by: Carrie Reeder
Leather wristbands & bracelets started to come into popularity about 3 or 4 years ago. Celebrities started to wear them. Slowly, the general population started to wear them a little. Soon, they become no longer an accessory that was gothic or extreme, the more conservative leather wristbands and bracelets were becoming common among people with many different fashion tastes.
Leather cuff watches are a related accessory to leather wristbands. Cuff watches are leather band watches with wide leather bands, usually about 1.5-3 inches wide, as shown on http://www.thelevelcollection.com. About 3 years ago, there were about 100 cuff watches available for sale on ebay. As their popularity increased over the last 3 years, there are now over 3500 cuff watches available for sale on ebay.
Leather wristbands, cuffs and cuff watches have become a fashion necessity these days. Nowadays, there are many celebrities with all kinds of different fashion tastes who wear them. Leather bands is an accessory that has gone from having an extreme or punk stigma, to being completely necessary to mainstream fashion.
Leather wrist accessories are no longer popular with just men. Women are wearing them almost as much as the men now. There are women's leather cuff watches and leather bracelets available in most clothing stores now.
There are many different kinds of leather bands available in stores now. For women, colored leather or suede bracelets and watch bands are popular. For men, it is popular for the bands to be a little wider, 2 inches or more. With a leather wristband or cuff watch band, it is popular now for the band to have a lot of texture, layers of leather, stitching or weaving.
Also, it has become quite popular for people to have their initials, name or a phrase engraved into the leather. There are many places available online that can do that now.
Three years ago, leather wrist accessories became available online with a much better selection than what was available in most retail stores. The retail stores had quite a delay before they figured out what people really wanted in a leather band.
I spotted the leather band trend about 3 years ago and could see the online selections keeping pace with the demand, but it took about another year or two before the retail stores started to come out with what the customers were really looking for in a leather band. In my opinion, most retail stores are still working on figuring out what is popular. I don't think they have quite figured it out yet. I think the selection for leather bands is much better online than what is available in retail stores.
I see this leather band trend as being one that will not die anytime soon. I see the styles evolving and changing, even now. I think the styles will continue to change over the years, but, I think the popularity of leather wristbands and wide leather cuff watches, as shown on http://www.thelevelcollection.com, is here to stay, at least for the next decade or two.