Located nearby in Niles, Michigan, Souldier is a lifestyle brand inspired by musicians who specialize in handmade products such as guitar straps, belts, and handbags. What’s more show-stopping? The guitar straps are made out of recycled seatbelts.
The idea came to Jen Tabor, founder of Souldier, in 2004 when she handmade her rock and roll bandmates custom guitar straps for their birthdays. Jen personalized the vintage material to each bandmate’s style on stage but had nothing to fasten the fabric to. Having always been creative, Tabor dusted off the three-year-old box of recycled seatbelts sitting in her closet that her dad gave her from his work in the auto industry and made the straps. She fastened the fabric to the seatbelt, created a leather end for it, and the first Souldier guitar strap prototype was born.
Jen bootstrapped her first year in business, visiting over 300 local and nationwide stores, selling guitar straps at her band’s shows, and expanding the fabric selection as she went. She focused on creating personalized guitar straps for customers and empowering them to be authentically themselves. Fast forward twenty years, Souldier is a top brand in the music industry and is worn by some of the most iconic artists of our time: Taylor Swift, Aerosmith, Tom Petty, Harry Styles, and Dave Matthews Band to name a few. She even created a custom guitar strap for Walker Hayes when he played at Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center on the University of Notre Dame’s campus. One of Souldier’s most crowning achievements? Tom Petty’s guitar in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has a Souldier strap on it.
Souldier products can be found worldwide and locally at their retail store, trade shows, craft fairs, music festivals like Lollapalooza in Chicago, and our very own Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore. “I wanted to partner with the bookstore because I admire everything that the University does and our values align well,” said Jen. “We share the same mission of community, empowerment, forward motion, and making people around us better. I could not have picked a more perfect fit for Souldier’s first licensing deal.”
As a native of the Michiana area and a graduate of Penn High School, Jen continues to find new ways to support the community and tune up her business. Her passion and background in music education inspired her to open a music school and retail store in their manufacturing facility in Niles, Michigan in January 2024. The music school is part of the Good For Your Soul Foundation, raising money for lessons and instruments for students in the Michiana area who would otherwise not have access to them. It also provides local music teachers with employment opportunities. This year, the Good For Your Soul Foundation has already given eight students free lessons and instruments to keep in perpetuity when their lessons are over.
Tabor’s long-term vision? To build the full lifecycle of the music industry in one place as a destination location and utilize her relationships to bring attention to the local region and a town that can use the support.
Shop the Souldier collection in-store at the Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore.