Kathleen Gillick

Bio

In 1980 Sandra, the founder of Leather Perfect got married moved to Santa Cruz where she began the story of this excellent company. Went to great design school. Worked for sheep skin factory in SF. Sandra started working on all kinds of leather garments - Athletic jackets, coats, vests, skirts, pants, furs, shearlings.

She cleaned, re-oiled and refinished. She made repairs, as simple as button replacement to re-hemming, patching, section replacement, and complete relining. Water repellent, re-dying, smoke odor removal, blood stain etc. was part of her service.. She was a technically gifted seamstress and learned the craft of caring for and altering the garments she loved – LEATHER!

She worked on leather garments for years and trained a staff in all her secret techniques that she developed and perfected over a long period of time.

Sandra then added some retail and consignment inventory to her shop on Mt. Diablo Blvd. in Lafayette, California. As the shop grew in its reputation so did its volume of production.

Then, like the best master craftsmen, Sandra found Kathleen Gillick to pass on her legacy of closely held leather technology. Sandra worked with Kathleen closely for six solid months and as a mentor completing a full year, passing on secrets about how to work with the most delicate leathers costing thousands of dollars.

Now, all the best retailers in the San Francisco Bay Area send Leather Perfect their damaged garments and alteration jobs. Saks, Nieman Marcus, Bally, Prada, and Nordstom, any retailer that handles leather garments. These critical jobs go to Leather Perfect first, not to some large cleaning plant that does not pay special attention to detail.

Dee Dee, Patti Van Horn, Kirsti Hayes, and Kathleen Gillick

COMMITMENT TO QUALITY

Our staff takes great pride in producing a continuous flow of high quality workmanship. Skilled technicians monitor every step of the cleaning process, followed by the final inspector's "stamp of approval", your assurance that Leather Perfect has provided a quality product. We are eager to familiarize you with our operation and our host of services. Please inquire about plant visits to see our operation and meet our staff.

Inventory of new and consignment leather goods

Leather Perfect Bags carries a wide variety of unique leather handbags. Black leather, red leather and brown leather bags in various sizes, including beautiful leather shoulder bags, small leather purses and even leather change purses.

Leather Perfect Bags offers luscious, limited-edition handbags and accessories in vintage leather, textiles and trims. Based in Lafayette, California, We pride ourselves on original designs, high-quality craftsmanship, and exclusive detailing.

Kathleen at the shop's Koi pond and sculptured brick enclosed sactuary

Next time you are in, because you were interested enough to learn about Leather Perfect, Kathleen gives you a special invitation to see these ancient Koi Carp in their pond and hear the trickle of the waterfall as it refreshes the pond and Kathleen's spirit. This place sustains her throughout the days as she works hard making the leather you love - perfect.

From Wikipedia

Koi (鯉, Koi^?) (IPA: [kɔɪ]), or more specifically nishikigoi (錦鯉, nishikigoi^?) (IPA: [niɕikigoi], literally "brocaded carp"), are ornamental domesticated varieties of the common carp Cyprinus carpio. They are believed to have originated from Eastern Asia, Aral, Black and Caspian Seas. Earliest records of Koi have been found in China and have been widely spread in Japan. The ornamental cultivation of carp flourished under the Chinese Qing Dynasty and Japanese Yayoi Period. They are very closely related to goldfish and, in fact, the style of breeding and ornamentation has become very similar, probably through the efforts of Japanese breeders to emulate goldfish. Koi and tattoos of koi are traditionally considered lucky.