Rogue Industries, a family-owned maker of leather goods in Maine, produced the belts that will be worn by Team USA during the opening and closing ceremonies of the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Paris.
When Michael Lyons arrived at his office in Standish, Maine one day about two years ago, he opened an email that had him perplexed. It appeared to be a message from the Ralph Lauren Corporation inquiring if his company, Rogue Industries, was interested in manufacturing the belts for the Team USA outfits at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Paris Olympics.
“We were suspicious of it at first because we get so many emails here every day,” said Lyons. “It was wait, hold it. They want our small leather goods company to do a program for the U.S. Olympic Team?
“I am glad I responded even though I was quite skeptical. I sent a return email with a response of ‘this is interesting and how did you hear about us?’ At that point, we didn’t know we were referred to Ralph Lauren by another Maine company called Sea Bags that makes beautiful totes and bags out of recycled sailboat sails.
“Once the story unfolded, I was O.K., and said this is the real deal.”
At that point, the wheels were in motion for Rogue Industries to manufacture the Olympic dress belts, a daunting task since not only did the belts themselves need to be American-made, but every component had to be sourced stateside.
Rogue Industries primarily uses leather to produce its line of wallets, belts, and bags, so Lyons knew he could procure fine American leather for the project. But he would also have to source American-grown cotton, metal buckles, U.S.-made thread, and American packaging materials.
The Ralph Lauren team needed leather pieces sewn onto to the belt to fasten the buckle and the leather needed to be embossed with the Ralph Lauren logo. But the project didn’t stop with the leather appointments.
“We ended up putting together the entire belt so that has metal, dual buckles on it and you’ve got cotton webbing,” Lyons said. “Over the cotton webbing you have what is called a jacquard, which is basically another designed layer that is stitched on to the webbing. So, our job was to take the webbing material with the jacquard and then the buckles, fold all that over and then put an overlay of leather on top of that, stitch that in place and emboss it with the logo.
“They (Ralph Lauren team) made it clear to us that part of our responsibility was vetting the people that were our sub-suppliers, to make sure that their materials were being sourced here in the U.S. That’s why I say it was a huge resource project. If it had been ‘you just need to go out and find a metal casting house or webbing supplier,’ well, there are two dozen of them. The challenge is when you say the casting has to be made stateside. That’s when the rubber meets the road.”
Rogue Industries handled the production from start to finish. The American-made belts were showcased on June 18, when Ralph Lauren revealed its entire Olympic team collection to the public.
“Absolutely, we are very proud,” Lyons said. “This is a real milestone for a company of our size to transition from making very high-quality belts and wallets to products they are using for the Olympics. That’s a whole different level.”
Perhaps stranger than his small Maine company being selected to work with Ralph Lauren is the unusual way Lyons got into the leather goods business.
Lyons developed severe back pain in the mid-2000s and went to the doctor thinking he needed surgery. But the doctor had a much different diagnosis for the 65-year-old Maine native.
“I wrecked my back, and I went to the doctor and he said, ‘the problem with you is you are sitting on a brick in your rear pocket,’” said Lyons. “I said my wallet is only about ¾ of an inch thick, but he said, ‘yes, but you’ve been sitting on it for 30 years. You are not a young man anymore and over time that is going to exacerbate the problems with your spine.’
“I didn’t believe him and he said, ‘take the wallet out and then come back and talk to me in two weeks.’ Well, I did, and I couldn’t believe the difference and how the pain had gone away and it was all because of that leather in my back pocket.”
Being a corporate world veteran of new product development, Lyons began tinkering with a wallet designed to fit in his front pockets.
“I was doing the laundry, and my pants got reversed and I’m looking at the pockets that are actually curved” he said. “I thought, ‘Son of a gun, I’m going to make a wallet that’s curved to match this.’
“I made my first prototype out of a book cover, and I said, ‘O.K., now let’s make it out of leather.’ I took it to my doctor and I showed it to him as a concept and he said ‘whatever you are doing, stop it and do this. This could change people’s lives.’”
Lyons continued with his prototypes, making nine iterations to perfect the design. The result was a beautifully crafted, front-pocket leather wallet. Lyons’ initial goal was to patent the wallet and indeed Rogue Industries now has three – design patent, utility patent, and a trademark.
“My goal was to get a patent on it, which I was able to do, but my partner Mary Anne was looking at it more from a business view of how do you take it from a concept to a product where it becomes viable? At that point, we said, ‘Let’s launch this thing and see where it goes.’ It took off in a way that we had not anticipated.
“Everyone has back problems. You put this wallet in your front pocket and it slides in there and kind of locks in place. Some people buy it for their back, some people buy it because the leathers are different, and some people buy it to stop a pickpocket. Nobody is going to pick pocket the front pocket. Many of our customers buy this wallet just before going on vacation.”
Lyons started Rogue in 2007. He is the owner and founder of this family business that operates out of a 2,000 square foot workshop in Standish. An old farmhouse serves as the company’s office, and that’s where design work is often produced.
More than 70% of Rogue’s designs are Made in Maine, with sourcing for its Made in Maine collection coming from only American suppliers. Rogue sells wallets, belts, tote bags, duffel bags and a variety of other products for both men and women.
The company’s sustainability is obvious, since most of its leather is American-made and manufactured at its small workshop. The workshop and office are completely powered by solar energy.
Rogue Industry products are priced to be in the middle to upper range, and are often determined by the leather that is sourced. Approximately 50% of Rogue’s sales are at small retail stores throughout the U.S., with the other half coming from online sales.
You can shop for Rogue Industries leather goods on its website. The 2024 Team USA Olympic belts can be purchased on the Ralph Lauren website.