The NY Times
By WILLIAM VAN METER
A sign on the front door warns: “Must be 21 to Enter.” It doesn’t portend a traditional shopping experience.
Yes, the Leather Man carries an array of intimate adult devices and ephemera, and is not for the uptight. But it is far from being just a gay “sex shop,” which many passers-by assume.
In April, the Christopher Street store will celebrate its 50th anniversary, a remarkable achievement for an independent mom-and-pop (or in this case, pop-and-pop) in the gentrified West Village.
But the half-century milestone, and the store itself, encompass much more. The Leather Man, which predates the 1969 Stonewall riots, traces the evolution of modern gay culture, from substrata of society to mainstream.
Among the leather items the store makes and sells are button-down uniform shirts, chaps, jock straps, teddy bears, whips, belts and traditional motorcycle gear like “The Wild One” jackets and boots. The dressing rooms even have black leather curtains.
The shop is renowned for its tailored-to-fit pants, nonpareil in their construction and authenticity, and staff craftsmen will customize virtually anything. Love a harness but want the studs silver instead of black? No problem.
The Leather Man is now in its most bustling season. It is the go-to outfitter for participants in the annual bacchanalian dance event known as the Black Party: Imagine Pan and Caligula producing a rave for gay men. It will take place this weekend in a Brooklyn warehouse, and a lot of harnesses will be involved.
“It’s like our Christmas,” said the manager Max Gregory, who has been with the store since 1995.
The level of customer service at the Leather Man is akin to a department store in a 1930s Hollywood film, albeit kinkier. The staff is knowledgeable and friendly no matter how personal or extreme a patron’s inquiries.
“That’s what’s enabled us to stick around for 50 years,” Mr. Gregory said. “During the last decade, with the rise of online stores, the market has been flooded with cheap fetish stuff. The quality of the leather and the customer service people come here and get exactly what they want.”
That clientele is singular. “There are different types of customers,” said AJ Afano, a designer and salesman at the shop. “From Metallica listeners, to your basic sirs and boys who are part of the leather scene, to people who just want a nice leash for their Chihuahua.” Apart from the fetish community and leather dilettantes, the store also caters to a sizable swath of fashion insiders.
“They make jackets and pants built to last,” said the fashion consultant Nick Wooster. “There is nothing disposable or trend driven about them. It’s leather and can last forever, and it came out of uniform culture, which factored prominently in the gay archetype. But it’s a fashion inspiration today for all men’s wear designers and buyers.” …