Trip To Harajuku

I was recently in Tokyo for a couple days and took a break from seeing temples and palaces to get over to Harajuku for a visit. Japan is ahead of the curve on almost everything, fashion included. Harajuku is a little area that is famous for crazy Japanese girl clothing but there is a couple blocks that had some great street fashion. I stopped by some of the stores doing a mixture of recon and daydreaming for when The INC! opens a store next door. Here were some of the places I stopped:

Stussy...

was closed.

X-Large...

was really cool. By far the coolest shop I went to. There were two floors, a small section of shoes and a ton of X-Large clothing. They seem like a good mixture of Japanese and US clothing, mixing the crazy Japanese colors and patterns with the States' simple, logo based designs. Also, one of my favorite artists, graffiti writer Slick, one of the creators of Dissizit, had done pieces around the store which were really sweet. There is a "Making Of" video down below.



Bape...

was not everything I expected it to be. I guess that's probably just because it's like the Meccah of Japanese clothing and so when the building wasn't glowing I thought something was up. But it was a really great store. All of the details are super tight and everything is designed in some way to enhance the store. It was obvious that it was not just a building that Bape's clothing was in, it was Bape's building. The clothes were great, but that is no surprise.

Supreme...


was dope. Everything is very basic, but well done. Legit hats, button-ups and sweatshirts. Supreme always keeps it very simple but super cool. In the midst of crazy Japan, Supreme keeps its original style in tact. Good for them.

There were a lot of unique little boutiques too. They mostly sold a mixture of the couple stores I just spoke about. It was one of the dopest areas I've ever been to. Get over there if you're ever in Tokyo.

Grand Total of Purchases = $0.00. Everything is too damn expensive.

Inspirations - Logos

Learn How To Dress - Shoes

Friends In High Places

In our next look at our talented kin, let me introduce you to Talley Carlston. He is a student with us down at University of Portland, a year younger, but more importantly, he is a real talented photographer. Right now he is in New York spending the summer at art school. He also runs a blog over at tumblr with a good mix of his own work, other photographer's work, music, and whatever else he decides you should pay attention to. I like his black and white stuff, but I think his colors are really incredible. The Marlboro one towards the end is my jam! Check out his work down below and check out his blog Si'l Vous Plait!








Ps. I think that last picture is by Talley's friend Zoe Jordan, who by the looks of it is a dope photographer too.

“It is the job that is never started that takes longest to finish.”

The shirts are almost here. The $ is down, the images are in and the ink is getting laid. We're working with a local screen printer named Inner City Empire (who also run the apparel store Winner's Circle). We're pumped to be working with them and we're pumped to be getting our t shirts... finally. We've been at this thing for over a year, tons of possible designs, tons of hours staring at the computer screen, tons of mistakes and pretty soon, tons of money. Just kidding. It's about the shirts and sharing what we love to do with our friends. So while you wait 9-12 business days, here is a video showing how Inner City Empire works. (Just imagine our logo on the front of those shirts).

Winner's Circle Presents The Making Of A T-Shirt from Winners Circle on Vimeo.

Quote above by J.R.R. Tolkien