Al Bane for Leather In Vegas!
Al Bane for Leather In Vegas!
Written by Alison “MetalBabe” Cohen
Photos by Leah Burlington Photography
(Originally published July 1st, 2016 in Sin City Presents Magazine)
Al Bane has dedicated the past 35 years of his life to creating custom-design leather clothing and accessories. He opened his first leather shop on Hollywood Blvd. in 1981 and spent thirteen years with a specialty merch booth inside Gazarri’s nightclub on the Sunset Strip during its prime. Currently, Al Bane for Leather has a warehouse/showroom located in North Hollywood, CA. and just created a collection for Rodeo Raggz in Las Vegas.
ALISON “METALBABE” COHEN: Let’s start off by talking about your latest venture, Rodeo Raggz. How did the store come together, and what is the concept?
AL BANE: I had been looking for an opportunity outside of the Los Angeles area to open and establish a new business and came across Cindy Sherman during that search, who initially asked me to design and make her a wedding dress. She started out being my client and as we started talking about wedding dresses and how to design them, she told me she was going to open a clothing boutique and wanted to talk to me about putting some of my clothing in there.
So basically I made a collection of clothing for her including five-pocket leather pants, lace-up crotch pants, and lace-up side seams… Stuff with fringe on them. All the traditional 80’s era rock n’ roll clothing. We showcased that collection for her grand opening and are currently evolving that collection to the next phase.
Rodeo Raggz is a clothing store, owned and operated by Cindy Sherman, and I have a showroom in her boutique. They stock all kinds of cool rock and roll clothing and accessories. Some of the products include Metal BIRD (Metal Babe Mayhem), Rock Roll-N-Soul, Karma, Affliction, and Miss Me Jeans… Along with Al Bane for Leather.
Las Vegas has an enormous music community. Everything from rock and roll to jazz to rhythm and blues. Rodeo Raggz is centrally located, specializing in trendy rock and roll apparel. Everything a musician could need for the road or for just hanging out.
In addition, I am very concerned about the water crisis and have been looking for somewhere to go for a while now. I was born and raised in southern California and Los Angeles is my home, but if the governor calls a state of emergency, all the property taxes will immediately triple, and it will be unaffordable for most people live and work in southern California. I’ve come across opportunities in Seattle, Paris, Tokyo, and more, but I don’t want to be far away from my children. Las Vegas seemed like the ideal location.
METAL BABE: That sounds great. Vegas is actually a lot closer and easier to get to than the other places you mentioned too. Tell me more about Cindy and the store.
AL BANE: Cindy Sherman is the owner there, and she’s always had this ‘passion for fashion.’ We are making all this stuff for her showroom, and we’re labeling it Rodeo Raggz by Al Bane for Leather. So it’s giving her a little credit on the products that we’re manufacturing specifically for her. She gives a little bit of input, and will give suggestions such as, “I like it, but I’d like to see it with gold studs instead of silver studs. I think a little bit lower waistband, or higher waistband, might be a little nicer.” We communicate like that and exercise those options for her.
METAL BABE: Can you tell me a little bit more about the collection itself, and what you have for men and women?
AL BANE: We’re starting everything with classic styles. So for girls, we’re making different skirts, including a pencil skirt, a cheerleader skirt, and an A-Line skirt. We are also making corset dresses. One of the corset dresses I make a lot of has a high-low hem, with one section of the hem higher so it has a diagonal cut to it. However, my favorite dress to make is high in the front and low in the back like a tuxedo tail, which is called the ‘Tuxedo Dress.’
METAL BABE: That’s great. Tell me about the grand opening event you had recently. From the photos I saw, it looked like a great time with bands and barbeque.
AL BANE: It was a good party. We had a lot of people coming through. We had quite a few bands perform, including Stereo Love, Jeff and Sheri Young, ( I’m not sure what they call their act.) Jeff Duncan’s band Electric Dynamite, Winter’s Call, Pretty Boy Floyd, The Saints of Las Vegas. There was a duet Greg and Mary too.
Some friends that I didn’t expect to see there showed up. It was a good time, and a lot of people came in and saw the showroom and did their FaceBook posts and stuff, so there were lots of pictures, and tagging. All that good social media kind of stuff. It worked out great and we had fun.
METAL BABE: It looked like a lot of fun. I was so happy to see Metal Babe Mayhem in some of the pictures too! Thank you so much for making that happen for me!
AL BANE: Well you know that I would do absolutely anything for you. I believe in your product and I stand behind you one hundred percent. So thanks for your friendship and participation.
METAL BABE: Thank you so much. I really appreciate your friendship and support. In closing, what would you like to say to our readers?
AL BANE: Come see us at our North Hollywood location, where we do all of our manufacturing, or pop into Rodeo Raggz when you’re in Las Vegas. Also, if you are interested in learning how to operate industrial sewing equipment, I’m helping out my friends at The Leather Machine Company by running a forum on FaceBook called Tips and Tricks with Cobra Class Leather Working Equipment. I do instructional videos that teach people how to maintain and operate the equipment.
METAL BABE: Speaking of sewing and manufacturing, do you have a favorite sewing machine?
AL BANE: After quite a few trials and tribulations I found The Leather Machine Company, which are located in Ontario, CA. They have been extremely helpful, they freely distribute all the information needed, and will even print up a tutorial and send it to me if I am having difficulties.
METAL BABE: Thanks again Al, for your time, and for being a part of Sin City Presents. We are excited to have your presence in Vegas and will be shopping at Rodeo Raggz again soon!
Links:
FaceBook: Al Bane for Leather
Tips and Tricks with Cobra Class Leather Working
http://albaneforleather.net/
