Hung Chains

In this chaotic day and age, when a woman’s purse can host a toddler’s stay with continental breakfast, the daily tumultuous tasks boil down to the most minimal annoyances like the ever-popular where-are-my-sunglasses. Solution: strap those suckers to you and in the process add another adornment to your already spectacular outfit. HungChains, birthed by Rachel Lauren Bleemer and Alexandra Goodstone, is a modern but exciting take on a 50s staple. “The idea is to never lose your shades while looking good at the same time.” An accessory along with a necessity–no outfit is complete without jewelry or an accent piece–these chains attached to a pair of sunglasses or optical eyewear make it possible to take the specs off and hang them from the neck, nullifying the age old battle with the bottom of the purse or the dreaded ass-to-sunglasses epidemic.

The crafting tactics make the pieces unique and green; the packaging is composed of reused cigarette packs that are spray-painted. The pieces consist of gold, copper, silver metals and linked chains, beads, charms, fluorescent cords, leather bits, and vintage silk scarves that are braided or weaved in between the chains, leaving us with very unique one of a kind, hand made, pieces. There’s a piece to fit just about every customer, whether one’s more elegant and refined–especially if you have an edgy side; whiskey-on-the-rocks, in-a-wine-glass-please–or consider yourself fun and flirty, flashy and ballin’ or just dangerous, either way, when it comes down to how you express yourself through what you are wearing, there’s a chain waiting for you.

Name: Alexandra Goodstone
Nationality: American
Age: 22
Profession: Manager at Hopstop by day…
Dream: Utter Bliss. And for HungChains to get huge, and to win the lottery, and to travel the world, and, and and…
Hero: My Mom
Favorite Thing: my HungChain, of course haha

Name: Rachel Lauren Bleemer
Nationality: Italian American
Age: forever young
Profession: Slanging HungChains & Marketing Director at Miami International Film Festival.
Dream: to make an impact in this strange world
Hero: My dad from rags to riches.
Favorite Thing: Standing on my balcony every morning and watching this Magic City grow. So inspiring

Living in the land of vampires and bottle suckers, how do you maintain your ambitions and what fuels the creative fires?
-Starts rapping –

“Regulators
We regulate any stealing of his property
And we damn good too
But you cant be any geek off the street,
Gotta be handy with the steel if you know what I mean, earn your keep!
Regulators!!! Mount up!”

You need to have tough skin in this city; I’ve learned more about how to do business in the past few months than any book. Lots of empty promises, people will disappoint you. Stay focused but have fun- nothing ventured nothing gained. I believe in myself and my product and that is fuel to keep me going.”

You are too much, so, with that said, what’s your, I’m assuming you actually have one, day-life consist of?
Roll out of bed wipe off lasts nights make up from under my eyes, walk the dog, check e-mails/social network, go into the office, do my work but secretly instant message Alex about HungChains, send out orders, boxing class. Then, depending on the day, some sort of social activity or cable TV. Rinse and repeat.

3. The names for the chains are such good quips, they give me such an imaginative picture in my head, does the chain inspire the name or vice versa?
The chains inspire the names. We love puns, innuendos; word play is fun! We try to add some pizzazz to all aspects of hung from the packaging to the products themselves.

Everything is one of a kind hand made, but do you produce replicas? When someone orders one of the chains you just don’t remove it from the site, eh?
It depends on the chain. We stick to the same designs but use different materials. We recycle old necklaces, bag chains, silk scarves, from various flea markets and vintage stores in Miami & NYC. The inventory on those is small, so if you find a chain you love grab it before someone else does.

I think its spectacular you chose cigarette packs to use as your boxes to hold the chains, what sparked this idea? And how much would you say you smoked, if at all?
Since HungChains is a product so unique it couldn’t be packaged into something ordinary. We were looking into some sort of “green” packaging but costs were high. Then light bulb went off while gazing at a cigarette box that was left rotting in the street–recycling a product that’s durable and free? We went with it and it gets just as much praise as the chains.

At this point are you collecting packs from your smoking friends and others in your life?
I’m not a cigarette smoker, I’ve tried but it just doesn’t do it. Luckily/unluckily I know enough smokers that have provided me with bags full of packs. One guy told me that because he saved his boxes, he realized how much he smokes and quit. Everyone has their vices, I’m not promoting cigarettes but it’s definitely a positive aspect to come out of it.

South Beach and Miami, at this point, I can say has been hung. Working with Are Bernard means Atlanta is soon to be hung and with Alexandra in New York, she’s got them hung up. Is there anything in the making for a global campaign or boutique?
We want the world to be Hung! I wake up in the middle of the night with different ideas and products; the future will have more in store so stay tuned.

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