Check Out Danielle Dockery’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Danielle Dockery.

Hi Danielle, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
We found a real need for natural tanning services as small farmers/homesteaders, so we decided to see if we could do it. Bethany, Brandi and I decided to start in Brandi’s barn and actually set up an operating tannery in a very short time. We held a fundraiser to raise the money for our first piece of equipment and it began. Very soon after, we realized that we needed a professional working space, so we subleased from fellow Soil Sisters a small warehouse in Paoli, WI. We grew our business in that space for just over 1 year and realized we needed our own facility. The hides just kept arriving! We moved to Argyle, WI in January 2022 and continued to expand. Since then, we have hired staff, hosted an intern from Norway, another intern starting in November, expanded our service offerings, traveled to fiber shows, advertising wherever possible and truly relied on social media. We are on target to tan close to 1000 hides in 2023! We are now offering both alum and bark tanning. Both fiber-on and leather products. We have hired a seamstress who is now making value-added products for us. Our commitment is real! We hope to be able to continue to offer our services for years to come.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Our current obstacles are personal injuries. This is a very labor-intensive job, and we do almost everything by hand. We have each struggled with tendonitis and different ailments along the way. If we can find a way to implement a few new pieces of machinery that may save our bodies, we are considering it.

We are also struggling with educating the public about the uses for naturally tanned sheepskin rugs. We are looking at restructuring our business so we can spend time developing more market share.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I bring 32 years of logistics/sales and customer service experience to the table. I am able to help with our shipping needs and cover most of the customer service requests. I have a strong work ethic and sometimes can work myself into the ground, but the harder the job, the happier I am.

Bethany is a biologist who was working for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Florida Division of Forestry. She brings her chemistry knowledge to our business and handles all of the formulas and oversees our tanning processes. She also has a strong work ethic and is extremely organized. She loves details and numbers.

We have a good balance of past life experiences between the two of us which complement each other well.

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
Do what matters most to you! Covid forced us to look inside and figure out how we wanted to come out on the other side of this. Working for ourselves has been life-changing.

Pricing:

• Small hide – $80
• Medium hide – $90
• Large hide – $115
• Deer – $115 (hair on)
• Rabbit – $13

Contact Info:

• Website: driftlesstannery.com
• Instagram: @DRIFTLESSTANNERY
• Facebook: Driftless Tannery

Image Credits
Nicole Smith of Honest Mom Photography