A Dreaming Grape – Jordan “Grape” 5′s

Dreaming-Grape-Mockup-(update)I’m doing much better at keeping up with release dates these days and that includes the Jordan 5′s coming out on the 4th, known as the grapes. These shoes are definitely a hyped shoe, with one their most notable appearances being on the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. I was so glad the young kids weren’t successful at renaming them the Fresh Prince’s. They tend to not know the origin of the sneakers they seek after, which is another topic entirely. However, it’s always cool to watch one one of your favorite shows and see some of your favorite sneakers in OG form.

tumblr_mkwpx7Z64z1qhd0yjo1_500I absolutely LOVE this design. You may or may not have noticed that I kind of have a thing for design parodies and when the concept arose to parodize (yes, that’s a word now) Bape, I got excited. As you can see Sheepy has become Shape? Baby Shilo? I don’t think any of those names are clever, but he’s been redesigned in Bape like form. He’s rocking the 5′s and is joined by his friend Grape. There really isn’t much more to it than that. It’s simple, to the point, and up for presale in the store right now.

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cd-coverRemember when the Bape characters were everywhere beginning with Pharrell’s first solo project, In My Mind? Well I found a Bape character generator if you would like to relive that time in honor of the new tee. Go get Baped here

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End of Year Sale: $20 T-shirts!

I want to clear out all 2012 merchandise and make room for 2013 inventory. So here’s the best Tecknicolor deal to date: All t-shirts are $20 (excluding the BRED tee). You’ll never get these shirts for this price again. I’m going to decide how long to run the promotion, so the closing date is TBA. Don’t miss out on this deal!

Lebron 9 Elite South Beach: Elite Dreams Shirt

I hadn’t realized it until I started typing but, this will be my very first official non-Jordan based tee. It obviously was created to compliment the over-hyped and over-priced, Lebron 9 PS Elites, in the South Beach colorway, which will release June 2nd.  The theme, concept and execution of the design are all pretty simple.

The text is self explanatory, but I will now explain it anyway. At Tecknicolor I’m a big dreamer, that’s how this brand started in the first place, and I’m encouraging everyone to dream big as well. An Elitist by definition is a person or class of people who feel they’re superior to others. So if you were to dream like an elitist you’re dreams would be pretty darn big. Before you point it out to me (several people already have), the word Elitist is spelled ELITEST on this tee. I’m am well aware of the “misspelling”. The reason is becuase the shirts design was based on the popular street wear brand Fatlace’s Illest logo.

I am in no way trying to replicate the Illest logo, the Fatlace brand or any other Fatlace related logo’s. This is simply a parody of the brands famous logo. I have the utmost respect for the brand, what it stands for and the success it’s obtained. This Elitest logo is play on the concept of being the best at something.

Useless fact: The original Illest logo was actually based off of the popular (although I never paid attention to it until Tiger Woods dad came on the scene) golf brand Titleist.

I feel like this design is straight to the point. I tend to be a little overly creative but a few people on my review team are making me thinking in simpler terms as it relates to design. I think a lot of my designs will begin to lean in this direction.

I do plan on purchasing the Lebron’s, which will make them my first pair. The interesting and kind of dumb thing is that since I wear kids sizes the ones I’ll own won’t even be considered, Elite’s. That’s the whole bases of my design, yet it won’t apply to my own shoes. Oh Nike, why do you do these things? Anyway,  the shirt is up for presale in the store right now. The shirts will be ready to ship the week of June 4th.

Inc Magazine: Karmaloop CEO Article

I read a lot of business related magazines and in this months Inc. Magazine the CEO of Karmaloop, Greg Selkoe, in feature in the “How I Work” section. They seem to emphasize the fact that he was diagnosed with ADHD as a kid. He says that he’s able to focus intently on one thing for a while and move on to the next, so the ADHD has actually been beneficial to him in getting things done. There are a few things in the article that stood out to me. One was that he’s not an morning person. I’m not either so it’s comforting to know that someone is as successful as he has become and still hates getting up in the morning.

The other things that caught my attention was that he’s seems to have coined this a term describing a great majority of the the Gen Y demographic, verge culture.

In his own words :

These kids are so often misunderstood because of the way they dress or look. People say they’re lazy, disrespectful, or disinterested. But the opposite is true. The whole idea of verge culture is the convergence of many different cultures. These kids mix Indian bhangra music with hip-hop; they like Japanese anime, blaxploitation, and Steve McQueen. They are interested in art and social causes. They’re a minority, but there are a lot of them. And they’re global.

I hadn’t ever heard of verge culture before so I looked up the term and it basically described all of us who grew up with the internet, cell phone, social networking and with the world one click away. I’m kinda diggin’ the term becuase it gives a new way to look at, decipher and describe today’s youth, especially from a business standpoint. Since I’m a part of that market and I cater to the market I like the fact that it gives me a more in depth description of….me/you.

The article follows him through his typical work day and he explains the each step and process. He says he has an open door policy so people come in and chat with him all day with out a formal appointment. He seems like a cool guy. You can check the full article out here.

Up and Coming Brands: As of October 2011

I’m a search-a-holic. I spend countless hours searching and researching ideas, brands, fashion, sports, design, art, and just about anything I think of. All of you medical professionals (who would obviously reading a sneaker blog) can thank me for making this great discovery that will change the way we think about the human brain forever. I have diagnosed myself as a obsessive search compulsive. Besides making myself an oracle of useless, but interesting facts; I study other businesses in order to learn and grow from those who aren’t just talking it, but doing it. I have decided to share a piece of my personal search archive as it relates to independent clothing brands. I find so many of them so often and I’m been impressed with more than  a few. As a member of this minority group I find it necessary to shed light on some of the brands that have stood out to me.

Don’t Feed the Animals has based their brand on the concept that believes that “as humans we can no longer listen to the animal within us. To grow and prosper as a society we must break away from selfish thinking.” I don’t know how they’re going to get that point across through clothing, but I’m going to continue to check up on them and find out and you should too. [Side note: Their logo scares me]

I not only like this windbreaker but I like the styling of the model, plus it’s comes in this cool packaging.

Last Place is very similar to a brand also based in the Cleveland area, Illthy. Based on the meany references to the Ilthy on their blog, they appear to have ties somewhere or another. I personally like both brands becuase I’m a big fan of simplistic and clean illustration (you see I know those big words). However, unlike Illthy this brand does not appear to get their inspiration from the sports industry. As the name implies their brand represents those who start at the bottom. They “represents creative individuals everywhere who are making things happen without the spotlight of a glamorous city shining on them, but find it radiating within them.”

They appear to be releasing this Late Summer/Fall collection soon if it hasn’t dropped already. I personally like the general logo. I’d rock that on a shirt any day.

WORXlife is not your average clothing brand. They actually didn’t start out as a clothing brand at all.  They describe themselves as a “Creative Service Firm that deals with client’s graphic design, photography and other business needs.” In 2009 they branched out into a clothing line and it’s not your basic t-shirt line.

It’s obvious when looking through Worxlife’s collections that their background in graphic design allows to bring a detailed, as well as a vintage look, to their brand that includes a money clip wallet.

OK, so when I saw the brand Invizible Box I thought…….”really an invisable box?” However, after looking through the site I realized it was a pretty cool idea. The concept comes from not thinking inside the box and they also have this mime theme going on. They say they’re brand speaks for it’s self without word, much like a mime. Here’s how they describe it: “…we see the concept of “the box” as boundaries that an individual forces themselves within, thus presenting them with the dilemma of how they can overcome their “box” and think outside. That being said, we believe that true inspiration and success can simply come from “thinking inside” oneself, without influence or pressure from others.”

What I really like most about Invizible Box is the well-roundedness of the brand the theme is fit into pretty much every shirt design. Every detail of the branding from tags, to stickers, and the entire site all fit within the theme.

There many more brands that deserve a mention, but I will introduce them on a later date to save scrolling and because I don’t have the time to go into them right now. Until Next Time….

Girls, Streetwear, and Sneakers

The title explains the purpose of this post. In the past I have had to clear up the fact that I’m a girl with those who have come through this site (yeah, people read it…surprises me too). I realize the confusion comes in from the fact that I chose a non-gender associated name when I started customizing sneakers, I clearly love to blog about, and talk about mens fashion and the fact that the sneaker/streetwear culture is a male dominated industry. Well, at least I know I was being taken seriously for time lol. That’s a joke but that statement brings up some issues or questions….Where are women in this sub-culture? I’m not implying that women are ignored or not visible, because we’ve more than made our mark (Nitrolicious and Female Sneaker Fiend) , but where do u call where women are in the industry? Before I get any angry responses, I don’t consider myself to be the most “in-the-know” person or even close to it, so I’m sure there are many things I’ve missed or that I’m just not aware of. However, with that being so, is there a reason for that? Am I just not looking in the right places or are women and women related products and services a little harder to find? I’m not sure, but of course I sometimes live in my own little world, so I very well may just be out of the loop.

Violette

M.O.B.

One thing I know for sure is that the definition, quality, diversity and availability of womens streetwear is limited. There are more lines than their ever used to be, but not nearly as many as those that cater solely or primarily to men.  Not all brands ignore the female market, but very few have mastered the balance of quality and quantity of designs between their men and women lines. I don’t know how many times I’ve discovered a new brand, been really impressed with the clothing, then got the big disappointment after seeing what they had for women. I believe that the biggest issue with male run brands is a lack of effective marketing towards women, even when they have great women’s lines.

These are the product of a collaboration between Mama and Adidas

I can honestly say that the Simmons girls seemed to wake up big wigs of the sneaker industry. Over the past few years they have increased the variety of styles, colorways, and sizes that are available to women. I remember when you couldn’t get Nike SB’s in any size smaller than a mens 6. While the quality and the actual attractiveness of these shoes is more than questionable (but you could say that for men’s shoes as well) they have definitely stepped up their game and are recognizing the female consumer more than ever.

I’d like to see those women focused streetwear brands expand their views of the industry they reside in and make streetwear something to talk about, like it used to be before the market become over saturated. I’d like to see the brands that primarily focus on menswear to do a little more research into the female market before they approach the production process; perhaps bring in a girl or two to help out with the womens department.  I’d also like to see those brands who have managed to  successfully create  products that are high in quality and style for both men and women to make sure they put just as much focus on women as men when marketing their brand.

Just so you know there are womens brands out there:

A Label with No Label

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Freshjive founder Rick Klotz has always had an issue with branding, but loves to design t-shirts and clothing. Now it’s been announced that the entire collection from Spring/Summer 2010 will be without all forms of logo placements and branding. This fascinates me from both a design and business standpoint. I love branding however, this move is intriguing. It appears to be a clever way of marketing to an audience who doesn’t like the idea of commercialism or advertising. We’ll see.