Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention. At least, it was for Margaret Murray Bloom, who as a local event planner (and a woman tired of hauling around a purse all day) needed a solution to keep her hands free.
“I developed the idea from a true pain point,” Bloom says. “I never knew where to put my phone, wallet and keys. My pockets weren’t big enough for those items and purses never served me well.” So she came up with the Murray Belt, a crossbody belt with “stations” for all the essentials.
It looks a bit like something Wonder Woman or Rey in Star Wars might wear (that is to say, badass), with its thick strap and mobile, removable pouches. But why create a crossbody version? Where a waist belt fails, Bloom says, is in wearability: It doesn’t flatter most figures, has a tendency to pull your pants down and generally isn’t compatible with dresses. Plus, it isn’t particularly secure in a crowd.
“The Murray Belt solves a lot of these problems while giving quick and easy access to core items like your phone,” she says.
Bloom says the belts, which are currently being manufactured at a factory in New York City, are set for an official launch this summer, but she’s already looking toward the next iterations, with a range of textiles to suit different wearers.
“The outdoor collection will be breathable, the production collection will be durable, the utility collection will be water-resistant, the traveler collection will be lightweight, the luxury collection might include leather,” she says.
