the district

This post has two titles, you can choose which one you like better depending on how you feel about George Lucas’ protracted attempts to co-opt street art and culture into marketing Star Wars.   On the one hand is the argument that Star Wars is so ingrained in our (let’s call ourselves the creative underclass) collective popular culture that it is only natural for it to manifest itself in works of street art and in this case t-shirts.  Cynics however might be quick to point out Lucas’s mildly covert campaign to recruit underground artists and writers to promote the Star Wars brand and lend it some ’street-cred.’   I’m going to not chime in here because, well, I don’t really care.

Anyway, excuse the excessively long disclaimer.  From the Lucas site:

UK Streetwear brand Addict have teamed up with Lucasfilm to produce an exclusive set of three boxed tees depicting three of the most iconic characters from the original Star Wars Trilogy (StarWarsShop’s got one of them – check it out!) Called the Icons Series, it’s a one-off set of officially licensed tees illustrated by artist Mitch, known by many for his work in the music industry — Amp Fiddler, Bugz in the Attic, Incognito, The Bees, and Howie B are just a few of the musicians he’s worked with.

For the details about where to buy it, blah blah, blah just go to the freakin’ site.

Ok, so the shirt’s not that bad, but a lot of the other pieces in H&M’s spring collection are pretty ridiculous looking, however, they now contain more Organic cotton. The collection will utilize 1500 tonnes of the organic stuff, which because of my ignorance of the difference between tonne and ton means absolutely nothing to me. Safe to say however, its probably a lot. One thing I have definitely learned in the eco-fashion business, is that no self-respecting company would dare issue a press release boasting their green-cred just to make themselves look more socially responsible, unless it was really significant. But I digress.

H&M’s Head of Design, Margareta van den Bosch says, “Our organic cotton collection is also high fashion, as customers are becoming increasingly aware of both fashion and the environment. We are proud to offer clothes made from organic cotton in nearly every H&M department,”

Well, there you have it folks. To check out more fascinating details about the line go to H&M’s flashy-flash website.

Around here we generally don’t think too highly of American Apparel founder Dov Charney’s juvenile sex-charged antics. Considering the size of the garment industry, the number of people I know who can first-hand vouch for what a jackass Charney is speaks volume about how much this guy gets around, and universally offends. However, taking a break from his usual kiddy-porn styled advertisements (ok thats another thing we kind of like about him), American Apparel launched a series of full-page ads supporting immigration reform in the U.S. While the ad’s content is nothing groundbreaking, what is remarkable is the willingness of a large corporation to speak the obvious truth of how hard-working immigrants are bearing the brunt of a fucked-up and archaic immigration system. The ad, which originally ran in the New York Times in December is now being repeated in such publications as the Village Voice. There is clearly little to gain (as a business) from spending large sums of money to run a polemical ad like this, which is why this type of political activism is indeed courageous and in my opinion should be recognized as such.

and here is some gratuitous AA advertising:

Okay, really not much to look at but our Billboard Bags were featured on a site today with Kate Spade and Crate and Barrel.  Kind of makes us feel like we are doing a good job of mimicking an actual clothing company.

This sweatshirt might be kind of funny, if it weren’t 95 freakin’ dollars.  Forget that promotion to making fries, you’d better have your eyes on assistant manager if you want to afford one of these.  If you are however loaded like Zamundan royalty you can check out NY’s Alador and Smith.

Albeit mildly ironic that a company with the name Quicksilver (ie mercury) should be at the forefront of green fashion, the California based manufacturer has stepped it up once again. Already known for their use of organic cotton (in more than just t-shirts) Quicksilver will be unveiling their new line at the Natural Selection snowboarding event in Jackson Hole (home to the world famous Cowboy Bar, where I once got wrecked with a guy named Tofu) on January 29. The collection will include some innovative use of fabrics including recycled plastic for their polyester, a biodegradable laminate, and low-impact dyes. As always, they will also integrate hemp and organic into the mix as well. I will post some pictures as soon as they are available, but it is always good to see companies that go beyond doing the bare minimum just to get a little look-at-how-green-we-are press.

you can check out the original story at EXPN or the Quicksilver site.

While I may have never been one to wear my politics on my sleeve (pardon the pun), these new T’s from Project Obama speak volumes about the current Democratic primary race. Even though these are not “official” campaign sanctioned designs, I think the shirts are largely symbolic for both the candidate and his following’s progressive attitude. I know this may sound like a stretch, but this could very well be the first campaign shirt ever that did not feature some variation of a red or blue horizontal stripe and some stars. Project Obama, I salute you and your t-shirts as the flag-bearers of the generation gap.

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