Each week on solipsistic NATION I promote art and design culture as well as playing the best of all genres of electronic music. Last weekend I attended the THREAD Expo in San Diego to meet more artists to feature on the show.
THREAD is a showcase of emerging fashion designers and the music and art that rock their world. For demanding fashionistas seeking ‘whats next’ and the most cutting-edge looks, THREAD is a chance to pick up one-of a kind pieces ranging from hand-stitched frocks to eye-catching jewelery, often at reduced prices. For independent fashion designers used to settling for a couple of inches of rack space at high street boutiques, THREAD is a rare opportunity to showcase complete lines before they hit the shelves and sell off samples.
Below are some of the artists I met while attending the THREAD Expo
FMKLIFE
We are FMK, which is an acronym representing ForManKind. We are a brand out of north county San Diego and have a lot of local support. Currently all of our artwork is printed on some of the highest quality materials found in the universe, and it’s damn stylish, not to mention very comfortable as well. Our product is not particular to anyone, hence the reason we’ve branded ourselves as FMK (formankind). We incorporate everyone and anyone who wants to be apart of the FMK lifestyle.
What is the FMK lifestyle? It’s anything you can imagine, from your wildest dreams to your worst nightmares. Or it’s as simple as just life itself. We identify with the beauty of all life around us and our clothing represents it all. We are creating a culture of mixed backgrounds. We promote a free-living lifestyle filled with positive thoughts. We truly are boundless and we intend not to offend anybody with our different styles. We line ourselves with today’s very colorful modern youth culture. Often we try to encompass our adventures and wild thoughts into our artwork, which can be a bit off the wall, but that’s just how we do things…
WAFFO
Hey Y’all! Word on the corner is that we sell the softest, best cut, vintage tees on the block! None of that American Apparel or wannabe vintage hokey pokey. This is the real deal here! Are you down with old vintage “Screen Stars?” I thought so. Well, try this number out. Our own private label made with our own super soft custom blended fabric. 100% Made in the U.S.A.. Seriously folks, we guarantee this t-shirt to be the softest thing in your closet or yo’ money back!
We are currently cutting, sewing, and dyeing all of our t-shirts in down town San Diego. We use small sewing contractors on the streets of National City, Chula Vista, and El Cajon Blvd. to keep our inventory rooms full, and to keep the quality and cash flow in our neighborhoods.
We hope to provide you with the pleasure of owning and wearing one of our custom manufactured super softs! However, You have been *WARNED*. Once you put one on, it’s hard to wear anything else. Cheers!
IRON FIST
We started Iron Fist to make affordable kick ass clothing for the kids. It’s a sincere deal, no bullshit.
Just a crew of delinquent skaters, artists, musicians, BMX’ers, surfers, punks… whatever you want to call it making stuff that we want to wear. Not some 50 year old guy with his winning formula for brands who thinks we won’t know the difference because he has to pay people to wear his shit.
Fuck the so-called industry and fuck the way things are. Let’s change it for ourselves, create anew and make our own deal.
Just like how it all started out in the beginning when it all meant something to someone…
SPRKFR
“Because you can’t be naked, all the time.”
Founded by Marco Rached, SPRFKR, offers t-shirts that are both sexy and provocative. Marco’s clothing is clearly inspired by Art Nouveau, Victoriana, Dada, Pop Art and 60s psychedelic rock concert posters but twisting it with his own unique vision of the world.
You can email Marco at el_suprfukr@yahoo.com or visit his MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/SUPRFUKR.
TEAM NACU
NACU Clothing serves as a reminder to recognize the people who support and help us achieve our goals.
The five points of the star in the NACU logo represent the people and groups that influence what we do & who we are today. For John Joseph Nacu, those five groups are God, family, friends, teachers, and culture.
The letter “N” that connects to the star standards for “Nacu”.
CUSTOM INDUSTRIES
CUSTOM INDUSTRIES was founded in the summer of 2004 in Venice, California by graphic designer and world traveller Matt Taylor. Matt has visited over 45 countries on six continents, and has been around the world more times than he can count. Prior to founding CUSTOM, Matt worked for over 10 years as a designer and animator in the entertainment industry, creating works for clients such as Disney, MGM, Dreamworks, Activision and EB Games to name a few. Matt’s partner and wife, Catherine Roa, is a fashion designer with 10+ years experience in apparel design, sourcing and product development for a number of internationally recognized apparel manufacturers. All of the graphics and embellishments reflect our passion for travel, art and adventure. We share this with our customers by offering high quality, detail oriented streetwear with style and comfort. Each of our unique graphics is accompanied by an individualized tag with an anecdotal and irreverent description about the place that inspired the design. In January of 2007, Custom Industries moved to San Francisco, CA.
PHILOSOPHER GARDEN
Headquartered in Irvine, California, a company was born from the imagination of two young, creative, and independent women who believed there was a void in intelligent, yet sophisticated and fashionable items.
After countless meetings scribbling ideas, while sipping strong black tea and eating much too many Russian bakery cookies, a unique concept was conceived; we called it Philosopher Garden. Philosopher Garden provides a new and unparalleled experience of enjoying inspirational and meaningful written sentiments. Our diversified fashion and gift lines combine favorite quotes with high impact graphic designs.
Philosopher Garden’s fashionable t-shirts delivers heart felt, motivational, and witty sentiments in a personal and unique way. Our junior line, debuts with Mukalacha, our sweet and friendly cow. She speaks for our youthful spirit and desire “to be a star”. From our imagination to you…
MINDTRIX
MindTrix is a fusion of eastern wisdom and western fashion.
The clothing’s unique design is ruled by MindTrix’s passion for the environment, eastern philosophy and fashion.
MindTrix is for people with more discriminating tastes who want street fashion that fits their own sensibilities. MindTrix focuses on reaching customers who have resisted being labeled as a particular generation or lumped into a target market. Individualism manifests in their lives as a conscious choice and as a culmination of fashion, the environment and sustainable living.
BLENDS
There’s not much I can tell you about Blends because their web site is almost as minimal as their display at THREAD. I’m a sucker for sneakers so I headed right over to talk to the owners. I was directed to Keith, who was kind enough to take time out from his hectic schedule to share a few words.
The Blends display was all black and their shoes were either black or white, negative and positive. If I had more time I would have had asked the significance of their choice of colors, but there was so much to see and do!
This week solipsistic NATION continues to promote art and design culture with another t-shirt give away contest, courtesy of Marco Rached of SPRFKR SPRFKR. Email at solipsisticnation@gmail.com and you could be a lucky winner of one SPRFKR t-shirt of your choice.
- Greenskeepers “Polo Club”
- Urban Delights “Crush”
- My Robot Friend “Rapture (Freelance Hellraiser Remix)”
- Levan Vs. Ekala “Tram”
- Tomboy “Flamingo (KIM Remix Radio Edit)”
- Junior Boys “In The Morning (Hot Chip Remix)”
- FMKLIFE Interview
- Waffo Interview
- Iron Fist Interview
- SPRKFR Interview
- Team Nacu Interview
- Custom Industries Interview
- Philosopher Garden Interview
- MindTrix Interview
- Blends Interview
- Bizzart “Suicide Bomber’s Parade”
- Omni “Batterie”
- Paulie Rhyme “Thuganomix”
- Walter Meego “Romantic”
- Drop The Lime “Glock Box”
- Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid “The Sun Never Sets”