the phenomena that anyone with internet access and a tumblr account is suddenly a sartorialist, style-maven that popular culture should follow makes me nauseous. the fact that every nerd can reblog and post pretty pictures of fake stuff from every other ‘zeitgeists’ blogroll, claim said affectation, somehow convince themselves they are original in their re-purpose and then misinform future generations of some Nth-time-twice removed-waterdown-provenance makes me wanna kick their dads in the nads for doing such a poor job of child-rearing.

look, i get that we are all born empty vessels…i accept that one has to experience many things with which to form some discrimination, develop a palate, shape their own opinion and become enlightened. what i can’t excuse is when these funk-fakers simply skim the bookcover of said pop culture and pass themselves off as having a deep, meaningful understanding of any number of subjects…simply regurgitating the same dribble their faux-futurists peddled and cliff-noted before them. this dilution and cut-n-paste ’sophistication’ actually whittles down any awareness. it squelches wonder & enthusiasm, creating a supposed short-cut to learning, understanding, instruction, insight, refinement, illumination and ultimately any cultivated wisdom.

for this very reason, i’m so suspect of all these ‘20-somethings’ so primed on all things iconic from the 60/70’s when their fathers were still wiping their future DNA off his stomach watching reel-to-reel skin flicks or ‘cutting-edge’ VHS-tapes…glint in his eye, indeed.

so so many ‘today-somethings’ drafting off of what ‘cool’ has been fed to them, whilst they were really trapped by The Goonies & The Sandlot. let’s face it…i realize it’s oh-so-much-more romantic to namecheck all the paragons of yesteryear…me? well, i’ll breakdown the real-real…

i wasn’t informed by the Wild Ones, Easy Rider or Che’s motorcycle diaries…i was informed by:

- The Lords of Flatbush
- Bad News Bears
- Little Darlings

i wasn’t introduced to the M-65 by Taxi Driver…i was informed by:

- My Bodyguard

i wasn’t around for any original screening of Bullet, The Great Escape or Two-Lane Blacktop…i was informed by:

- King of the Mountain
- Streets of Fire
- Thunderbolt & Lightfoot
- Corvette Summer

badasses to me weren’t some well-dressed, dashing & debonair Clark Gable…it was a dirty-ass ‘Falconetti’ from:

- Rich Man, Poor Man

…so, yeah, be yourself! you probably wouldn’t be liked anyway.

So it appears as if two of the East Coast Brothers of the Lodge are making our way to Ink N Iron to do some work…..Brother Nick Schonberger and I will be there to represent and get after some truths…..

For the fashion conscious gamer in your life I proudly present to you the CONTRA sweater:

So being back in the Garment Business is ok…I will not say it is fun, & I am ecstatic to be back, but it has it’s moments…I will say that.

I am constantly reminded however, how much I do hate the production game. But as I & many others know, if you get it right it is all gravy & the cashish allows you to do all that you want when & if you have the fucking time to do it.

So this week I was in Paris again…2nd time in 2 weeks…this time I was there to look at Fabric. I need to source some fabric that was urgently needed. So there I was on the train heading to Paris & Premiere Vision, & Texworld.

2 completely different shows.

Premiere Vision is quite a bit more stylish, in fabric & peoples general appearance. Everyone is working their look, well not everyone but a good 90% of everyone there has a look worked out & they strut that stuff real fucking hard. On the menswear side of things there seems to be a lot more of the Pink feel about it…no not homophobic at all, I am just saying it as it is. It is a bit of an eye opener on hetrosexual behaviour, it is always a bit strange when a man looks at you & kind of undresses you with his eyes. Make me think about how many times I have done that to a woman, & no doubt the women have a bit of the same feeling. But at the same time, being a bit of an egotist, nice to be looked at…just wish it was more women doing it to me at the show than the men. Ok, ok…it was not a lot of the time…just 2 or 3 men…but hey that was enough to make me feel good & uncomfortable. Think I better shut up & kill this subject now.

There are some amazing fabrics available at Premiere Vision & you have to pay for them. Still one of my favourites is A-Girls from Japan…some of the best sweat & jersey fabrics that you will ever see…but so fucking expensive it is crazy. & Then there is the Cotton Mill Limonta…they make some great woven fabrics & a lot of the high end Labels use Limonta & their lovely fabrics…so so nice.

But all that was way to frustrating for me…so next day Texworld.

Texworld could not be any different. We are talking mills from China, Taiwan, India, Pakistan & Turkey to name a few…all for the Volume, Mass Market. The 1st thing that I did like about Texworld was that there was an Indian Food Stand, & yes all my brothers were there eating all that fine food. It was not bad.

The show is much more simple, but you can still find some amazing fabrics, but you have to buy 1000’s of metres & the prices reflect this. Since i am know doing a lot more mass market product,it was good to go onto stands & say that I am looking to buy a minimum of 10000m of fabric. Talk about an attitude changer, they were almost ready to give me anything I needed & the girl on the stand ha hah.

Now if they treated me like that at Premier Vision…I may have taken them up on their offer, the girls on Limonta are rather nice.

But 2 days of just looking at fabric after fabric is just a mind fuck…I feel numb & tired…or I am just jaded & done it all before ha hah. Either way a mind fuck indeed.

One thing that did happen that I liked. I got to go to my friend Mario’s new bar Flaq, & order Pizza from his other place La Drogheria (I did my show their last January), & not just any pizza, the Fats Shariff pizza. You know what it was pretty damn good…even with that egg thrown on it.

OK now back to the grind !!!

Be Well.

there are days when only ST will do, loud as fuck, at 7am, coffee smokes and a punching bag. i envy people that don’t get angry and I am not one of them, especially in business. i know business is never personal but when you owe me money, it’s about as personal as it gets. let’s see if I can get arrested today.

I survived 12 days on the open road traveling all over the Dirty South. There will be stories and photos to come this weekend. But for now, enjoy my new pocket watch. I picked this up in Atlanta and I am on a mission to bring back the pocket watch for 2011 and into 2012 because they are fucking pimp.

RED WINE and RUM Tour featuring the ass kicking road warriors of clothing sales BRIAN OK from SAILOR JERRY (www.sailorjery.com) and Lisa Marie from  SWITCHBLADE STILETTO (www.switchbladestiletto.com)

9.12 –9.14 New Orleans, LA

9.14 Panama Beach, FL

9.15 Tampa, FL

9.16 Miami, FL

9.17 Orlando, FL

9.18 Jacksonville Beach, FL

9.19 –9.20 Atlanta, Ga

We are hitting the open road to tell our tales and sell our wares. We are seeing some friends and making new ones along the way.  Watch this spot for updates and be sure to check out the next issue of DIRTY Magazine for my adventures in the Big Easy.

going to the desert this coming week to attend yet another tradeshow to watch people drone-on about how their product is the dopest this, and the dopest that, blah blah. having to hang up my vacation hat to endure all of this, said hat on my head further prompts the painful realization of fading skilled crafts. ok maybe not fading but, say, under appreciated/celebrated.

makes all that youth culture so proud of the pixels they’ve pushed together or screen shots they’ve renamed, pretty hollow.

Made in Ecuador – The Panama Hat Story from Daniel Gautreau on Vimeo.

Attention young streetwear brands!

You’re not a full menswear line. Wait until the time is right before you release “cut and sew” button down shirts and your own “custom” denim. Take the time to learn about what you’re trying to produce, learn from people who have been around. Copying another brand’s cut and fit doesn’t instantly make you a menswear designer. Do you seriously think the world needs your premature attempts at legitimacy? Newsflash, Levis has been around since 1853 and they do denim and shirts better than you ever will. I understand you’re trying to make your mark in sea of streetwear t-shirt brands, I know, I’m trying to do the same thing. But please, just wait, save your money. It will be worth it if you do.

/Rant over/

I’ve been hiding away from the computer for the past few days and been indulging in some serious road trippin’ across the northern european lowlands to kick start some inspirations for a few looming projects. For me that usually involves taking a few days off to wonder through several european cities, sitting down in café’s, checking out all kinds of shops ( not just the ones with the biggest facebook/twitter pr machine behind them ) and indulge in some serious people watching – just to get a hold on the current vibe out there- see where we are all heading as happy/stupid consumers and so forth. In addition to all that I try to spend as much time as I can with my local friends to dip into their daily life, their friends, scenes, dinner parties and what have you. I try not to cause a fuss as a guest. As homogenized as we are as a target group it’s still important to experience localism at its core.

One ( or several thoughts ) thought that has really struck me today is how disgustingly sick I am off subcultures. It’s not just that every atom out there these days wants to be their own scene but in addition to that, it seems that we are currently experiencing the pinnacle of sub-cultural exploitation on a consumerism level. It’s disgusting. It’s bad enough that every company out there genuinely believes that it is more important to be a “brand” ( where it doesn’t matter what it is you are selling as long as you buy their take on their manufactured lifestyle ) rather than a company producing goods to buy – this is nothing new and goes back to the 60s and Marlboro and McDonald’s.

But the impression I am getting, especially from lifestyle brands ( mostly fashion, but also consumer electronics etc ) is that they have hired everyone they could find to be a “cool hunter” and identified every imaginable niche sub culture to explore to the point where the original “cool hunter” has again become the consumer/target group. A snake that bites it’s tail sort of analogy. Even worse, I feel as if every brand I have come across, doesn’t matter if we are talking Nike, Dries Van Noten, American Apparel, Supreme, Mark McNairy or H&M – I mean this goes for every idiot out there making clothes, has taking it upon themselves to identify a niche to cater to, and if it is not there, create one to sell to and identify with. It’s mind boggling and hugely off-putting. Nothing is genuine, it doesn’t matter what store I went into, everything felt fake, used, empty and utterly boring. Every store, every ad, every magazine, every online platform is trying to SELL something to a real or imagined subculture with promises of stardom.

On a side note – or maybe the antithesis in my Hegelian dialect in status quo analysis, I also feel that the necessary content of any subculture has been replaced with something sell-able. In my opinion, it is the non-sellable stars in my friends eyes caused by  music, art, thoughts, conversations, ACTIONS and such that make up a sub-culture, which OCCASIONALLY, have resulted in a sell-able piece of clothing. Very occasionally. Today, the creation-process, the intellectual and emotional currency building process of any sub culture has become irrelevant. The cool hunter quickly comes up with a new sub-culture to brand the shit out of, puts together a mood board and the clothes are made within a few months to, one the one hand sell and on the other hand place the creator squarely within the real/not real subculture. None of the brands I came across with all their marketed extensions into the real world or the internet seem to have content – as far as I am concerned every activity by any brand reeks of marketing/branding, invasion of private mental space to only benefit the brand, and no one else.

Excuse these random thoughts-I’ve literally been away from my safety of my office for a few days and been bombarded with the insanity that is the real world for a few days and I feel like I have been brain fucked by all the branding out. I am not trying to make the point of “back then it was better then today”, or “fuck the kids”, or “fuck corporations”. Really, it’s just a quick fix exorcism of my brain.