ITAMONTE, BrazilNOT long ago, Bill Morgan, the founder of North Beach Leathers, had a dream about Carlos Santana. In the dream, Mr. Santana, the guitarist, was wearing a fabulous snakeskin and black chamois jumpsuit, courtesy of Mr. Morgan.
“I can’t wait to make it,” Mr. Morgan said recently.
Never mind that North Beach Leathers has been defunct since 2002. If all goes according to plan, the man whose gloriously groovy leather designs once graced the bodies of Jimi, Janis and Jerry (not to mention Jackie, O. J., Mick, Bo, Cher and Elvis) will be selling his sheepskin coats, fringe jackets, leather pants, suede bikinis and itty-bitty dresses once again.
But instead of reopening in, say, San Francisco or Brooklyn, Mr. Morgan is setting up both a virtual store and a bricks-and-mortar one in the mountains of Brazil, in this tiny village midway between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
“There is a great opportunity in the next four years to create a brand that encapsulates the ideals and energy of the ’60s,” said Mr. Morgan, who is 74 but looks a decade younger thanks, perhaps, to daily two-hour walks and a boyish glint in his eye. “We certainly have the story, and it seems to be really resonating with the young people of Brazil. We are hoping that this will be the case for China, India and the rest of the world.”
It is a bit of déjà vu for Mr. Morgan, a former world-class runner who first visited Brazil in 1964 to compete in the Corrida de São Silvestre, a 100-year-old race. He fell in love with the country, moved to the Copacabana neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, and began importing and exporting handicrafts. Along the way, he stumbled upon a tannery that manufactured cowhide, and shipped some back to the United States.
