Will Leather Goods (WLG), an Oregon-based leather brand that specializes in men’s and women’s handcrafted bags and accessories, will open its eighth and newest shop in Detroit’s Midtown, the company’s first location in the Midwest.
The grand opening announcement was made by William Adler, company founder, CEO and creative director, who is a native Detroiter.
The new, 9,000-square-foot retail experience store is located in Midtown at 4120 2nd Avenue, in the former Tomboy super market building.
The store was designed by Birmingham, Mich.-based-architects, McIntosh Poris Associates and Wiliam Adler, and the build-out was completed by local craftsman from Micco Construction (Pontiac) and Architectural Salvage Warehouse Detroit.
The WLG Detroit location will feature vintage and new belts, bags, wallets, home goods and hats priced between $45 and $1,200. All WLG products with a lifetime guarantee. In addition, the store will include a WLG Coffee Station and Robert Adler Community Art Gallery, which features rotating shows from local- and nationally-recognized artists and photographers. The Gallery’s first show will feature noted 1960s American fashion and celebrity photographer, Mark Shaw.
Adler, who was born and raised in Northwest Detroit, selected his hometown to round out his growing company’s 2015 retail portfolio. The Detroit store joins New York City and three WLG locations in Portland, Ore., as well as a hometown store in Eugene, Ore. and a flagship location in Venice Beach, Calif., Plans also are underway for a new WLG opening soon in San Francisco.
Will Leather Goods’ social initiative, Give Will, founded on the belief that every child deserves a bag to carry their dreams, is a 
program designed to support students in underfunded public elementary schools across America through in-kind backpack donations.
Adler, whose philanthropic mission is central to the company’s culture, designed a capsule collection of backpacks especially for the program, and each colorful bag features a space for students to write both their name and their dream, to act as a reminder to keep working toward their goals. Over the next five years, WLG has committed to donate 500,000 backpacks across the U.S. To mark the opening of WLG’s Detroit location, Give Will will make a donation to every student at Adler’s grade school alma mater, Vernor Elementary School, and to every student at all Cornerstone Schools in every grade, K – 12.
“I am proud and humbled to be returning to Detroit, to the city that made me who I am today, and to be able to share the quality, passion and integrity that the Will Leather Goods brand represents with the people of Detroit,” said Adler. “We look forward to much success in our newest location, but just knowing that Will Leather Goods is playing a small part in the rebirth and growth of Midtown, and that we’re helping some very deserving area students, is a reward onto itself.”
Will Leather Goods Detroit was made possible through the financial resources of IFF, Invest Detroit, Detroit Development Fund and support from the non-profit planning and development organization, Midtown Detroit Inc. (MDI), and its leader Susan Mosey.
“MDI is excited to have Will Leather Goods choose Midtown Detroit as its first Midwest location,” said Mosey “This opening signals growing interest by national boutique retailers in the Midtown district.”
For more on Will Leather Goods, visit www.willleathergoods.com.
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