Moscot Vilda - Coming soon

Moscot Vilda coming in soon at KIN and other fine retailers.

Johanna Blakley: Lessons from fashion's free culture | Video on TED.com

It's been awhile since I've shared anything from TED.com. The talk below is something worth sharing especially if you're in any sort of industry that requires creativity. A worthy 15 minutes to spend watching something that may bring up some questions on the way you, your team, your company, your industry operates.

Johanna Blakley: Lessons from fashion's free culture | Video on TED.com

Drifters + Sifr

We are pleased to announce our collaborative effort with our great friends at Drifters. 1 colorway in 2 styles. Both Brando (Uneck) and Steve McQueen (Vneck) are 100% pima cotton and extra lightweight. Tee it up and let it fly! They are now available at Whiteroom down the street.

K.I.N

GSS Sale - 1st June to 30th June

In conjunction with the GSS, we'll be having our weekly special sale.

This time around, the sale goes on for an entire month!!!

1st - 7th June _ Julian Red, WoodWood, Maiden Noir, Nakkna 50% off

8th - 15th June _ Gitman Brothers Vintage, Makr, Garni, Pointer Footwear 30-40% off

16th - 22nd June _ sifr, Engineered Garments, Moscot, Wrath Arcane 25% off

23rd - 30th June _ Clearance for past seasons items 70% off.

We'll see you then.

K.I.N

SYNDICATE 06 this SATURDAY

syndicate obey nobody

singapore’s revolutionary transmitter of beats & visual culture is playing host to its los angeles counterpart with low end theory resident, dj nobody.

come saturday 5 june 2010, syndicate celebrates its half a year in existence with a resident of the world’s most forward thinking night, low end theory. dj nobody is one of the main beat purveyors on the los angeles scene alongside flying lotus, daedelus & nosaj thing. the eccentric dj/producer helmed the now infamous low end theory wednesdays back in la together with daddy kev, gaslamp killer & d-styles.

a personality who sits admirably on the fence between the global electronic & indie-rock community, his musical involvements span various collaborations which include names such as prefuse 73 and members of the mars volta. nobody’s dj sets are known for their fresh blend of hip hop, dubstep and electronica. and as the low end theory flagship suggests, expect some serious bass with off-kilter rhythmic patters plus the staple rock motifs & psychedelic sampledelia.

joining dj nobody will be the syndicate residents who share the same musical vision; kiat, darren dubwise & max lane. meanwhile on the controls of the night’s cutting edge visuals are brandon tay & cherry chan.

for this special installment, syndicate is partnering with the most iconic name in street culture, obey. known for their camaraderie with the low end theory crew in los angeles, obey sustains its radical ideas by supporting syndicate’s revolutionary movement here in singapore.

syndicate 06

dj nobody (low end theory, la)

max lane

kiat

darren dubwise

visuals by: brandon tay & cherry chan

date: 5th june 2010, saturday

time: 9:30pm – 4:00am

venue: home club

20 upp circular road, the riverwalk

admission: $15 (with 1 drink)

free entry with event flyer

dj nobody – biography

nobody is one elvin esela who was been releasing records since 2000's la underground opus soulmates (ubiquity) which featured his moody production along with la mc's medusa, 2mex, freestyle fellowship, abstract rude and aceyalone. with time spent immersed at los angeles college radio station kxlu, nobody took his love for 90's indie rock and 60's psychedelia into a creative shift for his 2003 release pacific drift (ubiquity). this time the beats hinted at a more electronic edge and featured vocalists rather than mc's which include chris gunst (beachwood sparks), languis, paul larson and jimmy tamborello (dntel/postal service).

nobody and gunst's cover of the monkees' "porpoise song" sowed the seeds for their full length collaboration, nobody & the mystic chords of memory tree colored see (mush) in 2005. 2006's and everything else (alpha pup) saw a combination of both aesthetics into a more beat heavy approach that featured guest singers as well as mc's including mia doi todd, xololanxinco (omd) and prefuse 73. delving right into a full length collaboration with singer niki randa, nobody created his most cohesive work to date in blank blue: western water music vol. 2.

2010 sees nobody taking all the reigns himself with his latest release one for all without hesitation (alpha pup), which finds nobody in singer songwriter mode, gracing his own productions with his own autotuned laced vocals. nobody has also been part of the low end theory club that brings the freshest beats to the la scene every week. his dj sets are known to transport listeners to los angeles, ranging from unreleased bangers from la locals to rare 60's psychedelia from nobody's vault.

www.myspace.com/nobodyelvin

nbc interview:

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/around-town/events/nbc_musicraw_los_angeles.html

public nuisance radio show no. 63 : funk bast*rd (cosa nostra)

another great mix from the singapore based dj funk bast*rd. everything from b-sides, funk, soul to jazz and space oddities. catch funkbast*rd at stereolounge jamming with cosa nostra (vocalist, sax and dj) on friday or funkbast*rd helming the dance floor solo at la maison every saturday.





Public Nuisance show No. 63 w the Funk Bast*rd (Cosa Nostra) by Cosa Nostra

sifr % percentile

The whole team will be down manning our table/rack at the event, if you haven't met us don't hesitate to strike up a conversation. See you guys there on Saturday the 12th of June.

A fashion gathering of more than 20 retailers and fashion designers.


Date : Saturday, 12 june
Time : 2.00-2.30 (VIP entrance) 2.30 - 7 pm (all)
Venue : the butter factory 1 Fullerton Road, #02-02/03/04, Singapore 049213

Premiering new collections by Quinn and S2VS tshirts

Good buys from your favourite brands : Volta, Antipodean, Womb, Very Wooonderland, Dr Martens, Rockstar by Soon Lee, Beluga, Actually, Depression, Furrmuse, Dejavu, Dustbunny, sifr, Surrealist Love Scene, Epitome, fru fru & tigerly, Nooka . . .

Have you seen collections from Singapore fashion designers Nicholas, Mae Pang, Sundays, Pauline Ning, Pouf Pouf . . .

Something special from Kizuki + LIM

Want more ?

Sifr - Artisan Footwear

Introducing footwear from Sifr.

2 styles in; Toe cap Slip-ons in a contemporary shade of Grey and Navy as well as Evening Ankle Boots.

Cut in a slim profile, these are both ideal for lazy afternoons or power drinks at your local watering holes.

They have been lovingly produced by craftsmen in West Java, Indonesia; home to some of the best shoe-makers in the world. Rather than produce in other countries, we chose to work closer to home and support economies in greater need.

Branding for these were taken care of by the graphic people at Sifr's new design studio. Enjoy the splash of gold on the insole.

Photography courtesy of Julian Loh

Best,

Charles Trees, The Dream: Gratiot Gowanus (with Shigeto)

Charles Trees

The Dream

(Musique Large)

Hallucinatory bump-soul-tronics from Charles Trees courtesy of French imprint Musique Large, the first in a pan global series of producer EP's from around the planet called Tour De Table. Trees is a Michigan producer with a clear love of psyched up R&B and slo-mo funk styles, rubbed up with the kind of schizoid beat patterns resonant of fellow Musique Large peoples, Debruit and Fulgeance. Fresh. (Taken off of Bleep)

Gratiot Gowanus (with Shigeto) by SHIGETO

Business of Fashion

A great article from the BoF website right here

Seems like business training is all they are lacking.

This brings about the question whereby if Singapore is actually ready to produce great fashion talent.

Pessimism aside, infrastructure's lacking.

You could actually swatch at Mood Designer Fabrics. You cannot do the same here.

You have streets dedicated to getting trims, fabric and supplies there. You don't have that here.

You have people who can draft patterns, and small production runs down there. That's not available here. These are all available in Japan, Korea, the UK, etc

To all of you starting trade shows here hoping to get international attention from big stores, you guys need to actually walk through the streets of Singapore and plan for infrastructure to accommodate.

Or maybe we should all just embrace Dsquared.

Stretching Canvas in the Office

3 Year Anniversary Sale

K.I.N. is going into our 3rd year and to show our gratitidue there will be our 3rd year anniversary sale from the 14th - 16th May (Friday - Sunday).

For our loyal Facebook Fans there will be a private sale on the 14th May (Friday) from 11am - 1pm. Thanks!

Transparency.....

is a word frowned upon in this business. There's not enough of it.

People don't say what things cost, how much you spend to make it, what your profit is, why you're charging so high, how much your overheads are?

There's not much wrong in actually being transparent in retail/production, much of what this article highlights. A great read really.

Is it because we'd scoff if we knew how much a product cost to make? What's the harm when everything under the sun available for purchase actually goes through the same process of cost + markup. This concept is generic.

Essentials

These made for an interesting albeit small design hurdle. Here's a peak into our thought process:

From a design/production standpoint, you're often met with confusion as to when to draw the line. These tees we just produced embody our overall aesthetic to the fullest.

To most, these simply look like printed t-shirts. They've got more of a story than that.

What's interesting is that upon receiving the test prints, some uncertainty kicked in due to the boldness of the overall outcome.

The initial t-shirt pattern even had a lot more details on it than it currently does.

Combining the intricate detailing, brighter colors and bold prints would have been going in a direction that we're not really comfortable with. Its one or the other.

So for those of you that are great big fans of floral as we are, here's an interesting solution to avoid bastardizing it; we simply turned the prints inside out.
If that weren't enough, we toned down the details on the t-shirt to make up for the print that was still visible. We washed the garment to give it a slightly more worn-in feel and that managed to reduce the glare of the print to almost nothing. The end result was a more subtle, buttery soft, cotton/modal printed t-shirt.

That was more fitting for us.

These are cut for females, but still remain male friendly in sizing. Make sure to size up. Exclusively at Rockstar for $39 a piece.

Blue Daisy - Shallow Vicinity

sifr 2010 : micro campaign; outdoor and androgynous

Photographer: Chuck Reyes
Styling: Samantha Potenciano
April 11th, 2010











More photos after the jump.

Sincerely,
sifr

FUUR for Mayo Inn

Our good friends over at FUUR (the lot that worked on the new K.I.N interior) are up and at it again, this time giving a breath of fresh air into the interior of the Mayo Inn. A prewar building that was recently converted into a boutique hotel in 1995. Located on the fringe of Little India and nestled at the confluence of several cultural districts. The Mayo Inn is one of the few buildings in Singapore that has withstood the test of two different occupations, war, and rapid modernization. The new interior bridges together the historical frame of the building with a contemporary minimal design that results in a distinct blend of old and new. If you've got friends coming into town, the Mayo Inn is a great suggestion (optimal for both business and tourist travelers) offering a great location, rate and accommodation.

Photography by: Djulian Chng & Jovian Lim

2000F & J Kamata - You Don't Know What Love Is

Throw this baby on repeat when I'm doing it real good.

sifr 2010 : micro campaign; a new jersey motel

Photography: Romke Hoogwaerts
Styling: Romke Hoogwaerts
April 3rd, 2010













PDF version

Sincerely,
sifr

Cults 7" : Free Album Download

If you liked the music from the stop motion video that was posted a few days ago, you can go to the 'Cults' band website and download their album for free. Click the photo below to jump to their site.

Glass Candy - Digital Versicolor & Bronson

I just watched Bronson, a superb movie about England's most violent inmate. Below is a great soundtrack that is played twice during the length of the film, once the start of the film and another time at the very end. It adds a joyful eeriness to setting.

Helena Park - Go Outside

Go Outside from Helene Park on Vimeo.

A nice stop motion video I found off vimeo staff picks that was shot on a Canon 7D in Maui, Hawaii. I can't help but thinking what the video suggests, maybe a trip to the botanical gardens this weekend. Music is by: Cults - Go Outside.

Phantogram - Mouthful of Diamonds Official Video

Phantogram recently released their official video for their song, 'Mouthful of Diamonds'. Have a look, have a listen.

Four Lions : A Jihadist Comedy

I can't wait till Four Lions debuts in theaters this May. A controversial comedy directed by Chris Morris that follows a 4 man suicide terror cell in the UK. The story follows them from the groups initial inception to their gateway to heaven, blowing up the London marathon.

The Polaroid SX-70 & The Impossible Project

Below is an excellent film done by the Eames highlighting the technicalities of how a Polaroid SX-70 works and functions as well as it's practical and creative uses. The reason why I mention this beautifully designed camera to you all is because of the recent revival of its film in the forms of the 'IMPOSSIBLE PROJECT'.

The great people at the IMPOSSIBLE PROJECT have made a huge strides in the preservation of analog photography something that is withering away from current pop society. As you all know Polaroid ceased producing its film in 2008. the result of this was inflated prices on ebay, people rushing to their nearest bulk wholesaler and stocking up in fear of not being able to ever use their Polaroid cameras again. The technology that Polaroid produced was in danger of becoming obsolete; hundreds of thousands of functioning cameras would be rendered useless due to the lack of film.

The IMPOSSIBLE PROJECT started in October of 2008, the mission entailed thousands of hours(17 month span) of collective research and work, the acquisition of the last functioning Polaroid film factory in Holland and invaluable support of Ilford Photo. The seeds sewn by the IMPOSSIBLE PROJECT have come to fruition in the form of several film types. These new film packs have breathed life into hundreds of thousands of Polaroid cameras around the world.

MAKR Carry Goods : Restock Coming Soon

sifr 2010 : 2nd drop

Hello,

We're pleased to announce the second 2010 drop of sifr garments; introducing the rgbs shirt in a button down collar and a band collar. We played with two color sets on this release: yellow & white, mint & pink. The rgbs shirt is made from 100% Japanese combed cotton broadcloth. The shirt dons pearl buttons, a convenient breast pocket and subtle cuff detailing. We hope you enjoy them.

The product is available at K.I.N and will be released at selected retailers soon.

Kind Regards,
sifr

Content Aware Scale for Photoshop CS5?

Just in time for April 1st. If not, it'll be something awesome to look forward to.
Crossing my fingers for the latter.

Filipino MMA

If you love MMA and photography, this'll impress you. Photos from URCC XVI: 'Reckoning' this past weekend in Manila.

Un Prophete (A Prophet)

'A Prophet' was nothing more than a title that was being repeated in and out of points of conversation over the last few weeks till I watched the movie. Amazing. Jacques Audiard grows the story at the perfect pace, frames the setting beautifully to the point where you can feel the oppression of the prison coming down on you, the strongest point of the movie for me was the development of Malik as a character. The movie follows the young French-Arab man that is shifted from juvenile prison into the real thing. He arrives not knowing a thing, he's illiterate, he has no friends, and no family. He is basically alone in this world and he's even more alone when he enters prison. That's all I will say before this post becomes a spoiler alert; enjoy the trailer.



Make some time, save some money on a friday night(or saturday, or thursday).

Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world | Video on TED.com

Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world | Video on TED.com

A friend of mine linked me this video a few days back, I finally got around to seeing it and the significance that I took away from it was amazing. This is a little out of the context from what is usually posted here but I think this will be relevant to quite a few of our readers that grew up around some sort of gaming console or computer(the same concepts from the video can be translated from sports as well, but I think the point of time commitment is a lot more common in games). A lot of the subjects touched on I've come up through my own research, however the vindication from hearing the points mentioned in this talk are priceless to me.

Ho imparato che niente e impossibile, e anche che quasi niente e facile…(I’ve learned that nothing is impossible, and that almost nothing is easy…) - Articolo 31 (Italian rap group),

 “Un Urlo”

The More You Know The Less You Know

Below are three music maps, not fully comprehensive mind you, of the following artist: Thelonious Monk, Madlib, and Bach. As most things supposedly go, 'the more you know the less you know know'. The cycle is endless. The most important thing is to be greedy. 

sifr webstore : we're open for business

The online store is now up and running.

It's taken us awhile to get this together. For feedback, positive or negative, drop us a line at the following addresses below;

info@sifrsite.com or (if you're into handwriting) 51 Haji Lane, Singapore, 189244.

More products will be available in the next 2 weeks.

Kind Regards,
sifr

Jeremy Clarkson - Beatbox (Swede Mason)

On the subject of sound splicing. Swede Mason.

Pogo - Skynet Symphonic

Pogo, the artist behind the video above samples all his sounds from the actual film. It must be quite a daunting process scanning the motion picture for those particular sounds to fit into the piece. Here is a link to more of his work, Pogo

The tigerstripe camo m-65 looks great.

Engineered Garments SS10

We haven't officially released the drop of this seasons EG but things have already sold out in our biggest buy to date, which has taken us by surprise. We're sorry if you missed some styles it's been less than a few days and we've told literally no one. I guess it must be the nice twist Daiki has put on things this season, it's all Americana but I think he went a little more towards his Woolrich aesthetics, (the other line he curates that is known to be more edgy in terms of design approach). The tonal palate in our buy is rather muted (we excluded the flamboyant florals), you'll see a nice spectrum of darks and lights in a number of styles. We also covered a few size runs of spring/summer outerwear(sports coats only, we didn't include any field jackets or vests).

Please come by as soon as possible so you don't miss on anymore potential items. We've already contacted New York to see if there is any goods in their warehouse for a second drop, but please don't wait around for that.

Kind Regards,
K.I.N

Things to come - Moscot

A short article featuring Moscot from 2007.
Source: The New York Times. Read on....

----------------------------------------------------

Another one for the road.....

Wong Kar Wai: Days of Being Wild

"I finally arrived at my mother's house, but she didn't want to see me. The maids told me she no longer lived there.
As I was leaving, I could feel a pair of eyes watching me from behind,
but I was determined not to turn around. I just wanted to find out what she looked like. Since she wouldn't give me that chance, I wouldn't give it to her either."