Sunday's Something New

So I know last week I said that it would be only a Sneak Peek on Sundays from now on, but I decided that every Sunday I'll just show you something new. Could be a Sneak Peek and it could be a full design. Today, it'll be a full design. Don't know if this will ever end up as a t-shirt or anything but I thought it was cool. Anyone who knows me knows I pretty much am always in a hat, so I thought this one was appropriate. So here you go:

Ice Cube Kind of Day

Today was a good day. I grabbed some of the new SuperChronics and King County Cowboy crewnecks from Kelly and then wore it into a new store down in Fremont, Officials Vintage. This place is all about classic sports gear like throwback jerseys and Starter caps. If you read Friday's 5 about The INC!'s love of Seattle sports, then you know how down we are with the classic sports gear. So while I was in there, the guys working there asked about my sweatshirt, which led to one of them buying one, which led to me letting them know about The INC!, which led to them asking about consignment, which led to me running to my car and dropping off some new SuperChronics sweatshirts for them to sell. What an awesome chain of events. So everyone should probably go check out Officials Vintage, its at 3602 Palatine Ave N in Fremont, right around the corner from the George & Dragon Pub. It's a dope spot regardless of the fact that they now carry The INC!

Go say what's up to Rio and friends down at Officials Vintage today.

That New New

The INC! is expanding! We just picked up a couple different crewneck t-shirt designs: the SuperChronics and the King County Cowboy. They look really good. The SuperChronics plays on our beloved, deceased Seattle SuperSonics' logo from the 70's and 80's with a little twist and a new color scheme. Our King County Cowboy image replaces the classic bucking bronco with a bucking elk to give it a more Northwest feel. We'll be putting these on the online store in the next few days, but until then you can still let Kelly, Stew or I know if you want one. For now, just check them out and as always, Get Incorporated.


Of course I have the matching hat...

Friday's 5 - Seattle's Finest

Today's Friday's 5 is all about one of the major influences of The INC!, our Seattle sports teams. You can see many familiar logos, colors, heroes and more in our designs and aesthetic here at The INC! Having grown up during the true Golden Years of our state's sports history, the teams truly influenced us as kids and ultimately now as adults. Here are my picks for our city's greatest athletes of all time.

#5. Steve Largent - Now he should probably be higher, but he played just a bit before my prime so his spot is a little lower. But truly, nobody looks better in the green and blue. He was a 7 time Pro Bowler, held every major receiving record at the time he retired and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1995. Wish I could have seen him catch a pass from Warren Moon at Qwest Field, that would be the bomb.


#4. Shawn Kemp - There are a lot of people who might put him a little higher on the list, but I voted him to #4 because his career kind of fizzled out towards the end. But even amidst the many illegitimate children, drug problems and repeated failed comebacks, he still remains the Reign Man. A 6 time All-Star and leader of the '96 Sonics team that went to the NBA Championship, Kemp was really one of the greatest to put on a jersey in the 206.


#3. Edgar Martinez - For a fat kid growing up in Seattle in the 90's, few things gave me hope for my professional athlete career like 'Gar. By far the slowest baseball athlete in the history of sport, he was still a great player and remains the definition of the Designated Hitter. 6 time All-Star and owner of 5 Silver Slugger awards, he was an integral part of all of the great M's seasons of the 90's and 2000's.


#2. Gary Payton - Nobody has ever represented Seattle quite like The Glove did. He was drafted with the 2nd pick in 1990 and would go on to hold the franchise records for points, assists and steals to this day. The best part about #20 was definitely his mouth. He got in the face of anyone and everyone and certainly had the skills to back them up. Defensive Player of the Year, 9 time All Star and an NBA Champion in 2006 with the Miami Heat, Payton pretty much sums up what the teams from Seattle USED to be...


And for anyone who has been keeping up with the blog, you may remember our Rep Your City design from a week or two ago, featuring none other than Mr. Payton himself.



#1. "Junior" - If someone were trying to look up seattle sports in the dictionary, they should probably just find the entry for Ken Griffey Jr. "The Kid" was a part of so many great Mariners moments its hard to explain how important he was to this city. The father-son back-to-back homeruns, the catch when he broke his wrist jumping into the wall, "the slide" and every one of his 630 home runs are sweet enough to forgive even this last season, when he didn't hit a home run, took a nap during a game and retired mid-season. I love him simply for teaching me how to wear a backwards baseball hat. What Seattle kid doesn't have his stance and swing memorized to this day? Without further ado, at #1, #24.




Someday the Mariners won't have the WORST offense in the HISTORY of baseball, the Seahawks will make it back to the Super Bowl and an NBA team will have Seattle on its jersey once more... Someday.

Sunday's Something New - On a Monday

I'm down in the beautiful state of California and I missed yesterday's Sunday's Something New. I should apologize to my mother, who I think may be the only one to read this, because I know she wanted to see a new design from The INC! But here's the thing. I think that starting this week, Sunday's Something New will be changed to Sunday's Sneak Peak. we really don't want people to see all our designs early, because then it ruins the surprise when it does eventually come out. I know seeing 1/4 of a design is not too exciting, but when the design actually comes out, you'll be thankful we made this change. So here you go, Sunday's Sneak Peek:


Oh and by the way, this trip has been awesome. I'll probably do an entry once I upload the photos. Myself and two friends just decided to road trip on down to San Fran then we kept going to visit some friends in San Luis Obisbo. It's been a wild ride and it's been really fun. We're headed back up to SF today and hopefully we'll get to look around the city and maybe hit some spots like The Hundreds SF and Benny Gold. That's all for now.

Friday's Five - Ladies

For today's 5, I thought it was only fair to talk about one of the most important issues plaguing mankind for centuries: women. I should be clear that I have two separate lists of females: ones I have a definite chance with and those who are way too beautiful to ever descend to my level. For today's 5, I think I'll talk about my 5 future wives, a.k.a. the one's I have a chance with.

#5. Isla Fisher - Ever since she crazied out on Vince Vaughn in Wedding Crashers, I have been a big fan of Ms. Fisher. Although she doesn't always pick the best roles (Confessions of a Shopaholic, Definitely, Maybe), that doesn't mean we can't watch and enjoy. I don't know if it's good or bad that she is married to Borat/Bruno, but either way good for him.

#4. Whitney Port - To be honest, until now I had no idea what Whitney's last name was. I just knew Whitney from those MTV shows. However, no matter how lame her show is, I'm still a fan of Ms. Port. Not only is she a total babe, but she is also a pretty talented fashion designer too. So there you go, Whitney Port at #4.

#3. Minka Kelly - If you saw 500 Days of Summer, you probably didn't take too much notice to the girl at the end cause you spent too much energy falling in love with Zooey Deschanel. Nothing wrong with that, (she used to be on this list) but Ms. Kelly, or Autumn as is her name in the movie, is a true stunner. She is mostly known for her show Friday Night Lights, but I suggest you forget the show and focus on its leading lady... UPDATE: It's official, she has just been voted Esquire's Sexiest Woman Alive 2010. Check out the video/photos here.

#2. Rachel Leigh Cook - Having been on this list since I saw the movie Tom & Huck when I was all of six or seven, Ms. Cook is a veteran. When Josie and the Pussycats is your biggest movie it's tough to be considered a fantastic actress, but hey that's not what this list is about. Coming in at #2, an apple of my eye for many years, Rachel Leigh Cook.

#1. Kate Beckinsale - My goodness, what a babe. A badass in Underworld, a foxy mom in Click, a fine nurse in Pearl Harbor, the list goes on and on. Only 17 years older than me, with a husband and kid, I definitely have a chance with her.

Ok, sorry, I'll get back to clothing now...

Acute 2 - 0 - Sickness

Although The INC! is Seattle born and bread, we actually spend 8 months or so out of the year down in Portland. Even though it's only 3 hours away, sometimes home sickness sets in and I miss the 206. Whenever this hits, there are a number of songs I can throw on that immediately put me back on Seattle streets with my Seattle people. I'll be back up there in about a week so I thought I'd share some of these cuts with our vast blog audience. So here is my cure for that acute 2-0-Sickness:

Grynch - My Volvo - This guy grew up about 3 minutes from my house in Ballard so of course I've got love. I've probably driven past the Volvo shop in this video about 1,000 times. But either way I dig this song and The INC! is definitely down with people rockin' shitty cars.


Jake One - Home feat. Vitamin D, Note, Maneak B and Ish - This song is super dope. It's funny though because most of the raps in this talk about how crappy our city is, but the artists still have mad love for it. I gotta agree, damn it feels good to talk about home.


Blue Scholars - Joe Metro - Back when I was taking the bus home from school, this song was just what I needed to drown out all the crazy shit you hear and see on the Seattle Metro. The Blue Scholars are probably the best known Seattle group and I think no one really exemplifies what Seattle is about like they do. So if you want to know how it feels to be riding the 44, check out this video.


Macklemore - The Town - I just really got into Macklemore this summer, and now he's is pretty much playing anytime The INC! is all together. This song especially. It really just sums it all up for anybody from "The Town."


MY CITY'S FILTHY.

Sunday's Something New

It's Sunday! As we all recover from a weekend of debauchery and try our best to put off our homework for a few more hours, The INC! wants to try to help. Therefore, every Sunday, we will release something new on the blog, be it a design, poster, news alert, etc. This way, you will always have a solid 5 minutes worth of distraction on Sunday. So here you our, the first Sunday's Something New:

Gary Payton getting right in the face of the greatest of all time. Even though we lost the championship that year, this picture says a lot about The Glove and what he meant to our beautiful city of Seattle.

The INC! would like you to always please remember to REP YOUR CITY.

Friday's 5

Today I introduce The INC!'s Friday's 5! The basic premise is that every Friday, we at The INC! will share a top 5 list. Other than that there are no rules. The list could be about clothing, cities, women, sports, etc. They should be both entertaining and informative and let you guys inside the heads of The INC!, even if you never really thought that would be a great place to be....

So without further ado, the Friday's 5!

For the inaugural 5, I thought I would talk about my 5 favorite photographs of all time. I'm taking a photography class right now and I'm not very good at it, so it's nice to take a look at some photos that really were done right. They're not necessarily the greatest of all time, but definitely my top 5. I hope you enjoy today's Friday's 5.

#5. Kanye and his Balloon - Nabil Elderkin

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a big, big Kanye West fan. Say what you will about him, he's a genius and you know it. But this picture really resonated with me because of its incredible melancholy feeling. Here is this giant star with tons of money and the whole world at his finger tips, not too mention its his birthday, and he looks genuinely unhappy. Obviously the shot was set up but the image still holds a strong emotional connection with the viewer.

#4. At the Time of the Louisville Flood - Margaret Bourke-White

There are plenty of famous quotes from photographers talking about the luck involved in taking a great photo. This is obviously one of those moments, but what a powerful message. The irony in this picture is both overwhelming and timeless, giving a startling view of the so-called "American Dream." Taken in 1937, this image will likely continue resonating far longer than I'm around to look at it.

#3. Griffey Slides Home to Win 1995 ALDS


This one is actually a combination of two photos, both equally important. For anyone living in Seattle during the 90's, this should certainly be one of their greatest memories. For a 5-year-old, die-hard Mariners fan like myself, seeing Griffey slide home to win the game and the series in extra-innings was unreal. Even more spectacular than the slide is it the image of the pig pile moments later. Wanna know how the entire Mariner's faithful felt after that game? The look on Griffey's face really says it all.

#2. MLK Jr.'s Mugshot

It's pretty amazing for those from my generation, who have grown up celebrating Dr. King's achievements, to think that this great man was once put in jail for his beliefs and actions. One of my personal heroes, Martin Luther King Jr. is a true American legend and this photo is evidence of the great problems which we still face to some extent today.

#1. Tupac's Last Photo

On the night of his death, after a Mike Tyson fight in Las Vegas, a fan pulled alongside of Tupac Shakur's car and snapped this picture of him. Moments later, he was shot to death at a red light. This image is so powerful because of the look on Tupac's face. He seems to almost know what is ahead of him, but rather than fear in his eyes, there is acceptance. Who knows what the true story of his death is, but no matter what, he will be remembered as a great and important artist.

So that is all for the first Friday's 5. Hope you enjoyed, now let's get back to the clothing.

The INC's Very Own Apple Cup

The INC! has some serious love for Seattle sports. As long as I can remember I've been cheering on the Mariners, Sonics, Seahawks, etc. I even went to Sounders games when there were like 50 people in the stands before their MLS days. The only difficulty in Seattle sports is the age old question of Huskies or Cougs... Therefore, here at The INC!, we wanted to represent people on both sides of the state. Here is our latest design, the "Our Logos" T. There are 2 options: one for the Westside and one for the Eastside.

Inventory

As we are waiting on our next shipment of gear (2 sets of crewnecks), we're still looking to get some people dressed in our first run of shirts. If you'll remember, we have the Statue T, the From the Bottom T and the Logo T. We'll be throwing a little shindig down in Portland in the next few weeks but if you don't have one of these there are still a few left. So hit us up or check online this weekend because we should have our online store set up. Get Incorporated.
Here's a look at what we have left:

Illustrator

So I finally got my hands on Adobe Illustrator and now I get to join Stewart in the design process. I've mentioned before that I did the drawings, handed them to Stew and then he made the final design on the computer. Well those days are now past and now we can both use our design and computer steez together. Here's what I've come up with in the last week. These may well be future The INC! designs, so keep your eyes peeled if you like what you see.

Urbanity x Casual Industrees

So last weekend Kelly headed up to Seattle to check out the Urbanity x Casual Industrees release party. He said it was super fun and he had some great talks with Casual, Lee from Urbanity and the homies from Emnace. Don't want to get anyone's hopes up but look out for some possible collabs with some of those guys. Here is a video that was put together about the event. Check out the Austrian chapter of The INC! yelling at the camera with Kelly lovin' it in the background at 1:30 in.


Also, the DJ who played the party, Hollywood Nicky, was apparently super sick. Check out his website and his recap of the event here.

The Beacon

If you are a student at the University of Portland, you've hopefully picked up the latest issue of the school newspaper, The Beacon. A sophomore here at school, Laura Frazier, heard about our work with UP on The Bluff shirts and asked to write an article about us. Eager to get any shine we could, we said yes. This thursday the issue came out and the article came out really good. So, if you're on campus, pick up the latest issue available all over. If not, check their website here in the next few days to see if the article got posted online.

THE INCORPORATED IS BLOWIN' UP!

Huddle Up

So today I thought I would let our audience into the all important team meeting. Kelly, Stew and I have been meeting up and hanging out for years now, but only in the last couple of months have we actually produced anything from our hours upon hours of sitting around. So let me get you prepared for a meeting at The INC!
First, and most importantly, the box. This box from my pair of The Hundreds shoes, which was then sent as a package from my mom, is the life blood of The INC! It has everything in it: the money, business cards, business license, bank paperwork, etc. Some people use filing cabinets or save everything on their computer, but we do things a little bit different.

Next, the sketch pads. I always have something to draw on. When we're bouncing ideas around in a meeting, I often just start sketching ideas and seeing what the other guys think. It's also a good distraction when they start talking business and finances and stuff... But these four notebooks pretty much contain every idea The INC! has had and everything we'll be releasing in the near future.

In order to put the ideas on paper, you need something to draw with. I pretty much use Ticonderoga pencils exclusively because of their amazing erasers. I also have my travel sharpener with me for those days when I'll be using a lot of lead. In addition, I gotta have my box of colors. In here, I have crayons, markers, Sharpies, colored pencils and more. With these I am able to put a little color into those sketched ideas. How many 20 year olds do you know who go to work with a big box of crayons and markers? Life is good.


Once I have a sketch I like, Stew has to get it into Photoshop to create the official design. Therefore, I always have my digital camera and memory card reader on hand so I can take a picture of my sketch and get it to Stew to get it to you.

Last but not least are the mascots of The INC! I picked up these little guys in Japan this summer and both have significant meaning. The cat is called a Maneki Neko supposed to beckon customers to a business, and I figured the little guy couldn't hurt. So when you feel the sudden urge to buy some of our stuff, it's probably our cat bringing in the bacon. The little man is called a Daruma doll. When you buy one, his eyes are both blank. You're supposed to fill in one eye while making a wish. When it comes true, you fill in his other eye. As you can see, he still only has one eye. That's because I am yet to see someone I don't know walking down the street in some The Incorporated Clothing. Who knows, maybe this guy will have both his eyes soon...

There you have it. That's pretty much all you need to be an Artistic Designer at a small clothing company. Doesn't look that easy does it? Add these two guys and you're ready to Get Incorporated.