Leather Island has a great story. It is a range of vintage-style belts designed with meticulous care by Bill Lavin. A self-confessed men's shoes and accessory addict he is described best here: "Armed with an innate eye for cool, this self-proclaimed shoe and accessories addict began his career scouring flea markets across the country to find belts from the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s which he then tweaked and sold to Fred Segal. Bill’s talent for spotting must-have belts in a needle-in-a-haystack way was quickly recognized by Ralph Lauren who commissioned him to find the oldest and rarest vintage belts and boots. Lavin’s treasures soared down the runways and were sold in RRL stores from the late ‘90s through early 2000. As the vintage trend spread like wildfire throughout the fashion industry, the American flea market circuit became drained.
Sought-After Vintage Fashion
Never one to be discouraged, Bill sought out foreign markets, oftentimes traveling as far as Yugoslavia to scoop up unique military belts. Supply diminished, demand rose and Bill’s clients couldn’t get enough of his finds. After a slew of requests came in from celebrities—Bill had voicemails on his home phone from Brad Pitt and demands from Madonna for dozens of belts to wear while shooting a video-he realized it was time to provide sought-after vintage style to the masses
An interview with Bill himself:
"I design Leather Island with 3 major influences involved...
(1) Music:
My son and I have a very extensive vinyl collection that I have been collecting since I am 5 years old...Collecting just about every genre of music you could possibly imagine... So you will often see designs in Leather Island that gravitate toward my love and passion of the music industry...
(2) Art:
As my son, Casey, who is one of my major artists involved with the creation of Leather Island, and a very closefriend of his, Cameron Fraser, these boy's graduation at the top of their class from Art Center of Design in Pasadena, California (http://www.artcenter.edu) they are both as passionate artistically and musically as I am... So our design sessions are quite creative and exciting to part of...You will see very strong Art influences in our designs as we are not just happy doing generic images just to produce a printed tribute design...Our images are often either our own or chosen images that are above and beyond what you would see in those copy caters out there...!!Our reason is great Art is forever, so our designs never really go out of fashion...
(3) Human Social Issues:
I am very moved and influence by the the many very important social issues of our time today and in our past as well...Human suffering, Civil Rights, Poverty, Sexism, Women's Rights, Love, Racism, Crime, Violence...etc.. These issues often bring a creativeresponse upon us to do something out there that says something to make people think when they wear our designs..and hopefully help to change our world for the better...!!
We create our own trends
When it comes to trends Leather Islands credo is...when everyone Zig's... We Zag..!!.. We don't follow trends, we feel by being in touch with the pulse of these 3 influencesmentioned above, we often create our own trends..!! And as you can see by the designs you chose here shown below,these tributes will be as hip today as they will be when your Great-Great-Great Grand-Children find them..dust them off in your attics and wear them in their Generation's Time...