New tees

Posted on June 4, 2010

Over the past couple of weeks I picked up a few new t-shirts. I ducked up to the Classic Throttle Shop - who supplied the awesome retro leather jacket for ASM #37’s cover shot - to snatch this Harvey Mushman (the racing alias of Steve McQueen) tee.

Nice Speedhunters tee that Rod gave me. There were two different designs; this one’s the RX-8 of drifter and all ’round nice guy Mad Mike.

This trippy shirt was designed by FCUK for NFS Shift.

Allen Lorenzo from Tomei brought over some gifts from Japan, including this Tomei shirt.

Along with this super cool 1/24 scale model of the Maruzen Technica Tomei Datsun Sunny. Thanks Allen!

New driving shoes

Posted on April 25, 2010

Last week some new shoes arrived. Puma’s 917 Mids caught my eye as they don’t look like Speed Cats (I hate how driving shoes resemble bowling shoes) and are more akin to Chuck Taylors. I ended up picking a pair in plain white and in the Mame colourway.

Bendable soles were exactly what I wanted.

There’s a dip in the back collar to prevent chaffing when you’re driving, but it’ll still rub against your skin if you wear low-cut socks.

Crazy on Chucks

Posted on February 3, 2010

Bought another round of Converse Chucks as my old ones were well and truly falling apart. Hopefully these last until the end of the year!

ASM Japan Tour: Free day

Posted on January 20, 2010

Sunday was the designated ‘free day’ of the tour; so participants could visit wherever they wished. We held a voluntary trip to Harajuku, which most people took up. The tour took the JR train to Harajuku for some shopping, a visit to the shrine, and some exploration of nearby Aoyama.

Cheaper alternative to an Elton John auction.

Some of the outfits were really out there.

Stop drooling!

Packing for Japan

Posted on January 12, 2010

Later this week I’m off to Japan for the weekend’s Tokyo Auto Salon. As these trips usually involve plenty of walking, I was looking for a comfortable backpack rather than my Booq messenger. I stuck with the Booq brand as the messenger’s been indestructible; I’ve thrashed the shit out of it and there’s only a little bit of fraying to show for it. Although its been discontinued, I had my heart set on the Boa 3M, and luckily Rushfaster had one left. Thanks Adam for helping me out!

Ballistic nylon pockets to fit nearly anything.

Also picked up a Mandarina Duck Isi bag (small and flat so it can be stuffed into the backpack) to carry the stuff for the plane trip while the backpack gets stowed. Argh, the things you do for economy class leg room!

Flight necesseties.

AME

Posted on December 14, 2009

Last week a friend from Japan popped over to Sydney on a business trip. Kyoichiro - or Itchy for short - works for AME Wheels, who were a sponsor of my old 350Z. Itchy and I only get to catch up twice a year (when I go to Japan or when he comes to Australia), so there was plenty to talk about over a coffee. AME will be doing a limited run of apparel in the near future (not sure if it will be sold to the public), including this cool keyring design.

Had to get it

Posted on October 7, 2009

Spotted this cool cassette wallet by Assettes, which I picked up from Rushfaster for $39.95. Although I have a wallet (which is actually a business card holder), I did need something to hold my business cards (so it’s ironic I chose a wallet for that purpose).

Sadly my business cards don’t fit! Doh! It’s solidly built out of plastic, and through a series of magnets and elastic it can be opened from either end.

Import Bible

Posted on September 12, 2009

Earlier in the week I received a package from Import Bible in Canada. I have a growing collection of their tees and this time I chose their ‘Checkered’ design, which is my favourite from their Series 3 range. Shipping was both cheap and fast and the quality’s top notch!

Designing tees

Posted on July 8, 2009

Although my family has been in the textile industry for decades, it never really rubbed off on me. In fact as a kid I wanted to get as far away from clothing design as possible; cars were my interest, and I much preferred playing with my Matchbox cars than learning how to design and make patterns. However when the two are married together, it’s something I’m quite enthusiastic about. Back in 2002 I was given the task of managing the creative for Auto Salon’s merchandise, and the above tee is one of the first I penned. On the front is a simple one colour vector of an S15, while on a sleeve are four small automotive-inspired icons.

Although my friend Hons now looks after the company’s apparel, I’ve still played a hand in the conceptual phase of each year’s line-up. In 08 Garth and I came up with this particular print, where we melded a Deep Corn steering wheel with the thick ink brush strokes of Japanese calligraphy. It might look simple, but we had to spend a fair amount of time getting it to look just right. When we submitted the design we stipulated for it to be on a white shirt (which would act as the ‘canvas’, thus emphasising the calligraphy theme), and so we were a bit surprised when we saw the production batch in grey merle instead. I’ve only recently realised that I don’t own many of the shirts I’ve designed over the years; in fact I only have three (out of 42). Note to self: must rummage through the warehouse and grab one of each!

Dead Chucks

Posted on June 3, 2009

Gosh do I love my Chuck Taylors. If there was one shoe I would have to wear for the rest of my life, these would be it. Even if I was on a stranded island with no food, no fire, no shelter; I’d want my Chucks. I’ve owned half a dozen pairs and I’ve worn all of them to the point of destruction. Sadly, my current pair are, quite literally, starting to fall apart. I have a new pair of white leather Chucks that have been sitting in the wardrobe for nearly a year (stockpiling them in case of World War III, you see) and I guess it’s time to whip those out and let these go to shoe heaven. Since I’ll be heading to Melbourne next week, getting some new pairs will definitely be on the agenda.

Orange boxes

Posted on June 1, 2009

Spurred on by the fact that my Free 5.0 running shoes have been giving me shin splints, I started browsing online for replacements, and before I knew it I was buying a whole bunch of stuff from Nike U.S.’ online store (I kept telling myself that the shipping worked out cheaper). After being dicked around by my buying agent (Nike U.S. won’t ship internationally), I finally received my sneaks after placing my order in early May. Oh well, better late than never!

Since we’re now playing in two different comps a week, I picked up a pair of Zoom T-7s for indoor soccer duties. Sadly they’re even uglier in person than when I saw them on Nike’s site. Also grabbed some SPARQ Test Pro 3s for outings to the gym, while my running replacements are the Lunaracer+. I quickly christened them through plenty of mud and puddles when Kula and I went for a quick 3.5km run after work. They’re super light and take a lot of the impact out of running on the streets. No more shin pain too.

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