“Regarded by some as fragrant, and others as overpowering and offensive, the Durian evokes reactions ranging from deep appreciation to intense disgust.”
If you’re curious about the process involved in making clothes you should check out a mini-site that Patagonia have put together called The Footprint Chronicles.
You can select a product (jacket, polo, tees, shoes, etc) and track it step-by-step; from the design to textile manufacture to sewing to delivery. You can see the environmental impact of each specific product - energy consumption, distance traveled, co2 emissions, waste generated, and water used!
There’s interviews, photo galleries, and videos of each factory which I found to be really fascinating because you don’t often get to see how much is actually involved. I thought tshirts just grew on trees!
Go to patagoniafootprint.com to have a look. For those of you who are too lazy, I found some of the vids on youtube. But the website is better.
No matter how much Thomas Campbell blows up on his art trip, he always seems to find time to tinker with surf films. His latest creation ‘The Present’ has finished it’s U.S tour and should probably be available on DVD/iTunes etc already.His films are pretty unique because they showcase all styles of surfing - from modern high-performance stuff to more alternative guys riding unique boards. He even put chicks in this one which is pretty daring! Here’s the trailer:
A little over a year ago I spent a good hour walking through a neighborhood on the coast of San Fran searching for a store called Mollusk. During my meanderings I stumbled upon a guy shaping boards in his garage so I approached him and sparked a conversation. He was crafting wooden boards for a trip to Sumatra where he was going to film with Dan Malloy & Thomas. His name is Danny Hess and he is in the following clip:
I was cruising on the Design Observer website and came across a link to the Memory of the Netherlands archive. It’s basically a gigantic archive of photos, art, film footage, and texts from the history of Holland. As most people know the Dutch have spent quite a lot of time here in Indonesia… Check out some of the stuff that came up when I searched for ‘Bali’ :
The other day I was on the Nike SB website and checked out the latest ‘Custom Series’ collection. I was pretty impressed with how they tied the product, ads, and website together. The shoes themselves weren’t anything new but the concept was presented in such a slick way. Basically Nike had their team skate on cars that were painted the same colors as the shoes. Also, they created a graphic symbol for each shoe and put it on tshirts and at the opening of the video clips.
Check out this video from a previous SB Custom Series shoot. I really like the grinding on neon bit and that clear ramp is mental:
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Another recent Nike SB campaign I liked was for the Lance & Stecyk ‘Roadsigns’ collection: the focus was the orange Blazers but once again, the whole package was air tight. Stecyk’s skull icon was used on the heel of the shoe, in the ads, on limited skate decks, and at the gallery show/launch party.
The thing I like about the video is that you almost don’t notice the shoes, or the Nike association. It’s like it’s Lance & Stecyk’s creative adventure and SB is just piggy-backing on the vibe, which I really appreciate. Even the swoosh on the shoe is barely noticeable. Keep it subtle, stupid!
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Nike SB (Snow Boarding) also did a great job on their Danny Kass collection which featured a pretty funny video of him snowboarding through a fantasy land of monsters, hippies, and yellow snow. The graphics team and product developers would have worked closely on this one.
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I wonder how many hours, how many people, and how many emails and meetings it takes to put these special releases together? (Remember, these are additions to the regular product line-up)… From the idea, to the product design, to ads and marketing, then website… putting it together as a cohesive package with a consistent message that’s in line with the general brand direction must be really tricky… but these guys are ON IT!.. And I bet they get paid bank too.
Lastly, check out this SB P-Rod ad from a year or two back. It’s sick.
Here’s a few sneaky pics of Stussy Bali’s tshirt printing facility that has been around since the early 90’s.
The artwork gets sent from the States but the tshirts are produced locally and printed in-house. This is meant to make it affordable for the local market. It’s part of a license deal that goes way back to when Shawn Stussy used to frequent the Island on surf vacations. He teamed up with some local buddies and created a Stussy Bali Tribe of sorts…
There’s all kinds of interesting stuff floating around. Old film, test prints, screens, samples, labels, signage. Timeless Stussy designs buried in dust and rat turds. There’s the Eightball, Dice, Spray Can, Bomb, Rat Patrol, Skulls, Rasta-inspired art, Stussy Sista, the original Cities graphic- all iconic concepts that still appear in Stussy graphics today.
Shawn even created a ‘Bali only’ print of a cock fighting rooster with the words ‘Baju Gila’ above it (meaning ‘crazy clothes’ or maybe his intention was ‘fresh gear’) but unfortunately I didn’t uncover the evidence.
I guess the whole tshirt silkscreening process has changed a lot over the years. They used to draw it on paper and blow it up on film. Or cut it with a knife out of this red stuff. Then burn the art onto the screen with chemicals under the sunlight. The ink colors were matched by eye against the sample print… These days it’s all about the computer - cut, paste, print!
I was chatting to the GM and he says they’re shutting shop in a few months. That’s it. Done. So get your irie ass down to the Stussy store at Bemo Corner or Seminyak to get your hands on some ‘fresh gear’ before it runs out.
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