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Want to be a member of a chain gang-- the hippest chain gang around? Then start clipping your keys and/or wallet to the end of a chain, stuff one end in your pants pocket and clip the other to your pants loop. It’s the grooviest way to carry your essentials.

“Basically, it’s very handy,” says Vick King, owner of Vick’s Custom Cycle in Van Nuys. “People like the style, too.”

They must: The chains, with wallets attached, range from $12 to $18.95, and Vick says they’re selling well. “It’s really a convenience,” he says. “It certainly discourages pickpockets.”

For women, the chains unchain them from female burdens. “I hate handbags, I never carry one,” scowls scenester Carol Naff. “If men don’t have to carry them, why should we? What I do is, I slip a thin wallet in my underwear or sock, then clip my keys to the chain. I wear it with jeans or Baggies, it’s a great ‘zoot suit’ look.”

And, Naff says, the “look” really frees her up at clubs. “If I carried a handbag to a club,” she shudders, “I’d have to worry about it while I danced, have someone sit with it. This way I don’t have to, plus, if I wear a dress, I just clip the chain, with the keys attached, to either side of the belt.”

Vick King says the chained wallet and/or keys were designed to help bikers hang onto those items while they ride, and possibly if they encounter fierce winds. But one young woman says “getting chained” helps her solve a more mundane, if chronic problem.

“I’m a terrible klutz with my keys,” she says. “I’ve lost so many sets. With this chain, I always know where they are--they’re attached to me.”