Turning to more cycling-focused things for Fall.
Jun 20 2008
I spent a decade skating regularly with a good five years skating day in and day out. From the ages of 10-20, I devoted a lot of time to it, competing here and there and being part of a subculture that didn’t know the X-Games yet and before skateboarders like Tony Hawk became skateboarding’s Jordan.
May 27 2008
It has been said that I’ve got a bit of a shoe fetish or addiction or “worse than a girl.” I like footwear. I’m no sneakerhead — that term is reserved for those who are far more devoted to shoes and the culture around it than I am. I just like shoes in different varieties and types.
May 12 2008
While this may be Moustache May and ‘staches1 are de rigeur these days, I’ve often pondered how they look in the current revival. My reactions range from Selleck-ian genius to creeped-the-hell-out but here are a few reasons why growing a ‘stache may not be a good idea:
The plush moustache in the thumbnail above is sold by friend Shawn of Shawnimals. He makes good stuff.
1 And I applaud all of those in the name of great moustache wearers i.e. Tom Selleck. ↩
May 03 2008
Hi Ian –
I read on The Thought Kitchen about Nau closing down and at first glance I had to ask myself whether or not it was April 1st. Nope.
I’ve been really bummed and upset that you folks are closing up shop. It’s really a shame that in these turbulent times that an excellent company like Nau couldn’t survive past a year. No one else I feel is doing what you folks are doing. From the first time I heard and read about you folks in an issue of Outside — if I recall correctly — I was super excited at what I was seeing — functional outdoor clothing that gasp actually looked sexy, slick, good and that you could wear for a night on the town and no one would be the wiser. As a designer, it filled that void that I thought was missing between fashionable, modern cuts but being completely functional. To me, it’s a match made in heaven.
I put you folks up there along with Rapha, the high end cycling clothing mfg. based in London. I’m sure you’re familiar with them — given the overlap of some of the Portland cycling brethren that you both worked with — Ira Ryan, Dan Sharp, et al.
And now you’re going away. I’ve never felt so emotionally about a company whose values aligned with mine but it’s good to know that at least you were around for a while. I’m happy to have quite a few Nau pieces in the closet and yesterday I called everyone I knew who loved you folks and we all raided the Chicago store. My significant other (Jen Schuetz — I believe she’s also emailing you) and I bought what we could, happy to get our hands on more excellent pieces but not the situation with which we managed to get these items this time around. Bittersweet with with the bitter side being more prominent.
I feel that given another 6 months to a year you folks would really have found your groove and become a lasting company. I’m a fan of other outdoor companies, notably Patagonia but I rarely find anything at Patagonia that I actually buy — the clothes are a bit too drab and I’ve noticed that their sizing has grown a little (contrary to their claim to fit active people first — perhaps adopting some of The North Face populist appeal?).
Nau was my company of choice. If there ever was a company that I believed could change things, it was you folks.
With that, I hope perhaps someday Nau might return, perhaps in another form. I hope you don’t look at this as a failure — if you do, you failed spectacularly and successfully. But like any relationship that leaves a lasting impact, I’m glad you folks were around for as long as you were rather than not at all.
Godspeed and good luck in your future endeavours.
Thanks for everything,
Naz.
Ed: For further, read Treehugger’s wrap-up.
Apr 21 2008
My parents instilled a sense of fashion into me as a child. I grew up surrounded by piles of Vogue and more of their ilk. My mother and sister rattle off designer names, as familiar to them as their own family. My father aligns himself with designer names that simply sound aristocratic — Ralph Lauren, Hugo Boss, Valentino and their kind.
I resisted their call to fashion, opting instead to embrace the styles of skaters and snowboarders, hip-hop and grunge. Despite disappointing my parents when I’d wear the nice striped shirt and slacks only when I had to attend a function of some kind, I soaked up the magazines and the names and more importantly cultivated the eye for what made clothes look good.
My family would probably chuckle today and be proud. That I’ve finally over the past decade, come to embrace a good cut, a fitted shirt, a proper pair of pants that fit and a shoe collection that women I have known have been surprised to see, almost jealous in some cases.
I like to watch trends. I keep an eye out on what the kids are doing these days — currently, I’m not too happy with the selection of American men’s fashion at the affordable level. The classic brands have remained preppier than ever and the rest are going with some kind of hip-hop indie hybrid comprised of chunky Nike dunks and tight jeans matched up with your father’s blazer on top of either a striped t-shirt (either slanted, horizontal or asymmetrical), a striped sweater or cardigan or some other pattern variant (houndstooth, herringbone, etc).
I’m personally a man of solid colours and clean cuts. The Europeans have long been prescribers of this aesthetic, as well as some of the Asian countries.
Menswear is described by many as hard to do — there’s a limited canvas to seemingly work with — masculinity is measured in finite terms and the clothes, made to match. Very few designers and companies make menswear that I feel push the boundaries even a little bit, re-inventing old classics into new silhouettes and shapes. There are a few I do like though.
Apr 07 2008
Last week, a client contract came my way which required a signature, as well as either the signed document returned via email or fax. Typically in the past, I’ve printed out the contract and faxed it back. However, I dislike wasting paper for things like this (as well as thinking Green these days) and have often wasted money and time on having to head out to Kinko’s to get things faxed. How quaint eh?
Mar 24 2008
A recent pondering on Twitter where I stated “Did our vision of the future ever involve so much advertising? Aside from Blade Runner, The Fifth Element, not much sci-fi reflects it.” lead to various replies disputing this fact citing such films as Minority Report (popular response), 2001, 1984 and Brazil. These films are all relatively iconic films in giving us a vision of the near future.
Mar 18 2008
Before heading down to SXSW this year, Aza Raskin, now of Mozilla Labs, got in touch with me to see if I’d be interested in designing some t-shirts for them. Why, yes please.
Mar 05 2008
Earlier this week, Trent Reznor released Ghosts I-IV, a 36 track (or a traditional split of 4 albums) collection of instrumental music. It forms a soundscape of moods, atmosphere, moments and volume. It’s a highly interesting experiment in regards to Reznor pulling a Radiohead but how good is the actual music? And how does this set the tone for distribution?
May 30 2007
I recently received the first four copies of Rouleur, the gorgeous black and white cycling quarterly put out by the British cycling gods of style, taste and elegance, Rapha.
Rapha has long held my interest — their aesthetic is exactly what I had been looking for in cycling clothing for a long time. However, their prices have caused some controversy, but I say that you’ll pay for quality anyway so while I can’t quite bring myself to buy most of what they sell, I do appreciate quality when I see it.
Mar 26 2007
Above, Pinch.
Back in February when the winds were harsh and the temperatures on the wrong side of zero, a few of us went over to Design Within Reach and went to take a look at friends and industrial designers Craig Berman and George Aye’s juried creations in the flesh, Pinch and Perforated.
The set has been posted on Flickr for your perusal.
Aug 01 2006
The web was abuzz yesterday and the day before with the latest product announcement from Motorola: The MOTOFONE. It’s sleek, sexy looks have no doubt won the aesthetic hearts of many but more importantly and as pointed out by Greg Storey, “Finally, a cell phone that’s a phone.”
If you’ve known me for a while, you’ll know that I was reluctant about having a cell phone. For a while I fought against having one, preferring the solid connection of a land line and the privacy that came with not being able to be reached anywhere and anytime. A few years ago, I had a cell phone, gave it up for a year and then got one again, which I’ve had ever since. There are quite a few reasons why I’ve come round to it, some of which are obvious and others not so.