Aaron Laithwaite, founder and CEO of Hydes hails from a small town on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. His adventurous side surfaced early with avid and competitive involvement in downhill ski racing and mountain biking. His love of cars was ever present, but at a young age it was only realized in his dreams.

Creating work around cars has been a life-long passion and the road has been winding. Aaron began in the leather industry in ’97 by co-founding a leather furniture wholesale operation. While learning the business, he began to develop an interest in customizing the designs of his products to meet the needs of his clients. The products were popular and the company grew quickly.

Wanting to have more creative input and control, he acquired an interest in a leather furniture manufacturing business. From that point on he assumed the roles of material sourcing and product design. Immersed in the leather supply sector he developed strong bonds with several tanneries around the world resulting in a deep and intimate understanding of his product and industry.

With his desire to be connected to the car industry still on the bucket list, he created a contract hides division for auto interiors as an off-shoot of the furniture manufacturing/wholesaling. Soon it began to grow into a sizable share of the company’s revenue. Eventually he separated the contract hides from the parent company, renamed it Hydes Leather and subsequently sold his interest in the furniture business and the joint-venture.

With all the focus firmly on Hydes, the company is booming. Aaron and the staff at Hydes love what they do. Creativity, passion, and dedication to the dreams of their clients keeps everyone working at full throttle.

Even as a kid, Bion has always been into cars and trucks and drew them from a young age; hot rods with big rear tires, drag race engines, side pipes shooting flames out and brightly coloured paint jobs. He loved them all as long as they were loud, fast and fun. So when he was hired as the Sales Manager at Hydes Leather and was told they were going to SEMA in the fall, he was ecstatic. Being able to sell the best leather in the industry to the builders and upholsterers he had seen in the too-numerous-to-count magazines that he had read over the decades was a dream come true. 

Even now, 4 years later and as the Director of Sales, Bion awakes each day, excited to go to work and talk to his clients about the current projects they are working on and how Hydes Leather can enhance their craftsmanship with the best materials on the market.

So let me ask you, "What project are you working on?"

Like the rest of the Hydes Team, Ben is a true car nut or "petrol head" as he calls it in his native England. With an extensive background in the marketing world, working for 1-man start ups through to huge corporations like Monster Energy, Ben has a wealth of experience with all things technical and digital marketing.

As a car fan, Ben jumped at the opportunity to join the Hydes Leather team and has never turned back. In his spare time, he runs his own marketing business, is a die hard skier, snowmobiler and mountain biker and has a (mostly) healthy obsession with BMWs and classic British sports cars (Morgans in particular!).