About this project
Currently Alden Seats makes custom brogue style hand made seats to order for small shops and individuals. Our saddles are made from top quality leather for incredible durability and longevity.
The goal for Alden in 2012 is to premiere a line of ready to ride leather covered seats that maintain and improve the same hand made quality and style of my current custom seats. There will be three seat shapes to start, with four leather colors and nine distinct designs. Styles will include a retro road and track seat, A dutch style comfort seat and a slim Pivotal style BMX and MTB seat. These three styles cover the main markets of cycling. Alden would primarily be centered around the rapidly growing community of cyclists purchasing light weight dutch style city bikes and custom bike builders of road and track bikes.
In order to maintain quality and the unique craftsman character of the brand. Every seat we make will be finished in California, our hides will be embroidered, laser cut and upholstered there. Although our goal is to have a entirely USA made product, almost all seat manufacturing occurs in China and Taiwan so seat bases will be purchased from those sources and all leather work will be completed in California.
Leather will be sourced from USA based tanneries that have the best environmental record and use the newest non toxic tanning processes. The ultimate goal is to always strive to create the most environmentally friendly product
Alden’s goal will also eventually feature designs using high quality leather alternatives like waxed hemp, glazed cotton and recycled Ultra-suede.
The funding Alden Seats is gaining through Kick Starter is to cover the cost of manufacturing, the purchase of seat blanks, leather, & tooling for our first production run.
Thanks for Checking out our project I hope you decide to donate.
Carson Leh
FAQ
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Thats kind of a complicated question right now. I can tell you that our hope is that seats will retail around $80-$100 and go up from there. If you are interested in a custom seat please email for pricing.
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In most cases yes, pricing is variable depending on what you have in mind.
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Like any fine leather product Alden Seats require maintenance. You should regularly polish your seat with clear shoe polish or mink oil. You should not store your seat in direct sunlight or allow it to get wet for long periods of time.
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Alden Seats have been extensively tested in a variety of cycling applications and use 3mm thick leather. The seat on my BMX bike has withstood numerous crashes and heavy contact with gravel, concrete and dirt with no visible signs of damage. Brush it off and polish any scratch away.
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There will be 4 leather colors/textures available
Smooth-grain Black Walnut,
Smooth-grain Chili Red,
Scotch-grain Coffee brown,
Smooth -grain Caramel.
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Alden Seats does not offer a traditional warranty. We do offer a take back and reupholstering service for all our products. This means you can send back your seat and for a fee we re-upholster it. You can also upgrade your seat to a limited edition or custom design for a discounted rate.
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Two main reasons, first it allows us to stand behind our product while still being reasonable about it’s lifespan. This also shields against warranty abuse.
The second reason is sustainability, we would rather give our product a second life than see it end up in the trash.
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What’s sustainable about plastic seats covered in leather?
There are many reasons leather is ideal for seats. It’s one of the most durable resilient materials on the planet that has been in used since the dawn of man. It is a far longer lasting material than the common fabrics used today. The leather industry is changing rapidly due to for consumer demand for environmentally conscientious production. There are now 100% solar powered tanneries that produce leather with dramatically smaller environmental footprint. There are also new non-toxic bio-degradable tanning chemicals that have replaced the old toxic process.
The other components of our seat are all recyclable and ideally will all be sourced as 100% recycled. Using recycled materials dramatically reduces the amount of embodied energy required to make our seats. Ideally none of our seats will be thrown away by their owners. If a seat cannot be repaired through our take back program, Excelsior will ensure that all the components are properly recycled and returned to the technical material cycle to be used again.
Through this system we can make a superior product that is durable product that at the end of it’s life can be as environmentally friendly as possible. Alden Seats will continue to take advantage of new technologies and materials that reduce our environmental footprint.
Aside from making beautiful seats Alden's goal is to always create a environmentally sustainable product. Through sustainable materials, alternative energy, recycling, and tough long lasting seats that don't go out of style.
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My full name is Carson Alden Leh. I wanted to create a brand name that was still part of who I was with them being "designer named" My last name Leh is always mispronounced so I settled on using my middle name.
Have a question? If the info above doesn't help, you can ask the project creator directly.
52
Backers
$7,908
pledged of $7,500 goal
0
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Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on February 27.
Pledge $1 or more Pledge $1 or more
Pledge a dollar if you can! Donate at least a buck and you will have access to our pre-sale before our website launches and get your hands on a seat before all those silly non-donors do!
Pledge $10 or more Pledge $10 or more
Pledge $10 and receive a large size Pelican Logo sticker.
Pledge $30 or more Pledge $30 or more
Pledge $30 and receive a tabloid sized poster print of the Pelican Logo design.
Pledge $60 or more Pledge $60 or more
Pledge $60 and receive a ALDEN Pelican Logo T-shirt & poster print.
Pledge $100 or more Pledge $100 or more
Pledge a $100 bucks! You will receive a code for $100 to spend in our soon to be launched web store. This pledge amount is about the average the price of my new seats. You pledge this amount and you pre-buy a seat. Other awards don't apply to this donation level.
Pledge $222 or more Pledge $222 or more
Pledge $222 and receive a limited edition Color Pelican logo T-shirt and a 1st production run ALDEN seat.
Pledge $500 or more Pledge $500 or more
Pledge $500 or more and receive a fully custom hand made ALDEN seat with your choice of leather color, design and seat type. Each seat will come with a hand stamped copper plate with limited edition # and your name. This Donation level also includes a specialty discharge silkscreen version of the ALDEN Pelican Logo T-shirt & extra large poster print.
Pledge $1,000 or more Pledge $1,000 or more
Get ahold of me directly to discuss donation and rewards.
Project By
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Son of the Pacific Coast, born in Marin County, raised in beautiful Port Townsend Washington and a graduate of Western Washington University. I'm currently enjoying America's Riviera known as West LA. I spend my summers rafting the great rivers of the west from Arizona to Alaska. When not trying my hands at winemaking, architecture, and everything in-between, you can find me jumping curb cuts on my bike, eating tamales and climbing the waterfalls in Malibu.
