Adam Senatori
Oliver Sell, onsite on King Street, creating luxury leather goods.
First Settlement Goods takes the “made local, buy local” philosophy to a new level.
This line of high-quality, hand-stitched small leather products is crafted exclusively for downtown’s Context by Madison artisan Oliver Sell. And every wallet, belt and watchstrap in the line is produced, as might be expected, in the brand’s namesake neighborhood — roughly bounded by Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Blair Street, East Washington Avenue and John Nolen Drive. Sell does all his cutting, waxing and polishing in an open-air workshop located in the atrium of the historic King Street Arcade, immediately outside of Context’s side door.
Sell stumbled onto leather work six years ago when working as a bike mechanic at the now defunct Williamson Bicycle Works. “I noticed with all the bending and moving around I was doing that my cheap belts kept wearing out,” says the self-described tinkerer. “So I decided to try my hand at making my own.”
Soon after, friends and relatives were clamoring for their own versions. He’s self-taught (“You can learn a lot on YouTube,” he says). Soon he began to sell his goods online.
In the spring of 2010, a friend introduced Sell to Ryan Huber, co-owner of Context. A fast friendship and business partnership was formed. “We immediately started discussing designs for Context,” says Huber. “I knew the look and quality of the work Oliver was creating was a perfect fit for the store.”
The products became top sellers for the store, and this past summer Huber came up with the idea to rebrand the small leather goods line. “Now, every time someone takes out his wallet or takes off his belt and sees the ‘First Settlement Goods’ name stamp inside, we emphasize our local nature,” says Huber. “And with Oliver sitting outside our door, our locality is emphasized even more.”
Sell enjoys working right next to the store and the easy communication it fosters between him and customers.
He works only with high-quality leathers, and has dabbled with exotics like Nile crocodile. His current leather of choice is shell cordovan, a polished muscle membrane sourced from a horse’s posterior. “This stuff isn’t cheap,” he notes (a two-pocket cordovan leather wallet runs $175, a bridle leather belt starts at $115), but he’s “appreciative that there’s a growing awareness that nice stuff made out of high-quality materials just wears better.”
Huber likes that Context is able to host an artisan hand-crafting luxury goods downtown. But he also enjoys the prospect of the product’s reach: “It’s kind of wild to think that there’s some guy walking around Australia with the words ‘First Settlement Goods’ stamped around his waist.”
First Settlement Goods, Context Clothing, 113 King St., 608-250-0113, contextclothing.com/brands/first-settlement-goods