Business
Photos courtey of Leather Spa
The
Leather
Experts
By Angela Matua
22 FEBRuary 2017 i LIC COURIER i www.qns.com
Miracles happen at the
Leather Spa, a Long Island
City-based leather
repair company. Shoes can be made
a size bigger or smaller, linings can
be replaced and bags can be dyed
different colors. A woman whose
house was flooded during Hurricane
Sandy brought her one-of-a-kind
shoes (Lady Gaga has the only other
pair) to be repaired after facing extensive
water damage.
A grandson found his grandfather’s
leather firefighter helmet in a basement
and employees were able to
make it look new again. A leather
stuffed bear, leather chair and Christian
Louboutin leather snakeskin shoe
that was burnt down the side were all
repaired at this Long Island City facility.
The Leather Spa also has contracts
with almost every big name designer.
From Manolo Blahnik to Fendi, Jimmy
Choo, Christian Louboutin, Balenciaga,
Chanel and Alexander Wang,
Leather Spa is trusted to do quality
work. But Mesquita does not like to
show off and relies mostly on word
of mouth to attract business.
“I think that’s why people come to us
for so long because we use discretion;
we’re low key,” said Kate Mesquita, who
handles marketing for the company.
“It’s not really about us; it’s about the
product. Everything is word of mouth.”
In addition to the repair work they
do for major companies, Leather Spa
has a mail-in business where people
can mail their items to the facility and
a pick-up business, where people
can go to the facility and get their
shoes fitted if they want to change
the size or have a heel or strap repaired.
Leather Spa also handles
repairs for Chanel stores throughout
the United States.
