Chris Ogozaly takes us to Grand Rapids.

(ice scraping) - It literally started with, you know, Zach and I being just friends in general, just always throwing around the idea of like starting a business, and just throwing some crazy ideas around of like, what can we do to start a unique business in hockey.

It was like a two o'clock in the morning phone call from Zach and he is like, I got this idea.

We're gonna take hockey equipment and we're gonna repurpose it into leather (indistinct).

And I was like, wow.

I was sort of speechless.

And that's sort of how the whole concept and idea started back in 2017, actually.

- Born and raised in Grand Rapids, pretty much played hockey all my life.

I think my parents put the skates on me at three and I've never taken 'em off.

So wasn't sure what I wanted to do in life.

You know, hockey's been a huge part of my life.

Basically my whole life.

I wanna do something with hockey for the rest of my life, just 'cause I love the sport and want to continue with that.

We came up with the idea to do leather goods, you know.

So, and we ran with that and it's been amazing.

- [Chris] Well, some say that nothing good happens after 2:00 AM.

Joe and Zach are putting that idea on ice while creating memorabilia that can be used every day.

- Key chains, bathroom bags, coasters, we do some like tote bags as well.

But the wallets are the biggest thing, 'cause it just has, you know, the meanings of like, you know, being able to carry, you know, your wallets and your id, but it's something that you pull out every day or you sort of have your hands on every day, whether it's, you know, you grab it from your counter and put it in your back pocket or put it in your backpack or put it in your messenger bag.

It's something special that you always have with you.

So I think something that you can actually physically hold onto and have those meanings behind it.

With what we make and what we share to the world of athletics, it's pretty cool to see how these people can actually now have a piece of their own memorabilia, but in their back pocket.

So if they go out with their friends or they're at the ice rink or now as we venture into these other sports fields, you know, they can pull out this wallet and has a story behind it.

I think that is just so valuable.

- [Chris] So some of their creations come from NHL materials while others from gear that highlights popular hockey equipment manufacturers.

Or you can collaborate with Joe and Zach and their team of leather workers who will turn your old gear into something brand new.

- Once we finalize through the emails of, hey, this is what I wanna make, this is the thread color that I want, this is the leather color that I want, they ship the gear to us and then we take that, we sanitize it, clean that, we don't clean the puck marks off because those are the character, right?

So we take those, clean 'em, and then we break 'em down and then we start laying out the pieces with our dyes and trying to figure out what way fits the best and what looks the best for the customer.

Our leather team, great team, we have a group of three that does that for us.

And they rock it out.

(sewing machine whirring) They tear that thing down and they, again, they lay everything out flat, iron it out if needed, you know, those rolls on the pads.

So they kind of need to be flat, somewhat to work with it.

They're the masters, honestly, of like piecing things together, having a mirror image on both sides.

It's amazing, it's truly amazing what they can do.

- [Chris] Second String Leather Company found their groove, stitching together used hockey gear with vivid and unforgettable memories, but they're still working on that next 2:00 AM idea.

- All right?

(drilling machine buzzing) - We're also gonna be using not just the equipment, whether it's, you know, goalie pads or glove and block or player gloves, we're actually gonna start getting into more of the memorabilia side of what with the jerseys, 'cause jerseys are another important part of the game and there's some meaning behind that, there's special patches on there, maybe some rips, or some bloodstains from a fight or whatever it may be, but there's a special story with those jerseys as well.

The cool sort of process to see how we've taken hockey.

We've transcended into being much bigger than we ever anticipated over the course of five years.

Football's gonna be the next field that we're gonna get into, like to make the leather goods.

- [Chris] So when it comes time to take off the gear and hang up the hockey sweater for the last time, maybe that's not the last you'll see of it.

- Second String Leather Companies having a second life at the product.

We use the goalie pads and you love 'em, you cherish 'em.

They go from rink to rink with you, locker room to locker room, and you know, hey, we're done playing with 'em.

Like, all right, well what do we do with 'em now?

You know, do you sell 'em, do you keep 'em on the shelf and let 'em rot away or you know, give them a second life.

And that's where we come in and we can give them a second life, which is why we called it Second String Leather Company.