When we decided to start doing editorial for Downplayer, it was always our hope to incorporate fashion and design into the site.  I had the privilege of interviewing luxury eye-wear designer, Shane Baum, on his new line Leisure Society and his thoughts on music, fashion, and wearing sunglasses indoors.  I hope you enjoy his candid thoughts from a fashion perspective.  Shane is famous for his work with Louis Vuitton, Paul Frank, Penguin, and Modern Amusement.  I love this new line and the beautiful branding they’ve put together to match it.

How did you get started in designer eyewear?

I was an Industrial Technology student at San Jose State University, in Northern California. My concentration was in packaging engineering. I wasn’t a particularly good student and I didn’t really like it. I learned to use AutoCAD and manipulate vector drawings. After graduation, I met a dude on the beach named Mossimo and he invited me to work for his fledgling clothing company. In the warehouse…… Everybody started at the bottom. My first day of work a 14 year old kid taught me to fold t shirts in the warehouse. My parents thought I was wasting an education and with student loans impending, admittedly, it wasn’t real promising. But the company was quickly growing and I was 22 and having fun. After about 6 months, Moss said “well you’re an engineering guy so why don’t you handle the logistics for my new eyewear division?” So, I moved over to a 20 by 20 foot cage in the warehouse and set up shop. I learned to import and export, fix frames, manage inventories and cost of goods sold, answer the phone, ship orders, customer service, in retrospect, all quite valuable when it came to starting my own company. After about four years of this, the lady that did all the cool stuff i.e. trade shows, Italy, marketing…left. I saw a window of opportunity and stayed up for 24 hours and wrote a 12 page, 5 year business plan, put it on Mossimo’s desk, the CEO’s desk, the SFO’s, etc. I got the gig and was named VP of Optics at age 26. The company went public later that spring. Then it all crashed and came apart. Truthfully, I learned more on the way down than the way up. I could go on with that but oh, yeah, design…….sorry for the 45 second bio.

You know, at the end of the day, design is just an opinion and everyone has one. To be a true designer you have to be able to articulate your opinion through a medium, be it a pencil, lump of charcoal or a computer screen. The key is to be honest with yourself and make the appropriate decisions. With leisure society it took me three years to create a frame that moved me in a certain emotional way.

What was the inspiration for Leisure Society?

Not to be melodramatic, but I believe on your deathbed, you will only think of three things:  Your family, your friends and the time you spent together.  Thus this time, these moments of absolute leisure become the defining points of your life. So, with the thought my lifetime on my mind, I started thinking about heirlooms and things that will last forever. I read an article about “Heirloom Design” that my creative director Darren DeLa Cruz gave me by Saul Griffith and became convinced that this should be true intention for our products. Our glasses are expensive ($450+) because they are made by the world’s most experienced artisanal craftsman using the finest materials known to man. Our lenses alone cost us more than most company’s entire products. No gimmicks here.  Just a commitment to make stuff that will last forever.

And oh, for the record, Leisure Society is neither class nor income specific.  In our minds, all moments of enjoyment and absolute leisure can be shared by anyone in any place.  None of us here at leisure society come from any kind of wealth.  That said, we prefer private jets to commercial airlines and mountain streams to 5 star hotel pools.  The juxtaposition of wealth, luxury, nature, quality of life, DIY integrity and “down home ethics” more or less define our company.

What sets Leisure Society apart from other luxury eyewear?

We design with total commitment to our heirloom beliefs. It must be timeless, of exceptional taste and uncompromising quality. We sell in only the finest stores and back the frames with a lifetime of support and service. Everything is made with the best of the best. Leather cases, gold plated titanium and high tech lenses. Integrity is our only guide, excellence our only goal. Sounds like a 1960’s ad campaign, but you know, we’ve got to get back to a time where quality matters. Right? I mean quality is remembered, price is forgotten.

What kind of music would you say best represents the creative vision and vibe of Leisure Society?

Our company is 90% indie, but for leisure society, I’d say there are healthy doses of mid century jazz and orchestral influence.  Herb Albert, Les Baxter, Hugo Winterhalter, Henry Mancini, George Shearing, Les Paul and Mary Pickford.  I wouldn’t go as far as easy listening but it is certain that some soundtracks go better with reading a book or swimming in a mountain stream.

How do you see music influencing fashion and fashion influencing music?

Well, musicians are among the most creative humans on the planet.  Given that the very definition of integrity rests upon originality and a unique approach to the creative process, I think many musicians view fashion as a credible extension of their art, a reflection of their persona.

Music certainly influences fashion as well.  You know, maybe when a fourteen year old kid who is a classically trained pianist but obsessed with Bauhaus. She see’s a couple of 80’s live concerts on you tube and wants to go back that moment in time when new wave was just starting to happen…..you know then becomes infatuated with trying to recreate that look with 2010 sensibilities and her own signature.  One Cobra Snake flash later and she’s on a ‘trend wall’ at Abercrombie and Fitch……Not necessarily the most romantic interpretation, but true none the less.

If you could have one musician be a spokesperson for your brand, who would it be and why?

Ben Gibbard. He’s sweet, kind, driven, talented, worldly, humble, creative, courageous and about any other word that most would like to etch on their gravestones.

Sunglasses indoors.  Cool or not cool?

Well shit, You know, if you’re a bit worse for the wear after a rough night and want to, you know, get away from it all while not getting away from it all, I guess its plausible. That said, just know that a lot of people are thinking, “what a fucking asshole”……..

What are you listening to now?

Early 1930’s Hawaiian/Polynesian ukulele/slide guitar stuff, Tau Mau, King Benny Nawahi, Sol Hoopii Quartet…….fast forward to more recent stuff and I enjoy The Whitest Boy Alive, James Fletcher, Beach Fossils, The Drums, Les Savy Fav, Guided by Voices/Bob Pollard, The Black Keys, Tame Impala, Wild Nothing and the Shin’s.