Open for two weeks, and two weeks only, 143, located just off London’s artsy Carnaby Street, is a pop up store with a pioneering difference. Originally brought about due to the collaborative efforts of the creative powerhouse that is Kate Moross and cult fashion brand Silver Spoon Attire, whilst being supported by Gio Goi, 143 [the numbers standing for the amount of letters in the words I Love You – clever huh?] is a store packed full of beautiful bits and bobs that the creative teaming have decided to bring together under the one roof.
Treats and trinkets fill every [...]

We thought this was a nice piece of calm at the crossroads of Meatpacking: Moschino has a window display on 14th Street in NYC where they’ve turned their dresses into little hot air balloons.
Moschino

This past weekend Gap and Pantone opened up a pop-up shop on 5th Ave in the company’s ‘concept store’ space. The shop will sell t-shirts in a range of Pantone hues. Pantone recently unveiled its pick for the 2009 color of the year called Mimosa (14-0848) Pantone describes the color as having seven characteristics, optimistic, hopeful, reassuring, warm, cheerful, radiant, and versatile which they feel are the most relevant to the next twelve months. Gap has issued a Mimosa hued shirt that is only available at the store on 5th. Sounds like the rest of the line will show up [...]

Known for his experiment in phenomenology, and more recently for his Obama poster, artist Shepard Fairey recently partnered with Saks Fifth Avenue to apply his iconic style to their Spring marketing campaign.
Inspired by the graphic designs and propaganda spirit of Constructivist art, the new catalog covers and shopping bags from the department store will feature the slogan “Want It!” in Fairey’s typical color scheme: red, white and black.  The lettering is also quite reminiscent of graphic designs by Rodchenko, the Russian graphic designer who was one of the founders of Constructivism.
It’s been interesting to watch how Fairey’s work and philosophy [...]

At the PSFK Conference Asia 2008, Jeff Staple, Founder and Creative Director of Staple Design and Reed Space, talks about his “accidental” career path. Jeff went from hand-silkscreening tee-shirts in school to heading a global design, consulting, apparel and retail operation in 11 years— on his own terms. He speaks about lessons learned and knowledge gained in the process.

For tickets and/or information about our upcoming event in London, go to www.goodideassalon.com

Uniqlo Try is the latest web venture from Japanese fashion retailer Uniqlo.  Self dubbed ‘research entertainment’ the website polls 343 women about the fit, style and feel of the ‘Bra Top’, displaying the various responses using graphs and  video thumbnails.  Customers are also asked about their favourite magazines, make-up routine and fashion budget.  Website users are able to filter the research results by selecting the participants height, age, shirt size and body type.
Ask Your Customers

Everybody loves getting their monthly mail delivery of movies and magazines, so why not clothing? Swedish clothing designer Karolina Svensson at Orkan Lia is offering a subscription-based service that delivers custom tailored outfits for each subscriber. Svensson’s designs are inspired by 1950s and 1960s prints & textiles with a contemporary flair in cut and color. While certain sizes may not be available, the service extends to men as well as children.
Pricing is reasonable considering each piece is custom-fitted, with subscribers getting around a 20% discount from her retail pay-as-you-go clothing. Dresses range from $85-$125, skirts at $70-$85 and tops between [...]

Brand New recently compiled a list of their best and worst new logos for 2008.  Top honors leaned towards simple and colorful adaptations, but there is not an agreed formula for a perfect logo.  According to their visitors, the new Pepsi logo was overwhelmingly negative and the new Taca logo was named as one of the best.
The top honor went to 826 Valencia and their fictional pirate themed products.  A measure of playfulness is something highly respected by other designers and the best adaptations seem to come from a balance of clarity and beauty.  Most logos adopted a clearer and [...]

Retailers that attract younger customers who feel little impact of the financial crisis seem to be shrugging off the downturn, a report in the New York Times suggests. As young adults tend to rent with flexible leases and have few investments tied up with the stock market, they have the income to buy into brands that offer fashion and style – at a price that suits.
While sales at most stores plummeted last month, the teenage retailer Hot Topic enjoyed a 6.5 percent gain… As the nation’s retailing landscape has deteriorated, Hot Topic is one of a handful of chains [...]

Harvard Business School professors James E. Austin and Herman B. Leonard are co-authoring a paper titled ”Can the Virtuous Mouse and the Wealthy Elephant Live Happily Ever After?” that examines the acquisitions of smaller socially conscious brands by their larger corporate counterparts.  The goal of the report is to study why these mergers occur and how to manage them most effectively so that both companies benefit.  The study explores these issues from the perspective of three recent real world examples: Tom’s of Maine acquired by Colgate, Stonyfield Farm Yogurt purchased by Danone, and Ben & Jerry’s bought by Unilever. Though delicate in nature, [...]

At the PSFK Conference Asia 2008, Floydd Wood and Jerry Clode (Flamingo International) look at the specific ways Chinese youth are creatively re-working their identity – an emerging trend vital to those wanting to address this demographic on their own terms.
Focusing on ‘retro’ and ‘youth identity,’ the two researchers explain how Chinese youth are re-interpreting their past to construct new identities.  Drawing upon historical events and traditional lifestyles for inspiration, today’s youth are carefully extracting aspects of the their past to form their own identity.  But as Jerry states, “looking back [in China] is not always a comfortable process.  Tumultuous [...]

 Amsterdam-based MADE-BY recently launched a new program called Track&Trace that gives shoppers the opportunity to learn about the rich backstory of some of the products they buy. MADE-BY has partnered with several Netherlands-based fashion brands to insert an added tag to their products that comes with a code which ‘unlocks’ the history of the item. Shoppers enter the code on the MADE-BY site and are given a glimpse of the product’s long journey to the shop window – where the garment was manufactured and by whom, who spun the yarn, who grew the cotton. Each step in the process includes a picture of the worker(s) and a [...]

Though the recession is negatively impacting most areas of the retail sector, grocery stores appear to be doing just fine.  Not only are people eating out less in order to save on money, but they are also rethinking their relationships to national brands.  As a result, larger grocery chains are moving to change the traditional model of “supermarket as warehouse for brands” and transitioning into expanding their line of store brands. And contrary to what most shoppers might think, they’re not just competing on the basis of price either.
Gone are the days when stores merely created generics or cheap knock-offs [...]

Video sharing sites are one of the most popular destinations for China’s 250M+ Internet users.  As a result, brands have caught on to the viral video phenomena and started producing some clever shorts.
PSFK friend Adam Schokora has collected 5 of the most popular Chinese viral videos put out by brands lately.  The video below is definitely our favorite and was made for a special edition Bruce Lee Nokia phone.  The video, made to look like a hidden camera shot, shows the kung-fu master playing ping pong with his nunchucks.
Check out the 56minus1 post for more Chinese viral brand videos.

More than 1 million tons of textile waste are thrown away every year, 50% of which is reusable. Goodone clothing company, based in East London, are doing their part to see that one person trash is another’s treasure in a truly economical way. They make one-off products by deconstructing recycled and fair trade clothing and reconstructing them into a brand new item. Good One also offer their consultancy to brands and retailers wishing to re-work their waste whether it be in to new design, sourcing, production or sustainability through their specialist skills and expertise in the fashion industry.
And, on top [...]