SNAPSHOT: FEBRUARY 2012

SNAPSHOT is going to be a monthly post of trends, styles, and inspirations I am seeing out in the market.  It is a solid way for me to capture anything I miss from the day to day posting.  

by D

10 DEEP SPRING 12

10.DEEP released some shots from their upcoming Spring 12 line. I have to say it looks very good and there are some dope pieces like the navy with white stripe shawl fleece jacket. When I thought I had seen enough shawl collar jackets, this one still grabs my attention. Everything in the line is well thought out and works together, not over doing the classic Americana vibe.

by D

SITDOWN: ALCHEMY BRAND

Meeting up with my buddy Jermaine last night to look over his new line reminded me of why I am in this industry and why I love to surround myself around motivated and creative people. Jermaine took a chance and started Alchemy Brand. His goals were to one, doing something of his own, and two, make product that is true to him.

At first the ideas were just pouring out. He wanted to have a men’s collection, a women’s collection, the whole nine, but soon he realized that he needed to zero in on one category that he could give all his attention to. So Jermaine started with bags and has come up with a ridiculous line. What is amazing is Jermaine makes all these bags by hand and sells them through his website or ETSY. As sales pick up locally as well as on the East Coast, Jermaine is prepping for the RAW ARTIST show at the El Rey Theater next week.  

Thanks to Jermaine for the time and for the sweet student backpack. 

by Derrick

CLIP: KLTV SWEAT THE WORLD | YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS STARRING VASHTIE & JOHN GEIGER

by D

SITDOWN: COALATREE

What is Coalatree you ask? The crew from Colorado sits down with us to share a little bit about what their brand is all about and their future goals.

Can you give our readers a little bit of background about COALATREE?

COALATREE Organics is a premium Lifestyle clothing line founded in the spring of 2010 to bring a unique brand to the industry, focused around the “Reap What You Sow” mentality. The founders consist of people who are rooted in the action sports industry and wanted to bring a message and a brand that could directly giveback to this industry.

The COALATREE name comes from references to growing or gardening, nothing is better than having good things that are good for nature. The very top and center point of the plant produces the best produce or goods, which is called the main cola.

It's pronounced KO-AL-A-TREE

Where do you guys get your inspiration?

The inspiration behind COALATREE is a desire to live a lifestyle centered around sustainability and living the farm high life.

How did the concept of sustainability become the root of the brand?

COALATREE Organics sustainable mindset came through Urban Gardening in Salt Lake City. We at COALATREE wanted to take the idea of Urban Gardening and blow it up into a farm, were we could create a sustainable lifestyle we could then promote to the industry we love through quality organic products. After the idea was born we purchased desolate ranch land on the Colorado River. Over the course of a year, we brought chickens, cattle, lambs, sheep, turkeys, pigs, goats, and plants that restored the biodiversity to the area. Crops that we grow attract bees, worms, praying Manti and many other bugs that help feed the animals along with increasing our sustainability. COALATREE organics produces over 2.5 tons of food a year that is all used for employees and charity.

You guys seem to work on a lot projects outside of clothing. What other avenues do you want to explore with the brand?

A huge passion the COALATREE family shares is philanthropy and giving back to the world we live in through promoting growing in all areas of life and "the reap what you sow" lifestyle. A project we are excited about in the future is building skate parks in major cities incorporating an Urban Garden managed by the skate community within that city. Promoting, giving, and growing organic food within the local community.

What can we expect from COALATREE in future seasons?

COALATREE’s future is playing with a lot of classic fabrics and textiles like waxed cotton, and selvedge denim. Doing things no one has with them, in the Winter line we have a Organic Japanese selvedge denim button up that has a unique classic look to it, also a waxed cotton using 100% organic cotton and a natural material like wax, as well as a lamb skin varsity jacket keeping it as natural as it possible.

Can you tell us a little more about the LACED x COALATREE collab that you did with Joe King? 

We have been long time friends with Jake Brown, Pete Smolik and the LACED crew. After founding COALATREE and sharing our brand with the homies it was a no brainier that we wanted to work with LACED on a raw collab that showed the rally skate/farm lifestyle focused around keeping it organic. Both crews focus on eating and promoting high quality products that are GMO and Chemical free. We came up with the night owl as it represents both crews raw rally lifestyles. We have been long time fans of Joe King and felt this was the perfect design concept for his art. We reached out to Joe with the idea and he was stoked on the project, he took the concept and turned it into an amazing piece of art. Both LACED and COALATREE could not be more stoked on the artwork!

What would be a dream collaboration for you?

Besides the collab listed above! A farm collab with Carhartt, those guys are the inspiration.

Many brands are opening retail stores to connect with their customer. Do you see COALATREE going in that direction?

It definitely is a dream for COALATREE to be able to have a store front outlet were we can connect and share the COALATREE message and brand directly with the customer. Our company motto is “Bringing the Farm to the Streets” Having our own storefront would give us an awesome opportunity to really bring the farm to the streets literally.

What’s one trend you want to see die?

POLICE?

How do you plan to grow the brand in this tough economy?

Always stay true to the principals COALATREE has been founded on such as promoting urban gardening, philanthropy and an eco friendly mindset. With COALATREE’s focus staying on producing a top quality organic based product, and giving through the produce and food from the farm we feel people will always be drawn and support the brand.

What advice would you give someone who wants to start a brand?

Be ready to lose a lot of hair!

LIGHTNING ROUND

If you were going to die tomorrow, what would your last meal be?

Catalina Fish Kitchen and Super Pollo out of Costa Mesa, both to the face at the same time.

If you could have coffee with someone dead or alive, who would it be?

Bill “Mother Fuckin” Murray, I’ve heard he is a real caffeine junkie

If you could hop on a plane right now where would you go?

You meant Space Ship? Definitely the Moon.

What is on your iPod or music player right now?

Andre Nickatina - Cougar

What was your last download?

10 Ft Ganja Plant- Shake up the Place- Dope Album

What is your favorite piece of clothing you own?

Carhartt  Michigan Jacket (the waxed cotton is DOPE)

If your house was on fire and you could only grab three things, what would they be?

Easy, the Dogs. Our female Doberman Pincher and male German Shepard.  Plus the COALATREE 7D Camera’s – It’s the Mother Load!

And the last question…something you can’t live without?

Green Plants – Keeping that air clean!

Thanks to Jacob for the time and sharing more about the incredible work Coalatree is doing.

by Derrick Klunchoo

OUTERWEAR: ROOK BRAND

Once I saw this I got super excited because the fellas over at Rook are putting together some solid cut and sew. What I saw at AGENDA was just the tip of the iceberg. These two pieces are going to sell like hotcakes.

By D

CLIP: ETT Inflatable Snowboard

by D

NOOKA: Zub 40 - $70

With the popularity of price point time pieces with options to personalize it on the rise, NOOKA has stepped up to the plate with the ZUB 40.  You can mix and match all type of colors and I am huge fan of the simple analog dial.

Buy it: http://www.nooka.com/watch-zub-40-c-1_302.html

by D

TEES: ACROPOLIS X DUCK DOWN - $26

The homies over at Acropolis team up with Duck Down on a super limited run of 72 pieces.

Buy it: http://shop.acropolisapparel.com/collections/all/products/acropolis-x-duck-down-collab

by D

JACKET: Diamond Supply Co. Un Dolo Varsity Jacket - 149.50

The camel color is clean along with the tonal patch...plush

Buy it: http://caliroots.com/caliroots/product.asp?id=31166

by D

KICKS: Pointer A.F.D. Canvas - 59

Pointer keeps it classic with this well done custom camo print.

Buy it: http://caliroots.com/caliroots/product.asp?id=31468

by D

CLIP: 9FIVE EYEWEAR OFFICE LEAGUE

Not quite the size of the Fantasy Factory, but the fellas over at 9five give Rob a run for his money.  Solid use of the finger wag...NOT IN MY HOUSE!

by D

KICKS: The Hundreds Spring 12 Johnson Low

The Hundreds released some shots of their upcoming footware line for Spring and I am kinda of obsessed with these white Johnson Lows. Besides being a classic silhouette and white, which is perfect for the Summer, the pop of yellow is pretty fresh and a nice change of pace.

by D

CLIP: KLTV HEX 2012 SPRING/SUMMER LOOKBOOK

Known for their well engineered products that incorporate our favorite Apple products, HEX puts together one dope lookbook video featuring their Spring/Summer collection. I love that it shows how their products work in our everyday lives. That leather band piece is pretty sweet too.

by D

BRAND: ACROPOLIS APPAREL SPRING 12

A quick shot at what is on the way for Acropolis Spring 12 - Rise to Power.

by D

EXTRAS: NOOKA APP

NOOKA presents a new way to look at time. Time is the most ubiquitous thing we experience. NOOKA presents a graphical representation of time that transcends the linguistics and math that make telling time difficult for a child to learn – creating a truly intuitive experience to tell time, set alarms, and visualise world-time/timezones.

The NOOKA app has 4 features – Yourtime, Worldtime, Timer, and Alarm.

Yourtime

Displays your time in a variety of face designs including our zot™, zenh™ or zirc™ face modes. Swiping left and right transitions through the displays and the eyedropper icon allows full color customization to the display—allowing you to customize your NOOKA.

Worldtime

Keep track of time where ever you go—this category allows users to view time around the world. Accurate and intuitive, the worldtime category allows you to add cities (the bottom + sign) and visually see them on an accurate timetable. When a city is selected, the minutes are shown below, with the city table accurately moving from hour to hour.

Stopwatch

Turn your phone into a NOOKA stopwatch displayed as our zot, zenh or zirc face modes. Keep track of tasks and further your exploration of time. Swiping to the left/right switches the display, but does not disable the function while running.

Timer

Was it 20 minutes or 30 minutes? With the NOOKA alarm, simply touch the amount of hours and/or swipe the minutes to the desired amount and let the countdown begin! A push notification with alarm will sound notifying you the time is up.

by D