Black Vans

Given a certificate way long ago when I did my Vans interviews (They're on Youtube and I linked it below), it's no surprise to me that I made all black shoes. It's the default when you start designing them. I changed a few things and made them black too and that was it. Boring Vans. At the same time, I tried a few combos of black and red, and multi colors. I almost opted for a blue and red pair which was always a great classic, but maybe next time. In the end, yes, black vans. I'll wear this color combo the most. The red logo in the back is still a classic. Vans are nearly a tradition in footwear, especially if you're in Southern California. Believe it or not, I was never a huge fan as a kid. I think it came from the trauma of having a bootleg version of the slip-ons and being made fun of at school. The copy versions were a bit cheaper and actually easier to access, but you were the butt of any shoe joke possible. So today, I have real vans, and all of the rip off brands from way back got reincarnated x 10. So many brands make slip-ons that look just like Vans. The main difference is I doubt you'll get made fun of for wearing them.

Thevansblog

Sale at all GR stores!

GR is having a sale, from Saturday the 16 until the 31st. Come on down, say hi, and pick up those odds and ends you've always wanted but didn't want to shell out full price. We have a lot of fun and great items, so check it out.

Also on a personal note: purchasing items at GR, or online, and eating at gr/eats supports everyone, and every little bit helps us out.

GIANT ROBOT STOREWIDE SALE

- 20 percent off ALL items (excluding art show pieces and
previously-marked-down merchandise)
- Giant Robot Store (LA), GR2, GRSF, GRNY, and webstore
- Saturday, January 16 - Sunday, January 31, 2010

To reward loyal readers and customers, Giant Robot is cutting prices at all retail locations and the online shop. Beginning Saturday, January 16, every items (excluding art show pieces and
already-marked-down items) will be marked down by 20 percent, with many reduced even further. These are not overstock, leftover, or damaged goods, but the hand-picked, high-quality products from around the world that discerning students of culture have come to associate
with the Giant Robot brand. The cuts are effective until the end of the month and many items are in limited amounts, so don't delay!

Products Soon to hit: GR cap and Labs with Abs

Caps. Fitted and snap back. Pictured are the fitteds. We just got them in LA, and soon, they will be in SF and NYC and online.

The inside of the fitted caps have the magazine tiled everywhere.

Special taping and label

Labs with Abs 2010 - Abs of Egypt
Andrew Jeffrey Wright does it right.

Giant Robot Store videos Darth Vader and Rocky vs Clubber Lang

Rocky vs Clubber Lang. Yeah, I put together these videos in a second. I wish Flipcams could do macro, but they can't. Either way, these USB toys are super funny, and I had to show them off. The Darth Vader piece is funny, and this was done towards the end of intern Yuki's stay at GR. Those are her hands. I tried to do them alone but couldn't. Either way, it's stuff from the Giant Robot stores that make people laugh.

Goth Toys

I want these dolls so they light up my room in darkness. I'll prey that they'll come to life every night. And if I'm lucky, they will be like Weird Science when Kelly LeBrock turns into a real life woman, except these will be gloomy and make weird poses all the time. I'll just stand there in silence and feel like I'm into feeling like doom. We're not happy, the world isn't happy, and these dolls are just so goth, there's no tomorrow.

I got all this text from the box they come in.

Giant Robot x Gargamel X Le Merde Bangal

For the Biennale... Le Merde's Bangal. More info soon.

Dave by David Horvath (not an Uglydoll!)

Dave! Two special color ways! Edition of 50 each. So good looking that you can eat them. These will be released quite soon. Keep your ears out for when!

The Goods

Retrofitted nautical binocular. Cleaned up, chromed, and shiny, this is a Zeiss periscope type item. I'm not sure if it's from a sub since, a two foot periscope might not help much. It's a nice looking piece of vintage machinery.

Whoa, my name is on the back of the T shirt by Hysteric Glamour. I doubt many of you will get to see the shirt itself. It's uncommon and quite pricey! Maybe I'll actually wear it one day, but for now, my cat sleeps on it!

Even from above, it's a nice view. Yes, riff raff is up here. I saw a woman get smacked and she fell 3 rows. She was then led away by security. The slap to her head echoed from seriously 100 or more yards away. It just so happens that The Dodgers also won game 2 in insane fashion. Bottom of the 9th with two outs.

Jack Purcell Converse Ian Ginoza

Kicks Hawaii! These are nice. The leather has that perfect new school Louis Vuitton like texture. I like the lazy laces, just my style. The white is quite nice, and the subtle trim makes this cool. It's not overdone. It has a great balance of style. These are quite classy. Of course a percentage goes to a disease fighting charity. I know these aren't super new, but new to me is good enough.

UNDFTD - Converse Poorman's Weapon

These are nice. Military-esque, grey, removable patches like a real bomber jacket. The stitching, the laces, the inside Agent Orange, orange. The real jacket patch is a nice tough. Branding that you can't miss, all in a shoe that's under $100 retail. Converse are never that expensive, so all this falls in line. Thanks Converse for sending a pair. I'll rock these for sure.

Velcro, the forgotten favorite.

Using that military font...

Consistently orange.

One day, we'll get to make a shoe that I could wear daily. I like the back. The fabric with the pattern is nice.

Casio G Shock LAX - Life is Tough - David Perez Shadi

Casio LAX. Fred Segal's shops are high end. Walking in, I see Lindsay Price who gave me a big double take. No, I never met you. I was looking for the Casio event at Conveyor store. It's supposed to be a photo exhibition, but I was there to meet some heads that I indirectly helped out. I actually "designed" the LAX edition of the G Shock above. My friend Seven Under Topa, (also see my column on the 7under.net site) called me, and while sitting with him and a couple of others at gr/eats, I came up with a idea, and he sat with his laptop and put the colors in. At the end, and well under an hour, we had an idea and concept. The watch came out shockingly nearly as planned. Perhaps it's exact, it was a long time ago. We were all quite stoked.

LAX (LA) has an eco-vibe as compared to NY or Tokyo (the other two places where special edition watches were made for this project). Snow boarding, oceans, mountains, hiking, it's all close by. Prius, green homes, and solar are cool here since people are building like crazy. So that's why the watch actually makes sense. Of course, it could have been black or something really plain, but this stands out hard, and if you take a quick peek, you'll remember this color scheme.

David Perez Shadi, the photographer who shot the line for G-Shock.

The girl sitting looking at her cell must have been a model or something.

Spicy tuna on crackers. Can any local food heads guess where this came from?

Hirotaka and Akiyuki

Kio of Yellow Rat clothing - Barry McGee t-shirt

I dig this dude, Kio who runs a clothing like called Yellow Rat. He's supposedly a great surfer, and back in 2007, I wrote about him with some photos on this blog when I visited his casa. Here's that post. 

He once made a Kio's Ding Repair shirt using a Barry McGee image. It's looks like this here. Today, he showed me a new design. Here's the backstory which makes this funny. Barry does strange ads sometimes. He pays for the ad, and actually advertises something that's not his own. This advertisement showed up in the Hamburger Ears (their music offshoot of Hamburger Eyes) publication. Kio was shocked to see the ad, and now it's a shirt complete with Kio's home address at the bottom. I'm sure Barry had no idea that Kio works out of his home in Mar Vista. I hope people don't knock on his door. 

That's his assistant. Yes, I forgot her name.

Geoff McFetridge Patagonia Boxers

I don't normally post pics of my underwear, but this one is special. Patagonia stores had a sale that just ended, and I picked up some underwear. The design of the pattern is by Geoff McFetridge. The material is silky poly material that look shiny like boxing shorts. Not many will ever see me wearing this.

These are brand new. I wouldn't show you a pic of worn underwear. These were $12 and came in two colors. Some people want to wear clothes so people can marvel at it. I'm actually good wearing stuff, full knowing that only I will see it, maybe for all of 10 seconds. I sometimes wear my nicest t-shirts under a sweatshirt that never comes off all day. Who knows that I'm wearing something nice under a plain sweatshirt? Just me. I wear clothes mostly for myself. That's how I do it.

Dehara extras - Deharavath at Giant Robot NY

While Dehara's work is on the walls at Giant Robot New York, I thought it would be cool to show you some goods he's made. Check out his work with Meiji chocolates in Japan. Click around and have fun with it. Would an American candy company ever do this? Here's a link. Dehara gave me a cellphone charm that they gave away at some convenience stores in Japan. The big companies are finally catching on. Check out the GRNY art exhibition goods too. link to the Giant Robt NY gallery.

Then a confection company tapped Dehara to make a Tosa dog themed dorayaki. Tosa's are fighting dogs, and Dehara's Tosa actually bites the kid character! But it still works on this pastry. It's from a lesser travelled region. Ishikawa maybe... I forgot what he told me, and you can get these only there.

This tasted great. I gave most of mine away to people who helped out at Giant Robot NY for the show. David Horvath got a whole box!

koznydan Bunnyfish meet Amos toys King Ken

They're both on it's way to the stores. Dan from kozyndan dropped off the Bunnyfish at the GR office - their labor of love, after learning about the ins and outs of manufacturing... It looks great and made by the hands of perhaps old ladies who crochet? Maybe not, it could be kids! King Ken was probably not made by too many hands, but I'll bet someone had to paint the teeth. Both sit in my Yoshitomo Nara ashtray. Did you get one of those while they were available?

Yes they come in two colors. Pretty cute, I'll have to say. 

Sunrise Icebat - Uglydoll / Giant Robot

Wake up!
This is the Sunrise Ice Bat. A Giant Robot exclusive. We'll have limited supplies and quantities only 50 pieces made, it's a nice yellow with blue legs, blue teeth, and orange eyes. Ice Bat is up in the morning. In store at 11:30am. I guess this means, GRNY has had em out already.

here's the link.

Giant Robot X China Bag shirt

Yes, we collaborated with China. Far off in the mountains away from the Special Economic Zone is a valley with a factory of loom like machine which produce those old bags that are nearly free. It's on the GR cap, and now it's going to be on a GR t-shirt. Capturing the spirit of the east and even the south (yes, these bags are in Mexico too), the shirt feels just right to me. Comes in a couple of colors, I'll wear this proudly, but hopefully not every day like I wear the GR X Know1edge cap. Get those before we run out.

The shirt will come in a few colors and will be out late next week at the GR stores. Keep posted.

Nooka Nooka - Brooklyn Circus Watch

Nooka Nooka makes me think of Little Caesar's "Pizza Pizza" line. It's more than just a toy, you can put your watches on it's head. The one on the left is the one I wear. The one on the right as you see below is by Brooklyn Circus. A good looking watch for sure. I'll try it out and see how it rocks on my skinny wrist. The band for the Brooklyn Circus watch is detailed and seemed at first glance to be something that will come off easy, but it's on there well. Simple design overall, but effective. Multi use toys are cool and give those who'd say, they're not into toys a reason to get into them.