'GRAFTERS' 2012 'LIRA' BLOUSON

After five attempts and numerous months we finally have the Harrington style Blouson sample finished to the best quality and finish possible. The hem has been elasticated to give a more Classic fit. 

The reversible 'Lira' Blouson is available in two colour styles with the one shown being Navy on one side and the reverse Chambray. Although part of our 'Grafters' Collection the 'Lira' will not be in Stores until late Summer / early Autumn in time for the start of the new Football Season.

80s CASUALS 'DEUTSCH-MARK' POLO

As part of the Spring/Summer 2012 'Grafters' Collection we are producing a total of 6 different colours of the 'Deutsch-Mark' Polo. We have here the final sample of White and Marl Grey. All have the new embroidered Eighties badge on the left breast with the corporate Red and Black buttons on a 2 button placket with a Chambray inner. A Tennis Tail has also been added this year. The retail price stays at £45.

Colours besides White and Marl Grey include Navy Blue, Yellow, Sky Blue and Black.

A list of Stockists will appear once we take delivery during March.

The Illustration is our pick of this Summers 'must-have' 80s Casuals Travel essentials including the 'Deutsch-Mark' Polo, the 'Euro' Shorts, a reversible 'Peseta' Bucket Hat plus a pair of 'Made in England' New Balance Trainers as we become all patriotic due to this Summers European Championships. 

THE EIGHTIES SALE

The Eighties Winter Sale is now on with reductions on 

 the limited amount of Clothing we have left from this Winters 'Off-Peak' Collection.

 http://www.80scasuals.co.uk/shop.html 

If you check our Ebay page you will find it is the only place to still purchase the 80s Casuals Book at a reduced rate. We also have available garments that are from previous Collections and are Sold Out in our Stockists Stores. These are mainly oddments recuperated from a couple of Shops that sadly went into administration recently.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/80scas/m.html?item=260920947694&sspagename=STRK%3AMESELX%3AIT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649&_trksid=p4340.l2562

MERRY XMAS TO ALL OUR FRIENDS

It's been a positive year here at Eighties. We feel it's a year were we have managed to make the transition from cult urban culture T-Shirt label, into a bona fide small independent clothing brand.

We don't try to tell you how great our products are, nor push our brand with gimmicks of any kind. We just want to continue our dream of designing and offering good, classic clothing at a fair price and then let you be the judge of whether it's worth a nod of approval or not.

So far we have had fantastic support and response from all over the globe since our inception in 2003. This has allowed  us to build up to our first real substantial range for next Spring/Summer in the form of the 'Grafters Collection'. All we can hope for is that we can keep producing attire you will buy and keep striving to impress you with stand out pieces each year.

It's been an interesting journey and learning curve but we hope that those who have been with us since the early days have seen us progress and get better year on year.

Finally we would like to thank you for your support and obviously the purchases made throughout the past 12 months and hope you keep the faith in our Culture.

Respect and Good Tidings Jay and Dave

P.S. Check the website on Boxing Day for our End of Year Sale.

ENGLAND EUROS T-SHIRT

It may still be 6 months away but we are already putting a few designs in place for the European Championships next Summer. Our first is titled 'For Club and Country' and shows the iconic Mille Miglia Jacket taking centre stage with the England St George's Flag.

We are also producing a few exclusives which we will mention once we take the orders from the Stores. The flag will have some local teams across the middle instead of England. We are going to also change the colour of the Mille Jacket to correspond with the team colours. ie; Stoke will have a Red coat.

Stores will take delivery of these new designs from 23 January 2012.

DRESSERS BOOK UP-DATE

Those hoping to see the 'Dressers' Book arrive in time for Xmas had better print out the above voucher if it's a present. The printers have let the Publishers down therefore the book won't be ready until 6 January, then the posting will commence. The addition of an extra 40 pages caused the hold up but the guys behind the book assure us it will be worth the wait and send their apologies.

FREE MAGS - HALCYON + UMBRELLA

We like a bit of free stuff now and again, especially if football, fashion and the 80s are involved. So here we have a couple of free magazines available in two formats. Firstly the quarterly Umbrella is in Download form and can be viewed at http://www.umbrellamagazine.co.uk/ This is the fifth installment and this issue contains articles on American Football, Boiled Eggs, The Frankfurt Motor Show, The Foreign Legion, London Store Sefton, Knitwear, Shirts, Jackets and Boots.

All Four previous issues can still be viewed on the site here http://issuu.com/umbrellamagazine/docs 

For those who still like the smell of uncoated stock, look no further than Halcyon Magazine. Produced in high numbers and distributed freely to Style Houses and Coffee Bars throughout the North West, this issue is the first and is aimed at me and you. Someone who likes his Fooball, Clobber, Pugilism and Music. So here we have a Carl Froch interview along with a small piece on 80s Casuals from yours truly. Peter Hooton discusses 'The End', while local group 'The Loud' try on some of Weavers Doors finest attire. Our best wishes go out to the guys behind Halcyon as it can't be too easy publishing a free Magazine in todays climate. 

SMOOVE and TURRELL SINGLE

Today sees the release of Smoove and Turrell's latest single 'Gabriel'. They are a band who caught our eye at Kendal Calling during the Summer and this song has already been play listed on Radio 2.

On Saturday we shot over to Manchester's Band on The Wall venue to catch a live set from the lads. A 300+ sell out weren't disappointed as they delivered a fantastic performance. Sharply dressed in C.P.Company, Stone Island and a couple of 80s Casuals Polos the band are definately winning us over in the Style stakes as well.

Friday sees them at Leeds Warehouse and at present there's a date in Birmingham and Leamington Spa lined up for January. We certainly recommend seeing them now. 

http://www.smooveandturrell.com/blog/

NEW 'EIGHTIES' STOCKISTS

INDI

BUCKLES

We have a couple of new Stores added to to our Stockists list. 

Indi Menswear are based in Wakefield http://www.indimenswear.co.uk/ while

Buckles in Ampthill Bedfordshire http://www.bucklesmenswear.co.uk/index.html is a newly opened Shop and we wish Felix the best of luck.

Both have ordered the Tomba Gilet plus the Summit Smock so if you're having a problem tracking down a specific size, then give them a shout.

PESETA SUN HAT

The years nearly at an end but we've been looking forward to Spring/Summer 2012 for a while now. The Stone Roses, Ibiza and The Euros are all pencilled in to an exciting itinerary which will see us trying to satisfy a thirst for quality T-Shirts and some decent Summer attire.
As you will know protection from the searing sun is a major priority during trips abroad whether it be to Spain or the Ukraine.
This year we gave you the 'Reni' Bucket Hat which tied in nicely with the Stone Roses reunion. Next year we wanted to improve on this. The best way to do that was to produce a Bucket Hat that was reversible, therefore giving two hats for the price of one, a bonus in these cost-cutting recessionary times. We are also keeping the price at the bargain sum of £30.
The 'Peseta' Sun Hat is 100% cotton with one side carrying our leather badge and the reverse displaying the latest embroidered badge. 
The names of our S/S'12 Collection derive from the currency used in the European countries during an 80s era where if you were travelling overland throughout the Continent, a selection of different currencies would be needed for each Country travelled through.

GRAFTERS COLLECTION S/S'12 LOOKBOOK

Our 2012 Spring/Summer Grafters Collection is finally in place. All samples have been 'Passed' and so we have produced a 'LookBook' to preview the entire range. This will be passed to our stores throughout the U.K. and to Stores in Cities where our clothing is not stocked. If we are not represented in your Town then give us a shout through our website or facebook and we will send a book to your favourite local Menswear Shop, but remember we can only supply one store per Town/City.

The book contains some photography from the South of France courtesy of Freakbeat Films, and illustrations from the design team of Josh Parkin and Dave Maguire who have also recently designed a couple of our T-Shirts including the 'Warriors Cobb' and 'Hillary' designs.

We now have the reversible 'Peseta' Bucket Hat for S/S'12 in hand, so check back tomorrow for more details and Pics.

HILLARY S/S + T/S EXCLUSIVE.

Tomorrow sees our final designs for 2011 go on-line. First up is a re-make of the popular 'Warriors Cobb' image. Named after baseball legend Ty Cobb, the gang warlord from the famous 'Warriors' film strikes an imposing presence with his baseball bat firmly gripped and ready for use.

This T-Shirt is only available exclusively from a few select stores including 80sCasualClassics, Manifesto, Distant Echo and our own store http://www.80scasuals.co.uk/shop1.html

And finally to round off the year we have a website exclusive. The Hillary design pays homage to a period in mountaineering that has influenced many designers over the last few years as they re-interpret the clothing worn on such expeditions as those of Sir Edmund Hillary. Our figure wears the Parka which Sir Edmund wore on his ascent of Everest and his Antarctic Expeditions. 

The design is available in a White or Navy T-Shirt or a Marl Grey or Navy Crew Neck SweatShirt.

The phrase 'All that Wander are Not Lost' seems applicable to Hillary's life works and is added close to the bottom hemline.

THE LOUD - CASSETTE SINGLE

Freakbeat Films http://vimeo.com/freakbeatfilms/videos are in our Favourite Bookmarks and today their latest offering caught our eye and we think deserves a plug. 

They have produced the Official video for Wirral band 'The Loud' http://www.theloud.co.uk/ for their double 'A' sided single 'For My Record Machine / Mother Warned Me About Girls Like You.' The video is filmed in a distinct style that is reminiscent of early T.V. that used an indoor aerial. The aerial would have to be moved around the room to get a perfect reception otherwise a distorted image would appear on screen.
The Loud include a 6 Music live session at Maida Vale on their C.V. after Steve Lemacq heard them perform. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00kdmw5 

The band themselves have taken a step back in time and produced a Limited Edition run of 50 pink audio Cassettes encased in screen printed artwork and including a download card. The Cassette also includes a double 'B' side. Buy the single from paypertiger.com or Probe Records.

SPONSORED BY 80s

We have received a pic from one of our local teams whom we sponsored with their kit at the beginning of the season. Windmill F.C. play in the Wirral Sunday League and the latest up-date is they have advanced to the Quarter Finals in Two Cup Competitions and are sitting just behind the leaders in their Division with two games in hand that could leapfrog them into joint leadership.

At the end of the season we shall give a run down of how all of our teams fare.

THOSE WERE THE DAYS - MUNICH 1981

Have you noticed lately how all of those arty style blogs and websites are using old style photos for promotional purposes and when they don't use vintage photos they are altering pics from today to make them look old. Even videos have filters and effects for that dated look. The blurred look is a favourite. It makes you think the photo was taken with a Kodak Instamatic or something similar from the 70s.

Here we have no need to alter our photographs from the 80s. They were all taken with our Dads cheap holiday camera and are expertly taken with either a blurred effect [camera shake], faded look [glaring sun in the lens view] or small subject [pic taken from too far away]. 

Above are some photos from a trip to Munich in 1981. A year when the Casual look went mainstream as thousands brought back adidas Trimm-Trab, Grand Prix and Grand Slam. Munich was in West Germany and the currency was the DeutshMark.

The 2 days included a walk around the town to take in the local culture including the largest Hofbrauhaus which can serve 5000 people and the waitresses can carry 10 one litre beer Steins at once. It was here were a large group of fans were ejected for throwing beermats [which had the number of beers served on] and then once outside had a gun pulled on us by the local Polizei for being too rowdy.

On looking through some of those old pics from the 80s it's surprising the number of times it was possible to get into the ground the day before the game for a nose around. It appears to have been a characteristic of most trips.

Bayern Munich now play in the Allianz Stadium whilst The Olympic Stadium in these pics is used today for a variety of sports.

Photos include the The Olympic Tower, Stadium and Village.