September 08 Archive

Getting ready to to hit the streets with the new collection has taken a lot of coordinating between myself and my main rep Jason. Longs talks and short walks have geared us up to sell, this week hitting San Diego then off to Nor Cal.

Jason and Paul (Paper Mag) stopped by this morning to take glimpse at a the line, and fill me in on their recent travels to New Zealand for fashion week. Paul took some cool shots of the trip which can be viewed HERE, at his Paper blog.

The seamless was still up from the weekend so we put it to work.

I also let em see the look book I'm throwing together, I wonder if they'll make the cut..

We finally finished the look-book and product shots for the new Spring 09' collection after sweat shop like shooting conditions, and a gold fish burial every thirty minutes. After some long hours and hard work we were able to pull off an amazing shoot. Special thanks to the Cyril, Lova, the Kennedy sisters, J*Davey, Tofer, and J hair, without who of which this wouldn't have happened. Stay tuned for timeless shots.

The new issue of Japanese magazine Warp, featuring a profile on Tom from JoyRich (featuring Toy Me, Brian Lichtenberg, UNIF, and Stampd' LA)

Uh!?

Yesterday we celebrated a couple big birthdays.

Stopped by Mary Louise and Vanessa's loft for the shooting of the new Holiday 08/Spring 09 UNIF collection.. Eric had the spot dialed in with 7 foot triangles and models. Here's a sneak, into the shoot.

Jerry was doing hair, so he brought his big hands.

Fan Club

Mary Louise (Posso the Spat) just before she went Elton John on the piano.

Copula

Over the past few months the blog has been showing a lot of transition in which both myself and Stampd' LA have been going through, in turn slightly turning away the main focus of this blog, our shoes. The reason for this being the development we have been doing in China on the new Stampd' LA footwear collection (now more customs, no more paint, no more converse). Today was a big huge day, we finally received our sales samples and from here on out, it's all about the shoes. Pictures of inspiration, new doings, parties, design etc. will still be posted on the regular, but the shoes will always be the emphasis. 09' here we come, on a large scale.

when you can walk there. One of the best things about being in our new office space is that we're just footsteps away from what Melrose has to offer. Walking, something you don't see much of in LA, lightens the day and refreshes the creative juice. Today we kept it low key, and hoped around the corner to this little eatery..

A love for fonts.

Leila (WWD) stopped by and showed me some of her new shots from a recent shoot she did with the girls behind Eric Elenbass photography agency..

Melissa (Flight Club Tokyo) dropped in a little later just in time for some sunglass naming.. "Wait, so should it be sword fish or champagne.. no gelato, wait no shaved ice, ahh no i think i got it"

Digging threw a few early 90's surf magazines can put in front of you some timeless inspiration through advertising.. In this case sunglasses; market strong hold Oakley coming out on top, unless you still wear Eye Balls or Killer Loop.

Yesterday a few familiar faces stopped by the office for a much needed interruption from our sunglass development. After fixing Awashs' coffee wrong four times, I was able to talk with Gogo from ToyMe about his recent move to Malibu from Europe, side projects with American Apparel and his new add in Antenna, foreshadowing his next collection of goodies.

Gogo, Cottrell, Awash, Kesh, Blood Mckillagutty

Vintage libraries and leather lounges, this 3rd street dive covers all angels with simplicity and good taste.

Or maybe not so bright but, yesterday Giuseppe and I made the aggressive decision to hit the Rose Bowl swap meet at a record breaking 6am. Trying to getting in and get out isn't an easy task when endless isles of churro stands and army supplies stare you in the face.

Fog ridden and expensive.

Battle of the Carnies.

Miles of this..

Giuseppe keeping warm in the arctic like temperatures.

Only if I had a fireplace..

Fidencio?

Everytime I turned around this dude, was one step a head of me..

Size 4

When we got seperated I knew where to find Joe.

It started to get hecitic,? had to throw on the Bole x L.L. Beans, and get serious.. Swap meet assailant.

With deadlines encroaching and wallets running thin, sometimes it's better to just stick around the office for lunch, take down a U.F.O, and learn something. Here's a step by step, with one of Japan's finest.

There she lays.

Pop the top, filly just enough water..

Pop the sneak a top, cover the popped top

Down she goes..

Here comes the fun stuff, not too much

Chopsticks, check

Don't forget the seaweed

Ahlast.. (2 minutes later)

With the majority back from Paris, things are speeding up around here. We've got hundreds of boxes flowing in and out daily, ramen noodles being swallowed by the gallon and Cottrell's lady entourage flippin' switches round the clock.

Tom (JoyRich) brought back a few left overs from the Who's Next Show in France.

Yari at this desk, trying to figure out if the UPS website is lying to him or not...

Traffic's picking up

View from my desk overlooking the terrace and courtyard (Don't mind the jail-cell-like bars blocking my view)

We're here.

Next to my desk lies a pile of mags Tom brought back from their trip for reference. Even though European magazines seem to be a little more graphic and racey in content, they don't grab my interest like the uge. Possibly that having to do with the whole little language problem barrier, regardless I spent the good majority of last night taken back.

Today I was doing a little research on Nike, their past ad campaigns and the life of the brand. Not only is Nike the market leader in sales (and just about everything else for that matter) with 07' sales topping 16 billion, but they keep at the forefront of the the ad world, reinventing themselves with each spot. Here are a few early print ads, laying the groundwork.

After some brief prepping we threw together a little bbq'n party to wrap up summer, launch the bolts into a much anticipated??dissapointing first game, and talk with friends and fam about the future doings of Stampd' LA. We were lucky enough to get Jenn Knight involved for a makeshift concert, concluding an already heater night with a amazing performance.. Thanks to Jenn for coming out and the Momdre for the phenomenal 'house'pitality..?????

Battling the Carne Asada for first place..

Battling Aaron for his life.

Man of the hour.

Circa 2002?

Pre-Loss

We had models.

And balls.

Tryn' to slip this one under the radar.. Got ya..

Momdre (Susan) and Jenn

Guinness stealing the show..

Pull up bars and carne asada...?

Up close and weird?

fancy 1

fancier 2

While in SD Eric (UNIF) needed a hand to man the booth at Agenda. Saturday I held it down, making the best of a mellow turn out.

Familiar faces

Obey started to pack it up early, the rest followed.

Stopped by Danny's Once Upon a Time / We Run booth, to see if the sunglasses we did together are ever coming out.. Luckly I got an update of later this month. Be on the look for Illesteva shades coming to a music video near your tv.

Durkl, over it.

Back home, involved.

Finally

Made the easier than usual trek to SD yesterday finding myself downtown in sunny skies.

Stopped by Mikes Ill Studio headquarters, boardering the gas lamp, to chat about his new adventures moving David Flores art and shifting denim internationally. Having one of the most archived art, toy and clothing collection I've seen, I'm always taken back to say the least.

Back up to north county for the night to check on the shadier side of things. Disco, lounging in style.

Steve, new neighborhood, new friends..

Out with the old in with the new.. With change comes new inspiration and point of reference, in this case goodbye to last? seasons cutouts and polaroids.? (By the way gif files are whatever, especially when your animation doesn't want to save properly, in turn making you watch youtube 'how to' videos for thirty minutes in order to get it to work.)

Recently I was given the opportunity to focus soley on Stampd' LA, and throughout the past few days I have been making the transition. Unfortunately I left my good friends at UNIF but you most definitely will see collabs and co - branded products in the near future.

For the time being, I'm moving things around and listening to this crazy dude teach me Japanese. So far I've dialed in how to say taxi, shoes, sticker, and pubes. Stay tuned from a new part of town.

He learns fast too.

The portal.

A quick stretch into the colors of my moment or maybe every color.

Matzah Ball

1, 2 , 3, 4

Max singin' along to Maroon 5

Cheap drinks

Mouth full

Miss Jack Davey feat. Murs

Mafia ya

Free Exit

The 1:58 am hustle