it I've been married for 41 years to my high school sweetheart.

Taylor McAdams: You made it through that while

Laura Young: We're on the podcast,

Taylor McAdams: What do you think is the secret to 41 years of marriage?  

Laura Young: Well, I traveled to California a couple of times a month, so no, you know what? You have to just be kind to one another. And you know, look, I picked him out earlier. I couldn't even date when I met him in Marshall. And. On. So I sort of knew right away. It took him about 11 years to figure it out. But anyway, it's been a great 41 years. He's an amazing, kind amazing person. Wow.

Taylor McAdams: And I am starting to relate to that. Whenever people say that as a single girl, I used to be like, Yeah, okay, you know that's so no seriously, but truly, I'm year two, so very new into marriage, and year one was hard. I'm not gonna lie, I feel like year one is a little bit more challenging, but it is. It's so beautiful. And when you support each other, you become a great team. 

Laura Young: Well, listen, he brings me my coffee every morning when I'm home, which is pretty good. He always makes sure my car's topped off with gas. So for those of you guys, bring her coffee and make sure she never has to pump gas. 

Taylor McAdams: And flowers sometimes, right? Yes, flowers sometimes, yes, that's so good. I love that. And speaking of other gifts, belts, that's a good tie in. Let's kind of break down legions line a little bit, because now we have more opportunities for even more women's belts. Yes. So yes, it is. There's a lot of men's options, right? But maybe talk through some of the things we can expect, like right here. This is a beautiful one to talk about. One to talk about, too. There are totally different levels. Tell us about all of that?

Laura Young: Well, first of all, we make a we make most of our belts in the United States, about 85% of our belts in the United States, with factory workers in Los Angeles. And it's multiple generations of people that work in our factory. We have sometimes three and almost four generations of people who are really are hands on their craftsmen. And we have this, our designers are there their footsteps away from the craftsmen that are in the sample, making room, tooling and making the first samples before we make the die. So everything is made by is made by hand. And it's, it's really remarkable. I remember the first time that flew to Los Angeles for Jerry to show me the factory. And if you've ever remembered the movie Norma Ray, it was like walking in. It was like the norm array of belts. It was just like buzzing. But these people are passionate about their hand craftsmanship and and that's what we're so proud of. We'd make it our belts with the finest top grain leathers. We never use splits or any fillers or PVC or any of that. All of our buckles are literally hand drawn by with a sketch, pen and pencil sketch, and then they are carved out of silver, and then the molds are made. And they're all unique on their own.  

Taylor McAdams: Laura, that's so interesting, and I can't wait to talk more about it. So just one second, you guys will be right back. We're gonna take a quick break, and when we return, we're gonna have props and be able to walk you through the belt making process. Stay tuned. My dad is a tradesman, and he relies heavily on his work boots to carry them throughout the day. He looks for things like comfort, durability and the wide variety of safety features that Justin work boots offer. These are safety, toe, soft toe, waterproof, electric hazard, oil and slip, resisting and more your work gear matters on the job site, and your work boots are no exception. That's why my dad and millions of others rely heavily on Justin work boots. Get yours today at Justin boots.com and use code k, y bu 15, for 15% off your next purchase, that's code K y bu 15. Hey everybody. We are back from commercial. Thanks for tuning in to the kick your boots up podcast as always. Like, subscribe, share this with your friends. Right now, Laura is going to walk us through the belt making process the best way we can here on the podcast, and we brought some props in. We have a few different things. And so I don't know where you're going to start, but I want to start with this piece. It's pretty heavy. This is what you call a die. 

Laura Young: That's what you call a die. And every single design that we make starts with a pen and pencil sketch. So if you think about this belt right here, this belt would start with someone designing this buckle. And the buckle is actually a piece of metal with additional leather that's actually inlaid into it, but it was start with a pen and pencil sketch, as would the design of the embossing on the belt. Wow. But what's really unique about and each each buckle is uniquely designed? Yes, is the design of this embossing, okay, okay. So this embossing, however, is starts with the sketch, and then a steel die is made for each single design, okay? And it's got to be made for each single size as well. So these are made one by one. And then they, they're they go into a machine, and they're heat pressed into the leather to create the relief and the embossing here. And then these are then hand painted or sprayed and hand painted, almost like a piece of furniture, if you think about them, they're rubbed so that they get these the beautiful patina and the different shades of brown that you use. So it's a lot that goes into each, each and every piece, and that's just a part of it. Yeah, that doesn't show about stitching it or putting the buckles, and that's the snaps on. So that's just a little tip of the design that where it starts with the inspiration. Operation, pen and pencil sketch, and then the dies, and then the manufacturing. 

Taylor McAdams: You know, that sounds pretty revolutionary. It sounds like you guys have created, like, a pretty good process, stamping process. And same here. Even talk about this process too, because the leather starts there.

Laura Young: Starts with bare latigo, and then it goes through. It's embossed, and then it's hand painted, one shade and then another shade, and then it continues to add colors to it to get it to its final stage. And they're they're sprayed, and then hand rubbed in between. And then, of course, it's stitched. And voila, it ends up as the final buckle and belt.

Taylor McAdams: The finished product. 

Laura Young: The finished product. We joke sometimes people think you put a cow on one side of the machine and out pop some a belt. But no, there's so many more steps to it than that.

Taylor McAdams: I love that maybe you guys should start doing a campaign. There you go, more chicken or something like the Chick fil A cows. That's so funny. Well, thank you for sharing this with us. Take a quick break and get set and we'll be right back to finish the story. Narrator: Since 1879 our iconic boots have been trusted on ranches, job sites and beyond. Now we bring that legacy to our new Justin jeans. Our jeans are meticulously crafted from a blend of materials offering uncompromised comfort and toughness, boots, jeans and clothes built for men who demand nothing less than craftsmanship and style. Find a retailer in your area at Justin boots.com 

Taylor McAdams: Oh, for real. And there's so much I could ask there. So I wish we had all the time in the world, but I do want to ask you a little bit going back to this is so relatable to boots. You know, everything is an artisan, right? How do you find people that are so creative and care about their work and do the belt, the belt, like, have a passion for belts.

Laura Young: Well, they don't always start out making belts. You know? They start out as craftsmen. Okay? So we have and sometimes they start out as apprentices. So like, because some of the people in our sample making department have been there for 3040, years, as you can imagine. They can't do this forever. And so we created a apprentice program, and we recruited students and some some people from other parts of our factory that maybe did did something else. Maybe they were on the buckle, you know, putting on the snaps in the Bucha. Maybe they were in a different part. And we brought them into the apprentice program, and they became sample makers. So we really had to, sort of, you know, evolve the department so that you continue to have fresh and and seasoned, yeah, and

Taylor McAdams: Well, how many I'm gonna put you in the hot seat just for a second, and it's okay, if you don't know the full answer, we can talk through it. How many steps does it take to make a belt, from start to finish, with the snap, 

Laura Young: so many steps. I can think about that, no, so many steps.

Taylor McAdams: So when you go to put on your belt, you think, Oh, wow, this is probably so simple with the machine or something, but it is way deeper than that. 

Laura Young: Yes, it is way deeper than that. You know, first of all, you got to start with the left you've got to start with the leather. And then the people in the factory that that cut the leather. That's a skill, because you really have to try to figure out how to get the maximum yield out of each and every scan. And then think about scans. Think about your body. You have any scratches anywhere on your legs or wherever. Think about cows. They have barbed wire, so you really have to maneuver cutting the leather out. And then, of course, there's just so many steps. You'll have to come to the factory sometime a week. Should get some video showers.

Taylor McAdams: We'll have to bring the viewers along. Absolutely, we'd love to do that. Yeah, and that, speaking of that, talk about saving money and stretching your dollar, having having a cow hide that's cut out in an awkward pattern as it is, just being able to get 10 straight lines for a belt is a lot. Do you know how many belts you can get from one height of  leather.  

Laura Young: Depends on the hide, depends on the hide, depends on the hide.

Taylor McAdams: Okay, so, yeah, that's fair. But either way, that is so incredible. And I just want everyone out there to know that there's different levels of belts too. If you want a plain, simple work boot or work belt, that's okay too, that you guys make it all and then I've even seen like the Concho type for the women. 

Laura Young: We have Western work belts that are really more plain, you know, just good on a strap of leather. Good solid buckle. We have tooled belts. We have fancies. We have show belts. We have braided belts. We have Concho belts. We have chain belts. 

Taylor McAdams: For women, yeah, and they're beautiful. And I will say too, my husband has lost we've kind of been in like a workout weight loss challenge, and my husband has gotten down to his high school weight, which is so not fair, but his belt has become like the one thing you can't live without because all of his pants don't fit. And so you guys, even if you don't realize it. It's a huge tool as well, because, literally, a tool belt, you know,

Laura Young: Yeah, that's right, it fix him up. 

Taylor McAdams: Yeah, no, for sure, no, he actually wears them. He, of course, he knows someone exactly.

Laura Young:  He's got connections. 

Taylor McAdams: We make sure that that he is wearing the jeans, the boots, the belt, everything. But yeah, he loves it. He loves the fact that he needs it too. Is. Really cool. So Laura, thank you so much for enlightening us on the belt industry. Who knew that it would have taken so much and that there was so much that goes into this? I so appreciate you taking the time to sit with us, and we've learned a lot. So thank you.  

Laura Young: You're very welcome. It was a pleasure. Thank you.

Taylor McAdams: And if you're out there listening, please don't forget like, subscribe, share this with your friends. If you have questions about the belt industry or how belts are made, or anything that you want to ask, Laura, feel free to comment below, and we'll send them her way. Also. We can't thank you enough for joining us on the kick your boots up podcast, and we'll see you the next time you kick your boots up. Thanks for joining us on kick your boots up. I'm your host, Taylor McAdams, and we can't wait to share the next story of the West. Until then, feel free to like subscribe and leave us a review. Follow us on social media at Justin boots to keep up with our next episode, and we'll see you the next time you kick your boots up.