Big fan of both, but together… buh?…
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Archive for the 'Fashion' Category
Caught Ama Kip Kip on psfk a week or so back. AKK is a kind of premium street brand out of South Africa. I am told the shirts, designed by Nkosana Lesedi, are selling for like $35 a pop (or whatever that is in South African rands). Presently they only exist online as a Facebook group, but their site will be up in a few weeks. (Right now you can only pick up one of their shirts at Rosebank Mall in Johannesburg). People are talking and “the Bape of SA” is a phrase you are hearing a lot… we’ll see; but there is certainly some hype building up around the brand. Watch for them to go worldwide in 10 days or so. Boom? Bust? or Neither?
Paris photog.
24.
Online portfolio.
Myspace.
And Blog.
“I need to take the reality, to capture it. Life is beautiful enough like that.”
For a long time project (red) was kinda’ lame. An interesting Idea. Good intentions. But just not the kind of stuff that you would actually pick up and wear. And it felt like the only place you can get the stuff was at the Gap… and honestly, who shops at the Gap? (The company has tanked over the past few years with the rest of clothing retail and has consciously given up trying to court any kind of hip niche, moving towards over-sized, overpriced threads for 30-somethings in the suburbs.) Fortunately over the past few months this well-meaning project has removed its Gap albatross and moved closer the to where it needs to be - building up its high/street-fashion cultural cache. In doing so they have enlisted a number of artists to take part in (red)-sponsored events. For instance, this past valentines day $42.58 million was raised at a Sotheby’s auction that Damian Hirst, among others, put together to benefit project (red). He contacted a number of artists asking them to contribute works inspired by the color red and the concept of love. The artists included Takashi Murakami, Ed Ruscha, Richard Prince, Marc Quinn, Banksy, Jeff Koons and Andreas Gursky, to name a few. Hirst himself included 7 works that sold for $19 million and change in total. Great idea. Making buck and empowering the “(red)” name.
Also of interest is the 1HUND(RED) artists initiative with Converse, a brand with some serious street cred of late. This initiative asks 100 different artists to design their own Converse shoe, which they then produce in limited number. 10% of the wholesale price is then donated to (red). Caught the story on SuperTouch a little while back with Dr. Romanelli’s contribution.
And by the way, SuperTouch got a total redesign recently… looks good. Maybe change that banner. The contributor line-up is pretty incredible - James Jean, Lupe Fiasco, Jamie O’Shea (editor), and Dr. Romanelli, among many, many others. Taking an incredible blog to the next level. The site is definitely still in the works, but so far so good. And speaking of reworks, my man Dr. Tron over at The Aesthetic Poetic gave the site a face-lift. Really clean looking, a lot of nice white space. Classy.
I had mentioned a few months ago the break of Nick Paparone with Art In The Age Of… Thankfully he didn’t run off to Brooklyn and instead threw himself into Print Liberation - a kind of Philly print-house/visual agency/brand development/clothing shop/all-around creative enterprise. They just came out with a bunch of new t’s and are dropping their “Print Liberation: The Screen Printing Primer“, which Paparone authors, in a few months. The book introduces the screen printing process to novices and gives some more advanced techniques to more experienced printers who are trying to hone their skills.
Amazon Description: Print Liberation is a comprehensive DIY guide to screen printing for both novice crafters as well as experienced artists. The book begins by giving readers a brief history of screen-printing while outlining the basic principles of the process including the equipment and tools needed to get started. Step-by-step instructions accompanied by full-color photographs show readers the various methods for making great screen prints and tips on how to avoid screen-printing mistakes. Information about printing on various surfaces from wallpaper to t-shirts, cylinders and more gives readers a general understanding of the various applications for screen-printing and solid information on how to turn their screen prints into a personal art or business. Bonus sample images formatted for screen-printing are included for readers to use in their own screen prints.
As to the shirts, really nice stuff. I love this Obama shirt, so obnoxious and awesome. See below for some other samples. Buy stuff here. Cheap. Good. Philly. Enjoy.
So this startingbloc fellowship that concluded last week at Columbia University was pretty wild. In a ridiculously over-simplified single sentence, the group focuses mainly on social business, or business that exists not only to make money but also to bring about some kind of positive social change. You hear the term “triple bottom line” often, which refers to a company’s desire to address its financial bottom line (i.e. make money) along with an environmental bottom line and a human rights based bottom line.
American Apparel is a great example of a social business. They produce in LA and make a point to pay decent wages. (As an aside, producing in LA doesn’t ensure good wages as most of these sewers are illegal immigrants and have very little recourse when they are being paid peanuts. As a result, “Made in USA” can be a little deceptive.) They also have a very progressive environmental policy. Until very recently they have produced a small portion of their clothing with organic cotton. The clothes probably sold pretty poorly as they were that ugly off-white organic color and were usually (at least in the Philly stores) hidden somewhere in the back near the dressing rooms. OK, so the big news; within the last month, they have started selling organic clothes (and in particular their flagship 2001 t-shirt) in colors other than ugly off-white organic. This is great as no other retailer or wholesaler (AA is both) is offering such environmentally sustainable, while at the same time wearable, clothing.
But that’s not the whole story (and this is where the starting bloc tie-in comes). One of the big lessons that I learned from this Starting Bloc fellowship is that if you want to introduce a “socially better” product into the marketplace, it not only has to be the same or better than already existing similar products, but it must also be priced the same or less than those already existing products. Honestly, your “fair trade” t-shirt/diamond/chocolate/whatever that was made in a clean factory, where workers are given healthcare, get 2 weeks vacation, yadda, yadda, yadda, but is priced $0.20 more than an equivalent product will either forever exist in a extremely niche market and never make it to the big-time or tank so badly you won’t know what hit you. It’s crazy but true. And THAT’S what is cool about what AA is doing. The key is that the organic shirts are not only identical in feel and fit (the colors are different than pre-existing shirts, which could potentially be a big issue, but I imagine that they will start replacing the pre-existing colors with organic fabrics… aaaaanyway…) but they are also priced exactly the same as the other non-organic 2001 shirts.
This is huge (HUGE!) for the progressively minded manufacturing sector and for consumers who are looking to buy more responsibly.
My hat goes off to you Dov Charney. Bravo.
Here.
Cool, no?
Paper Planes has been a pretty cool mainstream crossover track. On the Homeland Security Remixes EP it is redone by DFA, Afrikan Boy, Diplo, and others. I bittorrented it here. Also, the Remix For The Children Of Adrock.
Cool video interview with Uniqlo founder Tadashi Yanai. The first part is a sit-down interview. The second is a walk through of one of Uniqulo’s show rooms in Japan, where the company was started in ‘84.
Three things; 1. the Gap comparisons… kinda’ wierd.
2. Much more apt would be an American Apparel (or, to a lesser extent H&M) comparison; The anti-brand, basics, quality (though not in the case of H&M).
3. I love his skinny jeans to wide jeans prediction. I don’t know Yanai, I don’t know.
There is also a interview transcript here.
An NYT article here.
via psfk.
So I posted Heron’s old A-Ron interviews on THE MT a bit back during the A-Ron retrospective piece. Needless to say, after the hiatus I was excited about this new stuff from HP.com (see below)… But man, the guy came off as kinda’ crazy. “Whitewash”? “Blackwash”? C’mon, we don’t need that. And the irony too… A-Ron making his name off this really lux label that makes itself out as the definition of street wear and then playing it off like he is some kind of anti-rich, anti-capitalist. (yo, earth to everyone… street wear is Sean John Ts from TJ Maxx for like $9.99, not $150+ hoodies from aNYthing. Who from the street are buying them?) And I totally get it, but its not white/black thing, its a rich/poor thing. And unfortunately those two things correlate often, but you miss the point of whats happening in “the city” when you play that card. Furthermore, this guys got money. He is practically part of his “whitewash.” (Am I the only one who actually thought he was white?)
And his “Invite Only” “Secret Space”… um, yeah, not interested.
So, yeah, this post is coming off as a little harsh. The interview is like 5 minutes long, and you can’t judge the guy on 5 minutes. Agreed. And I think A-Ron is gonna do great(er) things. And Ill probably regret writing it. Still though…
As to his plans with OFF BOWERY Productions… 15 brands in the next year and a half. Secret Artist Studios. Skate park. TV Show. yikes.
The complex blog did post some scathing stuff on both A-Ron and HP, but then apparently took it down. Shame, Complex, SHAME… its all politics… (it is reprinted below from Complex’s cache)…
“Dick riding streetwear correspondent and so called “young tycoon in the making,” Heron Preston, kind of interviewed—it was more of an open platform for rambling—A-Ron the Downtown Don about his ‘Off Bowery’ brand recently. Last time we checked in with the “Don,” he was embroiled in lawsuits and getting countersued by trustafarian clothier and keeper of aNYthing, Kiernan Costello. Although there’s still plenty of legal drama going on, A-Ron spilled the beans about some developments concerning his new endeavor. For one thing, he’s got a venue, this time settling for a space in Soho, a far cry from the grimier Chinatown neighborhood surrounding his former holdout on Hester, but a spot nonetheless. We also learn that he’s planning on launching 15 distinct brands and running with some sort of Wu-Tang inspired business plan that comes together like Voltron during sale time. If you made it through Part 1 and can stomach more, here’s Part 2 too.”
And the Interview from HP.com…
Part 1…
Part 2…
I was getting hip to Philly-designer Tim Lahan’s site when I came across a link to Sleevage… Pretty nice. They basically write about album cover art. They are in beta at the moment, whatever that means, and are looking for writers. I request reviews of the last two Jose Gonzales albums… what’s going on there?And DURKL has new stuff out… Fall ‘07… which is amazing as always.AND Kanye’s Mom… That’s really too bad. Our hearts go out.
This is kinda unfortunate. For all you out of towners, Art In The Age Of Mechanical Reproduction is a small Philly clothing company that does cool work, as is evidenced here. But recently two bad things happened at the same time. One, Tim Gough and Nick Pararone, the creative minds behind of Art In The Age Of… were taken off the project by (and this is the second bad thing) their financial backers, philly-based Gyro Worldwide Advertising.So now I am not really sure how to feel… its kind of like a A-Ron leaving aNYting… and not only that, we now know that some hipster-targeting ad firm is behind this beloved Philly clothing co…Philebrity covered it recently here.I’ve gotta go with Philebrity on this one… “good luck in New York guys.”
Not a big fan of Threadless. All their stuff has that same boring aesthetic. Whatever, someone seems to like it and they are making a bunch of money. On the other hand, I do like Chuck Anderson and his show, opening this week at the Chicago Threadless store, should be pretty cool.
Philly’s PEDESTRiAN turned me on to aNYthing’s new flava’. I don’t think I am as disappointed as most, but I have serious fears for the post-A-ron era of aNYthing.
It’s tough when things have to come down to this but when sales begin hitting $1 mil… well, litigation is the only way to go. So we learn that after A-Ron dropped the L-word on Sept. 11. In response the current owner, Kiernan Costello, has filed a countersuit alleging that A-Ron broke a bunch of contracts. They are asking for $5 mil. damn.
Complex mag actually went through the paperwork of the countersuit and by their explanation of its contents it sounds like it reads as a kind of who’s who of the downtown NYC streetwear scene; even going into A-Ron’s whole thing with the 205 club.
I guess if it was a cordial parting that would be one thing, but this begs so many questions; perhaps most importantly for the brand, what do the customers do? A-Ron HUSTLED to start this thing and keep it moving; how much of aNYthing is A-Ron himself? Is it something completely different now that its under new leadership? Will aNYthing hit that tipping point that brings it over into the mainstream (as in the case with BAPE right now) or will this whole thing cause the waters to recede a little? Time, friends, time.
Vid from HP.
And another HP interview here.
And that whole brand underground article from the NYT.
So, I picked up two shirts the other day from aa. One was awesome, the other… not so much. SO this morning (the next day) I stop in to aa with my recipt and am like, I got this yesterday and I want to return it. The cashier person pointed down to a small sign next to the register stating in bold helvetica that they only allow for store credit for up to 30 days after the purchase. Store Credit?? Whaaaaaaaaaaat!?
Did they have this policy before they were acquired by Endeavor Acquisition? When did this shitty policy go into effect? wow. totally taken aback. I still love aa… but this is real bs.
Update: So apparently you can get cash back on stuff when you buy from the online store, but can’t if you buy from the physical retail store… huh?…
