Dylan Borowski 

By B. Crawford 

The next time you check out the Professional Bull Riders Team Series on CBS television or a streaming video service, take a good look at Cooper Davis. He’s a top bull rider, the 2016 PBR world title holder and an athlete who knows how to handle a ton of bucking, twisting muscle. If Davis is lucky, he’ll make the eight seconds to a good pay day. And if you’re lucky, you’ll get a good look at the hand-crafted leather chaps he is wearing, the handiwork of Dylan Borowski, founder of Diamond Bar Leather. 

“Chaps take a lot of wear; they have got to be made well to last,” Dylan says.  “I like a challenge.”  

College Station, Texas, is where Dylan Borowski makes bull riding chaps for Cooper Davis, as well as the other leather goods he markets under his Diamond Bar Leather brand. Working through Instagram and word of mouth, Dylan has a rapidly growing clientele and a rapidly growing product line.  

“Right now, I make pretty much about anything: watch straps, camera straps, spur straps. I built a couple of backpacks, diaper bags, purses, working leggings and wallets. I did a couple of belts and knife sheaths to match – all kinds of things. I’ve shipped stuff to Canada, Australia and dang near every state in the U.S., which is pretty cool.” 

Although he produces a wide range of goods for the western lifestyle, Dylan’s heart and soul are in the rodeo arena. “I definitely enjoy building rodeo chaps the most, but they dang sure take a good while. Three to four days you’re gonna be working on them.”  

There’s a reason Dylan spends so much time building a pair of chaps. “I am a little bit obsessive-compulsive and I like to take the time to make goods that will last. People work hard for their dollars and they should get good value for what they spend.”  

Dylan Borowski knows about hard work. The 29-year-old leather craftsman grew up in the little town of Kountze, Texas, about 25 miles north of Beaumont. Known as the “Gateway to the Big Thicket,” Kountze is surrounded by a virgin pine and cypress forest. The scenery is a lot different from the classic image of Texas, but Texas values still hold strong. 

“My parents were great, still are to this day.” Dylan’s parents believed in giving their son the freedom to make his own decisions and take his own chances. 

“I began riding bulls when I was 15 years old,” Dylan says. “My cousin is younger than me by about eight months. He started riding bulls before I did. We went out to watch him, and I got a wild hair, and I decided to try bull riding myself.”  

Dylan got pretty banged up on that first ride, but that didn’t keep him from the rodeo arena, even though his mother was not a fan of the sport. “Like all mothers, her instinct was to protect me,” Dylan says. “But she came around.” 

Dylan participated in the college rodeo circuit, first at Hill College in Hillsboro, Texas, and later at Panola College in East Texas, where he rodeoed with his younger cousin.  

“I wish I had spent more hours in the gym and less time chasing women,” Dylan admits. “But you can’t look back. Time only goes forward.”  

One of Dylan’s college rodeo buddies passed the time working with leather. Dylan thought that was pretty cool. When he got a Tandy starter kit for Christmas one year, Dylan made a bracelet for a friend.  “It wasn’t anything too fancy now that I look back on it, but I thought it was pretty fantastic when I made it.” 

Dylan was hooked. After he graduated from college, he started to make more and better leather goods. The work seemed to come naturally to him, so he decided to invest in some leather working tools. “I bought my first sewing machine from a guy in town for $350. It was a Juki. I had more trouble with that son of a gun than I care to admit.” 

For a few years, Dylan spent his time rodeoing, struggling with his Juki, fixing fences and doing odd jobs. Then in about 2017, his business began to pick up and Dylan decided to focus on leather working. “I realized I could make a pretty penny with my leather work, and I finally saved up enough money to get a down payment on a new sewing machine. It was a Cobra Class 18. It made my life a lot easier and it still runs like a top.”    

Dylan set to work and taught himself the skills he needed to make top-quality leather goods. “I definitely was definitely self-taught,” Dylan says. “I have never taken a tooling class; I just figured it out along the way. I asked a few guys a few questions and they helped me out along the way. But I’ve always had a keen eye for detail.”  

Dylan also developed an eye for high quality material. “The main thing is you don’t want to get cheap material. You’ve got to spend money to make something good. You need to use good quality material if you’re going to produce a good quality product.” 

Even as he expanded his leather business, Dylan kept up with his rodeo buddies. These connections gave his business an important boost. “One of my best friends is Cooper Davis,” Dylan says. “When he went on tour with the PBR, he called me up and asked me if I could make him a pair of chaps. I took the plunge.” 

Dylan grabbed a pair of his own chaps, took them apart, made a stencil and went to work. “My first pair was pretty rough, but I’ve improved it a lot through the years.” 

Cooper Davis’s chaps caught the eyes of other PBR bull riders. “The next year, I got to build chaps for two people and every year since, I’ve had the chance to build chaps for more and more people during the PBR regular season.” 

What’s the secret to building a good pair of rodeo chaps? “Definitely the fit,” Dylan says. “It’s taken me a while to get that fit, but I have a tendency to constantly make them better.” 

As Dylan explains it, rodeo chaps serve two main purposes. “A good pair of chaps add flash and flair to the ride for style points, but they also give the bull rider protection. If a bull steps on your leg or catches a dew claw on you, the bull will cut and rip your chaps instead of your leg.” 

Over the years, Dylan has developed a unique system to make sure that each pair of chaps he makes fits perfectly. He takes the waist and leg measurement of each client, talks with them about how they like to wear their chaps, and uses his own algorithm to build the perfect pair. 

According to Cooper Davis, “Diamond Bar chaps are some of the best, if not the best, when it comes to design and quality. I can point out Dylan’s chaps before even knowing that he built them, so I guess it’s safe to say he’s got his own style.” 

The proof of the quality of Diamond Bar chaps is in the riding. “Cooper’s been riding in a pair I built for him three years ago, and he’s getting on a bull every week.” 

In the spring of 2022, the PBR launched its Team Series, an elite league of eight teams featuring top bull riders competing in head-to-head competitions. One of the new PBR teams, the Ariat Texas Rattlers, based in Fort Worth, Texas, chose Diamond Bar to build the chaps for the entire team.  

“That was a really big break for me,” Dylan says. “It’s pretty cool to see guys wear your stuff, especially on TV.” 

Working with the Ariat Texas Rattlers gave Dylan the challenge he needed to build his business into something special. “The team chap deal had me so backed up that I was able to stop taking orders for a while. For the first time since I’ve been working in leather, I was able to focus on one order. I’ve just opened up my orders again, and I’m happy to say that the wait times are short for the first time ever.” 

Dylan builds his chaps and fulfills his orders from his home studio in College Station, Texas. “I like to think of myself as an old soul,” Dylan says. “There is a bunch of cowboy art in my shop. My newest piece of artwork is a print I got from Teal Blake. I have a pair of rodeo chaps that I made for Cody Teel, one of my good buddies. He signed them for me and gave them back to me to hang in my shop, so that was pretty cool.” Pretty cool indeed. Cody Teel, who is from Dylan’s hometown of Kountze, Texas, was the 2012 Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) bull riding world champion.  

“It’s awesome to be working with these great athletes,” Dylan says. Even as his leather business is taking off, Dylan can’t help himself from getting on the back of a bull every chance he gets. Dylan’s Instagram page features a video of Dylan taking off on the back of a bull. Dylan’s ride is strong, but the highlight of the video is watching Cooper Davis perform a perfect fence jump just in front of Dylan’s raging bull. “Cooper wasn’t much for protection,” Dylan says. 

When asked if there are any similarities between riding a bull and working with leather, Dylan laughs. “Being on a bull is a faster job than building a belt. But to succeed in both leather working and bull riding, you’re going to have to work hard. You just can’t sit back and get lucky. You gotta put in the effort.” 

For anyone who is starting out in leather working, Dylan has the following advice. “Don’t be scared or worried if your stuff isn’t as good as you want it to be. We have all been there. Persistence is key. Keep working and don’t be afraid to reach out. One thing I try to do is really help people who need that guidance so they can turn their work into something great. It’s great to give back.”  

As far as the future is concerned, Dylan’s daily goal is to improve his work. “Next year, I want to be better than I am this year,” Dylan says, “and I would like to just keep growing. It’s good to love what you do, but any job you do there’s gonna be good and bad days. But for me, when I am working on an order, even a bad day is still a good day.”   

Dylan is grateful for his success, but he is also aware that building any business, especially a leathercrafting business, is a long-term commitment. “You have got to pay your dues,” Dylan says. “The other guys who make chaps for the PBR riders have had years of experience. I am really fortunate to be making chaps for the PBR, but it’s gonna take years for me to get to their level. I enjoy what I am doing now, and I plan to keep on doing things that I like to do. But who knows what the future will bring.” 

When I ask Dylan if he plans to continue riding bulls, a smile comes into his voice. “I’m 29 years old, so I don’t have much time left to compete. It’s a young man’s sport, but I’m going to keep pushing till my time’s done” 

Dylan’s mother, who was never a big fan of his bull riding, will probably be worrying until her boy decides to hang up his rodeo chaps for good. As the song says, “Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys.” Let ‘em be leather craftsmen instead, like Dylan Borowski at Diamond Bar Leather and Creations. 

Dylan Borowski 

Diamond Bar Leather and Creations 

diamondbar_leather 

(409) 659-3398