Saturday 27 February 2010

80s CASUALS BOOK - FINAL CUT



The 80s CASUALS book is here. Yesterday we took delivery of this epic adventure. We can now  finally distribute it to retailers. The website will start sending out orders with immediate effect and today RAN in Liverpool and Manchester took delivery plus also HMV and WATERSTONES in Liverpool are setting up accounts and should be able to start selling in a weeks time. Other stores that have submitted orders include BLOC3 [HULL], MANIFESTO [DUNDEE], HIP [LEEDS], STUARTS [LONDON], PLANET [BEDFORD] and TRANSALPINO [LIVERPOOL].

AD of the WEEK

Taken from the ARENA magazine dated Autumn/Winter 1987 the ad shows a couple of CONSORT ORIGINAL jackets from their Winter range. Interestingly the designs are credited to Italian OLMES CARRETTI. Olmes designed for HENRI LLOYD during the 1986-1991 period in which time the HENRI LLOYD CONSORT ORIGINAL sailing jacket became an adopted item of the Italian Paninaro. The jacket was his re-interpretation of the one designed for Sir Francis  Chichesters single handed sail-boat trip around the world. Olmes Carretti is also probably best remembered as the designer behind Iconic sweatshirt label BEST COMPANY from 1982-1992. 

FRENCH BLUE TERRINDA



Here are some clearer pics of the latest FILA/80s CASUALS Collaboration. The French blue is now available online at www.80scasuals.co.uk. Also in view is our latest T-Shirt design 'OUR PROVING GROUNDS' the phrase inspired by an old advert for an iconic pair of trainers. 

Saturday 20 February 2010

NEW COLOUR TERRINDAS




This week sees the launch of the latest 80s Casuals/Fila collaboration. These MK111 warm up tops, more commonly known as the Terrinda are now thought to be the best re-issue from Fila. Using an original 1980s Terrinda from our very own collection, Fila have re-produced the fabric as closely as is possible. The www.80scasuals.co.uk website have the option of an exclusive pro-badge attached to the left breast which was only usually seen on the professional players of the day. The jacket colours available as of now are White and French Blue. The remaining Green are due to arrive in March plus a Lemon Yellow which Fila did not think existed until we showed them one is due for a May release.

Friday 19 February 2010

THE ART of PRINT - book update


Well after three years of ups and downs, today saw print production finally start on the 80s Casuals book. The book will take approximately 30 hours to print and once printed will be sent for finishing, which means getting the front cover gold block foiled, laminated and then folding, collating and binding completes the job. This in effect means completion during the course of next week, possibly Thursday/Friday. Together we have taken the pics, completed the write ups, sat with the designer and basically told him where to position the pics and write ups and over the last two days i personally spent 10 hours printing the book myself on a Heidelberg SM74 Lithographic machine. Hopefully the completed version will do the era justice and at the moment there is nothing out there to compare. Thanks for your patience.

HERITAGE ELLESSE


Word reaches us from 80s stalwarts Stuarts of London that Ellesse are at last about to jump on the Heritage/revival bandwagon. The Italian label always seemed to play second fiddle to the giants of Fila and Sergio Tacchini but the more discerning customer was drawn to its quality and the fact that it was never mass marketed and too mainstream. This Spring/Summer collection is once again Made in Italy and the prices will relay that fact with Polos around £70 and the Ski Jackets starting at £250/£300. Stuarts expect to take delivery around June or July.

Tuesday 16 February 2010

AD of the WEEK


From the 1987 Summer Arena mag. A nice jacket from Stone Island which retailed at £110.

Sunday 14 February 2010

NIGEL CABOURN ARENA MAGAZINE 1987


Nigel Cabourn has been enjoying his time in the spotlight over the last few years especially with the recent re-issue of the cameraman jacket from his 2003 Authentic line. The original inspiration for the Authentic Line being Sir Edmund Hillary and the 1953 Ascent of Everest. The 2003 collection being produced to coincide with the 50th Anniversary of the climb. Those of us who are old enough will remember the designer from the mid to late 80s. The early 70s had seen Nigel take his first steps into the fashion world whilst still in his final year at college. The Cricket Clothing label had a turn-over of £100000 but he decided to set off globe trotting. On his return the label started up again before a demise due to under capitalisation.
Cabourn therefore went freelance and began picking up accolades for work with Woodhouse and produced a Next blouson jacket which flew off the shelves.
On getting a backer in 1985 the Cabourn label was up and running. 
Above we have a Summer yellow jacket from Spring/Summer 1987 available at Woodhouse in Manchester and London for £95. Also from Harrods a Winter '87 Ventile jacket. Ventile seems to be one of Nigel's favourite fabrics having been developed in the U.K. for the R.A.F. in 1943. The material gave pilots crash landing into the sea up to 20 minutes survival time compared to only minutes with other materials. 

Friday 12 February 2010

ARENA MASSIMO OSTI FEATURE 1995








We were recently asked, did we have an old ARENA HOMME + Magazine from the mid 90s. The magazine had a feature on iconic innovator and designer MASSIMO OSTI. The six page article displays some of his most original pieces including garments for STONE ISLAND [Camouflage Ice Jacket, Raso-Ray Parka and a Reflective] all pre-dating 1990 plus some pieces for C.P.COMPANY and LEFT HAND. The design in parts of these early ARENA magazines were a major influence in a forth-coming book. ARENA started life in 1986 and lasted until its demise in April 2009. It shall be sadly missed in these parts

80s CASUALS BOOK PAGES


Here we have a few pages from the forth-coming 80s Casuals book. The initial response and pre-sales have been fantastic and everything is on course for a 1 March release. As soon as we go to print we will have pics from the printers of the print-run in production.

Wednesday 10 February 2010

BOOK on GERMAN BLOG

The guys from german blog 'the referance council' got in touch recently as they wanted to promote our book on there site.
we therefore sent them some pdf files on a couple of pages which can be viewed herehttp://www.thereferencecouncil.com/2010/02/the-80s-casuals-book/#more-1106

Sunday 7 February 2010

80s CASUALS BOOK UP-DATE


We are approaching the final leg of the 80s Casuals book saga. It must be nearly 3 years since the idea germinated into us gaining a publisher only for us to see him 'put us on the back-burner' so to speak after a year and a half due to financial constraints. Therefore we took it upon ourselves to self publish what we hope will be the definitive book on the revolutionary 1980s casual clothing period. This week sees the final visit to the designer, then the following week will see the book go into print production. This print and finishing of the book will take up to two weeks depending on the printers work load, so if all goes to plan we should have a copy 'in hands' by the weekend of 27 feb. The book will be 168 pages with a 4 page cover plus over 350 colour photographs and will have an initial run of just 2000. Cost is £20. pre-order here http://www.80scasuals.co.uk/book.html 
At present the only book store we have approached is Waterstones in Liverpool and they will be stocking the book with an option to take it nationally. Apart from Waterstones we will have the usual stockists of the 80s Casuals brand taking delivery.

THE FIRM on DVD



This week saw the release of Nick Love's latest 80s inspired tale. The Firm pays homage to Alan Clarke's 1989 opus of the same name albeit from a different angle. Clarkes covers the hooliganism from the lead characters [bexie] perspective and is set in 1988 whereas Love's is from the view of casual wannabe Dom and covers a sportswear dominant 1984. 
Its clear that this is Nick's period and he re-enacts the time with as much attention to detail as is possible. The purists out there will jump on certain scenes as out of sync ie; JD Sports didn't open in London until 1989 plus the music time-line is up to 4 years out but for £10 theres no other film going to be made that covers such an intrinsic part of casual history. Yes theres over-kill on the sportswear but take into account Fila and Tacchini plus JD no less became major players in the wardrobe department then it seemed acceptable to re-write history to a certain degree. The extras part of the DVD has a 'making-of documentary' which is certainly worth a watch as it goes behind the scenes of the film with a peak inside the wardrobe department.

80s CASUALS ICONS RANGE




About a year ago a good friend of ours photographer Francesco Mellina was commissioned for an exhibition with Liverpool Museums. Franco documented the early punk and liverpool music scene at local club Erics in the late 70s until its closure in 1980. Among his photographs were up and coming artists including The Ramones, The Clash, Echo and the Bunnymen and New Order to name a few. We decided to dedicate a limited edition run of three designs to acknowledge  his achievements. Images of New Order, The Smiths and The Clash were gathered for what was to be the ICONS range. Well it appears that our small range of t-shirts was a good stepping stone for Franco into the world of retail and an inspiration for another label. Amplified have built up a sound reputation in doing band inspired designs for their T-Shirts and Franco's designs have now been taken up by them under the guise of the IKONS range. The T-Shirts are available from the brands website  
 Heres the write-up about the range from the Amplified website Sugarbullets.co.uk
Amplified have produced a new range of iconic T-shirts aptly named ‘IKONS by Amplified’.IKONS by Amplified is a 12-piece collection which features memorable poses and portraits of today’s modern day icons and those from days gone by. Musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Chrissie Hynde and Ian Brown take center stage, in eye-catching black and white photographic imagery. The visual style of IKONS by Amplified was inspired by the work of photographer Francesco Mellina. Mellina captured the essence of Liverpool’s post punk music and fashion scene in the late 70s. His photographs documented key gigs and music spots of the time, some of whom went on to achieve worldwide status including Roxy Music, The Clash, The Ramones and The Smiths.

SEAFARER UP-DATE




All of our Seafarer Jackets have now arrived and will all have been supplied to stockists by the end of next week. www.80scasuals.co.uk have the full range of sizes available now while supplies last. We learnt this week that our suppliers were unable to manufacture the navy, so at present we will only have available the deep red and black colours with a limited production of 100 for each. Those stockists who were after the navy colour will probably have the black as a substitute. Once these colourways have sold they will not be re-produced again. There is a possibility of us doing the navy or some other colours at a later date.