Old Dominion Leather Nectar
Louise Silk and Marcia Connell shared a lifelong love of horses and everything involving them: Show jumping, fox hunting, carriage driving and just plain pleasure riding. But Silk, 62, and Connell, 59, both working farm owners, did not love the inadequate results of their leather tack care products, so they set out to create the perfect conditioner.
“We talked to traditional leather craftsmen and set up a lab in an old tobacco barn,” says Silk of their four-year pursuit of an all-natural blend that would clean and condition leather quickly without leaving behind an oily residue. Word-of-mouth enthusiasm about their product’s revitalizing effects led the pair to begin marketing handcrafted Old Dominion Leather Nectar in 2012.
Many leather-care products leave oily residues after use, but a key (and, yes, secret) ingredient enables Leather Nectar to absorb into leather’s pores (it is skin, after all), preserving, restoring, and conditioning without the residue. In a one-step application, Leather Nectar repairs and revitalizes horse tack, baseball mitts, belts, shoes and briefcases. And the results can be far more than cosmetic. “Too many equine accidents occur due to poor leather quality,” says Silk. “Take care of your tack and it will take care of you.” $11 for 11oz. $80 for a gallon. LeatherNectar.com
View All the Made in Virginia Awards 2013 Winners:
STYLE
Angela Bacskocky Bags, Richmond
Page Stationery, Richmond
Cestair Sheep and Wool, Augusta Springs
FOOD
Reginald’s Homemade Nut Butters, Richmond
Good News Granola, Palmyra
Honey Habanero Sauce, Spotsylvania
MUISC
Henderson Guitar Shop, Grayson County
Big Lick Amps, Salem
Cabin Creek Musical Instruments, Whitetop
SPORT
Frierson Designs Surfboards, Virginia
Hope Springs Farm Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, Orlean
BB Bat Company Youth Baseball Bats, Virginia Beach
HOME
Edmund Davidson Knives, Goshen
Natural Woodworking CO., Floyd
Old Dominion Leather Nectar, Lynchburg
