A brand that began with leather goods is redefining what can be made with fine leather craftsmanship. Telluride-native Macy Pryor and her friend Rebecca Adams bonded over a shared impatience with watching good designs get “flattened into something disposable.”
“We wanted to show people the inner workings of an old craft—to demonstrate how things are made right in front of your eyes,” Macy explains. “Rebecca had the operational instinct to build a company; I had the obsession with product design, form, and material.” Leatherworking is one of the oldest human trades, and the two wanted to build something that honored that lineage and the durability of the material. Crossbow grew from that history, along with an obsession with material, structure, and permanence in a world where so much is made to be replaced.
As the business has grown, Macy and Rebecca have expanded well beyond hats. Today, Crossbow offers a range of leather bags, including the lollie bag, released this summer, alongside men’s and women’s apparel. The guiding philosophy is simple: built to get better. With each new product, they ask themselves: Will this still mean something in 20 years?
“Working in leather means working inside a very old conversation about durability and craftsmanship,” Macy says. “That felt like the right foundation for a company built to last. We found a beautiful symbiosis between leather goods and hats that has propelled our brand and our vision to make custom, beautiful products that will last forever.”
Crossbow also stands apart as a women-owned and operated business, with women working across product development, leatherwork and silversmithing, photography and design, operations, and strategy. The result is plenty of crossover and an openness to perspectives from across the company.
“That collaboration gives the products meaning beyond the item itself,” Macy and Rebecca say. “We’re all genuinely connected to what we’re creating, and the magic is seeing that care passed on to the customer, whether it’s someone walking out in the perfect hat or finding a handmade bag that feels completely like them.”
For Crossbow, that connection between maker, material, and wearer is as important as the finished piece. Rooted in Telluride and inspired by the surrounding mountains, Macy and Rebecca are taking an age-old craft and giving it a distinctly Colorado point of view—one designed to look even better with time.
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