I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner—after all, the Paper of Record has been reporting on the perhaps inevitable confluence of fashion and the rise of cycling (don't call it a trend) for the past couple years, including a particularly telling September 2009 article entitled "Whose Bike Are You Wearing?" In other words, as much as couture has picked up on the growing popularity of biking, we've seen far less of the opposite.
Enter Carson Leh's beautifully brogued bicycle saddles, which have far more in common with handmade dress shoes than, say, a $20,000 Hublot × BMC. Rather, they hearken back to the signature details of oxfords and derbys, a logical intersection of Leh's obsession with vintage footwear and his passion for cycling. Alden Seats is the result, and his inaugural collection of saddles features wingtip-worthy patterns and faux-quilting for a specific contingent of style-conscious cyclists. (As a member of that target audience, I was interested to learn that the now-ornamental perforations originally served as a drainage system for leather shoes intended for wet terrain.)
Like Melbourne's Busyman Bicycles, Leh started out by refurbishing existing saddles with custom patterns. Thus, Alden seats are a "line of ready-to-ride leather covered seats that maintain and improve the same hand made quality and style of my current custom seats."
There will be three seat shapes to start, with four leather colors and nine distinct designs. Styles will include a retro road and track seat, a Dutch-style comfort seat and a slim Pivotal style BMX and MTB seat. These three styles cover the main markets of cycling. Alden would primarily be centered around the rapidly growing community of cyclists purchasing lightweight Dutch-style city bikes and custom bike builders of road and track bikes.
Video after the click...
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