Smack in the middle of an economic landscape that has torn retailers apart and sunk galleries into oblivion, up pops Swiv Tackle Circus in Oceanside, CA, a gritty little beach community on the northern edge of San Diego and an outpost for skaters, surfers, and artists. As original as its name, Swiv Tackle Circus has redefined what it means to be a retail store, gallery, and community gathering space. Known as a “gallertique” as in part boutique and part gallery, the 3,500 square-foot space owned by Shaney Jo Darden and Jeff Black, and managed with partners Desiree Dawn Kuhn and Kirsten Kuhn, gives new meaning and hope to the concept of having a business and artistic gathering space that pushes forward creativity and new ideas, rather than constricts life based on outside forces of bad economics. The concept is the epitome of DIY in that it’s so CYOO (create your own oasis).
Tag: Fashion
Swiv Tackle Circus”Gallertique” Brings Together Fresh Concepts in Retail, Art, Community, Sound Creating a Modern-Day Moulin Rouge for Skaters, Surfers, Artists, Fans of the Lifestyle
Mama Clothing is One of the Few Streetwear Labels for Women on the Market Today -Check-out What They Have to Say About their New Collection, Collabs with New Era, TooFly, Adidas, the State of the Women’s Streetwear Industry
Mama Clothing, founded and designed by Gabriella Davi-Khorasanee, is one of the few women’s streetwear brands on the market today -even though ironically, there is a growing demand for this type of apparel. What makes Mama unique are many things, including how Gabriella goes about choosing her inspiration and researching her designs before releasing them.
Kmart Launches”Boarding” Apparel Line, Pissing-off Action Sports Industry in Their Attempt to Become the New Target/Wal-Mart, Cool-Shop-Discount-Destination
Not to be outdone by Target’s new collection from Shaun White, Laird Hamilton’s with Steve and Berry’s, nor Wal-Mart distributing OP, Kmart has announced a sort of soft launch of their new action sports inspired collection called “Boarding” to be released in 100 “strategically located” stores this summer (and a possible roll-out to another 1,400 later in the year). While the name is obviously boring, what’s interesting is that the Boarding logo looks like a mash-up between Quiksilver and Rip Curl.
Nine Rulaz Line, Created by Mighty Crown -Masters of International Soundclash and Word Competitions, Releases another Fresh Collection with Denim, Sneaker Collabs, T-shirt Graphics, Jackets
Nine Rulaz Line is an amazing apparel collection based out of Yokohama, Japan, that continues to find new passionate fans in America, the UK, Jamaica and other places where dedicated fans of music inspired design rule direction. Nine Rulaz is unique in that the owners, including DJ Master Simon, are from Mighty Crown Entertainment, an internationally known music group that are the word and soundclash Champs of Japan, having sold-out the 35,000 seats in the Tokyo Dome annually with their soundclash event. They’ve also won 6 champion titles in the UK and even Jamaica, where they were the first non-Jamaicans to win as word champs. Ironically, when placed in a street fashion setting like MAGIC, it’s often only people in the know that realize that Master Simon is in the house, and that the brand called Nine Rulaz, that’s creeping into American and UK youth culture street fashion scenes, is actually created by such heavyweight music afionados of soundclash.
Miyavi’s Japanese Visual Kei Kabuki Rock Catapults Growing Subculture of Japanese Music Fashion Mash-ups Influencing New Youth Markets Across North South America, France, the UK
Ever-alert to the taxonomy of the risible, those of us at Label Networks absolutely love it when we discover the climate change of a new trend. This is clearly the case in the wake of Miyavi, a self-described “visual kei rocker” that is changing up even this concept of original Japanese visual kei J-rock bands into, as Miyavi describes it, “my own sense of visual kei, which is influenced from Japan, kabuki, but many cultures into its own show, sound, fashion.”
Street Fashion X Graffiti Art at THELABELLAB Exhibition at Crewest Gallery Featuring Drifter, David and David, Pretti Vacant, with a Special Feature”Bomb It” -The Graffiti Documentary
In what’s becoming a growing movement in street fashion and art collaborations, on May 17, 2008, the 2nd LABELLAB Exhibition took place at Crewest Gallery in downtown Los Angeles featuring live fashion art creations and installations by LABELLAB members’ Drifter, David and David, and Pretti Vacant Accessories, with a special screening of “Bomb It” -The Graffiti Documentary by Jon Reiss. The Exhibition was an exciting opportunity for emerging street fashion brands to depict their independent style through artistic interpretations in a unique gallery in downtown Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Turns Into the New Hotspot for Sourcing, Textiles, Denim, Fashion Trade Shows in 2009
Los Angeles has become the new hotspot for textiles and manufacturing and not just because American Apparel is here and has done an amazing job of illustrating the benefits of vertically integrated manufacturing, or that several top denim sources and manufacturers still reign supreme in the garment district, but word-up is that Urban Expositions out of Atlanta, which does the massive show in Miami called Material World, plans to start a Material World in LA in 2009.
Pool Trade Show Launches”Concept to Creation” Theme at Loop Space Featuring their Upcoming Transition to Emphasis on Design, Featuring Brands Anzevino & Florence, Mary Meyer, Feral Childe, Gytha Mander, Velvet Leaf, Meadow, and REVL
Pool Fashion Trade Show kicked-off a special event June 7th called “Concept to Creation” which in many ways indicates their new direction of focusing on fashion design and the designers themselves rather than just art and fashion. With invites featuring designer sketches, rulers, swatches, and pantone color flip books, you can see how the transition is making a special emphasis on the designers behind the brands that will be a part of their upcoming trade show August 26-28 in Las Vegas.
Jockey Hat-The New Lid In Town
Move over fedoras, fitted caps, and crocheted “get crafty” hats, a refreshing change of headwear is soon to hit the market: jockey hats. Created in various materials and designs such as paisley, plaids, even Hawaiian flowers, the street version of the real thing is sure to make a hit on the heads of youth culture this summer and fall.