Mike West

The Other Campus

admin — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 00:36:48 +0000

I may as well spend some time with buddies around the way, since my days are numbered in the county they call Orange, so I went out to lunch with my friend Anthony. This little company in Portland hand-picked Anthony to be the new Men’s Design Director for Hurley. A’s been around for a minute while I first met him around 14 years ago when he was creating skateboarding’s first apparel line for XYZ. That Pho looks pretty good A!

There seems to be a trend when I go to Vietnamese restaurants. I love crispy rice noodles with chicken and veggies, but each place tastes different. I think the Pearl gets the thumbs up.

Since we don’t see each other a lot, we rapped about the usual and a few interesting things coming down the pipeline. Your gonna have to wait to see what this means, but for now, he took me on a tour at their campus in Costa Mesa. I wonder where the campus name came from? As you can imagine, the place has multiple buildings with each one uniquely made for each aspect of the biz. I think Bob and company is in this one.

I haven’t been here for a few years, but the last time Bob showed me their employee retail shop, it was about 1/10th the size it is now.

In front of the retail shop is their dedicated art house called Space.

Mike Stilkey’s show just wrapped.

Their own music studio doesn’t hurt either…

or stage set up.

Lots jammin’ goes on here.

The design building has a lot of goodies that I can’t show you, but it’s dope to see past 686 faction artists, Dalek and Bigfoot, represented well.

Coming soon.

Stand Up

admin — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:08:17 +0000

Don’t mess with LA-kers, son.

Invisible Children

admin — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 00:07:56 +0000

We’ve all got issues, but when it affects our youth it’s a priority to me. Invisible Children is a movement seeking to end a long running conflict in East Africa where children are being kidnapped and used as soldiers. In 2003, three filmmakers made a documentary that showcases this ongoing tragedy.

Last week, I attended the Invisible Children’s largest benefit at Paramount Studios. Hmmm… this looks familiar.

It’s presented by Billabong who’s supported the cause for the past 5 years. The benefit is called Design for Humanity and was started by Candy Harris. This year they moved the event from Avalon and brought it to a more open “village” style format with lot’s of events going on.

It’s Hollywood…

where you have everyone in the book wanting to do their thang…

including French guys that have too many drinks.

There was a lot going on including live illustration art shows,

live painting art shows,

scenester art shows,

and skate photo exhibits.

I can’t forget the food trucks. I love the Grilled Cheese Truck!

How about news caddy girls.

Kid Sister in the house!

Oh yeah, can’t forget the show with scantily clad models…

and lot’s of heads everywhere.

I mean everywhere! It almost felt like I was an extra on a movie set.

More importantly, when you’re here, you’re at least aware of the tragedies most of us only see on T.V.

There is a face behind every war.

Unfortunately, there’s a lot more that come with problems in Uganda.
It’s a long road but you can do something. If you’re interested, click here

Peace out.

Soles

admin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:18:32 +0000

Since I was a runt, I’ve always been into sneakers. Skateboarding had a lot to do with it, but I used to travel near and far to get a hold of the latest shit. Mind you, this was in the early 80’s where there were no “Sneaker Boutiques.” What I did was head to Inglewood, Compton and Gardena (Rodium swap meets) to see what Nikes, Adidas, British Knights, Le Coqs, Pumas and Converses they had in stock. The only legit skate brands back then were Airwalk and Vans, which I also rode in. Whatever money I had, I spent it that same day on shoes. I even got jumped twice for my sneakers, but I was still determined to get what I wanted.

Even though I was mainly into the aesthetics of the shoe I still wanted to make sure the soles were dope. Soles make or break a good shoe. It’s unfortunate that a lot of heads these days don’t pay attention to matching the sole to the type of upper. Have you noticed that some companies use the same lower for their entire line up. Is this a good thing or not? It’s really up to you, but next time you get your joints, make sure you check what’s down under, aight? Here are some examples of various types of soles. Can you guess what the upper looks like?

Make it Look Good

admin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:14:18 +0000

It’s all about the presentation, the first look, the initial reaction. Our foundation is functionality, but in the end, in order to get anywhere shit has to look good. I’ve always been into presentation. It can make or break a sale or even a relationship with a customer for life. Since I had seen the 60,000 rods at the UK Pavilion in Shanghai, I wanted to see what else these skinny things could do. A case in point would be the Issey Miyhake store in Shibuya, Japan. Instead of using traditional hangers and shelving, design firm Nendo opts for 7mm thin steel rods to present their collection.

As you can see, products are supported by points rather than by flat lines.

It almost looks like the coat and bags are flooooaaattinngg.