18/06/2009 02:10:01
We kick summer off with another new brand joining the Urban Industry family.
Its Our Thing is the latest brand to hit the store. Hailing from Tokyo & Osaka, Japan, these guys have really hit the nail on the head when it comes to bringing together super quality tee's with designs that are second to none. What's more,
Urban Industry has a full on exclusive here in the UK!
The guys took some time out to answer a few of our questions and give us an insight into the people behind this exciting new brand and what makes the whole thing tick!
Its Our Thing – Introduce yourselves...who’s in the team and what do they do?
We're a graphic driven brand trying to put more effort into the graphics than our competition, and judging from the responce over the past years it seems like we're getting that through.
The team is a duo consisting of
PMKFA (responsible for loads of work for people like
Sixpack France,
Adidas,
DC Shoes etc) who is a graphic designer and who art-directs the brand, he's based in Tokyo while the Osaka branch consists of
Sweatshop Union, a supreme screenprinter, argualbly Japans best who's in charge of production.
Where are you based and how long have you been going?
PMKFA in the fashion district of Aoyama in Tokyo and
Sweatshop Union in the super cosy small business area of Kitahorie in Osaka.
We started early 2006 after PMKFA did a small exhibition in the Sweatshop Union space, we did some t-shirts to sell alongside the exhibition and after that it grew into what's now
Its Our Thing.
We had both had aspiring dreams of starting our own brand after working for others for years and the formula of such a collaboration cannot be said to be anything else than ideal.
Lets get the main question out of the way. Why is the brand called ‘Its Our Thing’? And What is your thing??
Haha, I cannot remember the exact story anymore but I think it was like this. Because of the distinctive difference of fields we operate in one of the suggestions from me was "I do my thing and you do yours". My partner in Osaka then suggested a shortened version and that was It's Our Thing, and we took it from there.
Our "thing" will never be static, as a graphic designer I constantly wanna move forward, try new techniques etc and even if a t-shirt or sweatshirt might be slightly limited we extend that passion through develop techniques to make stuff like the 3D hang tags, we have developed a machine to vacuum form plastic, a process that usually requires orders of huge quantities but we can easily do 500 a day with industrial precision without having to go through a factory making Starbucks coffee lids.
We don't want people to know what graphics to expect from time to time, there should always be a element of surprise in our lines.
Tell us about the product, whats so special, the t-shirts, the prints? You do pretty much everything by hand?
Yes all parts of the process are somehow very manual. The printing is 100% by hand and therefore comes with a care that really contribute to why Sweatshop Union is so good and why the prints never wear off. Recently I found the first couple of samples we did in 2006 and one of them had been washed probably 20-30 times as naturally could be seen on the shirt but the print was as when it arrived in the mail back then, when I realized the quality I was amazed myself.
The above mentioned hang tags are another thing we're doing and that's just a start of more similar things to come where we try to achieve mass-production level of quality but through the caring hands of craftmanship.
My designprocess is also a lot about that, it's all made in the computer, but the way I use the softwares are not always to use if to be effective. I never use any filter so when you see the woodcut designs in the current line, every little line is made invidually, I don't know how many there are in there but probably a few thousands. I think that when you ask a buyer to pay a part of their part-time salary, student money or even their parents money you have to really make sure to give some of the sweat back that they gave to be able to buy your stuff. With this always in mind we even hesitated in making a logo-shirt from the beginning, but we had to by popular demand. The shirts are also very reliable, Never noticed any shrinkage and the colors stay strong forever.
Where do you take your main inspirations from with the design?
All over I would say. Sometimes it's funny, the
"Trouble N' Toast" design came about after my partner commented "this will sell like warm bread" about another design, so I put those words into the next one and the result got pretty successful.
The seeds for each design can be pretty diverse in character. The
"Magikul" was my idea of a idol portrait gone wrong, using a technique I developed and call dot-tone. The "Juke" design is a dedication to Chicago juke music, like DJ Funk, Deeon, Jammin Gerald etc.
"Jah" is a Haile Selassie in 3D vision and
"Dividers" is a by purpose very static design just playing with shapes.
The ideas are put into a context on how to wear it, where
"Trouble N' Toast" is a very stand alone style of design "Dividers" might look better with a cardigan, they all fill special purposes so the line becomes a unit even though each design is very individual.
Who in the design world do you look up to? Other brands, other artists?
I try not to look too much on others but I really like
Undercover/Jun Takahashi, at least the women collections are always amazing, so playful in terms of cuts and materials. My inspiration and my input channels are very fragmanted that names rarely stick to my memory.
The future for ITS OUR THING? What fresh product can we expect, any collabs with other brands?
More graphics with more care. We're working on some pieces that's not t-shirts or sweaters, but you have to keep a eye on itsourthing.net in the future to catch them...
Check out Urban Industry's entire ITS OUR THING range right
here....
17/06/2009 12:22:47
We just got wind of a nice collab between Adidas Originals and Star Wars..unfortunately its not due till Spring/Summer 2010 but we thought we'd wet your appetite all the same.
Being a massive Star Wars fan since day one i really hope that they manage to pull off the collaboration well. Many brands have tried to do related Star Wars products and few, in my mind, have managed to do a genuine, well thought out execution without making the gear too cheesy. The Consortium 2 pack last year was pretty cool though utilising the old Star Wars figure blidter pack ideas holding a pair of shoes so hopefully they can carry on and pull it off...Here's the rest of the press release for more info..
Adidas Originals and Star Wars are set to link up for an upcoming 2010 spring/summer collection. Bringing together two brands with great visiblity and history, the collection should prove to be an interesting one as it encompasses footwear, apparel and accessories for men, women and children. Expect some of adidas’ most iconic Originals models to get the full Force/Dark Side treatment. The collection will debut in January of 2010 with a subsequent fall/winter collection also in the works. The press release can be seen below.
Herzogenaurach, June 10th, 2009 – Global streetwear icon adidas Originals is proud to announce a unique collaboration with one of the world’s best known and loved brand marks: STAR WARS™. This stellar Spring/Summer 2010 collection fuses iconic STAR WARS™ characters and scenes with classic adidas Originals footwear and apparel silhouettes.
This collaboration between adidas Originals and Lucasfilm Ltd. “has been an exciting process,” according to Ben Pruess, adidas Originals VP of Product Marketing. “To work with Lucasfilm in bringing a timeless story to life on our products is great. Like adidas Originals, the STAR WARS™ brand has a long and rich history of being a leader, leaving an indelible mark on pop culture. For fans of the films, sneaker heads or those that love fun and fresh designs, the collection gives you the chance to find the force or join the dark side.”
Inspired by the galactic saga, the STAR WARS™ collection consists of limited edition as well as mass distribution footwear, apparel and accessories for men, women and kids. Classic adidas Originals track tops and several legendary sneaker styles are represented with characters and scenes from the epic saga in reinterpreted versions.
Expect to see Darth Vader and Stormtrooper graphics on select iconic Originals styles. Other key STAR WARS™ characters and memorable moments from the films will also be represented in innovative, cool ways.
The Spring/Summer STAR WARS™ collection will be introduced at retail beginning January 2010. Select retailers as well as Adidas Originals Stores worldwide will carry the collection. The collaboration will also include a Fall/Winter 2010 line with an exciting new assortment of footwear and apparel.
05/06/2009 03:00:28
As part of
DC Shoes' ongoing '30 Years of Radness' bike campaign, the skate brand has once again tricked out a
SE Racing PK Ripper ride, this time giving it a fixie feeling! The brands have collaborated to produced a limited edition BMX and Quadangle in the past, but it's the new
DC X SE Racing PK Ripper Fixed Gear Bike that will ultimately be off the bike chain! The bike’s Matte Black and Ball Burnished Silver colorways both be available at select boutiques and specialty bike shops worldwide.
If your interested in finding out a little more information about them, simply drop us an email and chat to us further about it. Contact us here:
info@urbanindustry.co.uk
The new fixed gear bike design details are directly inspired from the classic PK Ripper BMX bike, complete with Floval tubing, Landing Gear fork and Looptail rear end. This blend of old school BMX and a modern fixed gear bike not only takes its cues from the PK Ripper BMX construction but also its colorways—Matte Black and Ball Burnished Silver.
DC and SE Racing first joined together in 2007 for their exclusive limited edition project '30 Years of Radness.' The project honoured 30-plus years of BMX history, and DC and
SE Racing celebrated with a re-release of the PK Ripper bike in its original aesthetic for an exclusive limited edition quantity. In 2008, DC and SE Racing joined forces once again with the release of the DC x SE Racing 24” Quadangle. The Quadangle, or the Quad Looptail as it was known, was a '80s freestyle classic, and for the second collaboration DC and SE Racing re-released the BMX bike in for the first time ever, in a 24” version the same classic frame.