Monday 27 August 2012

EIGHTIES VINYL RECORDS T-SHIRT







Our 'Not for Profit' side project of Eighties Vinyl Records now has a website www.eightiesvinylrecords.co.uk set up and the first single EVR001 by The Sand Band 'When We Kiss' is available to pre-order. We are also producing a Limited Edition [25] T-Shirt with each release. The first [EVRT001 The Sand Band] captures the 1970s Lomo Mic used to record many vinyls during the 70s and 80s along with a Soundwave used in the 50s that reminds us of Joy Division's 'Unknown Pleasures' artwork.
The T-Shirt is Italian fit and is available from Small up to XXL whilst supplies last.
Cost is £15 plus p+p and all monies will be re-invested for future projects on the label. 

Saturday 25 August 2012

NEW EVOLUTION T-SHIRT




Available on Sunday evening from our website is the new 'Evolution' T-Shirt. 
With some excellent artwork from Josh Parkin http://joshparkinillustration.tumblr.com/ 
the design is a re-interpretation of the silhouette 'Evolution' design from a few years back and highlights the evolution of the Casual from its late 70s beginnings with a Peter Storm right up to this Summers Eighties 'Krone' Cagoule.
The tag-line was used on our Trimm-Trab trainer T-Shirt design in 2005 and comes from a quote in Phil Thorntons 'Casuals' book.
Stores will have delivery of this and the other latest designs during the forthcoming week.

Wednesday 22 August 2012

CONTRA EL FUTBOL MODERNO




We are at present designing a few T-Shirts based on the 1968 French Student Riot Posters. The designs encompass' the 'Against Modern Football' stance that has gained popularity across the continent.
Our first T-Shirt is being produced in two languages French and Spanish. The idea of the posters and now these T-Shirts was and is to convey the grievances of those involved in the protests. 
The French design should be on our website in the following few days whereas the Spanish one will be in Stores from Saturday.
Those Stores include Ran, Distant Echo, Stone, Threads, Bronx and our Poland friends.

Monday 20 August 2012

EVR002 - THE TROUBADOURS TEASER


EVR002 - THE TROUBADOURS - CON EDISON
We are pleased to announce that The Troubadours will be the second release on the Eighties Vinyl Records Label in the next few months.
We are only doing 5 or 6 releases per year so don't worry if you are collecting each one, as there won't be releases every week.
The Troubadours recently reformed after a two year break. They debuted the John Leckie produced  'Gimme Love' in 2007 with this and the follow up '[I'm not] Superstitious' making the Top 20 Indie Singles Chart. Although the album 'The Troubadours' was never released in the U.K. it did make the Top 10 in Japan.
have recorded a preview here and are in the process of completing an accompanying video for the single.
Mark Frith from the band will be producing the artwork for the vinyl sleeve plus we shall be designing a Limited Edition run of 25 T-Shirts @ £15 each with this and every other release on the Label.
More details to follow.

Sunday 19 August 2012

CHARITY RUN - CALDICOTT TOWN FC UNDER 16s.


We have chewed your ear off before about our passion for grass roots sports for the young un’s and I’m sure anyone involved will have appreciated that. Media bullshit aside, it’s still generally a sad state of affairs in the UK.  
Now we believe when you're legally a Man and can earn a living, then you can take care of your own kit etc , but for kids it’s a bit harder and in these tough times were some families may not have the spare cash to chip in for their kids sports kit and equipment (one of my lads kits for his junior team club this season is £55 per child!).
So when we were contacted recently by these polite young Men from South Wales, it pulled on my heart strings and also gave me the chance to achieve a life long goal. Caldicot Town under 16’s have played together from the age of six and have been told this season there is no funding available from their club to replace their well worn out kit for this coming season. Now the problem is we are a tiny business and the small amount of ‘sponsorship’ we are allowed to put through the books is already accounted for in local junior boxing and football. So I thought I’ll have a shot at seeing if the  close knit community of our forum members would help out and offered to ride to Gwent or run a marathon in return for donations towards a new kit for the lads (thank God they chose the marathon as Gwent is a long way on a BMX).
Now I like to keep fairly fit but have never run more than around 14 miles in my life. I have always wanted to run a marathon but I didn’t really have time to train for this and to be quite frank underestimated the respect a marathon run deserves. I figured it’s only twice what I have already comfortably done and you see all kinds finishing it every year in the London one...so it will be no problem for a Man of my fitness ...grrrrrr! (mistake No 1). 
So the perfect route was chosen, a jaunt from my house along my beloved Wirral and back via the Wirral Way. So yesterday I swerved the first game of the season at the theatre of empty seats (cheers Col), and at 1pm set off with my mobile phone, camera, Ipod and one large bottle of water (mistake No 2).  


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Now this is the only time you’ll catch me wearing a Man sack, but as I learnt the hard way it would have been wiser to have packed some more thirst and energy support in there. 

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The Wirral way was created in 1968 following the old train line of the same name, although it is now broken up in some parts as housing estates have grown. It was Britain’s first ever country park and is a combination of a walking/running/cycling path with a parallel horse trek.  It’s 12 miles in length so including the mile run from my own house to the beginning  it is the 26 miles required for a marathon there and back. 

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The first leg of the journey is considered the less picturesque although the wonderfully preserved Hadlow Road station is here,  a run through the rocks of Willaston (home of the massive apparently) finishing with a birds eye view of the wonderful Neston cricket club of Awaydays fame. 


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So still feeling like Mo farah at this stage I crossed through Pargate for the much longer 2nd leg to West Kirby. 


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 The second leg took me through the real ‘posh’ end of the Peninsular with stunning views of North Wales from Heswall and Thurstaston, still feeling great and loving seeing families out enjoying a beautiful day!  


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Passing  through the affluent Caldy was something else, as you take in how the other half live in this footballers paradise which is also home to retail legend Robert Wade Smith.   


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The final leg of the run was very long, hot and straight, plodding into West Kirby was where the enormity of the task kicked in as I contemplated the fact that I had to do all of this again coming back.  


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Now I won’t bullshit anyone as the run back was all keeping my eyes to the floor in pure pain as I hit ‘the wall’ and by the time I reached Neston I could barely feel my feet. 
I stopped for a 5 minute rest to check my messages (bastard Tranmere where 3 up and I’m sat here in bulk!) and feared I may not be able to continue at this point as I had also run out of water way back. When I got back up my legs were responsive to their brief rest and they just about managed to get me at a shuffling pace back to my front door in just over 5 hours.   


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Hopefully now the task is done we should have enough money from the generous chaps on our forum to kit out Caldicot FC under 16s in their clubs colours in the coming weeks, we will keep you informed.



EIGHTIES VINYL WEBSITE + PRE-SALE




The Eighties Vinyl Records Project is now up and running. The 'Non Profit' Project aims to showcase Bands, Designers [graphic and website] and Film Makers etc with all profits returned to finance further Singles. 
We shall keep the 80s ethos which means producing 250 Limited Edition coloured 7" Vinyls plus we have plans to design just 25 white T-Shirts for just £15 on the Eighties label with each release.
All participants/buyers will have their contact stored with pre-sale emails being sent on all releases.
The project has created a great deal of interest with quite a few bands contacting us with one or two well known acts amongst them. 
The first single EVR001 'Going to the City' by 'The Sand Band' is available on pre-sale now with a September release on the cards. The T-Shirt will be added to the site in the coming weeks.
Thanks to all those that have already purchased the said 7".
http://www.eightiesvinylrecords.co.uk/ 
http://www.facebook.com/EightiesVinylRecords

Friday 17 August 2012

LONG SLEEVE POLO'S - FINER DETAILS






It looked like the Winter had never left us during the wet and windy Summer we've had. Maybe we should have produced our Long Sleeve Polo's for those cooler nights. Anyway this Autumn see's the return of the Eighties Long Sleeve Polo in the Midnight Blue and a new colour of Tobacco Brown. Both carry a contrast darker Chambray inner placket for this season. All of the other finer details remain including the sewn cross seam strengthener, contrast Eighties buttons and inner neck rib. This year the leather badge is replaced with our embroidered badge.
These should be available from October.
More pics to follow shortly.

Wednesday 15 August 2012

COMING SOON - 10 ANNI IPHONE CASE




If you've dropped and smashed your IPhone you will know how costly the screen can be to replace. Over £50 apparently. 
Designed to protect, the Eighties IPhone Case is part of our 10th Anniversary Celebrations. The low profile hard case has snap-on four corner protection and has our 'Grim Up North' T-Shirt design from a few years back. Cut-Outs allow for all function uses. 
We are in the process of cataloguing our 10 years of T-Shirts so we shall hopefully choose another design as these will be limited. 
The 10 Anni IPhone Case will be available in October. RRP £20.

Tuesday 14 August 2012

AFICIONADO T-SHIRT










The newest design due in Stores next week is the Aficionado. An outfit that graces the terraces up and down the land and one highlighting the Mille Miglia as used on one of our earliest Tees. The fine details have been expertly drawn by Paul from http://www.artofwarclothing.com/default.aspx 
Also debuting on these latest T-Shirts is the new embroidered logo. The 'Casuals' has been dropped giving a sleek, well groomed and neater look to the design. We seem to be known as 'Eighties' therefore this seemed a natural progression. 
The T-Shirt has been ordered by Terraces, Ran, Distant Echo, Stone Menswear, Originals Footwear, Hip, Threads, An-X, Bronx and Evolution, plus our own website.

Monday 13 August 2012

ADIDAS LIVERPOOL




In a recent article for a Japanese Magazine I was asked for my favourite adidas trainers. The adidas Liverpool came in amongst the Top 5 due to their rarity and the fact that adidas had finally acknowledged and paid homage to Liverpool being at the forefront of the Casual movement with its infatuation with adi trainers. 
Only 100 of the trainers were produced for the opening in October'07 of the adidas Originals Store in Liverpool and the following day they were all snapped up within an hour.
The Liverpool has the Trimm-Trab silhouette with a gold Liver Bird on the heel. One of the 100 pair are held in the adidas German Headquarters.
There are a pair on eBay at the moment which would be ideal for a collector with the initial bid being £100. A pair sold recently for £215.

Sunday 12 August 2012

THE GENTRY COLLECTION - THE GAMEKEEPER






Here we have a sneak preview of The Gamekeeper Jacket.
So we're being told by the magazines it's all about the countryside this Winter, well we're not ones for walking up hills in the middle of Winter. The coldest we want to be is for 90 minutes during a night game whilst sitting on a plastic seat. But that doesn't mean we take our Cold Weather attire lightly. 
The Gamekeeper Jacket is straight out of a 'Highland Shoot' and ties in nicely with the Harris Tweed Scarves we will have on offer. The Jacket has a buttoned front with three front Pockets, but also has a full width inner Poachers Pocket which can be accessed via a buttoned interior or two outer side Pockets. A Cord Collar adds that 'Gentry' touch whilst the Buttons, 'Hand Made in Italy', give a 'Formal Look' which would not look out of place in any Directors Box you may try to bunk into. The red Eighties Pinch-Tag gives a discreet identification as we have no leather badge on these. 
More Pics to follow in the coming week.

Saturday 11 August 2012

SAVE OUR SOLES - PIN BADGES







80s Casuals started almost 10 years ago because of our love of trainers. T-Shirts on trainers was the initial thought now we pay a retrospective look back at the four favourite brands of that era, adidas, Nike, New Balance and Diadora. Each is represented on a pin badge in an exclusive collection of just 90 sets. The cost is just £15.95 for the four. http://www.80scasuals.co.uk/products/pinbadgesoles.html 
Each silhouette has been finely illustrated by Josh Parkin who now has his own website set up with contact details herewith; http://cargocollective.com/JoshParkinIllustration/About-JoshParkinIllustration