Harold Vickery and Son

Harold Vickery and Son Leather and textiles built to outlast the job

20/09/2026

Leather is animal skin, tanned with tannins from tree bark to stop it rotting. The grain, the junction, the corium - each layer has a different use depending on what you're making.

Full grain is the premium end. Top grain is what we use for belts, tight enough to hold structure, strong enough to last.

Also, the Leatherworkers Handbook from 1963 is still in print and still worth reading.

16/09/2026

Made by hand in Port Macquarie. Built to last, not built to be replaced.

13/09/2026

Turning work down is a choice. For us, it's a deliberate one.

Harold Vickery & Son makes gear for people who work in conditions that would destroy most products inside a month. Shotcrete, salt, grease, 12-hour shifts, day after day. That's what the gear is built for and that's what it gets tested against every time someone puts it on.

If you need a belt for the office, there are better options and cheaper ones. We're not trying to compete on price and we're not trying to be everything to everyone.

Saying no to the wrong jobs is how we stay good at the right ones.

09/09/2026

Twelve hours underground carrying a full kit is not the use case most belt manufacturers are designing for.

The details on this belt exist for a reason. No buckle at the back so there's nothing pushing into you when you sit or crouch. A single tongue buckle that pivots and moves with your body rather than fighting it. Full grain leather that wears in over time instead of breaking down.

Rubber and polyurethane might look similar on a shelf. Underground, on hour ten, the difference is pretty clear.

02/09/2026

Most gear gets designed once and then defended.

Change requests go into a queue, get reviewed by someone who's never worn the product, and come back months later with a solution that mostly fits. By the time it reaches the person on site, the original problem has usually gotten worse.

Harold Vickery & Son works differently because the business is small enough to. A call about a design change means pulling the product apart on the bench that week, not scheduling a meeting about scheduling a meeting. When Australian standards change and retro reflective material needs to be added, that conversation happens directly with the people wearing the gear, not through three layers of approval.

For a purchasing officer, that's worth something. It means the product you're stocking today can actually be improved if your crew identifies a problem. There's a direct line to the people who build it.

If you've got gear that isn't quite working for your site, send us a message and we'll talk it through.

02/09/2026

Real leather, cut and stitched right here in the factory. The buckle, the keeper, why it's made the way it is, and how you can tell if it's actually any good.

161 years of making gear for blokes carrying heavy weight underground. Not for the office.

Quality control was very much present. đŸ˜‰

26/08/2026

Most purchasing decisions for site gear get made by someone who isn't wearing it.

A sample pack changes that. Instead of making a call based on a spec sheet or a website photo, the crew on site actually gets to handle the gear, try it on, and compare it against what they're currently using. That feedback is usually pretty clear.

The pack includes a range of what Harold Vickery & Son makes. Different belt styles, bags, the harness that works with the modular system, and a few coasters thrown in. Everything made in Port Macquarie, not overseas.

For a wholesaler or a mine site running through gear quickly, it's a low-risk way to see whether the difference in quality is worth the conversation. In most cases, the crew tells you pretty quickly.

If you want a sample pack sent out to your site or your store, get in touch and we'll sort it out.

23/08/2026

Asked the team for their favourite food in Port. Finian's Tavern for a parmy, Enzo's near Shelley Beach, Florence Jones if you want a good vibe, and Stunned Mullet if you're taking someone somewhere nice.

Port Macquarie is doing alright for itself.

19/08/2026

Ordering the wrong size back support belt for a crew is one of those problems that doesn't show up until the gear arrives on site.

Most people size a work belt the same way they size a dress belt, measuring at the hips and going from there. The number is usually wrong, and for a back support belt it matters more than it would on a regular belt because the whole point is where it sits on the body. If it's not sitting at the lumbar, it's not doing the job it was bought for.

The other thing that catches people out on bulk orders is not accounting for what the workers are actually wearing when they put the belt on. A kit full of tools pulls the belt down and takes up room around the waist. A jacket in the colder months does the same. What fits in a singlet in summer won't close the same way in a work shirt and a fleece in July.

We size our back support belts by the distance from the buckle prong to the middle hole, with two holes of adjustment either side. That middle hole should sit at your lumbar measurement, not your hip measurement. When in doubt, go up a size or two.

If you're ordering for a site and want to make sure you're getting the sizing right across a crew, send us a message before the order goes in.

16/08/2026

Sewing leather looks like sewing fabric. It isn't, and that gap is bigger than most people realise.

Leather has dimension in a way fabric doesn't. It's soft enough to stitch but hard enough to hold a load. When you put thick leather and thin leather together, they stretch at different rates. Getting that right takes feel, and feel takes time to develop. You can teach someone the machine. You can't shortcut the judgement.

That's why the skill shortage hits the leather industry harder than most. Once those people retire or move on, the knowledge goes with them. You're not just hiring a new worker, you're starting the learning curve again from the beginning.

It's an investment that doesn't show up neatly on a balance sheet. But it shows up in every belt that leaves the workshop.

Address

Unit 1 51a Jindalee Road
Port Macquarie, NSW
2444

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 4pm
Tuesday 9am - 4pm
Wednesday 9am - 4pm
Thursday 9am - 4pm
Friday 9am - 2pm

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