It started with a no.

The match

It came to us through Head & Hand, American Leather's PR firm. Anderson knew Katharina and her team personally, and had once told them a different line they were working with belonged at Dennis Miller. That one never came together. Then A.L. Studio came along, and Justin Orlansky looped Anderson in.

Everyone loved it. Justin and Anderson still said no. Dennis Miller was in the middle of trimming the number of lines it represents, and one more didn't make sense.

Katharina asked Anderson for a second look. This time he looked at the whole American Leather portfolio, and at a gap Dennis Miller already knew about: designers came to Dennis Miller for the hero pieces, then left to buy for the secondary rooms somewhere else.

The idea

A.L. Studio was still taking shape, and American Leather hadn't settled on pricing. So Anderson answered the pricing question with a strategy: make it the line for the rest of the house. Designers who come to Dennis Miller for the hero pieces could finish the secondary rooms without leaving the showroom, and young firms without big budgets would finally have a way in.

Justin and Anderson sent their thinking to American Leather's president. Her reply: this is exactly what we were trying to do.

The visit

Anderson has one rule for any showroom carrying a line: see it made. Designers trust a showroom to have vetted every brand on its floor, so before you put your name next to a line, you touch it, sit in it and see how it's built. It's a philosophy he formed at Holland & Sherry and John Rosselli, and while running SOMERSELLE, his to-the-trade digital showroom. Justin shares it, and it's now how Dennis Miller vets every new line.

So Justin and Anderson flew to Dallas to tour American Leather's headquarters and factory, sit in the pieces and talk strategy. Before they left, the new president, Dan Campbell, asked whether Dennis Miller would take on the whole American Leather offering, not just A.L. Studio. It started with a no. It ended with a much bigger yes.

The launch

It didn't launch all at once. A.L. Studio debuted at WNWN in Studio DM, a VIP lounge across the hall from the showroom where designers could sit in the pieces, get away from the crowds and leave with a lookbook. Alongside it ran Built Here, a panel moderated by LUXE's Grace Hunt. In October it launched nationally at High Point in its own room at American Leather's showroom, with a promoted collection on Business of Home, and the LUXE print feature follows.