3 SITES.

Don't normally like to just blog misc links. But these are fun.

1. UNIQLO Rebranding.

I'm feelin the new look. But the question is, why are they using the 2 logos at the same time? Its really confusing. Two different shades of red and everything. Very peculiar. I will find out answers on Friday.

2. Strawberry Shortcakes.
My man Dan from Thundercut decided it would be fun to open a Strawberry Shortcake stand on Coney Island this summer. What was supposed to be nothing more than a "Lemonade Stand" operation has turned into a monster business. Nice work Dan! Now get back to baking!!

3. Car Du Jour.

If I could get a car today. Meaning the car and everything that goes a long with it, i.e., Insurance, an indoor parking garage, places to go...it would be this baby. I am obsessing over it. 300 made in the world. So ugly its gooooood.

LIVE THE iLIFE.

I tired to like iLife. I did. iMail, iCal, Address Book....the army of apps was supposed to eliminate Microsoft Outlook and Entourage. But I never trusted it. Many, many, many hours of my life were spent tranferring data back and forth between apps. I found iMail too slow...and I didn't like the idea of needing to open 3-4 apps, when all you needed was one from Microsoft.
But 3rd times a charm and I am now happily (knock on wood) a convert. I think with the new Intel CoreDuo chip, the iLife apps are really smooth and responsive. The Import/Export fearture is a snap as well. The ability for iCal to publish and broadcast your calendar is simply amazing.
The one major downfall? If you had a lot of "groups" in Entourage, iMail will not import them. It will import the email accounts, it just won't categorize them into groups, so you need to redo that whole tedious process all over again. For now, I keep Entourage around just in case I need to send to those groups.

PRE EST-BEE.

Nike SB recently held a small gathering to preview their Spring/Summer 2007 collection. Nice of them to include some people in on the behind the scenes process. Some sick shit to say the least. I love the fact that they are giving P-Rod a new and updated style. It shows real committment to the sport and to the man himself. Wish I could show you all the goodies...but you the deal.
DQM, KCDC, Nort and some others were on hand. Even "Papa" Sandy B. was there to support. He's only the head of the entire Sport Culture/SB Division in case you were wonderin'.

PARSONS.

Last year I taught Design courses at Parsons School of Design. This year, I did a little NYU, but couldn't commit to Parsons due to my stoopid schedule. It sucks too cuz one thing I really enjoyed doing was teaching. Nothing gives me more pleasure than to rip some kids work off the wall, stomp it into the ground and make him go crying back to mommy. I kid!
But to make up for it, Parsons is having me do a series of guest lectures for incoming students. Its almost equally satisfying and much less of a committment. Here is the view from this past week's session. I actually got the whole crowd to wave for the camera. haha...


Let's see...what else. Oh yeah, Eric N. from Giant Robot (the magazine and stores) dropped by for a little Q+A. If all goes well, you'll soon see a story gracing the pages of his fine publication.


Check out this box set Gavin from Nike sent to me. This Joga World Cup campaign seems to not have an end. I don't think Nike will be satisfied until every kid in america is playing soccer by the end of the summer. Regardless, the shit they are making for Joga have been dope so far.


And finally got to catch up with my homegirl and ex-staffer, Mandy L. She leaves NY to return to HK this summer. Good luck Mandy!

I HEART NY.

Two things that can only happen in NYC.

1. A 24 hour Apple Store. (Who needs to actually go when there's this.)

2. And this.

G.I. JOE'S

By now most of you have heard about Nike+--the collaboration between innovation powerhouses Nike and Apple. To me, this is what collabs should be about. Party A brings something dope to the table. Party B brings a totally different dope thing to the table. The result is something so simple and true, but yet could not have happened without the 2 entities involved. That's a collab. So I will spare you the sales pitch of Nike+...you can read their website yourself.
What most don't know is that Nike invited a small group of maybe 25 or so people from literally all over the world to partake in the launch that featured Steve Jobs, Mark Parker Nike CEO, and Lance Armstrong. Nike calls these people Global Influencers. I know the term, "Global Influencer" sounds very intimidating and official, but the funny thing is that this group of G.I.'s couldn't be more regular than your average Joe. A lot of people ask, "How did you get to this level?" or "What did you do to make this happen?"...I think I speak for almost everyone when I reply, "Not much." Don't get me wrong, we all work our asses off. But we work for ourselves and our own passions. We don't "work" to strive to become "Global Influencers". We work hard enough that many other people take notice. We're all lucky in that respect. Anyway, it is extremely rare that a collection of people like this gather under one roof. Props to Nike for pulling this off. There are probably only a handful of companies in the world that could have put this together. Nike and Apple are 2 of them. See, if Reebok were smart, they would have bombed the Gansevoort Hotel and it pretty much would have brought the entire sneaker/fashion/culture world to its knees.

The day started off with breakfast at Gansevoort. Very early....

Already started to feel like High School Reunion. Seeing old faces and people you never have time to catch up with. Sace from Bridgerunners, Julien (Nike FR), Acyde (Crooked Tongues/Nike UK), Stash, Yu-Ming (Freshness), Hiroshi, Shaun Stussy (let me repeat: SHAUN FUCKING STUSSY. Literally the messiah of this game. He came. Conquered. And bounced. I bow in complete respect.), Eddie (Undft), Kevin (CLOT), Jesse (Nike HQ)...


...Futura rocking the new 'do...Iverson style. When going to an event like this, your choice of footwear is critical. You want to come with some heat, but not be obtuse at the same time. For example, Hiroshi came with the Croc Skin AF1. (1 of 20). Fine...play on player. You also don't want to wear something that will likely be worn by someone else. Out of the entire crew, that only happened to one person. ME. I wore the Foot Patrol black and white AM 90s. As did Angel from Nike HK. Booooo! At least she's cute and rocked the black laces to differentiate a little. But you can't really put one over the guy who MAKES the shit. Peep Jesse's Air Footscape Woven with a Air Max 360 bottom! How many more styles can you cram into one shoe?! Hot though....Hot.

From there it was off to the event itself which was held inside Chelsea Piers.

We were all waiting for the big annoucement... Fraser (Nike), Shaun Stussy, Kevin, Angel (take them AM90s off), HF, Jesse, Darla (Nike), James Jebbia (Supreme), James Bond (Undefeated), DJ Milo....what was to come?


Nike+...pretty amazing shit. First just an amazing treat to see and hear Steve Jobs talk. Two real geniuses on stage. The first shoe to come equipped with Nike+ is the Moire. A great shoe. So comfy. Even more comfortable than Nike Free. Isn't that just like Nike? Make the most comfortable shoe in the world with Free. Then before the competitors can even catch up to Free, they are already on something even better! Nike+ is so cool, it might actually get me to start running. And I hate running. But Nike+ adds a tracking feature as well as a competitive aspect that I felt running always lacked. Its pretty amazing stuff with some ridiculous potential ideas. The treadmill market is in jeopardy.

Right after the introduction, we got to touch and try the stuff first hand. And then they even built a mobile Nike ID Studio featuring only Moire's! No holds barred today folks!



Steve Jobs, Paula Radcliffe (championship marathon runner), Lance and Mark Parker on hand to show us the goods. Bobbito gettin' his ID on...


After that, we were all invited to the 255 Studio to make some World Cup products of our choice. I chose the AF1 Low. Joli convinced me (she is very convincing) to come out of my traditional shell and go with some Rave Pink/Celery/Gum Sole joints. These better be good Joli...I ain't trying to come off like some 12 year Bape head.
Team Colette (Paris) in the house, Spike Lee and Woody from Sneaker Freaker in ID Mode. Joli schooling Kevin Poon on how to do colors properly, George helping Kevin and Angel out, and Paul M (Stussy) and James (Undft) doing their kicks with Sam.


The night was not over yet! Nike then took us all out to get some dinner at The Spotted Pig. A very hip Irish Pub themed restaurant co-owned by none other than Jay-Z. I highly recommend the chesseburger and fries. Best I have had in a while. Highlight of the night was seeing Shaun Stussy handwrite some shit. Dude's handwriting IS the Stussy logo. I know this makes complete sense, but seeing him actually do it is surreal. You're so used to seeing that shit embroidered or printed on tees...to see it coming out of a pen tip live is bananas.


And to wrap us this crazy day, me, Hiroshi, Mark Parker (Nike Inc. Pres) and Charlie Denson (Nike Brand Pres) did a little "one drink" wind down at the rooftop bar at Gansevoort. Ugh, Mark showed me some shit that I wish i could post...but i am sworn to secrecy. Here's a clue: Watch out in November. Hiroshi made a funny joke.."If we kill these 2 now, Nike will be OURS!" Hahahahaha. On some 24/Jack Bauer type shit.


On the following day, I hosted a little dinner gathering at apizz. Much less spectacular, but much more chill. It's always cool to be able to just hang with the people you work with. Makes life much more pleasureable...

TOKYO TRIBE.

(This is what I feel like after this week)

Finally heading home from another nutso week in Tokyo. Most would faint if they saw my Entourage schedule while I was out there. Just non-stop...I don't know why I do this to myself. Here are some highlights...separated into PEOPLE and PRODUCTS.

THE PEOPLE:

Remnants from HK that I forgot to post. Runyo (seen in red) runs the Nike Cool Shit Dept. in China. Dude has BALLS for rocking thst Staple shirt in China. It reads "I AM NOT A COMMUNIST" in Chinese with tonal Chinese stars printed on the chest. That's like wearing a "FUCK MASONS" t-shirt to the White House.


Hiroshi and his new MacBook that matches his Maybach. Hiromi after a mind-boggling meal. The 2 Yo's from Base Station. And my man Marcus from Nike along with his pals. Good seeing him...its been a second too long.


Chie-Pong from Headporter HQ with her man Hiroshi. (Not that Hiroshi, the other Hiroshi)


Nike JPN-Kubo(Sport Culture) and Takeshi (SB). Thanks for the goodies! (See below). Oka from Medicom, DJ Muro's crew at his store Savage. We'll hook up next time Muro! Have fun in Hawaii...and Nori from Apple Shibuya Japan. Thanks for the good times.


Celux/LVMH ladies: Asako-san and Aiko-san. Nabe good eats!

THE GOODS:

You know I gotta start with the newest, freshest Kit Kat to hit shelves: FRUIT PARFAIT!!! What is wrong with our country when we are subjected to only CHOCOLATE flavored Kit Kats? We're like Neanderthals.


1. FCRB/Sophnet Nike Jacket. Sweeeet. Thanks Kubo.
2. North Face Atmos Flight Series Jacket. Gonna give this to Nico to match one his AM90s.
3. Juice x Tamagotchi toy. Amazing packaging. Props to Kevin/EDC.
4. Paul Smith tonal polka dot necktie. (To match the Footpatrol AM90s.)


Celux x Havaianas flip flops to celebrate World Cup. The straps are hand beaded with the each country's flag motif.


FCRB Nike Knit Jersey Blazer. Feels like a jock. Looks like a gangsta. So bananas...


HF x Stussy Live Mix from Club Ageha. Available exclusively out the back of Hiroshi's Maybach trunk. (Not even joking...for real!)


1. Hernandez P-Rod. Mike...sick work on this one. Best P-Rod since the Jordans.
2. Woven for the lady.
3. Cole Haan (division of Nike, Inc.). Dress shoes with vis-air! Takeshi...we gettin old now...gotta play the part.
4. Soph x Nike Trail Free. This is what old people wearing on Sundays. Black leather all throughout.



Various Bearbricks and the X-Girl set courtesy of my man Oka. Oh and peep the Daft Punk mini set available with their CD.
Nintendo DS Lite and Micro. Big thanks to HF and Teruzane Utada for hooking that up! (Hope you are enjoying those Peter Saville Levi's!)


Some tees: Stussy x Muro (dope concept featuring each companies first ever designs overlapped). 2 Muro x Mickey Mouse tees that are perfectly executed based off old record covers. Milkfed x Base Station collab tee for the lady.

That's it kids! I will now attempt to sleep for 100 consecutive hours....probably won't happen.
Oh one more thing. Peep the Dopefiend interview that just dropped. Thanks to Clarence for being mad patient with me.

NYC-JPN-HKG-JPN

4 days in 4 airports. Can't say it was all that relaxing but it sure was a ton of fun.
I touched down in Tokyo at night and had a late night supper with Mike Ikeda from Levi's and Yukari, a really incredible Japanese fine artist. Some plans are in the works and it was a good time to catch up on things in person. Its incredible how much more productive you can be doing things in person rather than email. Its like in 1 dinner, you can cover a month's worth of emails...





The next morning, at the butt crack of dawn, its off to Hong Kong with Hiroshi, AK (Burton) and team Headporter...Kojiro, Chie and Chieko. Since AK looks like a Vietnamese refugee, he ALWAYS gets frisked and stopped at customs and immigration. The customs agent thought he was such a redneck, she helped him put his pants back on!
We basically went to help usher Edison's 2 year Juice (his shop) anniversary and the release of his CLOT Air Max 1s. Haven't been in HK in over 2 years but much has changed. Culturally, they are way more advanced than before. Its like a sponge out there...just absorbing all the culture from around the world. Edison, Kevin, MC Yan and his CLOT fam are really helping to usher this in. Its cool to see it happen. BIG UPS to their dope hospitality. Next week in NYC fellas...its my turn.


Moet provided the refreshments. Bottles everywhere! T-Bone and friends in the house. Saw TONS of old friends tonight...


Just Blaze from the ROC on the wheels. DPak, Davena, Kevin Poon/Clot, MC Yan and DJ Tommy representing.


MC Yan and Edison...the men behind the AM1. Myself and Sam Lee, one of HKs most prominent actors. Sean Tucker of Nike HK, formerly of Staple NYC. And Danielle whom I went to Parsons with. Turns out, she is first cousin's with Kevin from CLOT! Small ass world...This whole trip has been sort of cosmic...


These are beauties. The box is simply the best SMU packaging I have ever seen. Props!

In HK, its all about the food! For some reason, you have to eat till you're about to explode. No ifs, ands or buts about it.


As Jay says: "We been together on the block since free lunch. We should have been together having Four Seasons Brunch." Know I know why......
We got treated to the most amazing Dim Sum i've ever had at the Four Seasons. Thanks to Prima for her hospitality. Peep her new Samsung cell phone. The leather slim case it comes in also doubles as a charger for the phone! Genius....




Some pretty awesome seafood dinner with the CLOT fam. Then afterwards, the famed Dessert Buffet at the Grand Hyatt. They had a CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN spewing at all the times whereby you put shit on skewers and dip away. So decadent. I think we should have just had our whole dinner here. It was that good.





Also had some interviews and photo shoots for Urban Magazine from Beijing, China. Talked about the shoes, HK Movements and what it means to me being an Asian American.


Finally wrapped up the day with some world class foot massaging. Makes you feel 10 pounds lighter afterwards. Cheap and satisfying...Just what the foot doctor ordered.



And to make the trip totally complete, I finally got to meet Honeyee's most popular blogger (at least in the Staple office); JESSICA... holla!.....purrrrr...

TAG.

It's a project that's gone over 6 months in the making. But it's finally a wrap!
Behold: Puma's THE AFRICAN GAME. A mammoth book photographed by Andrew Dosunmu, edited by Knox Robinson and Art Directed by yours truly, Staple Design. This isn't a marketing campaign, or a World Cup soccer push. It's a book about LIFE. African Life. And what football means to the entire continent. Pick it up when you get a chance. It'll be out soon on Powerhouse Books.





Speaking of some amazing photography, many people don't notice that when a really great ad is engrained in your mind, it's usually the photographer that was responsible for that. Michael Wong is one of the best in the biz. He has shot so much for Nike, he might as well have a Swoosh on his business card. One of his hallmarks was the first Nike Battlegrounds campaign a few years back. We've been working together for over 6 years now. Nice of him to drop by today.



Also, making a fabulous appearance was Riko (RJ267) and Joy Yoon (Food Critic / Activist). Dressed to kill and about to go hit up some 4 star restaurant. Food snobs...I had an overcooked leather steak for dinner. Oh well...I'm looking forward to the food situation as I head to Japan tomorrow. Uni, Spicy Snacks and Limited Edition Kit Kats, here I come!

4 DAYS OFF.

Took the past 4 days off. Apologies... Trying to recuperate my brain before boucing out of town next week. Need energy for that shit ya know...
But I did manage to make myself productive over the weekend:



Table Tennis training. Hardcore. Preparing for the summer. Big things to come this summer.
Check out this kid in the photo. He is like 8 years old and KILLIN it! Like a phenom for reals. He lost a big point and walked over to his pops who smacked the kid across the face HARD! That is some badass Asian parenting right there. We don't fuck around. But the kid held back the obvious tears and wooped dude's ass the next point. Puma sent me these amazing TT SUPERs. Especially made for the sport. Perfect for Table Tennis. Perfect for stylin.


Taught a short intensive Design and Presentation class at New York University over the weekend. Sat and Sun. 9am-5pm. (Ouch! Those are some rough hours.) But it was fun. I love teachin. Looking forward to more classes this summer.
Bill Spector of SMAC/Spoonfed also dropped by the lab to talk a lil shop. Very nice and humble guy. I like dude's who make funny faces when they are photographed. Bobbito does this all the time, too.


Went to check out David Blaine real late on Sat night and managed to get THIS close. It was a mob seen. Pretty amazing. I admire what the guy does and his philosophy behind all his stunts. It shows that mind can really overcome matter.


Someone emailed me a photo of a miltary truck in Baghdad with a Staple Pigeon sticker stuck on the side! Worldwide, worldwide!


Kartell was wrapping up a big sale on their furniture so I decided to head over and scoop up some Dolly chairs which is the official chair of the Staple Table Tennis/Rec Center. And of course who do I see? Mr. Aron The Don himself; gettin his Martha Stewart on. Next time you go to the ANYTHING store, ask to use the bathroom, to check out his Kartell pickups.

LOVE OR HATE?

Press and publicity are the ultimate double edged sword. I love it and hate it...but mostly I hate it. It's always more likely than not that they fuck something up and make you sound like an idiot. Case in point, today. I get word from power forward, Rich L. that he has updated the 2nd part of the Reed Space story on his site. Which of course is great news. I loved Part 1. And I was glad i didn't say anything overtly retarded on Part 2.
Nice.
Then, Yasi comes into the office and reports there's a photo of me in the new issue of Adbusters. I was like "wha??". "I didn't do an interview with Adbusters."
Uh-oh.
Adbusters is one of those organizations you are either completely down with (i.e., you use U.S. Greenbacks as firewood and you shower 8 times per month) OR you are on their SHIT list and you can expect to be pegged with rotten tomatoes on your commute. Since I shower daily, I knew it was not good:
The headline: "HOW NIKE CONQUERED SKATEBOARD CULTURE"
The headline photo: ME.

WTF?!

Here's the punch line. They interview and quoted everyone in the industry from A-Z. Mention every SB Model from Z-A. And make no mention of me, Staple or the Pigeon Dunk. How did I manage to become Clip Art for the revolution?
Yo, Adbusters....I'm sayin'. I'm not hard to get in touch with. Call me. Email me. Visit me. But don't use me as a posterboy against my own clients, my own lifestyle and my own culture.


PS: Cole, congrats on your graduation. Sorry, can't make it Missouri.

BEEF.

The essence of hip-hop is the battle. Everyone loves a battle right?
Check it out. Apple gettin' their "Yo Mama" jokes on...

LOGI-AIR-TECH.

I don't really video chat. I don't have a PC. And I don't have any Logitech products at all...but DAMN this thing is DOPE! Some really ill ass technology.



The past couple of days was spent building with some Nike out of towners. Nike is a company built on regions. (i.e., Nike PDX, NYC, LAX, AP, EU, etc etc), so its rare to get some different regions in the same room and jut shoot the shit. Good times.


Christian (LA), Jesse (PDX) and Gavin (NYC) enjoying one of my favorite restaurants in NYC, The Orchard. The conversation mostly revolved around 9/11 conspiracy theories, girls who like to expose their underwear (on purpose), and traffic patterns of metropolitan cities. And you thought we just talk about Zoom Air all day. Pssssh....


Lunch the next day at one of my favorite lunch spots the legendary Paul's Boutique (from Beastie Boys fame). Although its slightly changed from the album cover, they do make a great latte. Jesse, Christian and ClawMoney in the house. (See if you can spot the photographer.)