A Bathing Ape (BAPE) celebrates its 8th anniversary in the U.S. today, marking the opening of its New York City flagship store on December 12th, 2004. It's a bittersweet time for many longtime fans, including this writer.

The Planet of the Apes-inspired brand paved the way for many streetwear brands, with a limited edition run of products sparking a huge craze outside of Japan at a time where you could only attain items imported by proxy vendors or resellers. As a result, it was ranked #3 on Complex's "50 Greatest Streetwear Brands" ranking last year.

The New York store, located in SoHo, is still a mainstay for streetwear aficionados, tourists and fans of the Bathing Ape lifestyle — and many of them will be flocking to the store today to pick up the limited edition anniversary gear. With the recent 10th Anniversary of BAPE London, I am reminded of my experiences over the last eight years with BAPE New York and the Bathing Ape brand.Continue reading...

Having taken Zara to task as part of its Detox/Toxic Threads campaign, Greenpeace is now turning the spotlight on the Levi’s brand.

This week, the eco-activists rolled out a multimedia campaign that included bringing 16 living mannequins to stage a protest outside the brand’s flagship store in San Francisco. Their demand: that the world’s largest maker of jeans (with sales of $4.8 billion in 2011) eliminate hazardous chemicals from their supply chain. The tactics: turning the denim giant's global Go Forth "marketing platform"— which was inspired by Walt Whitman's "O Pioneers" poem — against the brand.

Campaigners are using the language of "Go Forth" against the brand. Greenpeace is mimicking its graphic style and hashtag (#goforth) with its own #detox tag for a "#GoForth and #Detox!" message. The platform's "This is our time" tagline has turned into "Now is Your Time," in addition to co-opting other Levi's brand attributes (see the Pinterest/Facebook-ready "501 reasons to detox" infographic, below) to encourage the company to live up to its high-minded, noble mesaging.

Levi's is listening.Continue reading...

Reebok’s shoes are generally made for athletic use, but the brand now means something else for 150 of its employees across the globe. That’s the number of folks that were sent packing in a recent company restructuring, according to the Boston Herald.

About 65 of those folks came from the company’s US headquarters in Canton, Mass. “Today, we continued this reorganization with the implementation of a new global-direct operating model between the global organization in Canton and our markets, and a streamlining (of) our satellite creation activities,” Matt O’Toole, Reebok’s chief marketing officer, stated.

It also eliminated its European HQ in Amsterdam and its Asia-Pacific office in Hong Kong. That’s too bad, considering the company that is now a subsidiary of Adidas got started in the United Kingdom way back in 1895. Still, Reebok has been a drag on Adidas since its acquisition in 2006, as the Wall Street Journal noted last month. Now it's time for a little fiscal, and physical, fitness.Continue reading...

The Chrysler brand and Carhartt this week launched a limited-edition "Imported From Detroit" work wear collection that pays homage to the spirit of the Motor City, and serves as yet another reminder of the effectiveness of Chrysler's turnaround branding campaign sparked by the 2011 Super Bowl commercial featuring Eminem.

Debuting at the Los Angeles Auto Show this week, the collection includes shirts, jackets and pants that are individually hand-numbered, 100-percent Made-in-America, and reflect iconic Carhartt styles with exclusive design detailing such as blacked-out hardware and leather brand labels.

"The pairing of the Chrysler brand and Carhartt is another example of how we are continuing to champion the energy created from the 'Imported From Detroit' campaign," stated Saad Chehab, president and CEO of the Chrysler brand. "Carhartt shares Chrysler's respect and appreciation for hard-working Americans."Continue reading...

The real Victoria’s Secret? Retro marketing. While competitors envy the brand's social media savvy, the intimate-apparel chain is more focused on generating buzz the good old-fashioned way: TV. It's continuing its annual blow-out network television holiday fashion show with its signature “Angels” appearing bejeweled in Swarovski crystal-decorated lingerie strutting the catwalk in stiletto heels:

Last year, the special received its highest rating in a decade, 11.5 million viewers, and most of them women. VS “Angels,” a cornerstone of the brand’s image, are also featured in catalogs, in-store and in advertisements, while its website features a “VS All Access” section about them, a list that includes supermodels Adriana Lima, Miranda Kerr and alumni Tyra Banks, Gisele Bundchen and Heidi Klum.Continue reading...

TV's and tablets aren't the only thing people are getting excited about when it comes to holiday shopping. Sports fans get ready — for special one-color Christmas Day NBA uniforms. The Christmas tree light-like apparel is being revealed in a TV commercial breaking tonight, and can be purchased now at NBAStore.com and other retailers. Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Russell Westbrook and Joe Johnson promote the "Big Color" uniforms in the commercial, created by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. Reminiscent of Kit Kat's basketball spot, it's all about the sounds of the basketballs, with the stars dribbling basketballs, eventually taking the sounds of holiday music. Take a closer look at the Christmas Day uniforms below.Continue reading...

Burton Snowboards and Mountain Dew are launching the 2013 Green Mountain Project (GMP), a collection using sustainable fabric made from recycled plastic bottles.

The new outerwear collection includes three eco-friendly jackets and two pants for men, and two jackets and one pant for women, made from blended materials such as GMP Hemp Fortex, 3M Thinsulate insulation with recycled fibers, DRYRIDE EcoNanoshell 2L Fabric and 3-Layer Hemp Ripstop Fabric and recycled taffeta and mesh linings, all of which have a lesser environmental impact.

How do they actually do it? Here’s how:Continue reading...

During the now concluded contentious presidential election, the subject of manufacturing — specifically, the geological location of it — was a major topic of battle. One story to come out of all of the China-stealing-US-jobs talk was "reshoring," or the common declaration of "the return of manufacturing."

Maybe because of its fashionable profile, the garment industry has been in particular focus. Newsworthy instances include the US Olympic team's made-in-China uniforms by Ralph Lauren and conservative pundit Glenn Beck's launch of 1791, his flag-waving denim line.

But clothing brand Carhartt has been making its clothing in the US since, well, forever. And now its is working to make this fact more a part of its message.Continue reading...