Being a leather designer and a seamstress, I had been making my own handbags for years.  

So with working so closely with Marley Hodgson, I began bugging him to find me a brown leather hide to match a pair of brown vintage military cavalry riding boots that I loved and had had for several years.  The old military calvary boots had originally belonged to my sister, along with a vintage chestnut brown leather and khaki twill ammunitions pouch that I used as a purse.  I think my sister mentioned that it was Civil War. The vintage chestnut brown cavalry boots and khaki twill and chestnut brown leather ammunitions pouch went perfectly with a green plaid pleated hip-hugger mini-skirt that I had.    

Many who know little about fashion realize that it is extremely difficult to match shades of brown.  And these old brown military cavalry riding boots had such a patina from so many years, that I was having an extremely difficult time to find a brown hide to match it.  So naturally, I asked Marley to keep an eye out for a matching hide as he shopped for leather for belts.     

Marley finally found a nice chestnut brown hide, and he gave me the remnants after we made some belt samples from it.  The remnant was smaller than what I wanted to duplicate the original khaki twill and chestnut brown leather military ammunitions bag, so I designed it into a smaller version.      

I was allowed to use the sewing machines after regular business hours, which was also the time when Marley Hodgson and I often hung out together after he would be done in the sales office in NYC.  Marley would come to the sweatshop several days a week to check up on things, discuss my suggested changes in design for smoother, better quality production, etc.  He would buy the wine (since I was underage) and we would hang out at the sweatshop after everybody went home, or at the boarding house where I was renting a room.

I had been asking Marley for a raise for quite a while, despite all his complaints about how he was barely making overhead because he had factored out all the accounts receivables and couldn’t afford to pay me any more.  One of the reasons I left Trafalgar was the pay was too low to live on.    

Women's rights for equal pay hadn't occurred yet back then, and sweatshops existed then like they do today: (Though racial tensions were still very high in those days, my production team was one of the very first in the area to integrate black people into a white sweatshop... and at an almost equal wage scale, too.  Yay!  RIght on, man!)  Like Ugly Betty I couldn't afford an apartment, but instead could only afford to rent a room in a boarding house and share a bathroom and kitchen with a bunch of men.   I earned less than the secretary yet I handled the responsibility for setting up and running smooth quality production that grossed over $1,300,000 that first year.   And I was designing some of the styles. The man that was hired to replace me started at 4 times what I was making.  And that was with walking in with quality production up and running smoothly already.      

Marley had just started re-saleing some other companies inferior leather bags in 1973 to try and raise the bottom line, when I pointed out one day after work as I showed Marley as he watched me make my khaki twill and chestnut brown leather bag to match my old chestnut brown vintage cavalry boots.  I showed Marley Hodgson how easy it was to make a bag, and pointed out that he already had the equipment to make his own top quality bags; then the manufacturing line could keep busier, and he could then afford to pay me more. (I gave notice a few weeks later.)

So how delighted I am to discover the legend of how Marley Hodgson was inspired in 1973 by a pair of old brown vintage cavalry boots and military items to start the legendary luxury leather goods company Ghurka, and the original line of khaki twill and chestnut brown leather bags.  Of course it is obvious that Marley's original line of khaki twill and chestnust leather bags introduced 2 years later, exactly matches my khaki twill and chestnut leather bag that I showed Marley how to make. 

Of course the Peterman’s style of ad marketing hype makes the story about Marley Hodgson finding Ghurka riding boots at an English estate sale sound so much more romantic and marketable than being inspired by some young beautiful 18 year old seamstress, designer, and sweatshop supervisor that made his vision of a successful luxury leather belt company become reality, particularly since he is a married man that was twice my age!   (I had to take the day off work as a production foreman to attend my high school graduation!)   You can see the Ghurka history here  http://www.ghurka.com/about/about_history.jsp

Here I am wearing my vintage calvary boots in 1967.

Here I am wearing my vintage calvary boots instructing a riding class at HOPE in 1988.