Old Stud Finds New Life

Western-wear fans. Rockers. Punkers. Fashionistas. Vintage aficionados.

All love hand-crafted full-grain leather belts.

But like so many American goods, they’re hardly made here anymore.

For decades, Old Stud Homemade in Los Angeles was just about the only place. Renowned by leather enthusiasts worldwide for one-of-a-kind studded pieces — worn by Leonardo DiCaprio, Lada Gaga, Mick Jagger and Anne Hathaway, among many others — it closed several years ago. (Westporters may remember the belts from the Henry Lehr boutique on Main Street.)

Old Stud Handmade belts.

But Old Stud has a new life.

In Norwalk.

Last year, a team of Connecticut investors — including Westporter Jim Randel — bought the label.

They sent a team of artisans west, for hands-on training. Then they drove a U-Haul, packed with leather hides, tools, machinery, buckles, gemstones and studs back east.

They set up a studio on Silver Street, just off Main Avenue near the Merritt Parkway.

Artisan Josh Geyer at work, in the Silver Street studio. (Photo/Dan Woog)

In January they launched the Old Stud handmade website. Customers, stylists and influencers flocked to order.

But that was just the start.

Tomorrow, Old Stud opens a Studio Shop, adjacent to the workplace. Open Wednesdays through Fridays (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.), customers can ring a bell, walk in and shop hundreds of belts and cuffs — or collaborate with the artisans, and design their own.

They can even hang out for an hour or two, and wait for it to be completed.

Speaking of special designs …

They’ll watch craftsmen use traditional leatherworking methods (including a pedal-driven machine).

Old Stud is known for its belts and cuffs. But they also stud jeans and make leather guitar straps, in their Silver Street studio.

Buckles and cuffs, in the Silver Street shop. (Photo/Dan Woog)

Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and the “Yellowstone” franchise have popularized “cowboy core.” They build on the foundation of a classic American tradition.

Now — thanks in part to a Westporter, in a studio and shop a couple of miles from here — you can look as cool as them.

Just ring the Old Stud Studio Shop bell. And tell ’em Leonardo DiCaprio, Lada Gaga, Mick Jagger and Anne Hathaway sent you.

(For more information click here, email info@oldstudhandmade.com, call 855-378-0859, or follow on Instagram and TikTok @oldstudhandmade.)

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