Featured products
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Alli Chic Blue bucket bag
Regular price $595.00 USDRegular priceUnit price per -
Alli Chic Dark Green bucket bag
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Alli Chic Soft Pink bucket bag
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Alli Chic White bucket bag
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Watch Straps
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Veronica Pritchard with Kathrine and Melissa on the Pritchard airboat in the Louisiana swamps (1990).
Our Story
Alli Chic sisters Kathrine and Melissa grew up on Black Bayou Farms in St. Amant, Louisiana where their parents David and Veronica Pritchard were alligator farmers licensed by Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries from 1989 to 1997. During that time, the state and federal governments partnered with local farmers to save the American alligator from the endangered species list.
Delacroix, Louisiana
Improvements in leather manufacturing in the late 1800s correlated with an increase in demand for leather goods, which contributed to aggressive hunting practices that decimated the American alligator population to only 100,000 wild animals. Listing alligators as a protected species only increased their value and encouraged poaching, further threatening the population.
David Pritchard in one of two alligator barns at Black Bayou Farms in St. Amant, Louisiana (1991).
Extensive research on alligator habitat permitted farmers to reproduce optimal living conditions in barns on private property. Following strict practices that were closely monitored by Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries, farmers raised enough alligators to save the species and to meet the demand for alligator leathers! Today, there are over 2 million wild alligators in Louisiana swamps, and the Louisiana alligator conservation program is a model for conservation programs throughout the world.
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Say Cheese
Kathrine and Melissa pose with alligators near Black Bayou on the Pritchard's 60 acre farm in St. Amant, Louisiana.
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Preserving the hides
David and his father Jerry carefully preserve the alligator hides before they are sent to the tannery.
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Season's Greetings
Kathrine and Melissa, dressed in velvet dresses made by Grandma Rosalie Pritchard, pose with an alligator for the family Christmas card in December 1990.
