Monthly Archives

January 2012

Fashion

Meltin’Pot S/S 2012

The Spring Summer 2012 season not only celebrates a new collection but a continual and exciting life journey for the brand. The journey encompasses all aspects from retail, with the recent opening this year of Meltin’Pot’s first flagship store in Riccione, Italy (denim store) which sets a precedence for others to follow in the not too distant future, through to an exciting and extensive communications strategy and a new seasonal collection for denim connoisseurs.

The new collection boasts fine examples of significant product development, the results of sophisticated research, which has always been part of the brand’s DNA.

These accomplished aspects are highly visible not only across the celebrated MP001 workwear section, but also across the contemporary and basic collections. A key bookmark to highlight here in the history of the brand is its new and fresh monotone logo, which features across the whole range.

The SS2012 collection is broken down into different themes for men and women and continues to break new ground for the brand, whilst passing on first hand to its end consumers, its years of heritage and expertise as a reining denim producer.

Fashion

Stone Island Clothing S/S 2012

STONE ISLAND SS’012. The Spring Summer’012 collections of Stone Island, Stone Island Shadow Project and Stone Island Junior. Take a butchers.

Fashion

Royal Hem Clothing S/S 2012

Royal Hem is a salute to exceptional standards of tailoring. Drawing inspiration from the cultures of both of Savile Row and of Italian elegance, the range is entirely dedicated to detail and finishing.

Holding dear this respect for heritage, Royal Hem also embraces the new. For example, using classic, high quality Biella yarns, but treating them through washing, dyeing and mixing to give the fabric a contemporary edge. By such a re-interpreting of tailoring classics, we believe that our approach to creating a collection is unique.

Royal Hem has been proud to introduce such tailoring to a new, modern generation while also appealing to existing, sophisticated customers who are already passionate about great craftsmanship.
Driven by Pier Paolo Pennesi’s experience and vision and his team’s insight and energy, Royal Hem is poised to become an exciting standard for luxury in a modern world.

Fashion Football & Fashion

Stone Island Kick Off

Carlo Rivetti launches the 30th Anniversary of Stone Island

Fashion

Links of London x London 2012

Links of London Announce Their Appointment as Creators of the Official Jewellery Collection of London 2012

Links of London are excited to announce their appointment as creators of the Official Jewellery Collection of London 2012. The Licence was awarded by the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG.)

The Links of London brand is synonymous with London and embodies the city’s wit, spirit and heart through imaginative jewellery design. Commemorating and celebrating the unique connections that will be made throughout the 2012 Games, Creative Director Elizabeth Galton and her team have created pieces that will surprise and excite visitors from across the globe.

“Links of London are perfectly positioned with their strong London routes and substantial national network (having stores near virtually all of the Olympic venues across the UK) to translate the capital’s creative and cultural nuances into fantastic jewellery collections that all ages can commemorate this momentous occasion with.” (LOCOG) The collaboration between both partners will reinforce the essence of contemporary London at the heart of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

David Riddiford CEO of Links of London commented “Links of London have a history of supporting leading sporting events. Our distinctive British style makes us the natural choice to create the Official Jewellery Collection of London 2012. The Team GB band is a great way for everyone to get involved in the Games and get behind our teams. We look forward to celebrating London 2012”

This fusion will culminate in a series of collections encompassing premium items, children’s jewellery, precious metal gifts as well as men’s and women’s jewellery.

Fashion Football & Fashion

STONE ISLAND AND 30 YEARS OF HISTORY

STONE ISLAND AND 30 YEARS OF HISTORY.
FROM 1982 TO PRESENT

It is an important year for Stone Island, that through a growth, which has allowed it to double its sales since 2007, is getting ready to face an important 2012: the 30th anniversary celebration of its hard work will see its involvement in both product and communication projects.

30 YEARS OF THE PRODUCT

This is a celebration that begins with the product because, for Stone Island, that’s where it all begins.
The next Autumn/Winter ‘012 collection, an important and structured collection, really represents the excellence that the company has achieved within each family of product. 3 symbolic pieces have been designed to represent par excellence the history and methodology of Stone Island.

– Tela Stella: the genesis, the origin.
In1982, Stone Island was founded with just one fabric in 6 different colours. Thirty years later, the exact replica of a piece from its first collection is available, a fabric inspired by a study on the technical and functional features of tarpaulins for military trucks.

– Reflective Knit: playing with material.
Transferring technology from fabric to yarn, the ultimate in Stone Island research. Created using a Reflective yarn, built with micro plates covered with thousands of glass microspheres enclosed in a polyester net, printed using pressure/heat sublimation to melt the fibres and get an even surface with a jersey and high performance Windstopper® liner.

– 30/30: engineering the garment, the sum of the key.
Stone Island technologies.
Two garments in one, both reversible, which can be worn in 30 different modes. In Raso Gommato Prismat¬ic Cover, a cotton-based satin coated inside with a prismatic polyurethane film, garment dyed with a double dye formula and in Thermo Reflective, a heat sensitive and reflective fabric knitted inside.

30 YEARS OF COMMUNICATION

Three decades to talk about, covering various areas and remaining faithful to the language of Stone Island.

– The Show: with the Fondazione Pitti Discovery, at the Stazione Leopolda in Florence in June 2012, starting with Pitti Uomo 82.
A retrospective that explores all the key areas of Stone Island.

– The Book: 300 iconographic images that cover its 30 years history. It will be released in June / July by Silvana Editoriale and printed by Grafiche Amilcare Pizzi.

Ethical Fashion Fashion

Nike factory pays up

How pro-active should a big name brand be to ensure that their products are not made using unfair labour and abuse? A big question most brands would like swept under the proverbial carpet.

A Nike factory has agreed to pay $1m in unpaid overtime to Indonesian workers in a move that could force other suppliers of multinational companies to follow suit. Maybe there’s also an onus on us consumers to put our foot down and boycott brands that are abusing the working class?

“There are more than 100,000 factory workers in Serang, and those who are most prone to overwork are labourers for branded merchandise, since they have to achieve certain targets,” said Bambang Wirahyoso, national chairman of the trade union.

Nike said it “commends the factory on their action plan and efforts to correct inadequacies in current policies designed to protect the rights of workers. Nike will continue to monitor and support their efforts to remediate the situation.” Nice! but shouldn’t Nike have ensured they placed production with a fair-labour factory before the law suit? Where was Nike’s due-diligence?

Fashion

Moschino Cheap & Chic moves to London

Moschino diffusion line Cheap & Chic is to move its catwalk show to London for the autumn/winter 2012 shows.

The Moschino, Moschino Cheap and Chic and Love Moschino, creations make their mark by expressing its creativity that makes irony and elegance its strength through the reinterpretation of the classics.

The brand was originally created in 1983 by the late Franco Moschino (1950-1994). Moschino and his fashion label became famous for his innovative, colorful – sometimes eccentric – designs, for his criticisms of the fashion industry and for his social awareness campaigns in the early 1990s. After Moschino’s untimely death, Rossella Jardini, his former assistant, became creative director.

Fashion

RMC iPhone 4S Case

Here’s the latest offering from Martin Ksohoh over at RMC. It’s a selection of specially designed cases for the iPhone 4S. Take a butchers:

The iPhone 4S is a touchscreen slate smartphone developed by Apple Inc. It is the fifth generation of the iPhone, a device that combines a 3.5 inch (89 mm) touchscreen iPod, mobile phone, and internet communicator. It retains the exterior design of its predecessor, the iPhone 4, but is host to a range of improved hardware specifications and software updates compared to the previous model. Integrated software and hardware changes support the introduction of new user interface and functions by Apple. Highlights include a voice recognizing and talking assistant called Siri, personal computer independence, cloud-sourced data (iCloud) and an improved camera system. A selection of the device’s functions can be controlled by voice.

Ethical Fashion Fashion

Paul Smith Olympic Stamp Collection

Paul Smith has collaborated with the Isle of Man Post Office to design a prestigious collection of seven stamps to celebrate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

As a lifelong follower of the World Cycling, Paul Smith was honoured to be asked to participate in this project by the Isle of Man Post Office. The island is home to heroic Olympic Cyclist, and good friend of Paul Smith, Mark Cavendish. Mark will start as one of the favourites in the Men’s Road Race, which has been chosen as the first Cycling event at the Games. The starting line on the Mall, with Buckingham Palace as the backdrop will surely be an inspiration to the Team GB cycling team. It is estimated the race will attract the single biggest crowd of the Games, with an estimated 2 million people anticipated to line the 156 Mile course.

The Paul Smith Isle of Man stamps will be officially released on 1st January 2012 and will be available to buy from Paul Smith shops globally.

paul smith stamps

Ethical Fashion Fashion

Levi’s Shop in Amsterdam goes eco-friendly

Amsterdam based design firm Como Park was commissioned by Levi’s to create a new store interior concept. Frame Magazine recently reported on the behind the scenes failures and successes which led the design team to consider reusing materials in the store.

‘While the first concept looked good on paper, we made some prototypes and it just didn’t feel right,’ says Kenneth Jaworski of agency Como Park, adding that the first concept was also over budget. ‘We got lucky when permit issues delayed the project, giving us an opportunity to re-evaluate the design. At that point, we rethought and redesigned the store completely.’

Como Park solved the budget issue by re-purposing much of the lighting and wood flooring from Levi’s Bread and Butter trade show booth. They also scoured Amsterdam for salvaged materials including old doors, bicycles and furniture. The resulting design favors these elements from the city over a lot of homogenized branding.

Fashion

Yves Saint Laurent vs Christian Louboutin

Should a brand be able to patent the colour of a shoe sole?

Yves Saint Laurent’s legal team filed its response in Christian Louboutin’s red-sole trademark appeal, maintaining its stance. The now-cumbersome case is set to continue through 2012.

In April 2011, Louboutin filed a $1 million trademark infringement suit against Yves Saint Laurent, over four offending shoe designs from YSL’s Cruise 2011 Collection: the Tribute, Tribtoo, Palais, and Woodstock. The reason being that the monochromatic designs included a red sole, which was patented by Louboutin in 2008.

YSL then retorted with a counterclaim seeking a cancellation of the red-sole trademark.

In late July, the two parties went to court, carrying dozens of shoes before New York Southern District Judge Victor Marrero. After much deliberation and several playful jabs at the dispute, Marrero denied Louboutin’s request for a preliminary injunction in August. Furthermore, he suggested that the patent should not have been issued to Louboutin by the U.S. Patent Office in the first place.

Meanwhile, Louboutin’s legal team appealed the court’s ruling and even received the support of Tiffany & Co. in an attempt to build a solid case. Tiffany’s, which has patented the Tiffany blue color, filed an amicus brief supporting Louboutin, arguing that the court should rule in favour of the red sole trademark. However, despite Louboutin’s desperate attempts to maintain its patent, it appears that YSL will not budge. Its response on Tuesday only reaffirmed that this battle will continue throughout 2012.