How One Man Uses His Talent to Stirrup Some Style
by REBEKAH PIERCE
photos provided by JARED PHARES
Most 12-year-olds spend all their waking hours thinking about the upcoming basketball game, watching their favorite gamers on YouTube, or where they’ll hang out with their friends next weekend.
But when Jared Phares was 12, he was thinking about the leather tooling on his favorite saddles. More specifically, he was thinking about how he could turn that fascination for leatherworking into a thriving business.
Fast forward 12 years, and he’s done just that. Not only is he now doing exactly what he loves, but he’s created a big name for himself as an eighth-generation Florida rancher specializing in custom leatherwork.
His business, Allapattah Saddlery, is run out of a small shop in Fort Pierce. Here, he crafts commissioned orders made from the finest leather. Although saddles are his number one passion, he also makes belts, holsters, saddlebags, wallets, and more, crafting each piece with an unrivaled attention to detail.
It’s something he learned from his father, Brad Phares, who is also an accomplished artist.
“More than anything, you just have to stick to it and be consistent in everything you do,” Jared Phares says.
“You don’t want to put half effort into anything. Your work is represented in every project you make.”
To his credit, it seems as though he hasn’t put half-effort into anything, really. On his Instagram account, where he markets most of his products, customers praise his work, writing, “It’s all absolutely perfect. Can’t believe how clean and crisp every detail is,” (in reference to a custom belt, padfolio, and wallet set he created) and “absolutely amazing” (in reference to a custom saddlebag).
If the product reviews don’t impress you, Phares’ work ethic and attention to detail surely will. “I grew up on the ranch, riding horses and working cattle, always sitting in the saddle,” he reminisces.
“I’d get to look at [the saddle], fascinated not just how they were built but the designs and tooling and stamping.”
Back in 2012, Phares’ father gifted him a starter leatherworking kit. It didn’t take him long to breeze through the kit; he had the coasters, bookmarks, belt, phone holster, and wallet that were included in the kit fully completed within a week.
“Then I started looking for more leather,” he says.
Over the next year, Phares experimented with making keychains and other small items. “My dad helped me set up a Facebook page,” he says. “He told me, ‘When you post this stuff, don’t get discouraged if you don’t sell something.’ ”
He sold all of the keychains the very same night he posted them.
“After that,” he recalls. “I saw it not only as a thing I enjoyed but a way to make money. I’ve worked to grow it ever since.”
Creating a Booming Business
Despite his early fascination with saddles, it wasn’t until five years later, in 2017, that he finally worked up the knowledge he needed to make his first one, which took about a month to complete.
Phares paused his leatherworking business while he attended college in Gainesville, where he earned a dual degree in Food and Resource Economics and Animal Science. At the time, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, but knew he wanted to remain connected to agriculture in some way. Though he knew he would continue to help out on the family ranch and work cows, he knew almost immediately where his true passions lay.
“During my senior year of college, as I was searching for jobs, there wasn’t a whole lot jumping out at me,” he says. “In the back of my mind, I knew I wanted to do the leatherwork full time. As the time came, I went with it, because I figured if I was gonna go out on a limb and try it, I’d want to do it early.”
Try it he did, and he’s been wildly successful.
“I’ve been blessed,” is all he’ll humbly admit. “It’s done pretty well for me.”
Looking Ahead
Phares credits much of his success to the timelessness of the craft, saying, “It’s such an old craft and so many of the things you do are the same way they were done 100 years ago.” He admits that there are “a lot of early mornings and late nights, weekends,” to get his long list of orders done, particularly around the holidays.
Leatherworking is far from a hasty craft, requiring hours of work to perfect a single product. One of his most recent saddles — one of his favorites, he adds — involved elaborate sunflower tooling that took about a month to complete.
“I could really focus on the decorative aspects and the tooling…I was really happy with how that one came out,” he says.
Despite the time involved in creating his art, it’s truly a labor of love for Phares. You can hear it just listening to him talk about his saddles and other products as though they’re part of his family.
Given that art itself is such a strong part of Phares’ family, his passion for leatherworking only makes sense. Whether he’s crafting saddles or riding in them, Phares demonstrates that true artistry is timeless. He’ll no doubt leave behind a legacy that’s just as durable and cherished as the leather he works with.
To learn more about his work or to place a custom order, visit his website at www.allapattahsaddlery.com or check his Instagram page, @allapattahsaddlery.
