Pants on the Ground, Pants on the Ground..Looking like a Foooo! with your pants on the ground!!!

Sorry, I digress.  We ran across this next item while watching Conan  (video here) the other day.  And while we don’t know if it will ever take off, it gets points for giving it the old college try. Subs ($29.99) is basically a belt, with garter like attachments that you can hook to your saggy pants.  Homies, now you can sag with confidence and pride as you make your way through the day.

The brainchild of Hatch Ventures LLC, this item is surely to sell a million just on humor alone.

The ongoing debate over sagging pants has been heating up in recent months. But one Harlem-based company has come up with a solution. Last month Hatch Ventures LLC launched Subs™, an innovative, urban fashion accessory specifically designed for saggers struggling to keep the waist of their pants somewhere above their knees, while remaining true to the hip-hop trend commonly called sagging.Like traditional suspenders, Subs are designed to keep pants from falling down.  But, instead of going over the shoulders on the outside of the shirt, Subs cinch around the waist and are worn underneath the shirt.  The consumer controls how low they want to sag, and, once set, Subs keep their pants from falling any lower.

The inspiration for Subs came to inventor Andrew Lewis at the 145th Street subway stop in Harlem.  There Lewis observed that, even for saggers, there is a point at which their pants fall too low. “Even with belts, I noticed saggers constantly hiking up their jeans when climbing the subway station stairs.”  Although the aesthetic virtues of sagging are debatable, Lewis thought even saggers would agree that constantly having to pull up their pants is a little absurd. And, after extensive market research, his hunch proved correct.  According to Lewis, “saggers are really excited about this product and, interestingly, so are sagging opponents.”

As a 21-year administrator in the New York City criminal and civil justice systems and a veteran mediator, Lewis is no stranger to conflict and debate.  He recognizes the potential that this product has to mitigate the nation-wide controversy around sagging.  “How often does a fashion accessory have the potential to ameliorate a serious public policy debate over freedom of expression versus indecent exposure?  Sagging has been banned in some local jurisdictions.  The issue is coming up for vote in many others.  Saggers are starting to receive citations.  This has become a genuine  problem.”

Lewis applies his extensive mediation experience to Subs and the ongoing sagging controversy.  “When I mediate a dispute, my primary responsibility is to help the parties find a mutually acceptable resolution.  All parties must make concessions. I believe Subs may represent such a compromise in the ongoing debate over sagging…and they look good, too.