Leather Valets from Twin Saints Leather

“Senator Casey’s office contacted the ombudsman at the Small Business Administration and helped move along a process that was stalled for many months”

SAXONBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, USA, June 14, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- In the winter of 2019, Twin Saints Leather, a small manufacturer of Bespoke leather imprinted valets and gifts was feeling optimistic. The company was entering its tenth year of profitable operation and had carved out distinct niches in three segments: corporate gifts, religious gifts, and third anniversary gifts.

Their line of Christian gifts was particularly popular, and in advance of their busy spring season when many churches celebrate occasions like First Communions, or Confirmations, the company had invested heavily in seasonal inventory.

The COVID-19 Pandemic forced the closure of nearly all institutions at the beginning of the peak religious gift season for Twin Saints Leather. As owner Nicole Horgan recalls, “in addition to (the other disruptions) our single biggest retail outlet, Amazon, sent a letter to all of its Vendors that was temporarily suspending the receiving of non-essential inventory to assist in their navigation of the surge of panic buying of essentials.”

Faced with a cash crunch, the formerly debt free company was forced to draw on a line of credit.

Twin Saints Leather was certainly not alone in bearing the widespread economic burden caused by the pandemic. According to Horgan, aside from her family, her greatest motivation to endure the downturn was “the dozens of other businesses that we help support. We have a totally domestic supply chain. We know the people that we built our business alongside. We wanted to keep each other afloat.”

The CARES Act, signed by Donald Trump in March of 2020, included funding for a class of loans called Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL). EIDL loans extend long term funding at favorable rates to qualified businesses with documented losses due to the pandemic.

While Twin Saints Leather was certain that they met the qualifications for economic injury, they were stunned to find that their claim was immediately rejected. “It felt like a punch in the gut, especially in light of the outrageous claims about fraud that we saw reported”, said Horgan. She was confident that her application would be accepted upon appeal, but as the months passed on, the prospects of securing sufficient capital to ensure the company’s continued solvency seemed weak. Their situation was made even more dire by significant supply chain disruptions for materials and supplies.

Ultimately, the company made the decision to seek assistance from Senator Robert Casey’s office. “Senator Casey’s office contacted the ombudsman at the Small Business Administration and helped move along a process that was stalled for many months”, said Horgan. “We are genuinely extremely thankful to Senator Casey for his help.”

With emergency funding secured, the future looks bright for Twin Saints Leather. “I feel like I can breathe again.” Said Horgan “we first started kicking around the idea for this business during the 2008 recession, so our operations were always very thrifty. If it weren’t for the pandemic, we would have remained so. This (loan) is a real reason to be optimistic. We’re proud to be American manufacturers. It is nice to know that, when it comes down to it, our elected officials want to support that. “

Nicole Horgan
Twin Saints Leather
email us here
Visit us on social media:
Facebook

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.