Pete Grieco will be the first to admit that copying is a form of flattery. “But it also makes us work very hard,” notes the CEO of Stormy Leather. “We are copied by a number of people. But none of them are being creative, so every time we come up with something creative… we’re copied but not duplicated.”
Grieco’s wife Chrissy bought Stormy Leather in 2002 after opening Eurotique — a fetish store in West Palm Beach, Florida, with clothing, corsets, novelties, and bondage equipment for men and women — ten years ago.
“Almost all my leather in the store was Stormy… we bought the company because we thought it would be a fantastic fit for us,” she says. “Back then, the Stormy culture was very female-centric, and Eurotique has always been a store for couples. So the first thing we started to do was to make Stormy Leather more available, and male- and couple-friendly.”
With both stores now integrated with the same products and selling wholesale as well, Grieco quickly discovered that the biggest challenge was getting the name out in the gay community. “Stormy has always been known for quality, that was not an issue. The problem was that it was known as being lesbian-owned and female-focused."
But with a marketing push and its reputation for high-quality products, the word started to spread. Grieco notes that over the past year-and-a-half, Stormy Leather has nearly tripled the gay stores it sells to.
“It’s incredible. One of the great things is that the San Francisco community is starting to welcome us as a supplier for the gay industry, and many stores there are picking up Stormy and enjoying one key feature from us — the fact that we have forty different colors of leather,” she says. “They can go wild and pick out what color leather, what color trim, exactly what color combinations they want so they can stand out for their customer.”
Pete Grieco notes that they started to expand the men’s line in 2003 with cock-and-ball toys, restraints, and harnesses, then expanded to more modern clothing in 2004. A line of leather pants — available in cow or lamb in four different styles — as well as shorts, shirts, and vests were all added. Currently, a fashionable sports jacket for men is one of the hottest items.
“Stormy Leather was thought of as a bondage company,” he notes. “But we’re an apparel company, and we also manufacture leather accessories, items, and toys. Our main focus is the apparel side of the business, and we’re still working to change the image that Stormy is not a bondage company, but it’s an alternative lifestyle apparel company.”
The toys are made of leather, stainless steel, and rubber, with a new line of Big Boy cock rings on the way. Chrissy Grieco notes that they recently started putting those items in clamshells with men on the front, for better marketing awareness.
“If you look at the average cock ring or C-and-B toys, they’re very narrow. It’s cheap leather. It’s like an afterthought,” she says. “What we did that was so different with our cock-and-ball toys, we make it out of our high-grade leather. Everything is stitched, everything is soft, our metal rings are seamless. There’s nothing to grab, pinch, or take your mind away from where you want it to be.”
Newer items include a line of clamshell-packaged clothing like harnesses, jockstraps, and lamb boxer shorts. Items like low-rise leather pants and leather shorts were introduced to help soften the line, and prove that leather doesn’t always have to be “black, harsh, and scary.” Both note that Stormy takes the time to ensure sizing is perfect, and plan to increase complexity on items like the vest to make it more cut, with a chiseled yet designed look.
The Griecos also disclosed that they just signed a major name in the gay industry to make products for, a trend they hope to see continue. Plans are also in store to increase the branding effort for more gay male awareness, and break into more Internet sites and stores nationwide.
“Stormy in the past was high-cost, high-quality, and long-delivery,” notes Pete Grieco. “We’re no longer the highest cost on everything, and we are still the highest quality. And now we probably have some of the best delivery times in the market. When you manufacture ninety percent of your items in San Francisco, if you were a store and called us up and you had an emergency, you could get it in a couple days.”
And as far as Chrissy Grieco is concerned, all it takes is one touch to create a new customer.
“When they touch it, the look on their faces is like a revelation. It doesn’t have to be harsh, it doesn’t have to be non-quality and pinch and rub and be too skinny,” she notes. “I feel really good saying we know how to make quality leather items.”
Contact Info: StormyLeather.com; [email protected];[email protected]; stores and wholesale: 800-486-9650.
