Monthly Archives: September 2008

There’s not much else from Hong Kong this week because, in all honesty, we haven’t seen much light outside of work. As I mentioned earlier, B-rad, Vito, and I are grinding on our Fall and Winter 2009 seasons and on our last night here, we’ve locked ourselves in the hotel room, swimming in fabric swatches, fast food cartons, and the gentle hum of Macbooks running on overdrive.

Ripstop is one of my favorite materials to work with. Partly because it’s a fabric that subtly weaves a consistent pattern through solid colors. But also because of the story behind it. Ripstop is appropriately named so because if you ever get a rip in the fabric, you can make a clean tear across the lines, instead of a jagged line. Thus, wherever you rip, it stops.

For the most part, I like to steer away from heavy military influence in our apparel, but there’s something to be said for all of the technical intricacies and strategic forethought that goes into military combat wear. When they’ve spent centuries analyzing the most efficient method for clothing to functionally operate, it’s worth a listen.

You can’t even imagine how many different purples there are in the textiles world. It’s actually pretty annoying.

I’d love to show you where our range is going to be a year from now, but then all the other clothing companies who’re reading this will copy us and start making vampire capes and floral-print aprons.

So while I’m fooling around with Vito’s macro lens, here’s one of my favorite attributes from this past season’s Dolo shirt. The pocket detail is inspired by traditional workwear shirts, which tack off the top-corner to allow room for a ballpoint pen. But we re-appropriated it and gave just enough legroom to squeeze a Sharpie.

Betcha didn’t realize that.

by bobbyhundreds

You should be familiar with our friend Frankie by now. He (along with the rest of his homeys) is responsible for Subcrew, arguably the strongest and most prolific streetwear brand in China. It’s always goodtimes catching up with Frankie, as his brand’s exponential growth has mimicked ours over the years. In a week, he will officially open the doors on Subcrew’s fourth retail store, this time in Shanghai (as always, under the UNITY moniker).

Vito autographs KS’ blackbook.

Deacon also runs his brand out of this massive studio space. “Very Chinese, very stiff,” he jokingly muttered as he posed for this shot.

Oh yes, Frankie also helps to manufacture some of our headwear. Holiday hats are ready to go.

I had 3 different conversations yesterday regarding this week’s U.S. economic downturn, and how it’s only magnified that worldwide, America is viewed as the LAST place people want to be doing business or nurturing a brand. Everytime I travel, I seem to be hearing this sentiment increasingly, whereas just a decade ago, America was the world’s hotbed for youth apparel.

Subcrew is not sold anywhere in the States and these guys are perfectly okay with that. Not too long ago, it was largely important to be big in the States in order to build notoriety elsewhere in the world. But Frankie and co. believe it’s smarter to focus on the growing, wide-open markets like mainland China (which also happen to be where all the $ is at).

Anyways, enough real talk. We’re inching towards snow season, and for the rest of the afternoon Frankie and I exchanged snowboard stories. Then we watched Picture This and drifted off into fresh pow.

by bobbyhundreds

by bobbyhundreds

Problems finding cool shoes that fit.

Sub-par dating standards.

Getting wrecked on by the cool, non-fishcake, kids.

Self-hatred.

by bobbyhundreds

We made it. Hong Kong.

The view from the historical Chinese landmark restaurant, Outback Steakhouse.

Ayo, Marlon! Whaaat?

A year ago, she was gracing occasional magazine covers and Burberry ads here in HK, but these days, it’s Agyness Deyn mania = Deynia.

So this week, we’re holed up in the Hong Kong office, working with our main man over here, Ben, on our Fall and Winter 2009 season. Ben is a designer legend, the inimitable denim guru, and widely respected in our industry for having a hand in some of the biggest names in the street and urban industry.

Ben has some of the best references. Today, we’ve been working on yarn-dyes for various customized plaids and patterns. We’ve een digging through these vintage notebooks of checkered patterns that he bought in Paris over 20 years ago.

Uncanny resemblance.?

Vito and I have also been reviewing, and making revisions, to our Spring & Summer 2009 sample range, to gear up for production. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the pocket detailing on one of the selvedge denim from the next year. The grain on the dark indigo finished pretty perfectly, and the contrast stitching (one tonal, one gold) dials in a clean aesthetic to the jeans.

Color-coordinated labeling. Just another conscious detail to give the piece that edge.

Lunchtime. Here we go with the traditional Chinese delicacies, criss-cut potatoes, and stuffed-crust cheese pie.

I’m a fan of soy milk, especially the soy milk in Asia, which has a creamier taste. Except they come in these fruity miniature boxes. I pounded 14 of these today and punched a bear.

I was admiring the wash on Nelson’s denim, what kinda jeans are those?

Blammo.

I hadn’t recalled ever making a washed indigo denim with a red JAGS strike, but then Nelson told me that he’s been wearing these since we put ‘em out for our Holiday 2007 season, one year ago. Thus, the color evolution and natural creases.

This is what the original raw selvedge pair looked like. The whiskering’s coming along just right, I think he’s done a pretty good job, how about you?

by bobbyhundreds

To soften the blow, we’ve got 2 colorways of the “UNIVERSITY” New Era 59/50 fitted cap, made for, and sold exclusively online at www.thehundreds.com.  You can’t buy these at any store, only right above this box where you click on ONLINE SHOP.  Only 100 pieces available in each color, but jump on it, because the Newsletter crowd already got wind of this earlier in the day (as well as the 5TH REMIX tees).

The hat features the UNIVERSITY graphic on both the traditional The Hundreds black color scheme and Dodger Blue.  The letters are outlined with 3-D embroidery and inlaid with a matching athletic mesh.

by bobbyhundreds

Tofer, the same artist and creative visionary who is responsible for the “CORN MOUTH” diorama in our THLA store, unveiled his latest exhibit, “VIVID,” Saturday night at Commissary Arts in Venice, California.

Since I couldn’t make the opening ceremony, Tofer did me a solid and granted us access earlier this week, as he worked on the exhibition’s finishing touches.

The dramatic, electric explosions are a pop art collision with undertones of sexuality, drugs, and experimentation. Tofer draws on Op-Art techniques to get his illusions across, providing dimension and distortion to his paintings. The 3-dimensional effect is succinctly achieved through use of space, contour, and perspective. The centerpiece is entitled “CONFIRMATION,” both as an allusion to the Catholic ritual and climax.

The paintings are mesmerizing from a distance. This one concentrates on the emotional energy surrounding a boy’s and girl’s first kiss.

Upon magnification, the detail and technique are even more pronounced. The OCD-ish gradients are so precisely constructed, the shading accomplished with careful airbrushing, hinting that there was no chance for error or oversight. Remember, this is completely flat and 2-dimensional.

This piece is indicative of an orgy, whereby none of the points are exactly touching the other, although overlayed and strewn across the plane.

This is my favorite piece from the show, which is interesting because Tofer wasn’t even gonna put it up until I mentioned it. It’s nice to know that underneath the surface’s rigidity, there is a world of color awaiting to erupt.

Okay, I’ll let you observe and appreciate the art for yourself.

The gallery is located at 68 N. Venice Blvd., Venice, CA. Gallery hours are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, from noon to 5pm, and by appointment. Check the website for more information.

by bobbyhundreds

I’m stuck in Taiwan.

Our design team was headed to Hong Kong last night on the 14-hour heallacious flight, when we had to make a layover in Taipei, Taiwan, just a couple hours’ away from our destination. I thought something was awry when our entire descent was bumpy through murky black clouds, and then after seeing lightning strikes a mere few feet from the aircraft’s wings, yeah, something was definitely wrong.

We exited the plane around 10pm in Taipei to find the airport a ghost town.

Tumbleweeds.

Lucky us, turns out Taipei was officially being battered by a craze typhoon (aka HURRICANE for the Westerners). All flights were grounded for the rest of the night and next morning, and the airline was offering to put us up in some shady hotel for the night. B-rad suggested we just rent a car and drive there, and then Nancy the bitter airline attendant reminded us there was an ocean in the way.

We were stuck in Taiwan.

The extreme humidity was so dense that you could see it through my camera lens.

See that red/burgundy part? Right over the word “TAIWAN“?

There’s a whole chapter that I’m gonna breeze over, because I couldn’t take photos. So after the horrendous flight and the whole hurricane / being-stuck-in-Taiwan thing, we just wanted to get to a bed. But then, luck was on our side once again, as B-Rad was detained in customs because of a bizarre Taiwanese law that doesn’t allow travelers to enter the country if their passport is gonna expire in under 6 months. B-Rad missed the mark by a good 12 days, and they weren’t gonna let him leave the airport under any circumstances.

The customs officials didn’t seem to care that we hadn’t planned on staying in Taiwan, we just happened to be stuck there because of the typhoon. They also didn’t seem to care that B-rad was about to knuckle up and start throttling their necks. Needless to say, we were soon surrounded by government officials and airport staff, who seemed to enjoy picking on the helpless, sleep-deprived Americans. It got to a point where we were all cursing each other’s children and grandchildren, something about George W. Bush was thrown in there, references to Tom Hanks’ riveting performance in “The Terminal,” jibes about how Taiwanese sports teams suck, “Hey Mr. Customs Guy, you look like Smithers from The Simpsons!,” ..right, a lot of pointing, fist-shaking, screaming…

And then one of the guys stamped the passport outta nowhere, told us to never whisper a word of this to anyone (Don’t worry Smithers, I’ll only tell my blog), and we were on our merry way.

Kinda.

It was past midnight now, and the airport corralled us onto buses in the heavy rain and sent us off in different directions around the city.

We ended up at a rundown hotel in an obscure province of Taipei, where no one spoke English for miles around. I think it was called Brokedown Palace. It was just Vito, Brad, myself, and 40 Christian missionaries from the Midwest who were en route to Thailand. The Amurrricans approached me several times in the hotel lobby to ask for my help translating, which would have worked out great IF I SPOKE CHINESE. It would have even helped if I WAS Chinese. I thought they were gonna ask me to whip up some eggrolls while they were at it.

“Sorry sir,” I flatly replied to one of the men who seemed befuddled that I didn’t speak this exotic Oriental language, “I’m born and raised U.S.of A… Just. Like. You.”

He didn’t like that.

I couldn’t sleep much of the night (can you blame me?). No Conan, no Kimmel, no Leno to keep me entertained in the wee hours. Only Taiwanese Tommy explaining how the Apocalypse was NOW.

You aren’t any help right now.

The next morning, reports that the airport was still closed, but we couldn’t stick around, so B-rad greased a cabbie and we headed out anyways.

Our cabbie gave us an impromptu tour of Taiwan, giving us the rundown on how the citizens are obsessed with peanuts. Really. Every few blocks, they essentially have these fishbowls on the corner where lingerie-clad girls sell cigarettes and peanuts to passers-by. They’re not allowed to leave the room, and supposedly there’s not any prostitution involved. It’s really the last thing you’d expect to see in the middle of a hurricane.

Back at the airport, all flights still cancelled or delayed. We’re currently waiting for a noon flight out of here, cross your fingers.

In the spirit of making lemonade out of lemons, we fanagled our way into the Airport’s First-Class lounge (if anyone asks, I’m a Korean popstar, B-rad is my manager, and Vito is my publicist), which is where I’m writing this from right now.

Kinda hard to type with dumpling grease all over my fingers.

I’ll let you know what happens next. Either that, or you’ll hear about it on the news.

by bobbyhundreds

PLEASE KEEP OUR SIDEWALKS CLEAN.

This public service announcement has been brought to you by the Coalition for Dorian and Micah are Super Bummed.

NOT IT.

photography by Iron Mike
by bobbyhundreds

THLA manager Iron Mike and THSF manager ynoT? have swapped spots for the weekend. Hopefully they manage to burn down each other’s stores. Hopefully they can both stop wearing beanies when it’s 100 degrees outside. Hopefully they get back on a skateboard instead of riding those funny-looking bicycles that can’t stop. If you remember, Tony can throw down the mannies:

But look at Mike’s blow-yo’-mind nosegrind. Oh sweet Mary, gives me the goosebumps.

by bobbyhundreds