Johnny Cupcakes Talks About Protecting Your Brand

July 14th, 2010 by Chris Strong

Even the smallest of brands need to pay close attention to what’s going on with their brand in the market place.

Case in point, Johnny Cupcakes out of Boston, the t-shirt company that you’ve seen me write about on the blog way to many times. Though J.C. is not a huge mega-brand by any means, that doesn’t keep him immune from people trying to hijack his brand, do what they want with it and make money off of it.

Sure, we’ve all seen bootleg Oakley sunglasses before among other things, there was a time in the 90′s when I lived in NYC that you couldn’t walk down the street without seeing knock offs being peddled everywhere. But that was Oakley, an expense, well known and well respected global brand. As in demand as they were at the time and as expense as their product was, it was almost kind of expected that someone would make fakes to sell.

Now, I wouldn’t have expected to have seen what was posted on Twitter and on the J.C. blog the other day about a Bangkok, Thailand based store being raided and the owner arrested for selling huge amounts of fake Johnny Cupcakes goods. From the looks of the photos, we are talking HUGE amounts of fake shirts.

As you can see from the photo below that was also posted on the Johnny Cupcakes blog, apparently there have been quite a few people trying to infringe upon the brand.

Its certainly interesting to me to see such a small brand having this happen to them, but it’s also a reminder of the importance of having a pulse on what others are up to with your brand.

Posted in Design, News | 144 Comments »

I pity the fool who doesn’t have a Mr. T, tee!

June 8th, 2010 by Chris Strong

You absolutely have to love the Threadless community if you are a t-shirt person.

Day in and day out, someone is always posting a great new shirt design. Best part is, you really never, ever know what you are going to find when you go to the site.

For instance, if you are at all like me, you grew up watching the A-Team. That means you watched every episode, every chance you got. Then there is the theme song, which is pretty much the soundtrack to your daily life, no matter what you are doing. Lastly, you love Mr. T and all the awesomeness that comes along with his character, B.A. Baracus. If this doesn’t apply to you, you may want to stop reading the post here…

I pity the fool!

I pity the fool!

So imagine how pumped I got when I found out someone made a Mr. T, well, tee. It’s actually called the Mr. Tee and it’s basically a shirt that has shirts sewn onto it that make a portrait of Mr. T!

The Mr. Tee!!!

If you want to get one, of course, go to Threadless. But then, come back and read the HyperQuake blog!

Posted in Design | 151 Comments »

Even more innovation in the world of watches!

May 27th, 2010 by Chris Strong

Man, it seems like once a month I’m posting to our little blog about all the cool stuff that’s going on in the world of watches and their design/technological evolution.

Sure, I’m a geek when it comes to adorning my wrist with something sharp and classy looking, that at the same time is functional and keeps me on time, but there is no disputing that what I just found is cool.

To recap though, you may remember that I recently shared that companies are bringing back retro designs or putting things like E-Ink in their watches. Or, you may recall a recent post about the unveiling of something that will help you stay on time for Happy Hour.

Well, the game has changed again, enter the touch screen watch, courtesy of Kenneth Cole. Yeah, touch screen! Awesomeness.

Like an iPod Touch for your wrist, minus mp3 playing.

Like an iPod Touch for your wrist, minus mp3 playing.

So you may say, “So what?! It’s just a watch.” Well, that may be true, but it represents more than that in the sense that, as time continues to go by (pun intended), more and more people have just started using their phones as their watches, or just are just giving up on watches all together. In a world of things that do lots of stuff, watches do what they do and they do it well. Make no mistake about it, you used to buy a watch to tell time, but now you get so much more. Companies making watches are figuring out ways to use nice design and great technology to innovate and improve on something that’s basic. I think it’s a smart move and pretty great to see.

Now the problem is what watch to buy next…

Posted in Design, Technology | 172 Comments »

Why Would You Still Wear A Watch?

May 3rd, 2010 by Chris Strong

You mean to tell me we didn’t sell you on why you need a watch after our post about the Happy Hour Watch?

Well, be that as it may, many people ask this question to me when they see that I have a watch on everyday. It becomes an even better question when they ask me why I have about 12 watches. Answer is pretty simple really.

Yes, the purpose of a watch is to tell time. However, some really great watch makers have been popping up over the past few years and they are making stuff that aren’t just watches. I’d say they are more like art for your wrist, that’s why you should still wear a watch.

For example, Lip, a French watch-maker with a 141-year history, recently started resurrecting some of their designs from back in the 1970s, allowing a limited number to be sold in the States. For watch buffs like me, this was pretty phenomenal because we could get our hands on a piece that has the heritage and style cues from the 1970s series they are well known for, but at a fraction of the price that you’d pay for an original one on eBay. You can read the whole history of the brand on their Wikipedia page, it’s pretty interesting.

Awesome watch!

Awesome watch!

So watch makers are pushing the envelope a bit in my opinion. Enter a brand I stumbled upon called Phosphor. These guys have married a level of art in the design of the watch, with a level of technology that I’ve never seen in a watch before. The design of the watch band, face, etc., is all pretty simple and fairly understated. They appear to be pretty sleek and would probably contour well to one’s wrist. But when you start digging a bit deeper, you find out these watches are made using E-Ink technology. I’m not even going to try to explain how this works in terms of the display of the watch, so I suggest you just go here and read it for yourself.

E-Ink in a Watch?!?! Huh?

E-Ink in a Watch?!?! Huh?

Whether you are a watch person or not, it’s hard to dispute that there are some cool companies out there coming up with cool designs. Again, for me, it’s less about telling time, but more about the design and art factor. I’m willing to bet this is the case for more than a few people out there or all these great companies wouldn’t be making watches anymore.

So do yourself a favor, go buy a watch.

Posted in Design | 124 Comments »

Design and its importance when skydiving from outer space

April 29th, 2010 by Chris Strong

Red Bull has been working on a little project we hear, called the Red Bull Stratos Project. What’s it involve you ask? Well, a guy, Felix Baumgartner, will be jumping out of a weather balloon 23 miles above the earth. For any non-science geeks out there, that’s the edge of space. Yep, you read that right.

redbulljump_fall

It’s an important jump because it’ll be the highest free-fall ever, and the hopes are that it’s going to yield lots of data that scientists will use relative to developing advanced life support systems for future pilots, astronauts, and space tourists (yep, you read that right). Tickets go on sale immediately following the jump, I hear.

So, Mr. Baumgartner is going to fall to the earth at speeds of over 760 mph, which means he’ll be breaking the sound barrier. As such, he needs a suit that can handle those kind of numbers. Enter the David Clark Company who are designing the test suit and the real suit for the actual jump. No report on cost, but I think it’s safe to say they cost a lot. The ins and outs of the design on this suit are intense. Sure, it’s got the typical Red Bull branding that comes with an event of this nature, but the true design and development of the suit is just crazy. I.E. Pressurized gas layer. Check out the story for more specs.

redbulljump_suit

It’s unbelievable to imagine a jump like this is going to happen, but really cool to imagine what will come out of it. In addition to the story, you can check out a photo gallery with detailed images of the suit.

Posted in Design, Technology | 181 Comments »

What do you get when you mix Cupcakes + T-Shirts + Suitcases?

April 21st, 2010 by Chris Strong

cupcake_suitcase

Well, The Johnny Cupcakes Suitcase Tour.

And the good news for all you Cincinnati folks out there, Good ole’ Johnny is coming to our fair city to sling some gear.

For any JC newbies out there, we’re really not talking ‘cupcakes’ in the literal sense here, we’re talking about cupcakes that are the trademark of a clothing line, spearheaded by a guy only known as ‘Johnny.’ That means, cool t-shirt design, hats, sweatshirts, ties, etc., all emblazoned with Johnny’s signature skull and crossbones cupcake logo, somewhere in the design.

If you haven’t read Johnny’s story before, with regards to how this whole t-shirt w/ cupcakes on them, thing got started, the concept of the owner, driving around the country selling shirts out of his car at random shops in different cities might sound a little foreign.

In reality, it isn’t though, because this is how the business got started. It’s pretty fascinating and you can read up on it here:

Story of Johnny Cupcakes

Bottom line, Johnny’s stuff is sweet, his story is inspiring and it’s awesome to see him going back to his roots for his fans. The guy loves his brand and loves finding new ways to connect with, inspire and show his fans some love and this Suitcase Tour is evidence of that.

So, if you want some limited edition JC gear, want to meet Johnny, or just want to hang out at what is sure to be a party, make sure to check out the details about the Cincinnati stopover on May 2.

Posted in Design | 184 Comments »

Are You Ready For The Zombie Apocolypse?

April 16th, 2010 by Chris Strong

Where's the white button-up and the "Shaun" nametag?

Well, apparently you should be.

The folks over at uncrate.com posted an entry that pretty much outlines everything you need to take on the impending attack of the living dead and this stuff looks like the real-deal. You’ll be like a Zombie hunting Rambo with this stuff. Read it here.

No one knows exactly when this apocalypse will be as their are conflicting theories between numerous University research studies. But hey, it never hurts to be prepared. Remember the year 2000? All those canned goods didn’t go to waste did they?

Probably the most important part I determined after reading this was the whole book on how to fight Zombies. If you don’t know how to actually fight them, all those cool looking boots and gloves are worthless.

But anyway, you should probably go get prepared because you never know…

Posted in Design, News | 10 Comments »

Johnny Cupcakes in Cincinnati Tomorrow!

October 26th, 2009 by admin

Johnny Cupcakes at NKU

So I just found out the one and only Johnny Cupcakes will be at NKU for a free speaking engagement next week.

He has one of the coolest apparel brands around, (all started with some homemade t-shirts) that all feature his cupcake/crossbones logo.

I believe he’ll be talking about how he’s grown his brand to create a dedicated cult following. Should be fun, plus he’ll have shirts for sale!

Johnny Cupcakes Shirts

Posted in Design, News | 9 Comments »

North Face vs. South Butt

October 5th, 2009 by admin

Hehehehe...facebutt.

I’m not too proud to admit that any topic that allows me to have a file named “facebutt.jpg” on my desktop is motivation enough to write, but as someone who has also gotten threatening “your name is too close to mine” calls (I’m looking at you, Michael Flatley) this story is even closer to my heart.

Apparently, sick of paying $179 for North Face jackets, 18-year-old Jimmy Winkelmann decided to take matters into his own hands and started up The South Butt clothing line which, let’s face it, is hilarious.

South Butt's offerings

The North Face, however, doesn’t seem to see the humor and is suing the college freshman for copyright infringement. Putting aside for a minute the fact that shoddy videos like this could hardly pose a threat to a comparatively giant company with several snazzy AORs, is it really worth the bad press to squash it? In my case, discovering The South Butt reminded me that The North Face even still existed, so that’s all good for them, right? But I am not of their outdoorsy demographic, so maybe that’s moot.

Winkelmann’s attorney, meanwhile, wins the trophy for Best Legal Statement Ever, defending the teen by arguing that “There appears to be little recognition, if any, that the savvy of consumers precludes anyone from confusing a face with a butt.”

Posted in Design | 14 Comments »