Christy Plott Redd

Why She's Here

The bridge from marsh to luxury

A quick, honest note: Christy Plott Redd is based in Griffin, Georgia, not Louisiana. We include her because no one is more central to what happens to Louisiana's wild alligators. Each season, her family stakes out the docks along the Atchafalaya Basin in St. Martinville to buy whole gators straight from Louisiana fishermen — and by AMTAN's own account, "by far, the most wild gators come from Louisiana." Those skins become the leather behind names like Hermès, Lucchese, Louis Vuitton and Prada.

"Nobody can make skins that soft. Nobody."— Christy Plott Redd (Atlanta Magazine)

The Lineage

Five generations in leather

The Plotts have worked hides for five generations, and AMTAN as it exists today was organized in 1980. Christy grew up in it and now drives its design and global sales — the rare person fluent in both the swamp and the showroom. Her Louisiana operation, started in the late 2000s, gave the tannery a direct line to the fishermen and the best wild skins on the market. As AMTAN puts it, that connection lets the company "earn a stronger position on the wild alligator skin market."

The Lucchese Connection

When the gator queen met the boot king

In 2015 the bootmaker Lucchese turned to AMTAN, pairing Christy with the brand's product-development director, Trey Gilmore — a collaboration the company still tells stories about. For Christy, the appeal of the finished thing is personal:

"No one has boots like mine, so it's special… it's a fun way to tell people about the special connection between me and Lucchese and an opportunity to share the story of AMERICAN MADE, history, and heritage with others."— Christy Plott Redd (Lucchese)

She's not shy about the work ethic behind it, either: "You can't have a million-dollar dream with a minimum-wage work ethic."

Sources: Atlanta Magazine, "Swamps Élysées: Meet the Queen of Gator"; amtan.com ("Family Heritage"); the Lucchese archive; NPR. Christy Plott Redd is Georgia-based; her tie to this site is the Louisiana wild-harvest skins her tannery buys and processes. See how alligator is tanned.