About Us

The Lee Mayer and Pioneer Leather Story

Pioneer Leather Restoration began as a daydream in 1995. Each day I would fight the traffic while commuting from Orange County to my job as a Service Manager at Downey Acura in the city of Downey. As many of you can understand the downside of traffic is the aggravation, the upside is that if you want to turn off the radio it gives you plenty of time for uninterrupted deep thought, (or daydreaming.) As I was given this opportunity two times on a daily basis I began to think about the possibility owning my own business and building something for my family and me. Pretty soon the daydream took on substance and we were on our way to opening Pioneer Leather in the fall of 1995.

Once I settled on the idea of leather restoration I began to investigate where to get training, reliable suppliers and all the other details that go into starting a business. Once I got started I discovered that in many ways this is an esoteric field of endeavor.

There are very few places where training is offered and of those even fewer are credible. Nonetheless, I found a source where I could acquire the basic under-standing of leather restoration and equipped with that and the intrepid spirit of the ignorant I embarked on the hardest year of my life. Once out in the field I quickly discovered that while in principle leather restoration is not that difficult the practical reality was much, much more difficult. I would begin each day full of optimism and return home beaten down. In retrospect I am exceedingly grateful for my very supportive and encouraging wife, Tracy. I quickly discovered that in order to perform the quality of work that I wanted to I needed practice, practice, practice and more knowledge. Hours spent in the garage practicing and working in the field addressed the first need. The second was more problematic, since as I mentioned, there are not very many sources to get training and the type of training provided is designed only to equip an individual to be able to perform very minimal quality of work.

Fortunately or unfortunately I may have a minor tendency towards being obsessive and I like to read and research. That means that with the aid of the internet I was able to discover little bits and pieces that contributed towards my understanding. I was able to take a leather technology course offered by the American Leather Chemists Association (ALCA). And armed with this I would take the information and experiment in the field until I was confident that I could now offer a service that was second to none.

That brings us to today. The years have flown past, (very quickly.) But, with the experience gained and the knowledge acquired, (to which we continue to add, I didn’t stop being obsessive), it is a pleasure to go to work each day knowing that regardless of what I encounter I can confidently address it knowing what is the best possible solution. We have plans of expansion but never at the loss of quality. We shall continue to strive to offer to you, our valued customers the best possible quality and service that we can provide.

Thank you for you interest,

Lee Mayer