We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nathan Begnaud. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nathan below.

Alright, Nathan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

In 2013 an idea popped in my mind: a leather bow tie. So I pitched the idea to my dad, given as he deals exclusively in leather. He liked it, but didn’t think it was for him. I thought about it often, but never acted upon it, largely because I didn’t know anything about leather or how to make anything.

In August of 2015 my wife and I awaited the arrival of our third child. After Maxwell arrived we knew life was going to drastically change. Max came to us with Down Syndrome, and just six months into his life he needed open heart surgery. Needless to say, all of this changed the “normal rhythms” of life for our entire family.

I couldn’t stop thinking of the needs of my family, as well as leather bow ties. One day I went to get a cup of coffee. It just so happened the sleeve around my cup had an image on it: a bow tie. This was the the blossoming of the idea, into action. So with the hope that I could pay down medical bills, by working from home so I could be available to my family, Madison Street Leather was born.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

What originally began as a solution to my own problems, of how to pay down medical debt, also overlapped into helping people overcome their own problems. We all end up buying things we regret because they are not made of quality products, or with any integrity. I vowed to myself to work hard from the beginning of the process of selecting quality leathers that would withstand the test of time, as well as quality of each handmade product I produce to be sure every bit of what I make is built to last. There is no need for people to buy a product and expect it to wear out in 3 years. I want mine to outlast the people who buy them (though I still wish them a long and happy life). I have yet to hear of a belt I have made wearing out, or peeling. I have yet to have a tote bag returned to me because the stitching came apart. While I have a policy to repair any product, I have only had one dog collar come back my way. I think that is because I take pride in every piece I make.

I want people to know I stand by my work to make right anything that may go wrong and I do this because of the hard work I put into it on the front end.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

In the early days of having to face the reality that our third child had special needs, and needed considerable medical help, I got into all of this. Frankly much of my work was my own therapy at the time to do something with my hands, to help my mind shut down a bit. My wife noticed what I was doing, but thought of it as little more than that: therapy. I remember the day when I wore a prototype leather bow tie I had just finished and was so proud to wear. She looked at me and laughed, “You look ridiculous,” she said. She was right. Too, the people with whom I shared the idea and the prototypes with also said similarly, if not with their words, at least with their looks. But I pressed on . Just six months into it, I mailed a red leather bow tie to the Tonight Show. When one Tuesday night my phone was lighting up because family and friends saw my bow tie on Quest Love, I knew my idea was no longer so ridiculous. Whether it be people not necessarily cheering me on, or dealing with my son, all if it was fuel for me to just keep going in what I enjoyed.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

All of this began for me as nothing more than a small side hustle. I just wanted something to do from my home that would enable me to provide a bit more for my family and be there for my special needs son. It all became apparent though that what I do with my leather products is a part of a much bigger story. It has connected me to so much more than my two immediate objectives to where now if you ask me why I am doing this I’d tell you about so many people I have met and their stories. I’d tell you about what joy it brings me to give back a money to Down Syndrome Innovations. I’d tell you about how it has brought me closer to family as we have talked life and business, as well as collaborated . I’d tell you about how it has helped me link up with more and more small business owners and help them while they help me. In other words, I had to unlearn so much about what I thought I knew about why I was doing this and what it all entailed. It has proven to be so much more.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.madisonstreetleather.com
• Instagram: @madisonstreetleather
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/madisonstreetleather