The simple explanation of our rather outspoken name
The story behind our name started in 2014 when we started with our brand called Butts and Shoulders. This name raised some eyebrows. And still people wonder how the hell we came up with such an outspoken and controversial name. The explanation is rather logical actually. Before we had one product in our webshop, we we’re busy developing our Travel Bag.
Travel to tanneries
We traveled to tanneries for the best leather and in the meanwhile the first prototypes (link to Instagram) were already being used. We had some tacky names up our sleeves, but none of them really impressed us. We knew we needed to find a better name. During these days we were fully immersed in the development of our products and furthermore, the launch of our brand. Via whatsapp we fired away on new names and again and again we had to set them aside. How could this be so hard?! At our tannery, we collected some catalogs during the days we had been around and Hans, one of our co-founders, was browsing through some information and there it was…a paragraph in the catalog was called “Butts and Shoulders”. So this was the first step in the story behind our name.
Three specific reasons
It consisted of an explanation of the best parts of a leather hide, the butts and the shoulders of a cow. Maybe it sounds tacky, but back then it was a real eye-opening experience. We were working so hard, we had come up with so many names, and in an instance, there it was, the name of our business which was about to start. We all felt that this was the name that we needed. For us, it was a name that portrayed three things:
- Our mentality – we are a brand with guts
- Our love for craftsmanship – we are a brand that works with the best partners
- Our core material – leather is the core of our brand
The legal aspects came about in the days after and we were lucky, because no other brands existed with this name. Registration was a walk in the park. We still love our brandname. Every day it brings a smile on our faces. We don’t mind that it raises eyebrows once in a while. The ones who need to get it, get it.
Our logo
Nice addition to this story is the fact that there was a logo, before there was a name. It is the logo that you all know today. The one that is on top of this website. When we decided on the name “Butts and Shoulders”, we didn’t consider that it exactly fitted our logo. The top of the logo is the shoulders, and the bottom of the logo is the butts. It was a coincidence. Or wasn’t it?
My initial thoughts when I actually read brand name for the first time: “are they nuts?! Sound like some gay porn…” Anyway great story! 😀
🙂 Thanks for being so honest and great to hear you like our story.
[…] Our own leather crafted goods brand. We chose the brand name Butts and Shoulders as this is an authentic term from the tannery. Something which is still a perfect match with the key aspects of our brand. As we […]