Buy Australian: International demand drives sales for NSW-based Buckaroo Leatherworks

Tanya Van der Water became CEO of Buckaroo Leatherworks at the age of 26 under tragic circumstances. Where she has taken the company is nothing less than incredible.

Tanya Van der Water always knew she would take over her dad’s premium leather manufacturing business, she just did not expect it to happen under such tragic circumstances.

In 2012, as a 26-year-old mother of three children under the age of three, Ms Van der Water became CEO of NSW-based Buckaroo Leatherworks while her dad, Ken Van der Water, battled cancer.

The cancer acted swiftly, with Mr Van der Water, aged 66, losing his battle at the start of 2013.

Buckaroo Leatherworks founder Ken Van der Water. Picture: Supplied

His daughter was tasked with continuing his legacy of manufacturing premium quality tool belts and components while maintaining the brand’s core values of integrity, collaboration, dedication, innovation and family.

“It was the biggest learning curve because I stuffed up heaps every day, all the time,” Ms Van der Water said.

“I was trying to do everything. I really tried to run it all and my burnout probably came within the first year or two. The turning point was recognising I wasn’t the best person to do all those roles.”

In the years since, the company has undergone branding and marketing transformations and grown significantly, becoming a prosperous exporter.

Buckaroo Leatherworks CEO Tanya Van der Water admits she has made many mistakes but they have all helped her become the success she is today. Picture: Supplied

“We were operating from a relatively small workshop with six staff, now we have close to 50 in 2000sq m,” Ms Van der Water said

Maintaining trusting and respectful relationships with Australian suppliers has been key to their success, especially through COVID-19.

“When the lockdown first started, we got advice from our accountants and finance experts that was all pretty doom and gloom and we reacted,” she said.

“We cut our workforce by about 10-20 per cent and started to look at figures and budget accordingly but for us the slowdown never came. But a surge in sales happened immediately and caught us off-guard.

Buckaroo tool belts worn by tradies. Picture: Supplied

The surge came as construction both in Australia and internationally forged on and mines continued to operate.

“We started seeing orders coming in from around the world,” Ms Van der Water said. “The fact DIY was on the rise also... we gained a whole new audience of people wanting investments pieces for their DIY projects.

“We have really strong ties with Australian suppliers. Some relationships stem back 20 to 30 years. Because the surge in sales happened just as immediately, then the next conversation to be had was we need a lot more product a lot more quickly.

“A lot more tanneries had a huge downturn as they could no longer export to Asia. We’ve actually been a little ray of light for then in terms of keeping them going.

“Our main two tanneries are in Victoria and Queensland, they’ve both been in business for over 100 years, and they’ve been able to sustain our demands.”

Ms Van der Water says a major key to their success is maintaining good relationships with Australian suppliers. Picture: Supplied

Ms Van der Water said while sourcing supplies from overseas would be cheaper, they were not willing to risk quality ensured by staying with Australian suppliers.

“It’s absolutely our intention to remain as Australian as possible,” she said.

“The ties we have are really strong and keeping them is mutually beneficial. It is really expensive to make products in Australia but what we need to remember is there are a lot of costs involved in holding onto stock.

“The relationships we have with suppliers allows us to not have to keep months and months of stock on our shelves, we can call on suppliers when we need to replenish and rely on them to deliver.

“We need to be sure our suppliers are providing the same quality each time and they are. We can’t afford to go down the path to be let down by quality standards by using overseas suppliers.”

Visit buckaroobelts.com

Buy Australian is a News Corp Initiative – in partnership with Woolworths and Australian Made Campaign and supported by Red Energy – to help put money back in to our economy by supporting our producers, makers and manufacturers.

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