Let's face facts, it is called the "luxury market" because it is, well, luxurious. And luxury has, in the past, traditionally meant expensive. In our rush to have that elusive, shiny, rare object we often park our common sense, and more importantly a small part of our humanity at the door. Now before you jump to the conclusion that this is a piece designed to shame anyone, or to preach from a lofty height, fear not! More and more I am becoming less of a fan of crocodile or alligator straps owing to the way that the leather is obtained and harvested by some suppliers. I realize that customers still request them and they want something exotic. And I am not asking or expecting ANYONE to subscribe wholesale to my opinions.
BUT - I also think that there are some interesting options out there. One of them is SALMON! Now to be 100% transparent, I was a bit less than impressed by the first salmon straps that I saw. They were rough, not super well-finished and more of a gimmick than an actual product. Sorry, that is how I see some of the early efforts. But what if a REAL strap company started working with salmon skin to make a strap, and to make it a real luxury item?
This is a strap from Belgian strap maker LIC. You will notice that it does NOT look like something stitched together by an ironic hipster, and rather looks like something you might find on a high priced, dare I say it - LUXURY watch.
I was presented this strap in Basel and (full disclosure) was encouraged to wear it and enjoy it - WITHOUT necessarily reporting on it. But in the course of initially wearing it I have been very impressed. Now again - I did receive this strap, I want there to be ZERO misunderstanding on this point. BUT - I also want to make clear that I am writing about it because it has been a great strap so far and more importantly, it underscores that there are alternative, more renewable resources that can be used to create luxury items that you would actually WANT to use.
I will be back to you in a week with an update.
BUT - I also think that there are some interesting options out there. One of them is SALMON! Now to be 100% transparent, I was a bit less than impressed by the first salmon straps that I saw. They were rough, not super well-finished and more of a gimmick than an actual product. Sorry, that is how I see some of the early efforts. But what if a REAL strap company started working with salmon skin to make a strap, and to make it a real luxury item?
This is a strap from Belgian strap maker LIC. You will notice that it does NOT look like something stitched together by an ironic hipster, and rather looks like something you might find on a high priced, dare I say it - LUXURY watch.
I was presented this strap in Basel and (full disclosure) was encouraged to wear it and enjoy it - WITHOUT necessarily reporting on it. But in the course of initially wearing it I have been very impressed. Now again - I did receive this strap, I want there to be ZERO misunderstanding on this point. BUT - I also want to make clear that I am writing about it because it has been a great strap so far and more importantly, it underscores that there are alternative, more renewable resources that can be used to create luxury items that you would actually WANT to use.
I will be back to you in a week with an update.
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