NEW ONLINE MAGAZINE

Word reaches us about a new online magazine which is free to download. Umbrella magazine http://www.umbrellamagazine.co.uk/ is the brainchild of Anthony Teasedale who has spent many a hour sweating over his keyboard writing for Mens magazines including Maxim and FHM. The inspiration for the mag comes from blogs and their appreciation of detail and their knack of finding beauty in the everyday. Umbrella has combined the best of old and new media.

Easy on the eye and with a fine mix of fashion, travel, architecture and football, what more could we ask for. Plus we get a mention on page 10, so we shall be catching up with each issue.

RAMBLER JACKETS AVAILABLE SATURDAY

The new football season is almost upon us, it's raining [to put it politely] and the temperatures are heading into Jacket territory. Which means its time for some new Autumn outerwear. Our new Rambler Jacket has therefore now been distributed to stockists and should hit the shelves by Saturday. The website www.80scasuals.co.uk is launching the two available colours [blue and green] on Saturday morning at 10.00 a.m. 

Stockists supplies will be very limited as we have only produced 100 of each colour, but here is a list of stores should you find it difficult to find a stockist locally;

RAN, STUARTS, TERRACES, HIP, PLANET, BLOC3, XILE, SW1, PRIDE, AN-X, HOODS, EVOLUTION, JAZZ, MANIFESTO,RED SQUARE, CAMISERA, and CASUAL CLOBBER.

80s CASUALS AD

 We have recently added a bit of support to a couple of regional publications by commissioning our first advert. 

Boss Magazine http://www.bossmag.co.uk/ approached us for a short interview, so we have taken up half a page in their latest fanzine due in August. 

Also we have done something similar with A.F.C. Liverpool http://afcliverpool.org.uk/go/ who were established in 2008 to give the common man, who is priced out of premiership football on Merseyside, the chance to take kids to the game and become a part of a local community team. We shall be taking up a half page in their programme for the forthcoming 2010/11 season.

For the advert we commissioned MagicHouse Design http://www.magichousedesign.com/ to draw a scene from the famous Wade Smith store in Liverpool and what it would have looked like on any given day in the early 80s. The car in the pic was my very own Ford Escort MkII from 1974.

THE FACE MAGAZINE AUG 1983

A recent post on our forum enquired about the Face article from August 1983. Known as one of the first written pieces to name the youth culture as 'Casuals', Dave Rimmer and Kev Sampsons articles gave an insight into the phenomona that had grown from underground to mainstream in close on five years. This first media account on 'Casuals' also included photographs by David Corio who worked for the NME and Time Out as well as the Face magazine at the time.

NEW BOOK PROJECT.

We have only recently realised that the 5th anniversary of 80s Casuals passed us by without so much as a nod or a cheer. Although our 80s Casuals book appeared this year we thought it appropriate to celebrate the feat with maybe another book. As the brand launched on the back of just a plain iconic 80s trainer on the front of a T-Shirt, we are going to put together a collection of some of the best and most inspired T-Shirts from the 120+ we have produced and recently catalogued.

Having only just catalogued the collection, we are hoping to have production complete by xmas, but don't take our word for it, as the 80s Casuals book was Three years in the making. 

Above we have an early Grand Slam which was one of the first multi-coloured prints and used the navy colour of the T-Shirt as an extra colour for one of the pegs and the shadow, therefore making it impossible to use any other colour T-Shirt for that design. The neck had a plain and simple 80's Casuals print. Note the apostrophe in the 80s before it was dropped to make it easier for the website address and for those who study English who believe it now to be  grammatically correct.  

Once the book is printed and ready it will be free with a purchase which we have yet to decide upon, as a 'Thank You' for your continued support throughout the years.

TRANSALPINO T-SHIRT

A favourite T-Shirt from our early days is re-invented this month.

Transalpino will be known by everyone who followed their team throughout Europe in the early 80s. A discounted student rail travel for anyone under the age of 26, it became the cheapest and easiest way to travel throughout the Continent.

Our design has the green ticket issued for travel plus the timetable which will also be printed on the back of the T-Shirt and the old British Passport which has now been discontinued. Transalpino itself has also not operated in the UK since 1985 due to financial problems at the time. Availability from the end of July.

NEW T-SHIRT DESIGNS...JULY

This month we hark back to the early 80s for our inspiration. 1982 to be precise.

This was the year that the biggest selling British 12" single of all time was recorded before its release in March of the following year. New Orders 'Blue Monday' was in everyones record collection, selling more than a million at the time.

The record sleeve was designed by Peter Saville who was well on the way to becoming one of the best graphic designers in the business. His CV at the time including OMD, Roxy Music, Ultravox and Joy Division. One of Peters favourite features was to irreverantly lift an image from history and then reconstruct it in another. This gave us the idea for us to show respect to a great artist and a fantastic record by reinterpreting the cover in our own inimitable way.

The colour blocks on the right of the 'Blue Monday' cover are a colour code representing the groups name, the title and the record label Fac73. Our code represents the 80s Casuals logo.

The T-Shirt should be available on our website and in stores by the end of the month.

Again we go back to '82 for the second design of this month and we remember the first home computer. The ZX Spectrum was created by inventor Sir Clive Sinclair who until then was known for inventing the slim-line calculator. The computer retailed at £125, about a weeks wage at the time and therefore out off our financial restraint, but we acknowledge good design and the ZX Spectrum was also well known for its distinctive rainbow motif. This highlighted the machines capability of a coloured screen whereas the previous Spectrum had been black and white. The rainbow motif is obviously still remembered today so we thought we would use its distinctive colours as a starting point for our Spectrum T-Shirt.

Available before the end of July at our usual stockists. 

RAMBLER JACKET UP-DATE

If it's worth having, it's worth waiting for. That's the motto we have adopted for our Summer Rambler Jacket. After receiving our initial sample a couple of months ago, we persisted in making some intricate alterations in order to get the perfect Summer/Autumn Jacket.

Up-dated samples have arrived today and after inspection we can now say we are ready for delivery. Our suppliers have been informed and it is hoped that we will take delivery in the next two weeks and our usual stockists should have stock before the end of July.

The Jacket is available in mid-blue and light khaki and will retail at £70 and features two assymetric zips, one opens the Jacket fully while the other opens to reveal a 6" wide pocket at its lowest point. Two generously sized bellow pockets are complimented by our signature "keep safe" left breast pocket with it's 80s Casuals press stud. The distinctive leather 

80s Casuals badge finishes off our favourite Summer piece to date.

As an added touch it is possible to roll up the garment into the hood for easy packing.

The Jacket is strictly limited to 100 per colour and stockists will only receive a proportion of their initial order so as to adhere to our code of exclusivity through a limited production run. 

Contact your nearest store or our website www.80scasuals.co.uk 

to see if it's possible to pre-order.

 

THE WARRIORS 45th ANNIVERSARY

Our T-Shirt homage to "The Warriors" book, first published in 1965, is now ready to distribute to stockists. Marking the 45th anniversary of its publication, the T-Shirt depicts Cobb, leader of the Baseball Furies, with the reverse having the Subway destination of Coney Island, the home of The Warriors. Our website www.80scasuals.co.uk will have supplies early next week as well as these select stores; STUARTS, RAN, SOLEFOOD, EVOLUTION, PRIDE and PLANET.