About LeatherZ

LeatherZ (pronounced "Leather Zee") was started by Jon Maddux. Jon sold the company's first product, a black Mark1 Z3 armrest in October of 1998, and the business has grown steadily ever since. Leather Z, LLC is a small business registered in the City of Cincinnati, Ohio doing business as LeatherZ. The company is owned and operated by Andy Maddux.

The first project I ever did involving leather was covering a custom VDO gauge panel for my 318ti. After finishing my gauge panel, I steadily refined my skills and graduated into more complex projects. Working with leather has grown from a hobby to a sort of obsession for me -- it is something I simply love to do. And if that makes me a weird person, so be it! I take great pride in my work and I approach every project as if I were working on my own car.

Our business has grown to the point where it is impossible for me to keep up and continue to do my regular day job. This is where Andy comes in. Over the last 8 years, I've taught Andy everything I know about leather and BMWs. Andy now does LeatherZ work full time.

The People Behind the Company

Andy Maddux has been the president and owner of Leather Z, LLC since 2001. Andy is ultimately responsible for customer satisfaction as well as all strategic and tactical company decisions. LeatherZ is his more-than-full-time job: Andy does most of the development, production, packing and shipping work himself, in addition to website development. Andy drives a Dakar Yellow 2002 Z3 coupe which was featured in the November 2003 issue of Bimmer magazine, and he lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. Andy has a degree in marketing from the University of Cincinnati.

Jon Maddux is the founder of LeatherZ and was the sole employee for the first few years of business. Jon now works part time, unpaid by LeatherZ, doing most of the stitch work and Individual Program work as well as X-series and non-BMW work. Jon drives an Imola Red 2001 M coupe and lives near Seattle, Washington. Jon has a full time job at a major commercial airplane manufacturer located in the Northwest, working on aircraft interiors. Jon has a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Michigan and a business degree from the University of Southern California.

Ken Maddux works part time, unpaid by LeatherZ. Ken is responsible for all detail design work related to plastics and machined parts as well as analog circuit design. Ken also lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, but he does not drive a BMW. Yet. Ken has over 35 years of mechanical design consulting experience and is currently employed by one of the largest mechanical design software and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) providers in the world. He has done work at various automotive companies, as well as their Tier 1 suppliers, including Volkswagen, General Motors, Nissan, Renault, Monroe, Lear, and Michelin. He holds several patents and is a certified Professional Engineer. Ken graduated with honors from the University of Cincinnati and Purdue University with degrees in mechanical engineering and control systems, respectively.

Hours of Operation

LeatherZ is open from 10am - 5pm EST Monday-Thursday; 10am - 1pm Friday, and occasionally on weekends too. If you call the LeatherZ phone line (513.631.2275) and do not get an answer, please leave a detailed message. Andy will call you back at his earliest convenience. If you are in the area and would like to drop by, please let us know in advance.

LeatherZ collects contact information (such as name, phone number, and address) from all customers so that we may communicate with you during the ordering process. In rare cases, if there is a product flaw or "recall", we may contact you again. We do not in any way, shape or form share, sell or trade data about you with anyone else. Per the Merchant Agreement between Leather Z, LLC and Cardservice International, "Unless required by law, Merchant shall not, under any circumstances, sell, purchase, provide, or otherwise disclose Cardholder’s account information or other Cardholder personal information to anyone except Issuer or Bank and Cardservice International."

Ordering

The fastest and most convenient way to order is via the LeatherZ Website. If you are uncomfortable submitting your Credit Card Information over the web, please give us a call and we will take your order over the phone. We can also take payment via Check or Money order. Some of the products on the LeatherZ site may not be available for ordering online. These items are only available through phone order. As the company grows, we will continue to add more e-business features to this site. All online credit card orders are processed securely through Cardservice International. Your Credit Card is not charged until your order ships.

Custom Orders: We are always happy to accommodate custom orders. If you want something that you do not see on our website, a custom color or something that has never been done before, please contact us. We will do our best to help you. All custom orders require a credit card up front.

Return/Exchange Policy: We accept returns on most of our products for exchange only. We require any return to be for an exchange of equal or greater value made at the time of the exchange. If you must have a refund, a restocking fee will be applied. We require a copy of the original packing invoice, invoice from checkout or a copy of your email order confirmation. We also require that you contact us in advance of the return to obtain a Return Authorization Number and so we know to expect the return. We will not accept any returned item unless it is returned in the same condition it left in. We do not accept returns/exchanges on the following items FOR ANY REASON: Shift and Emergency Brake Boots or any item requiring custom Stitching, Any item made with a special order leather, any electrical item such as Daytime Running Lights, Footwell Light Kit, etc.

If you are on the fence about a color, please request a material sample in advance. If buying a gift for someone, we recommend our Gift Certificates instead of items unless you know exactly what the giftee wants. If you have questions about our Return Policy, contact before ordering.

If you order from the Online Store, the default shipping method for all domestic orders is FedEx Ground service. We think that FedEx provides superior quality and service that is worth the extra cost. If you would prefer to receive your order a bit faster, we also offer FedEx 3-Day, FedEx 2-Day and FedEx Overnight shipping. You choose the shipping method when you check out of the online store. Please note that we dislike the USPS with a passion. USPS Shipping costs are higher because of the time and energy it takes for me to deal with the United States Postal Service. Orders with USPS shipping selected may take longer to process. All FedEx orders are processed through FedEx's website; your tracking number will be emailed to you from FedEx. In some cases, email programs/spam filters will assume this email is spam. If you do not receive your tracking number and require one, once your order is listed as 'Shipped' on the LeatherZ Order Status page, you can email me to request the tracking information. Please include you Order Number in the email message.

LeatherZ uses FedEx Shipping for all International Shipments. I have found that it is the fastest and most reliable method for shipping overseas. The shipping cost is the cost to ship the package, any taxes, duties, or tariffs will be collected when the package is delivered. I encourage you to place a larger order as opposed to a smaller one as I will not go back and charge you more if the shipping cost happens to be higher than the stated price and I will not refund a shipping difference if it is less. If you have an issue with this policy, please contact me prior to ordering. Tracking numbers are available once your order is listed as 'Shipped' on the Order Status Page. If you would like your tracking number, please email me including your order number and I will send it to you.

You can track the status of your order at our Order Status Page. Please check this page often for updates. Order Status emails and phone calls will be referred to this page.

LeatherZ is constantly searching for new and innovative products to add to the website. If you have a product you would like to sell on the web, please write to me and inquire about adding your product(s) to the LeatherZ lineup. There are flexible agreements available with very low terms. By the same token, if you have a product idea and I can make it work, I will be happy to give you the first unit at no charge.

We'll be the first to admit that leather is not the most environmentally friendly product on the market today. LeatherZ does everything possible to minimize the impact on the environment from manufacturing and operations. As much as possible, we reuse packing materials and boxes. All foam peanuts we buy for packaging are biodegradable.

This website is best viewed with Internet Explorer 5 or later. We would like to thank Amanda Campo, Peter McClelland, JD, Steve, Esteves, AndyM, Chad Harlan, HagBeard, and David Miles for their contributions to the development of this site. Several images were taken with permission from MZ3.net. Other images were taken (actually I stole them and then asked for permission after the fact) from Tim Cullis of ZRoadster.net