This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.

NINE Leather & Watch is a family-owned maker of hand-stitched full-grain leather goods and a watch shop, founded in 2015 and operating from Independence Center mall in Independence, Missouri. Husband-and-wife owners Sarah Gunalp and Abraham (Ibrahim) Hanoglu merged her New York leather-craft background with his watchmaking trade into a single brand that designs and produces wallets, belts, cardholders, custom watch straps, and other accessories in-house, alongside while-you-wait watch repair, battery, and band service.123

Description

NINE Leather & Watch is a Kansas City-area maker and watch shop located in the lower level of Independence Center mall in Independence, Missouri.14 The business styles itself as “makers and fixers”: it designs and hand-produces signature leather goods using full-grain, vegetable-tanned leather sourced from tanneries in Italy and Turkey, and on the watch side offers custom handmade leather straps, sizing, battery replacement, and band installation — much of it completed while customers wait.1 Its leather product line spans wallets, cardholders, keychains, belts, and other accessories, all backed by what the company advertises as a lifetime warranty.14

The shop pairs traditional bench craft with digital design and cutting tools; the owners describe their approach as combining “the precision of modern technology with the heart of traditional bench-work.”3 NINE occupies the former Independence Center space of “Jewelry Doctors,” positioning itself as a successor for mall customers who previously relied on that shop for fast watch repair.5

Ownership and history

NINE Leather & Watch was founded in 2015 as a family-owned business.2 It is run by husband-and-wife co-owners Sarah Gunalp and Abraham Hanoglu (also referenced as Ibrahim S. Hanoglu).23 Before NINE, Sarah built a reputation making high-end handmade leather goods in New York, while Abraham worked as a watchmaker in Kansas and also ran a digital marketing agency; the two married and merged their respective trades into a single brand.23 A third family member, Zehra Gunalp, is listed in business records as a founder and co-owner handling business development.6 The owners describe sharing a family heritage; the brand’s emphasis on Turkish and Italian leather sourcing and the family’s surnames point to a Turkish background, though the specific national origin is not explicitly stated in published interviews.

The owners describe an intensive, hands-on operation — 14-hour days, seven days a week, designing and producing items one at a time.3 In a VoyageKC interview they recounted an early setback in which a first landlord broke their lease with roughly 10 days’ notice, forcing a month-long closure and relocation before the business re-established itself in its current Independence Center location.3

Sources

Disputes

None at this time.

Footnotes

  1. https://nineleather.co/ and https://nineleather.co/pages/contact — asserts: NINE Leather & Watch is a premium leather-goods maker and watch-repair shop in Independence, MO; designs/makes wallets, cardholders, keychains, belts using full-grain, vegetable-tanned leather from Italian and Turkish tanneries; lifetime warranty on in-house leather goods; custom handmade watch straps, while-you-wait battery/band service; address 18801 E 39th St S, Ste 1014, Independence, MO 64057; hours Mon–Sat 11am–7pm, Sun 11am–6pm. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. RocketReach / business records via web search — asserts: NINE Leather & Watch established 2015; family-owned; Sarah built a reputation for high-end handmade leather goods in New York while Abraham was a watchmaker in Kansas who also ran a digital marketing agency; the couple married and merged their expertise into one brand; founded NINE because they were “tired of the disposable nature of mass-produced goods.” ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. https://voyagekc.com/interview/exploring-life-business-with-sarah-gunalp-abraham-hanoglu-of-nine-leather-watch — asserts: owners Sarah Gunalp and Abraham Hanoglu (married couple); Sarah’s NYC leather background, Abraham’s watchmaking + digital marketing background; shared family heritage; product line of hand-stitched full-grain leather accessories, custom watch straps, wallets, belts, tech accessories, plus watch repair; quote “We’ve successfully combined the precision of modern technology with the heart of traditional bench-work”; 14-hour days seven days a week; early landlord broke the lease with ~10 days’ notice, forcing a month-long closure and relocation. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  4. https://www.yelp.com/biz/nine-leather-and-watch-independence-3 — asserts: NINE Leather & Watch, Independence, MO, leather goods / watch listing (operating-status corroboration). ↩ ↩2

  5. https://nineleather.co/pages/jewelry-doctors-independence-center-is-closed-nine-leather-watch-now-in-the-same-location — asserts: NINE now occupies the former Independence Center space of “Jewelry Doctors,” which closed; positions itself as a successor for watch-repair customers; “Managed by Ibrahim S. Hanoglu.” ↩

  6. https://www.zoominfo.com/p/Zehra-Gunalp/-2112224558 and https://rocketreach.co/zehra-gunalp-email_177604289 — asserts: Zehra Gunalp, Independence, MO, listed as Founder, Co-Owner, and Business Development contact at Nine Leather Co. ↩

See also

  • Registry
  • Owner-And-History-Research-Toolchain
Categories
  • Kansas City–owned
  • Independence