One of the standout stalls at the recent High School Market Day would have to be the leather goods made by one of the students under the business name Rennie’s Leather Works.

Thomas Hicks has been creating the leather goods now for almost two years and spends about 10 hours a week creating wallets, purses and belts that not only get sold at High School events, but also has started doing a stall at the fortnightly local Community Lawn Sale.

He has also managed to extend his network to stock products at the Tiwi Islands Post Office and is in discussions with other outlets as well as taking commissioned orders from other local businesses.

Thomas’ work so far has earned him a finalist place in the 2022 Teens in Business Awards in the Teenpreneur of the Year Category, which is well deserved given his level of skill and dedication to his craft.

He hopes in the future to expand the business to a point where it will be a full time enterprise and extend his range as well.

With what he has been able to achieve so far, that goal is well within his reach.

If you would like to check out his workmanship and support an emerging business, pop down to his stall next Saturday morning at the Transit Centre.

This article appeared in Tennant & District Times, 23 June 2023.