the-affair is an indie label out of East London striving to rid the world of boring and dumb popcorn tees. They produce in limited runs of only 200 per design and each one is based on literature – hence their slogan “the thinking man’s brand”.

They’ve just dropped Batch.04 / Obscurity in time for the northern summer. The 3 new designs were begun from slightly more obscure sources than usual, but the results speak for themselves.

Strange Aeons is based on H.P Lovecraft’s very particular form of tenticled horror in The Call of Cthulu.

Whilst We comes courtesy of their insatiable fascination with dystopic fiction, this time via Zamyatin’s novel of the same name, widely agreed to be the inspiration for Orwell’s 1984.

And finally Corto’s Crash SS09 is a brand new aqua colourway of their best-selling (and now sold-out) Corto’s Crash.

Get on over there and grab yourself one before they’re all gone…

Full disclosure: I am one half of the-affair with my partner in crime Dave Black

It’s been a wild and intense 6 months since Mr. Black and myself launched our t-shirt brand the-affair. Apart from boring countless people at every opportunity with tales of our exploits across the blogosphere, we’ve actually been posting our tees off to exotic and unexpected destinations all over this little globe of ours.

Tempers have been frayed, our sanity was threatened, and calls from friends and concerned family members went unanswered and ignored. Many late nights, cups of tea and cigarettes later, we’ve arrived back from the printers with our second humble offering. Like that difficult-second-album, we deliberated, mused and mulled over the themes and artwork for an unnecessarily long time.

Continuing to turn to literature for inspiration, we took ideas from William Gibson’s techno-nerd-cyber-punk novel ‘Neuromancer’ as well as developing a rather clever interpretation of a quote by every MBA’s favourite intellectual, Niccolo Machiavelli.

Anyway check them all out here, the-affair. As always, all feedback is very much appreciated.

Based on his simplcity theory #3:TIME, the aptly named timetanium (did you see what they did there? pretty amazing huh?) is Maeda’s first foray into the shoe game. I can’t say I’m in love with the green vomit on the heel, but the grey lines are nice. I can imagine the process of this must’ve been amazing, and unfortunate that the product falls well short in its final execution.

Check out this viral film for Diesel’s new campaign – Human After All. There’s something extremely alluring about hearing European languages in space… But its the core idea that I love because its perfect for a top-range fashion brand. No matter how much tech we have surrounding us we are still emotional beings, liable to fuck up and at the mercy of said emotions (especially when buying expensive clothes). Catch the other two after the jump…

via Adverblog

About a year ago, a strange thing happened amidst the rubble of broken dreams and the boozers of East London. Two pilgrims to this savage land decided to pool their industry experience, raw talent and shamelessly egotistical aspirations. After much beardstroking and arguing, the-affair was born.

Slightly more intelligent than your average brand, our graphic tees are influenced by subjects that delve a little deeper than your standard pop-references. Too high-brow? Actually, we’ve just got a little more faith in our customers.

the-affair, because everyone deserves a bit on the side.

…………………………………………..

As some of you know myself and Señor Black have just begun a tee-shirt brand called the-affair. So do me a favour and check out the site. If you like it, or even better if you don’t, i’d love some feedback. We’re really interested in any thoughts whatsoever.

*Warning, shamless piece of self-promotion

Those of you who know, know :) Those of you who don’t, check out the Picturing Fashion blog of the street scene in my beloved Barcelona.

One for the type nerds… this is a series of shirts by Blanka where the weight of the font determines the size of shirt – and thus cheekily points to the weight of the user. Quite subtle, über nerdy, and something my CD would definitely wear!

This has got to be one of the best videos I’ve seen in a long time, and i’m not talking about the great motion design or animation. Its the tees man! The shear volume of work that went into each one of them, but more importantly, the social commentary – explicit or not – that i find so appealing. Their target market is the blank-tee / AA generation, and so using the tee as the canvas for the bands visual ideas is, IMHO, a brilliant example of marketing. Even more so when you consider that each of these shirts can be purchased online (apparently). If you know where, please let me know!

So it seems the all-over craze has made it off tees and onto the proper street ;) sorry, couldn’t help the (admittedly awful) pun!

What better to sell boring clothes than a bunch of Japanese guys doing weird dances? The loop-based mixer idea is by no means a new one, but this is executed very well nevertheless. And you just can’t help but enjoy Japanese guys trying to be superfly b-boys!

The winner of the online Adicolor competition has just been announced, and its this pair of Hokusai-inspired kicks from Ari Lankin from NYC – which is fitting I guess, as they will be produced in a super-limited edition of 25 pairs, and only available from the NY Originals store

via coolhunting.com

Certainly one of the cooler street brands around is WESC, and their new travel guides are certainly in keeping with this image. Its like product placement, but they created the product… Part catalogue, part travel guide – they’re an embodied mashup of the lifestyle the brand promotes. The only thing that would make this better is if the content was user-generated… Now THERE’s an idea… Any fashion brands listening out there?

Check out these dope new Adidas SB, slated for S/S 2007 – all coming out of the brain of Mark Gonzales… I’m still trying to get my hands on a pair of the Stan Smith SB ‘San Francisco’, but they’re as rare as hen’s teeth (well, London-side anyway)!!!

via trust nobody

These are worth it, if for nothing else but to rock out at Camden Markets and beat the ravers at their own glow-stick game! via eh!gazpazcho!

We all know that in-game advertising is going to be the next big thing, but perhaps not to the extent that Ben Sherman’s new press release is hoping “(to) Create The Ultimate Lifestyle Gaming Experience”… Well, it remains to be seen. Basically there’s a new game, Test Drive Unlimited (suitably Flash-y site with cringe worthy muzak), and apart from driving stupidly fast around Hawaii you can also kit yourself out in Ben’s gear. Whether or not this leads to sales remains to be seen, but branding is a fine art and this certainly can’t hurt brand recall…

A very interesting article on Paul Frank and his recent (ignominious?) departure from his namesake company. What happens when you no longer control what you think is rightfully yours to control? At the very least its a warning and potential wake up call for anyone thinking about naming a company after themselves…

via hi-res!

Technorati Tags: fashion

T-post is a really nice twist on the t-shirt idea… Blending the worlds of magazine/news and fashion, T-post has managed to stand out from the plethora of other online tee brands. You subscribe much like a magazine, and every 6 weeks you get a new shirt, by a different designer. But wait, there’s more! Every tee is inspired by a news event that occurred within that 6 week period (and for your mental convenience, that article is printed on the inside of each shirt). So not only do you get a constantly fresh wardrobe, but you get a wearable conversation piece!

Technorati Tags: fashion, t-shirts

Personalise your desktop icons with your favourite kicks. Icons are easily downloaded from orangeclaw and include a comprehensive write-up on each model. Currently available for Mac OS X and in the future also for Windows XP. Temporary relief for sneaker addicts.

Kicks looking a little tired? Just add ice! Not surprisingly, there big in Japan right now.

Some gaudy, some awesome – Greedy Genius is the newest entrant on the rare/collectible kicks scene. With only 500 pairs worldwide produced of each model, and only available at über-select shops, these are set to become some of the hardest kicks to find! Loosely based on the iconic Nike AirForce1 design, Greedy blings it up a little with rare materials and the like.

Their unfinished website can be found here, but its all about myspace at the moment for bands, so why not for fashionistas alike?

Technorati Tags: sneakers