Welcome to ROAC
"Hi, I'm Trevin - An artist making precision crafted EDC leather gear."
Background & Philosophy
Before launching ROAC, I was working for an engineering company and one of the valuable design principles we followed was "Let form follow function." This simple yet powerful philosophy has stayed with me and is the navigational torch that lights the way throughout my design process.
The unique approach I take to leather as a medium, stems from a long background in art/design as well as a deeply held appreciation for fine craftsmanship. I enjoy carrying well-made knives so I strive to achieve all the attention to detail you've come to expect from your high end cutlery with my knife and tool accessories.
I want to expand the scope of what everyday carry leather looks like, bridging art and design with tough-as-nails materials and construction to offer you a lifetime carry companion that feels like a functional piece of artwork.
Elite Quality: Craftsmanship Without Compromise
In terms of raw materials and methods of construction, zero compromises. I source my hides from world-class USA tanneries, utilize 6AL-4V titanium clips, and hand stitch every piece using the most durable modern thread available. Many of the leathers you'll find here are used by top-shelf luxury brands. This insistence on only using the very best materials, is pursued down to a granular level. To illustrate the point: I tested 6 different types of industrial adhesives before settling on an adhesive where the leather actually ripped apart before the adhesive failed.
Saddle Stitching
The strongest way to stitch 2 things together using thread, with a handful of cosmetic advantages. From an aesthetic point of view, saddle stitching offers us a higher degree of precision, control over thread tension for each individual stitch, we can avoid those unsightly lines and imprints frequently seen defacing the leather due to the "feed dogs" pushing the leather along, and eliminate blowout on the backside of the leather creating that unsightly pucker and often compromising the top grain on the back of the sheath.
More crucially than the cosmetic advantages, saddle stitching is the "durability king" due to the fact it is two independent stitch lines being interwoven, meaning if a thread gets cut, you cant simply pull it and undue the entire row of stitches like with the machine "lock-stitch". In fact trying to undo a row of saddle stitches is a nightmare, each individual stitch has to be manually cut and pulled out independently, where as undoing a row of lockstitches just requires one snip and a pull and the entire row is gone. I had one customer email me that his new puppy turned his custom sheath into a chew toy and after melting the end of the loose thread, years later reached out letting me know the sheath was still going strong! I like to lean into saddle stitching because although it is more time consuming, and admittedly pretty hard on the hands, it creates the best possible product.
Design Principles
Fitment Above All - This is integral in my design flow and in the way my product line was structured. I want the knife to get locked in like a custom fitted hand glove, no play, good retention, safe, solid, secured. Every aspect of the knife is considered in advance to inform this process: The shape, curvature, contouring, and thickness of the handle, the blade shape and stock thickness, the blade to handle ratio, the point of transition from blade to handle, etc. Each knife is unique and to truly hit the nail on the head when it comes to fitment, I have to approach each knife individually. This is why I do not make a universal fit sheath, despite the many advantages to that from a business production flow standpoint. This craft is my art, and that comes first.
No Pork - Millimeters matter, especially when it comes to achieving that perfect glove-like fit. Not to poke at universal sheaths too much, but due to the frequent requests I receive to make one, I'll mention the other big drawback that has stopped me from pursuing making one. With universal fit there will always be extra bulk, unneeded size, weight, and compromises with retention when it comes to a sheath that was designed to fit an unlimited number of knives of various shapes and sizes. Even having a general range of fit, such as 5-7" or 7-9" leaves a huge amount of room for pork. It's already a step up from a folder to carry a fixed blade in your pocket, I don't want to take a single extra mm out of your pocket real estate, or add unnecessary weight and bulk. The internal welt structure of these types of sheaths will always result in blade play, yes I'm throwing in some folder terminology here. Blade play for fixed blade carry implies that when your knife is fully holstered, you can grab the handle and wiggle it around. All of this play creates an opportunity over time for the edge of your knife to maul the interior of your sheath and cut the welt to shreds over the years. Every time that handle moves around, due to movement, holstering, bumps, or just general handling, imagine what's happening to the blade, it's moving as well and since leather is skin, that's not a great recipe for longevity. The design flow I take each sheath through eliminates excess, down to the mm, and produces the smallest possible profile within the constraints of the design.
Iterative Development - I've been obsessed with making pocket sheaths long before I started making them professionally full time in 2018. This hyper focus is generated by an unhealthy drive for perfection in sheathcraft. As a result my iterative development model has no end date, I never settle for good enough, and always ask "How can this be improved?". I am asked all the time to make a discontinued sheath or something from an earlier year, and generally my answer is no because design evolutions have taken place, and improvement opportunities have been seen that can't be unseen. My goal is always to send my customers the best possible product I can design and craft, so be assured, what's available in my workshop is at the bleeding edge of where these systematic evolutions have taken us.
Heirloom Durability - Is it possible to craft a leather sheath that will last a lifetime? To answer this question, consider the fact we have leather turnshoes from the Coppergate Dig dating back to the 9th to 11th century, or the Lendbreen Ice Patch in Norway, turnshoes from 1000 A.D, even further we have the Vindolanda Fort dig site with multiple leather artifacts dating back to the 1st and 4th centuries A.D. So, is it possible to make a sheath that can last a lifetime? Absolutely, and I insist on making sheaths that will long outlive their owners. There are a lot of considerations that go into making this happen, but it would take a an essay to go into all of them in detail so one of the ways in which we greatly extend the durability of our sheaths is through a welt that perfectly matches the shape of the blade. This distributes the fatigue generated by the cutting edge during repeated draw and holster cycles along a significant length, essentially making it nearly impossible to actually cut through the sheath without the assistance of an arbor press or some enormous outside force. This is another reason I shy away from universal fit sheaths, where often times the welt takes the full force of the knife tip, without being properly supported by an adequate welt curvature that follows the lines of the blade - add in a handle that isn't fully locked in place and you can imagine what happens over time to the inside of that sheath. This is why when you holster your knife in a ROAC sheath, that blade will feel locked in place and that handle isn't going to budge. When it comes to lifelong durability, we have you covered and then some.
Meticulous Attention to Detail
This was my clarion call that brought ROAC into existence. I noticed that the same attention to detail I was seeing in the knife world, was strangely absent when it came to the sheaths that were being offered. The sheath always felt like an afterthought, a means to an end rather than an true companion to the blade it was carrying. I wanted the sheaths I was carrying to be just as important and aesthetically beautiful as the knives I was carrying.
To some, leathercraft is a series of steps or a process to follow. To me, it's an artform and I want to bring out the best of each piece of leather. Unique one-of-a-kind finishes, candy caramel burnished edges, and methodical saddle stitching are a few of the details to expect. I consider myself the pickiest customer out there so when I start crafting an order, I make it for myself and only when I am 100% satisfied it's the best possible product my hands can make, will I ship it to my customer.
Personalized Customer Service
Bar none my favorite aspect of making edc gear is the people. You guys are the best community out there and I am honored to work for you. My customers keep my campfire lit and for that you get a lifetime of support to back up your new leather gear.
Thanks for taking the time to get to know me and this workshop better, if you have any questions please reach out to me through the contact us form here on the website.