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Strap Up Custom Gear Covers Queers of All Sizes

Strap Up Custom Gear Covers Queers of All Sizes

You’ve seen them around town. They proudly stand shirtless behind a small pop-up table littered with multi-colored harnesses. Or maybe you’ve seen them fitting those same harnesses on bar-goers. Often they are sporting one of their own creations, handing out business cards, and shamelessly flirting their way through Denver—all for the sake of their company, Strap Up Custom Gear.

Stephen Hook and Lou DeLucia took the traditional styles of leather harnesses, added some color, made them vegan, and set out to make people feel comfortable in sexy, fun, handcrafted gear.

“Sounds easy, right?” Delucia said after passing a pre-rolled joint to his business partner. “It ain’t. This is hard work, but we really, really love doing it. And it seems that people are loving us as well.”

He wasn’t wrong. Hook and DeLucia started Strap Up Custom Gear two years ago. After DeLucia attended bear week in Provincetown, Massachusetts, he saw a market for people who wanted fully customizable gear—preferably on the cheap but with style.

Once he got back, he convinced Hook to join him in making gear for people of all shapes and sizes. Hook was immediately on board, and together they hit Jo-Anne Fabrics. The material they landed on? Seatbelt webbing. Yes, the fabric seat belts are made out of.

One of their first harnesses was worn in bear (not the animal) porn. Another, a blue harness that is now discolored with sweat and dirt, is safely in storage in their makeshift studio.

Since their trip to Jo-Anne Fabrics and gearing up porn stars, Strap up Custom Gear has boomed with growth. Now producing large quantities of harnesses for stores in both Colorado and Florida, the duo has moved on from buying pre-printed material, and started designing their own.

“Not much seat belt material comes with paw prints or our communities’ different flag colors,” DeLucia said. “Luckily, we found a supplier who allows us to give him custom designs. It’s a match made in heaven, and it’s given us so many more options.”

Piles and piles of this seatbelt webbing litter the floor and table space in Hook’s—continually crowding—garage. Sharing the space with a green screen, a male mannequin, multiple bicycles, a grill, a huge computer display, a vintage sewing machine with enough power to rip through tightly woven polyester and nylon, a mouse, neatly organized and oddly labeled tupperware of buckles and thread, and large tubs of rolled up seat belt material, this is where they started making the harnesses, but are quickly outgrowing it.

“I want to at least keep a little bit of my garage, but it’s not looking good,” Hook said as he riffled through a box of fabric. “Honestly, I love what we do so much that I don’t mind if things get a little crowded. I just have to figure out where to put our new sewing machine.”

The small team is still looking for ways to streamline their production. As they continue to grow, they aren’t letting their lack of manpower stop them from delivering exceptional pieces every single time some places an order. Instead, they are finding better ways to mass produce. That includes a new sewing machine that will claim what little floor space is left in the garage.

“Strap Up is our baby and babies grow faster than you think,” Hook said. “A baby made with love and lot’s of joints.”

But that love doesn’t end within the walls of Hook’s garage in East Denver. The business partners are both part of the bear community, and know the importance of body image within the community that is mostly comprised of bigger, hairier men. So, naturally, they want their customers to feel comfortable in the gear they produce.

To help them better understand what styles work best for certain body shapes, they hit the town with samples and ask Denverites what feels good, and what needs changed. It’s their hands-on approach and elevated attitudes that contribute to the success of this small, local company.

But, they aren’t just designing harnesses for men. They are working with a number of women on harness designs. They make suspenders, belts, collars, cuffs, and even leashes.

“Everyone is sexy in a harness,” Hook said. “Why should the patterns come in a one-size-fits-all category? We all have so many different body shapes, and we can help figure out which pattern is right for you. Our gear is so customizable.”

It’s true. StrapUpCustomGear.com makes it easy for any user to order a custom harness. They can choose size, color, pattern, the buckles, the hoops, if they want it studded, or neon, what stitch color they want, if they want one panel of color or the whole thing, etc.

As the company continues to grow, so do the possibilities. Next stop?

“Hell, maybe you’ll see us selling collars and leashes at the farmers market! But for now, we’re just making sure people feel cute and sexy,” DeLucia said, before asking Hook for the then-second joint of the night.

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