When I first came to China almost 20 years ago, I use to fly into the old airport in Hong Kong. I remember it was sketchy when the plane came super close to the high-rise buildings. That was then, but when you fly into Hong Kong now it’s about 30 minutes away from the main area which I call the “Artery” to Asia. I think that’s because it is literally a country within a country that holds every walk of life, every cuisine and just about everything else you would need from an international city. At the same time, it is the entrance into the most powerful country in the world. Like always, I’m only here for one night, but I’d like to stop by and catch up with some friends. First things first, I gotta get there. Where am I going?

Good thing it’s not that busy tonight.

Smiley face says…

For as long as I can remember, TST always looked like this…

and this.

I think Japan is rubbing some heat to Hong Kong. Pretty soon you’ll be seeing your underwear in these little machines.

Where’s our dinner joint at?

Eugene and Jasper always know the bomb joints to eat at. Indian food in China sits well with me…

and so does this Mango shake.

See how good that was?

Eugene got a new phone. I think his HTC is better than his old Nokia, (but not as good as mine)!

Chris says, “Made by Made by Monsters!”

LFK is madness!

Night time scenesters high above the sky in Hong Kong…

One thing I’ve learned from my travels is that there’s an international language of “watch how much you drink and don’t be the first to pass out.” Jasper shows us the first step on what this means to Larry.

Larry so graciously demonstrates the last step of this simple process.

What’s a trip to Asia without experiencing all the great things the country has to offer? Contrary to what people think, they have everything and more than you can imagine (including these greasy things).

The Chinese think of everything. When was the last time you had gloves to eat pizza with?

No finger lickin’ here.

When you visit the factory owners, they love to take you to eat and show you a good time. I don’t think I’ll ever get use to drinks at noon.

This is what our table looked like for lunch.

When was the last time you had seen double yolked eggs?

How about fried spinach covered with fried scorpions?

Yes, I said scorpions!

Maybe these chicken pieces don’t look bad after all. Please pass the head, will you!

Everything tastes better when you’re in the city where this stuff is made fresh.

On another occasion, we had “hot-pot” (the Chinese version of Shabu) for lunch. Just like all places in Asia, it’s traditional to wait for the host to determine where you will sit. It looks like we’re about to play musical chairs here.

The stuff looked really good.

Maybe I’ll pass on the blood cubes this time.

More my style… I love having teppanyaki for dinner!

I also love grilled cod…

and raw beef…

but not fish eggs so much.

You can’t go to a teppanyaki joint without trying the fried rice. It’s true what you’ve heard, the best fried rice is when you use left-over rice. When it’s all done, no single rice will stick together. It’s great!

This particular trip covered both the Northern and Southern parts of China. I was too busy admiring the differences in the regions that I almost forgot to take pictures, but I managed to get some in so here are a few.

One of our factories is located next to a large elementary school. Every morning, at 10:00 am, the whistle rings and the entire school comes out and does their exercises.

Just like back at home, kids make it all their own. Some like it, some don’t, and well… some just wanna have fun.

Another one of our factories is located in an area where the government is planning to tear down and redevelop into a new zone. Just last year, these buildings were packed full of people.

They were tearing down bits and pieces of it right in front of us. Watch out or something might fall on you!

Safety first.

If you know your place is going to be “demo’d” you don’t tend to keep it maintained.

When I was in Vietnam last year, I saw an entire family of five on one scooter! The max I could find here was only three.

In this part of China, a lot of people take the bus.

You can’t see it that well here, but they sure pack people in tight!

3-wheeled things.

Almost.

Not good for guys.

What’s for dinner?

Yes, this is China.

I know the garment business inside and out, but when it comes to footwear production, I still have a long way to go to fully grasp all the areas of production. Just like with our garment factories, we work with the best in the business. I’ve been blessed to have solid relationships with our manufacturing team. We don’t work with brokers or with middle men. I like to be as close as possible to the heart of the process and get to know the owners really well. There’s some highly confidential things that I can’t show you, so you’re gonna have to deal with a few snippets.

With every good fit, comes outlasting performance. It looks much simpler than it seems, but developing the “perfect” fit takes a long time …and money.

Markers and cutters are used for garments. Dyes are used for boots and footwear.

Watch your hands!

These machines cost quite a bit, but they do a hell of a lot.

Down the line.

Up and around.

Do you know where these end up? We have an answer (coming in September) that will revolutionize the manufacturing process.

Color me up.

It’s the time of year when I pack my bags and take off for our annual Asia Production Trip. This trip is an important one since the bulk of our business is in winter when I personally make sure things are 100% legit before we ship anything. A lot goes down in what I call “the other side,” but to simplify things, I’m gonna summarize my trip in a few parts. Check out the first one with quality & control.

Things always start off with lots of people around a table checking piles of notes on what is supposed to happen where and when.

Next is the traditional “flybys” to the factory floor.

Although most of our goods are already packed and ready to ship, we have a few late releases that are currently in production. I like to take walkthroughs from beginning to end starting with the fabrics.

To the cutting floor…

Back in the day, when I produced my goods in Downtown, L.A., I remember making all the markers for the patterns to cutting a few by myself. I’ve got nothin’ on these skilled cutters!

A sneak peak into something to come.

There’s so many steps that go into making one of our garments, it’s overwhelming to the average person. Sewing is a huge part of it, but there’s about 100 different sewing steps in one of our jackets. Here is just one.

686 is a company with purpose. After we make it look good, we have to make sure it is functional- made for the purpose of keeping you warm and dry. Waterproofing the garment with custom made taping on all seams is just one component.

The trim process is equally important and is done at certain points in the overall manufacturing process. Bungee cords are started here (but not finished) while the jacket is turned inside out with the insulation showing.

In my world, I call the trims the jewelry of the garment. It’s important to us to use the highest quality jewelry to finish our garments. Even if they are things that you can’t necessarily see, (like this custom made YKK machine to match our custom YKK eyelits).

Finishing is making sure that everything is in line with what’s expected.

We have a strict policy on what we expect to see at 686. Packing instructions are physically placed in front of the tables so each inspector knows what they’re looking for. It kinda looks like this Gore-Tex one.

A lot of factories don’t steam the garments. I don’t care too much about what other people do. I want all my garments to be nice, neat and never wrinkled. (It takes a very skilled steamer to make sure they do it just right on the technical garments.)

Stack ‘em up.

We’re known for having our goods look 100% legit right from the bag. This means every hang-tag, every label, every 686 giveaway is placed correctly. We even have directions on which sleeve and hood is folded where. These puppies are just about ready to go through this process.

Pack ‘em up.

Ship ‘em out.

We’re well into the first month of our major remodel for the new headquarters in L.A. On a past Mash, I showed you some before and after hits. As of now, we’ve taken down all the drop ceilings and pulled out the electrical, carpet, and drywall. We’re now down to the studs (some studs that is). Oops, I haven’t told you what my plans are yet. Well, I’m basically gutting it all and taking out everything. Instead of doing the traditional “demo” and tearing it all out in a few days, I’m going to take it apart, bit by bit, so things can be reclaimed into something else that I dream up. It’s a long, lengthy process that involves way too many people, businesses, city approvals, time and money.

This is where my office will be. These studs are coming down now and will not be going back up (yet).

See all these tubes? They’re here to make sure the air quality standards are up to par with the reclaim process.

This is the back of our main office building that will house the gigantic, 20 foot high art wall. Stay tuned.

I think I would forgo the spare tire and take one of these instead. How about you?

We all get together for a lunch meeting once a month on Wednesday. Since we’re one big family, every time we meet there’s some sort of announcement from “It’s my birthday” or “I’m going on vacation” or “I’m getting married” or “I’m pregnant.” Typically, I ‘m the last one to find out what’s going on here, but not today. Our long time sales soldier for 10 years, hailing from Eastern Canada, Jenn (in the red top), is leaving the family. Considering we helped make her “legal” , I can understand why she now wants to get the heck out of here and explore what else this country has to offer. (Just kidding.) She’s actually going to follow her family path to the nursing field and really do some good. We’re all cool with it, even though we’re gonna miss her quirky take on things.

Today we’ve made some little sweets for you.

These are some tasty little things.

Best of luck wherever your future takes you, Jenn!

We get lots of random things through the mail, both physically and electronically. For some reason, heads like to send us the most interesting things. Here are just a few.

Computer Typos

M to the M

Ouch!

If you haven’t already noticed, I’m not always the best when it comes to answering people’s questions, or that is, giving interviews. It’s not that I don’t like to give them because I actually find them to be quite fun and thought provoking, but it is usually my nature to do things rather than talk about them. This may be a little surprising since I have this “Mash Up” blog (that I hear people actually read). In the end, I do appreciate heads being interested. If this peaks your interest further, here’s what’s in store for our future… and check out MODA 3’s site to see what I had to say.