2008 Woodie Awards
Scrolling belt buckles make 'hip' new trend
Accessories have reached a new level of personalization with scrolling LED belt buckles, which allow users to program and wear individualized messages.
Kristin Reichardt
Issue date: 7/20/05 Section: Arts & Life
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Scrolling LED belt buckles in vibrant colors allow hipsters to display personalized messages in rhinestone-studded frames.
The battery-powered buckles hold six programmable messages of up to 512 characters, according to Alex Ressi, an online scrolling buckle distributor in Manhattan.
Some distributors sell entire packages, including the buckle, belt and batteries, while others sell only the buckles.
The buckles adorn waists from New York City to Los Angeles, and are sold on Web sites such as NYCScrolls.com or ScrollingBuckle.com.
The Independent Collegian met Ressi at Starbucks on the corner of 34th Street and 5th Avenue in New York City to discuss this growing trend.
Ressi, 28, founder and owner of NYC Scrolls, said he began selling the buckles in February after he saw a woman wearing one on the subway. Immediately noticing the product's personalization and all-around fashion appeal, Ressi partnered with his girlfriend, Meredith Abreu, 28, to sell the buckles online a month after he first saw them, he said.
"It's such a great product to really be seen and stand out," he said of the buckles, which range in price from $29.99 to $59.99. "It's just one of those things that lets your personality through, for good or bad."
Ressi said the LED accessory concept originated in the hip-hop culture, and began with dog tag necklaces before moving to the buckles.
While he said the buckles are safe to call a trend, he doesn't foresee them lasting more than a year from now.
"It's a novelty thing," he said. "It really deteriorates quickly."
The buckles grabbed attention on the West Coast before they hit New York City, according to David Levich of Icedoutgear.com.
"They started getting hot in December, 2004," said Levich, head of sales for the Southern-California-based company.
Both Levich and Ressi said the products are moving inland from the coasts and becoming popular in the Midwest, especially among college students.
"I wish that I had these around in college," Ressi said. "There's just so much fun that you can have with these on a college campus."
Jordan Rhodes, a freshman majoring in civil engineering, agreed the belt buckles hold an attractive element of fun, and said they would appeal most to people who just like to have fun with their style.
While Rhodes said she thinks the scrolling belt buckles are a little over-the-top and isn't sure how many places students could actually wear them, she said she thinks they look more fun than gaudy.
"It's a cool idea," she said. "Whoever came up with it is really original."
Other students offered conflicting opinions.
"Kind of unnecessarily over-the-top," is how Laura Halpin, a junior majoring in biology and philosophy, described the buckles. "I don't see why you have to make some kind of statement on your belt."
The buckles' success in the Midwestern market depends largely on the fashion taste of the individuals who will purchase them and the types of stores willing to carry the products, Haplin said.
She added the buckles probably do not have much of a chance in the Midwest, she added.
"I don't know that it would be profitable for them to market that type of trend in a place where being fashionable isn't all that important," she said.
While the buckles will have their time in the Midwestern fashion limelight, they will probably not be as intensely popular as on the Coasts, said Rob Krasa, a senior majoring in psychology.
"It just seems like it's a different kind of lifestyle here," he said. "You'd be more likely to see a big Texas belt buckle here than an LED message belt buckle."
Although icedoutgear.com saw a rise in the buckles' Midwestern popularity, Levich said the market has declined since the East Coast distributors flooded the market.
He said he expects the product to have one final push at Christmastime before declining for good, making way for a new LED accessory.
"They're flashy," he said. "You go anywhere you get noticed."
He said the buckles will appeal to college students because they're a fun, party item.
"I believe it could be [appealing to] anyone who likes attention," Levich said.
Krasa said he thinks the buckles, which he described as flashy and unnecessary, would appeal more to white urban men than any other demographic.
"I picture someone with a trucker hat and a popped collar and that belt buckle," he said.
Get Hip: where to find scrolling belt buckles
- NYC Scrolls
- Prices range from $29.99 to $59.99.
- Dog tag necklaces are also available.
- Visit www.nycscrolls.com to order or for more information.
- Iced Out Gear