Last weekend, Your Humble Narrator and True Friend took at trip down to Toronto’s iconic leather emporium, Northbound Leather, in order to procur a couple of new sets of wrist and ankle restraints. What I needed was quite specific: I wanted sets that lock and cannot be worked loose by a bratty submissive boy or slave girl. Naturally, in the past, Northbound has been extremely reliable as a premium source of exceptional quality restraints, headgear and - of course – fetishwear.

Imagine Your Humble Narrator’s surprise and ultimate dismay to discover that my favourite leather emporium in the lovely city of Toronto really didn’t have all that much to choose from: and none of it with acceptable locking mechanisms. This isn’t a criticism of Northbound Leather at all: far from. In fact, despite what appears to be a sudden lack of wonderful toys, their store (recently re-designed and far more eye-catching) has seen a marked increase in some incredibly delicious body adornments and fetishistic wear.

I would venture to say there are few fetish-focused brick and mortar establishments where customers can walk in and be visually and wondrously assaulted by such a beavy of beautiful leather, PVC and especially latex outer and inner wear. Northbound’s latex collection, especially, seems to rival in the number of pieces available for purchase to the tried-and-true staple of leather pants, chaps, coats, corsets, gloves, hats, britches, etc. etc. etc.

My question is this: Does this reflect the current overall trend in the SM marketplace? Are more leather stations, usually associated with the production and distribution of peripherals and accessories, moving more towards fetish fashion? And on top of that, has anyone else noticed that interest and demand for latex in particular has skyrocketed?

Your Humble Narrator is anxious to know, from the general populace, if YOUR area’s stores have moved towards this trend as well? Is it a case of North America slowly and finally catching up to our colonizing cousins overseas – particularly in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany and Scandinavia? Can you share some thoughts of local establishments perhaps quietly selling out their fetish gear stocks and replacing the shelves with lovely latex, leather and/or PVC wear?

A final thought and question: does anyone else notice just how mainstream latex in particular is becoming? Over the past few weeks especially, I have walked into several “conservative” establishments and was more than a little shocked to see a pretty young clerk dressed in a pair of thigh high rubber boots and a short latex mini-skirt, top or even a dress. Does anyone else have similar experiences to share?

Of course, I still need those locking wrist and ankle restraints …

Kardynyl SynysTyr

“… Fashions fade. Style is eternal …” ~ Yves St. Laurent