Rogue Industries, a family-owned leather goods manufacturer in Maine, has produced the belts that will be worn by the U.S. team during the opening and closing ceremonies of the Summer Olympics in Paris.
When Michael Lyons arrived at his office in Standish, Maine, one day about two years ago, he opened a disconcerting email. It was from Ralph Lauren, Inc., telling him that his company had Rogue Industrieswas interested in manufacturing belts to be worn on Team USA’s costumes at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Paris Olympics.
“I was skeptical at first because I get so many emails every day,” Lyons said. “Wait a minute. Our little leather company wants to do a program for the U.S. Olympic team?
“I’m glad I replied, even though I was pretty skeptical. The email I got back said, ‘That’s interesting. How did you hear about us?'” What I didn’t know at the time was that we’d been introduced to Ralph Lauren by another Maine company called Sea Bags, which makes beautiful totes and bags from recycled yacht sails.
“As the story unfolded, I was like OK, this is real.”
At that point, plans were in motion for Rogue Industries to manufacture Olympic dress belts, a daunting task as not only did the belt itself have to be American-made, but all of the components had to be sourced within the United States.
Because Rogue Industries primarily uses leather to make its product line of wallets, belts, bags, and more, Lyons knew he could source quality American-made leather for the project. But he also needed to source American-grown cotton, metal buckles, American-made thread, and American-made packaging.
The Ralph Lauren team had to sew a piece of leather onto the belt to hold the buckle in place, and then emboss the leather with the Ralph Lauren logo. But the project didn’t end with the attachment of the leather.
“We ended up assembling the entire belt and attaching the metal double buckle and cotton webbing,” Lyons says. “On top of the cotton webbing is what’s called a jacquard, which is basically another layer of design that’s sewn into the webbing. So our job was to fold over all that webbing material with the jacquard and buckle on it, put a leather overlay on top of that, sew that together and emboss the logo on it.”
“They (the Ralph Lauren team) made it clear that part of our responsibility was to vet our subcontract suppliers and make sure the materials were coming from the U.S., which is why this was such a big resource project. It was, ‘We just need to find a metal foundry, webbing supplier,’ but there are 24 of them. When you say casting has to be done in the U.S., it’s going to be a challenge. That’s the reality.”
Rogue Industries handled the manufacturing from start to finish. The American-made belt was unveiled by Ralph Lauren on June 18. Revealed the entire Olympic team collection.
“Obviously we’re very proud,” Lyons said. “For a company our size to go from making very high quality belts and wallets to making products that are used at the Olympics is really quite groundbreaking. It’s a whole other level.”
Perhaps even stranger than his small Maine company being selected to partner with Ralph Lauren is the unusual way Lyons got into the leather goods business.
When Lyons developed severe back pain in the mid-2000s and went to the doctor thinking he needed surgery, doctors gave the 65-year-old Maine native a very different diagnosis.
“I went to the doctor with a back injury and he said, ‘The problem is you’ve got a brick in your back pocket,'” Lyons says. “I told him my wallet was only ¾-inch thick and he said, ‘Yeah, but you’ve been sitting on it for 30 years. You’re not getting any younger, and over time this will cause more spinal problems.'”
“I didn’t believe him, but he said, ‘Take out your wallet and come back in two weeks and we’ll talk.’ So I did, and I couldn’t believe the difference and the pain was gone. And it was all because of that piece of leather in my back pocket.”
A corporate veteran in the field of new product development, Lyons began working on a wallet design that would fit in a front pocket.
“I was doing the laundry and realized my pants were inside out and the pockets were actually crooked,” he says. “I thought, ‘Oh, I’m going to make a crooked wallet to fit this.'”
“I made my first prototype out of a book cover and said, ‘OK, now let’s make it out of leather.’ I took it to the doctor and showed it to him as a concept and he said, ‘Whatever you’re doing, stop and do this. This could change people’s lives.'”
Lyons continued to prototype and iterate nine times to perfect the design. The result was a beautifully finished leather wallet with a front pocket. Lyons’ original goal was to patent the wallet, and indeed Rogue Industries now has three patents: a design patent, a utility patent, and a trademark.
“My goal was to get a patent, which I achieved, but my partner Mary Ann was looking at it from a business perspective of how to take it from concept to product and make it viable. At that point, we said, ‘Let’s launch this and see what happens.’ It was a success in ways we never expected.”
“Everybody has back problems. You put this wallet in your front pocket and it slides in there and locks into place. Some people buy it for their backs, some buy it because the leather is different, some buy it to keep pickpockets away. Nobody gets pickpocketed in their front pocket. A lot of our customers buy this wallet right before they go on holiday.”
Lyons founded Rogue in 2007. He is the owner and founder of the family-run business, which operates out of a 2,000-square-foot workshop in Standish. An old farmhouse serves as the company’s offices, where design work often takes place.
More than 70% of Rogue’s designs are manufactured in Maine, and the company’s Made in Maine collection is sourced exclusively from American suppliers. Rogue sells wallets, belts, tote bags, duffel bags, and a variety of other products for men and women.
The company’s sustainability is clear: Most of its leather is sourced in the USA and produced in a small workshop, which is entirely powered by solar energy.
Rogue Industry’s products are mid- to high-priced, often priced according to the leather used. Approximately 50% of Rogue’s sales come from small retail stores across the United States, with the other half coming from online sales.
Rogue Industries leather products available for purchase websiteThe 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Belt Ralph Lauren website.
