I just love the contrasts of colour and textures. In an age where almost every luxurious product is made in China, I can also appreciate Billykirk’s Made in USA goodness. Appropriate for the office, perfect for the weekend; A stylish bag for men, just the way I like em and did I forget to mention? Handmade. Shop online here.

Billykirk Interview  Flash Film:

Chris: We formed the company in 1999. We always knew we would own a company together and it would be called, “Billykirk.” What that was going to encompass just hadn’t surfaced. In fact, in the mid 90’s I made some “Billykirk Designs” business cards for Kirk who was graduating from college with a clothing design degree.

Kirk: Our brand name came from our father who often calls me “Billykirk” because my full name is William Kirkland. We both frequent thrift stores and antique shops and one day we stumbled into a pawn shop in Los Angeles and walked out with a nicely worn, wide 1970’s watch strap. Somewhat surprisingly, I got a lot of compliments and inquiries while wearing it at a coffee shop I worked at. That’s when the light bulb went on. I remember the day I went to my brother’s office and I said, “Let’s make these.” He picked up the yellow pages and within a day or so we were buying leather and learning the trade.

Chris: I think we were ahead of the trend on the resurgence of the wide watch straps. Soon after our first collection hit the shelves in 1999 everyone from Guess to Gucci was making them again. The line has expanded into belts, wallets, satchels, travel bags and house wares.

Kirk: When we were beginning our initial designs and concepts we wanted to keep the designs simple and let the organic qualities of the leather speak for it self. Leather is always changing and that in itself is very appealing to us. There are so many companies out there that add all sorts of unnecessary embellishments that they end up looking the same. We knew from the get-go that we would never fall into that trap. We have never been a company that follows fads; instead we just try and design stuff we like. So far we have been fairly successful in reading the market.

Read the rest here.