Misstropolis

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

A Buckle is Forever: the Kale Miles Story

by Robin Hauck

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Bill Miles is a man with style; a man with taste, patience and a discriminating eye. A commercial fashion photographer, he values attention to detail, and the importance of craftsmanship and timelessness in works of art and style pieces. But for quite a long time, he couldn’t find a good belt.

As he traveled all over the world, Miles found a depressing lack of interesting accessories for styling men’s fashion shoots. He wanted unique handmade pieces, but everything he found was “cookie-cutter, utilitarian, and uninteresting.” He discovered that even top designers license their names to mass manufacturers, and it showed.

Seizing on the opportunity, Miles founded Kale Miles along with two partners, to create a brand of men’s accessories that are “artful, beautifully designed, and painstakingly crafted.” Misstropolis spoke with the artist recently and got the skinny on his new company, where one gets ahold of raw platinum, and the most expensive belt in the world.

M – What was your goal in launching Kale Miles?
BM - Our mission is to elevate a man’s expression of style through artisan design. 

M - Your production is very labor intensive, what steps do you go through to make a piece?
BM - All the designs are sketched, approved, then sculpted out of wax and re-worked about 3-4 times. Next we make a metal “master” and from this, a rubber mold. The molten metals are then poured into this mold to create the cuffs and buckles. Finally, the cooled pieces are hand-finished with proprietary chemicals and antiquing techniques to give them their “lived-in” patina. Lastly, of course, they are paired with leathers from Italy and America and stitched by hand.

M - Whereabouts does one procure raw platinum?
BM - Platinum comes from primarily from Russia, and we get it from a refiner - which is an outlet that takes money in for metal and also lets you trade it in for cash - like a metal bank. The platinum comes in easily meltable grain form or small beads. Equiptment needed - a huge torch, acelyline/oxygen. Just as we choose sculptor’s bronze over conventional bronze or brass, because of the richer tonality and pliability, our platinum is a special grade of purity.  We also chose only a few designs to produce in platinum; the metal is very heavy, and some of the larger designs would simply be too cumbersome to wear!

In the 18th century, King Louis XV of France declared platinum “the only metal fit for a king.” In the origins of photography, platinum was (and still is) the preferred material of fine-art printmakers in producing the most rich and detailed archival photographic prints.  Working with platinum requires special skills and tools; our artisans are very experienced in pouring and finishing this rare metal, creating a collection without peer.

M - Do you do all the designs?
BM - Designs are collaborations of the three of us.

M – Why belts?
BM - Men have few opportunities to express themselves stylistically. Accessories are an important reflection of taste. With the idea of an heirloom watch in mind, we set out to create a collection of pure platinum buckles, that can be passed down to future generations, and will have intrinsic value in the rare metal that transcends the art of the piece. I believe that these belts, selling at $15,000 each, are the most expensive in the world, the pinnacle of the luxury market.

M - What have you heard from your customers?

BM - So far, customers have been blown away--very receptive and encouraging. It will be interesting to see what designs sell best as we move into
designing the next collection.

M - Who is wearing the “most expensive belt in the world?”

BM - So far, we have not sold any platinum belts, but this offering is very new. I can tell you that the actor Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights star) is wearing our rail design belt, and never takes it off!

M - Are you inspired by anything in particular - did you find antiques or classics that
you liked?

BM - We are inspired by everything - vintage belts, cars, architecture,
and furniture details.

Kale Miles
http://www.kalemiles.com/

*All photos by Bill Miles. http://www.greenhousereps.com/