As a minimalist, you’ve got the flow to the airport perfected. You know the best route there. You use the kiosk to breeze past the long line of suckers checking bags. Then you slam headfirst into security. Suddenly you are herded into the slowest-moving line of families who have never flown in their lives arguing with a TSA agent bout the 5 full-size shampoo bottles they brought. Idiots. Once you get up there, show them how it’s done by zipping through before they even get their shoes off the belt. Get even faster with the new Booyah Belt, a travel belt specifically designed to shave time off of the torture that is the TSA. And to look awesome.
This clever little piece of design by my friend Lionel is a perfect example of elegance through simplicity. It’s main purpose is to get you through security faster, but that doesn’t stop it from looking amazing and being more functional than most belts out there. It is infinitely adjustable to fit you throughout the day, you can switch out the belt colors to match your outfit, and it has the smallest logo for Hummus Apparel. A tiny HA to laugh at the people struggling to get their clothes back on as you zoom past them.
This is the perfect minimalist travel belt. It has no moving parts to break, it’s ruggedly simple, and can be switched out to match any outfit. When you go through the airport, just unhook the buckle and drop it on the conveyor. Lock it back in on the other side and be on your way, leaving the suckers behind who are still doing airport yoga trying to lace their belt back into their pants.
Reach the next level of nomadic minimalist with this stylish piece of functionality on your waist.
Exclusive Interview with Hummus Apparel’s Founder
As an exclusive bonus here at CEO and since Lionel, the guy behind Hummus Apparel and this amazing belt is such a great, hilarious person, he agreed to an interview with CEO about his latest invention, the Booyah Belt, as well has some of his own personal travel tips and stories.
What was your design inspiration for the Booyah Belt?
It’s funny, I’d love to tell you that the Booyah Belt was the result of hours of ethnographic research and market analysis, but we really came up with the idea sort of by accident. We were prototyping a few different belt designs for our brand Hummus Apparel, and one of the prototypes made us wonder why the TSA is asking us to remove the entire belt when the buckle is the only thing that would set off the metal detector. If you think about it, passengers have developed a bunch of workarounds since 9/11 to get through security as smoothly as possible. For example, I personally wear slip-on shoes every time I travel and try not to wear a jacket, but after hundreds of trips I still find myself putting my belt on while walking to the gate. It feels dehumanizing to see all those grown ups get dressed way past the security checkpoint. We can do better than that without having to compromise our security.
Why did you choose these materials?
We wanted to build a belt that was simple, functional and beautiful. We picked stainless steel because of its raw beauty and feel. As for the straps, we decided to start with a palette of three colors (charcoal, lime green and orange), and we are expecting to expand the color selection in the future. Now you don’t need to buy multiple belts to fit your different clothes. One buckle, unlimited possibilities.
We strongly believe in leveraging local resources to manufacture our products. Our buckles are manufactured in Redwood City, CA; our straps come from Calera, AL and stitched in Oakland, CA; and everything is designed and assembled in Oakland, CA.
So a lot of the decisions we made around materials were also based in access to local partners.
What is your best story about going through security?
It was a Friday night at Dulles Airport. After a long week of consulting work in DC, I was finally headed home back to the Bay Area. I had not slept much that week, like most traveling consultants I suppose. The airport was empty – there were no lines at the security checkpoint. I was so tired that I just walked up to the metal detector without taking off my shoes, my belt, my jacket and my backpack. The TSA agent was super nice and understanding. No yelling, no bad attitude. He simply said, “it’s been a long week man, hasn’t it?”. At the end of the day, TSA agents are people just like passengers. They’re doing their best to keep us safe, and we as passengers often forget that in a moment of frustration. That’s why we’re so passionate about the Booyah Belt. It’s a win-win solution.
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