Wold-class upholsterer opens up

MARINETTE — A local man has made a name for himself as a world-class upholsterer, but you won’t find his name in any magazine, only pictures of his handiwork. He receives no recognition and doesn’t expect any.

“There’s Jay Leno with my car,” said Steve Hemstock, the owner of Knights Autoworks & Upholstery, 1316 Marinette Ave., pointing to a picture of Leno next to a Ferrari 250 GTO. “No one really knows I did the little seat. Nobody really cares, but this is the most expensive car on the planet.”

It’s always been Hemstock’s dream to upholster the interiors of high-end sports cars, like those seen in the hit movie “Ford v Ferrari” — both of which he has upholstered.

Hemstock grabs two model cars from his shelf.

The first is the cherry red Ferrari. The one Leno owns, valued in the multi-millions, according to Hemstock.

“In the car world, it’s hard to have a car cost a million dollars,” he said.

The second model car he places on his desk is a Ford GTX1. There are only 39 of them in the world and Hemstock did the convertible tops and interiors of every one.

Hemstock points to an upholstered seat that he designed for Cruisers Yachts of Oconto.

“Every time Cruisers gets a new model, every boat that Cruisers builds gets Knight’s seats,” he said. “... Our pieces have headrests and armrests and moving parts. We do their specialty stuff for them.”

Additionally, Hemstock goes on to recall how he was approached by Enstrom Helicopter about two years ago to design interiors similar to those of a Porsche. He turned them into “sports cars that fly,” with the help of his two oldest daughters, Kayla and Olivia.

Knights Autoworks supplies upholstery goods and restyling techniques to companies such as Cruisers, Carver, Burger Boats, Palmer Johnson, Enstrom Helicopter, Ford, Chrysler and GM.

They are an unsung vendor, a silent manufacturer.

Hemstock began his career about 25 years ago in Milwaukee, with just a sewing machine in the back of his truck. He installed aftermarket sunroofs and leather-upholstery seating in new cars.

It was a quick, cookie-cutter process that was high volume/low profit, he said.

From there, he switched gears and began working on “supercar stuff.” This was low-volume/high-profit upholstery work, which opened a broader market.

“When I transitioned from regular work to supercar work, it was the Ford GT,” he said.

Knights described how lucrative upholstering high-end sports cars can be. For example, he has charged $40,000 to upholster a $5 million Ferrari 400 Superamerica.

However, Hemstock said he’s been turning high-end clients away recently to focus on serving the community.

“For every one Ferrari, it takes two or three hundred hours,” he said. “That means that I cannot do two or three hundred hours worth of other projects for people.”

His doors are always open to the community. Knights receives local upholstery calls and walk-in visits for cars and boats every day.

“We really like to be available for our local people,” he said. “... I want to be useful to the community.”

Also, Hemstock said doing smaller, local projects is a better experience for his children.

“With the kids, it’s important for us to do the smaller things with the customers,” he said. “They can see parts of the business instead of it being SO INTENSE and it HAS TO BE PERFECT. It’s kind of cooler to see a guy with his boat or with his hotrod.”

He and his wife Kelly, who is also his business partner and the company's vice president, have 11 children together. Kelly has homeschooled them all.

“She’s a trooper, I’ll tell you what,” Hemstock said. “... My kids wouldn’t be who they are, our family and our business wouldn’t be what it is without Kelly doing what she does.”

His three oldest, Kayla, Olivia and Stevie work at Knights Autoworks & Upholstery. The rest of his children help out as they can, with 17-year-old Samuel and 15-year-old Timothy coming in every day after school for a couple of hours. His younger children come in on Saturdays to sweep the floors.

“They don’t work for me,” Hemstock said. “They work here for them — to see. This is their classroom. The benefit of them being here: they get to see our business, the trade that we’re doing. … They’re getting educated. They’re well-rounded. By the time my kids are 21, they’re $100,000 people.”

Over the years, Hemstock has grown his business from a one-man show to a family enterprise.

Knights Autoworks & Upholstery began selling cars at its current location about four years ago. Since then, a service department has been added, and the company continues to grow.

Over the winter, they purchased the neighboring Subway store. The expanded lot allows for more cars to be displayed.

“We don’t have to grow but I want to grow deliberately,” he said. “I want to build a good, strong, solid platform for our business, serving the community.”