Fur Face Boy NYC Exclusive

It feels like it's been Fur Face Boy week on my blog--I've made a string of posts about 'em lately. Hey what can I say? I like the brand. Anyways, this is probably the last one of these posts for a while; I'm not gonna post about every FFB shirt I've got otherwise this would just turn into an FFB blog. LOL! But I just had to post about this shirt because it's got a cool story behind it.

In case it's not obvious to you (should be to anyone who's ever watched basketball) the design of this shirt is a homage to the great Patrick Ewing, #33 of the New York Knicks (1985-2000). But what's special about this shirt is that FFB made five different city exclusives in limited runs of 48 shirts, this one for New York City. These shirts were availably only in New York at FFB retailer Vault in Harlem (read about that here) but I was able to cop one of the 10 that were made available directly online.

I wasn't sure I was gonna like it because, let's face it, the Knicks suck right now and I thought it might feel silly to rep them. But it's Patrick Ewing, so I can get over it. I mean the Bulls ain't exactly been hot since Jordan's days, but I'd rock a Jordan Bulls jersey in a heartbeat. Lemme just say tho that I'm glad it's a Knicks colorway instead of the other orange and blue NYC team.

Fur Face Boy + SHOGUN Collab

So I just posted about the SHOGUN store last week (here) and Fur Face Boy twice already (here and here) but now it all comes together in this awesome and highly exclusive FFB+SHOGUN collab tee. Only 36 of these were printed up--and after the FFB hooked up the Sho crew and keept one for himself, only 30 were made available to the public at the Fur Face Boy Series 2 release party held at SHOGUN earlier this month. Needless to say, this was a hot item destined to sell out in just minutes (which is exactly what happened) so I made sure I got to the event early--three hours early in fact, and I was still the third person there. The FFB made it easy for us early birds tho by handing out a special blue ticket, complete with a hand drawing on the back, to people as they arrived to ensure they got the shirts without having to suffer waiting in an actual line.

Some interesting details about the shirt: notice that the tag is from SHOGUN, not FFB, but there's still an official "Inspected by" and logo flag from FFB. Also, on the back, check out the Fur Face Boy and Shogun names. And of course the artwork integrates elements from both; the FFB face is part of the mecha robot's chest, and the robot's head is actually the same as a design that Shogun uses on their website (which looks to be an interpretation of the Japanese anime super robot Mazinger Z). Even the gun in the right hand of the mecha is connected to Shogun, one that's used in some of their other materials. This shirt is a great example of collaboration done right, on every level.

Another cool thing about the shirt is the rest of the robot; the body is a sort of homage to arguably the most important Japanese anime mecha robot, Mobile Suit Gundam. I've actually posted about Gundam before (here) which is really kinda trips me out. I mean, I grew up in Japan with Mazinger Z and Gundam cartoons/toys/models...makes me feel a little like the FFB was reading my mind and reaching directly into my early childhood when designing this shirt. Weird.

So yeah, it's a wicked cool shirt, but no you can't get one. Too exclusive, and basically sold out before they even went on sale. But hey don't cry, you can still buy tons of other awesome--even limited edition--shirts from Fur Face Boy, and of course a wide range of cool streetwear from SHOGUN.

SHOGUN

SHOGUN is a premium streetwear and sneaker boutique in Fort Worth, and in my opinion is easily one of the finest street fashion stores in the DFW Metroplex. Hell for that matter, it's one of the finest in the country. It's actually better than a whole lot of stores I've seen in NYC, and that's really saying something since New York is probably the epicenter of streetwear fashion.

SHOGUN carries sneakers, caps, apparel, and accessories from some of the biggest brands in the business like 10 Deep, Clae, Crooks & Castles, Freshjive, Fur Face Boy, Mishka, Stussy, Undefeated, Undrcrwn, and Upper Playground. That's an impressive lineup for such a new shop--they only been open about six months. They've also got a killer location on University, the main shopping district by TCU.

Dallas has a handful of streetwear fashion boutiques, but SHOGUN is really the first of its kind in Fort Worth. Do yourself a favor and go check out what Keith and the gang are serving up over in FunkyTown, you won't be disappointed.

One final note: does SHOGUN have the best damn logo, or what? So clever, so deep.

Highly recommended.

Fur Face Boy - Astro Fur shirt

If you've been following my blog for any length of time, you already know that I'm a big fan of the Fur Face Boy brand. It's one of my three favorite brands out there, along with Benny Gold and Staple--all three of which are run by graphic designers, which is endearing to me since I'm also a graphic designer.

This Astro Fur shirt is a limited run web exclusive with only 48 shirts made. It really hits me hard because I'm half-Japanese and grew up with Astro Boy. I mean come on, you can't grow up as a kid in Japan and not idolize Astro Boy; he's pretty much the equivalent of Mickey Mouse in Japanese pop culture. FFB flips the script on Astro Boy here by combining it with the Fur Face Boy logo and colors. Such a sweet design that seems so obvious once you see it--a hallmark of great design.

House of Hoops - Mesquite now open

Previously I mentioned that House of Hoops was opening in Mesquite, a suburb on the east side of Dallas. Well as of this weekend, it's open--but the big Grand Opening Event with Dallas Mavericks players isn't until next weekend, Saturday the 21st.

If you're into Nike (and sub-brands Jordan & Converse) basketball sneakers--both current styles and retro releases--then House of Hoops is tailor made for you. Even though HoH is really just a Nike basketball-specific division of Foot Locker, you will find some things there that won't hit the shelves at most mass merchandisers. The Dallas 214/972 Hyperize are a HoH exclusive, and really you're probably not gonna run into that Lebron VII China Moon at your typical mall store. Of course being a quickstrike, you probably won't find the Cassette Playa Dunk at most places, either.

I really think there's something for nearly everyone at HoH, from casual sneaker fans or general basketball fans, all the way up to hardcore sneakerheads. No it's not the greatest store in the world, but it's pretty cool and definitely well focused, so I'm glad to see one here, especially so close to my house in East Dallas.

Benny Gold Doughboy

Just cop'd the new fall 2009 re-released Benny Gold Doughboy New Era 59Fifty fitted cap. This second release is a follow up to his fall 2008 release which I stupidly passed on that I'd been trying to chase down ever since, so I was glad he decided to re-release them.

This time around, Benny updated the satin paper airplane plaid liner on the inside a bit as well as introducing a new green & gold Oakland A's inspired colorway. There's also a sweet khaki "Dickeys" colorway, but I opted for the classic black color.

The original inspiration and namesake of the cap comes from the classic John Singleton film Boyz in the Hood in which Ice Cube's character, Doughboy, wore a black Detroit Tigers baseball cap. Benny flipped the blackletter "D" into a "B" for his brand. Genius.

Honestly, this is one of--if not the--finest caps I own. The embroidery is a super thick metallic silver and the silver plaid satin liner covers the entire inside of the cap, not just the underside of the bill. Naturally Benny popped that paper airplane logo on the side, opposite the New Era logo, and instead of the MLB logo on the back there's a simple wordmark that reads "GOLD".

I've mentioned it on my blog before, but I'll say it again: Benny Gold is my favorite brand out there today. He's a graphic designer, as am I, and I really dig his design work. Doesn't hurt that he went to the art school (SCAD) that I desperately wanted to attend myself. There are a handful of graphic designers out there producing apparel who's work I really admire (Jeff Staple and Fur Face Boy for example) but Benny Gold is tops in my book.

I picked the cap up friday at Adikt in the West Village shopping center in Dallas, one of my favorite shops here in town. They didn't have many, so if you want one you'd better hurry. These are selling out all over the country.

October sneakers

October was a weird month. I didn't really buy much because we just spent all that money in NYC last month. In fact I originally said I wasn't gonna buy any shoes for the entire month...but well, ya know how that goes. See some sales on kicks ya wanted to pick up but passed on, but now are dirt cheap. Pretty sure I didn't pay more than half-price for any of these. So basically, I ended up with some fun everyday beaters.

I think the best pickup is the first sneaker here because it was made to match my Adidas + Def Jam t-shirt.

• Adidas Forum Mid Def Jam collab (black/silver)
• Adidas Forum Mid Def Jam collab (cardnial/gold)
• Adidas Goodyear OS (white/green)
• Nike Dunk Hi (white/black/blue)
• Nike Zoom Phenom (black/white/varsity royal)
• Nike Air Force 1 (white/orange peel)
• Stan Smith Adikids (white/pink/green))
• Stan Smith (black/black)
• Superstar 2 Adikids (black/blue/white)

Oh yeah and obviously those ones at the end are my wife's--she likes cartoons on her sneakers.

House of Hoops - Mesquite

House of Hoops, the basketball-specific Nike + Foot Locker "high concept" store, is coming this month to Town East Mall in Mesquite, Texas (eastern suburb of Dallas). From what I hear, it's supposed to open November 14th. Nike, Jordan and Converse (a Nike owned brand) are the only things you'll find at HoH, since it's half put up by Nike, but that's not a bad thing since Nike and Jordan pretty much rule the basketball shoe market anyways.

Now in case you didn't know, the first HoH opened at the end of 2007 in NYC, and in 2008 two additional locations opened in Chicago and LA. Earlier in this year, a store was opened in Cherry Hill, NJ and then last month two new stores were added in Houston (and yeah, two HoH in one city pissed a lotta people off around the rest of the country) as well as one in Hyattsville, MD.

DFW is next on the line in the HoH expansion. I'll be there on opening day, that's for sure, if only for the frenzy.