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LAI Made in the USA
Luxury Accessories International (LAI) began as a leather importer in New York. Founded in 1953 by Joseph Distenfeld (under the name Disbrok, Inc.) the company imported crocodile skins from South America and sold them to makers of shoes, handbags, and other leather goods. In 1971 his son Fred joined the business and expanded the range of skins to include python from Indonesia, ostrich from South Africa, and lizard from South America. Disbrok quietly became a leader in the buying, tanning, importing, exporting, and cutting exotic skins, providing some of the most exclusive designers with their leathers, and also manufacturing belts for top fashion houses.
By 1999 many American manufacturers of luxury goods had moved their production to lower cost off-shore factories. Distenfeld recognized an opportunity: as his competitors and customers shut down their U.S. operations, he reached out to their top artisans and hired them to create his own line of luxury goods. Nine years later, Distenfeld is still committed to his philosophy of "an American company producing the finest luxury products in the U.S."
"Each piece is organically designed and engineered" says Ed Turco, chief of operations. "We follow the lines of animal-form following function-as created in, and dictated by nature." This holds true for every design executed in every skin, whether made in alligator, crocodile, ostrich, or python. "There are no short cuts with our skins" he continues. Custom dyed all over the world-from Italy to Singapore-every skin is selected by hand for cutting at the LAI manufacturing house in Long Island City, just over the Queensboro Bridge. "Everything is selected and sewn by hand here," he emphasizes. "Alligator is indigenous to the United States, the finest of which comes from Louisiana. Each alligator skin has its own ID number and its tagged with a bracelet which then accompanies it from the wild to the tanning process which its done to our specifications, and eventually back here where it is assigned to a cutting ticket that matches each skin to its intended product." The pattern is maneuvered and "interpreted" to take full advantage of the skin, tile formation or markings. The skin is then cut and "skived" by hand. At each step there is quality control. "Everyone here sees a piece from beginning to end. People ask me what we do with our defects and I say "nothing", because there are none."
Orders are individually cut and sewn, and often customized, but the LAI boutique at 35 East 65th Street, offers truly custom pieces. "If a customer requests a longer or shorter handle on a bag, or would like to have a particular silhouette made in a skin or color that is available, but is not in the current collection, we do everything possible to accommodate that. The final decision always rests with Mr. Distenfeld and our master pattern maker, and is based on a combination of aesthetics, balance, practicality, and product integrity. It is a very personalized, and personal, business."
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