Celebrating 84 Years
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Ray Holes Leather Care Products Family Story

Photo: Ray Holes Saddle Co., Cottonwood, Idaho 1936

In the 1930's Idaho saddle maker Ray Holes developed SADDLE BUTTER® for shop use at Ray Holes Saddle Co. The dubbin he developed protected new leathers and restored and repaired worn leathers.  As ranchers and farmers came in to purchase new leather items or have repairs done they saw the benefits of the SADDLE BUTTER® for restoring and protecting leather. It was by by popular demand, SADDLE BUTTER® was made available for retail.

 

Ray Holes, Saddlemaker

During the WWII the availability of lanolin, a traditional waterproofing, was scarce.   1942, CHAP WAX® was developed to fulfill the need for a good water proofing to be used on leather items which needed protection from the wet weather; chaps, chinks, boots, etc.

By the 1970's  retailers that sold boots and shoes wanted a different name on the waterproofing to make sales easier. Many of their customers, by now, were not ranch or farm people, so the name DRI-BOOT® satisfied that need. 

When Generation II, Gerald  Ray Holes (Jerry) became the owner of Ray Holes Saddle Company he developed VAQUERO RAWHIDE CREAM®, our fastest growing product.

Gerald Ray Holes, SaddlemakerBy the 1980's, the demand for these products was becoming great enough that we saw fit to separate the leather care products from the saddle company, and Ray Holes Leather Care Products, Inc. became a wholesale manufacturing business on its own.

Ray Holes Leather Care Products continues to receive great word-of-mouth advertising from our leather-loving customers and the retailers in fourteen countries that offer our products.