Made In Virginia 2013: Old Dominion Leather Nectar, Lynchburg

Old Dominion Leather Nectar

Louise Silk and Marcia Connell shared a lifelong love of horses and everything involving them: Show jumping, fox hunting, carriage driving and just plain pleasure riding. But Silk, 62, and Connell, 59, both working farm owners, did not love the inadequate results of their leather tack care products, so they set out to create the perfect conditioner.

“We talked to traditional leather craftsmen and set up a lab in an old tobacco barn,” says Silk of their four-year pursuit of an all-natural blend that would clean and condition leather quickly without leaving behind an oily residue. Word-of-mouth enthusiasm about their product’s revitalizing effects led the pair to begin marketing handcrafted Old Dominion Leather Nectar in 2012.

Many leather-care products leave oily residues after use, but a key (and, yes, secret) ingredient enables Leather Nectar to absorb into leather’s pores (it is skin, after all), preserving, restoring, and conditioning without the residue. In a one-step application, Leather Nectar repairs and revitalizes horse tack, baseball mitts, belts, shoes and briefcases. And the results can be far more than cosmetic. “Too many equine accidents occur due to poor leather quality,” says Silk. “Take care of your tack and it will take care of you.” $11 for 11oz. $80 for a gallon. LeatherNectar.com