This may not be a true fairytale, but it's as close to one as real life gets. Once upon a time, in the late 1960s, there were two high-school sweethearts living in the San Gabriel Valley east of Los Angeles – Jerry Kohl and Terri Kravitz (who is now Terri Kohl). They met, fell in love and started their own specialty store while they were still in high school. Each day when class ended, they opened their store selling T-shirts and leather goods to their classmates. After graduating in 1969, they operated their store full-time.

In the next chapter, as storeowners, they experienced the challenges small stores face, such as getting merchandise delivered on time. Jerry had ideas for improving things. Coincidentally, a couple named Lee and Ginny, vendors of theirs who owned a business that made belts, handbags and sandals out of a warehouse in Redondo Beach, California wanted to phase themselves out of their business. A short two years later, Lee and Ginny decided to sell their company in order to realize their dream of living in New Zealand where the surf was better! So, at age 19, Jerry bought into their company, Leegin, and set out to fill their shoes supplying specialty stores with leather goods (while Lee and Ginny traded their shoes for fins!).