Obey: Article by Morgan Rogers

      Obey is a shopping brand on the clothing side of the label, but is a luxury brand at its art level with prints near the thousand dollar range.  Obey’s brand differs from other clothing brands because it started as a more of a street art project. A way for self expression in unlikely places. This “tagging” is still going on and there are many street teams devoted to its cause. The brand works with causes such as 180 South, the 11^th Hour, the Hope Campaign, and Rock the Vote all in which allow people to get informed through other mediums like art and fashion. The training required to sell this brand would be to explain the meaning behind the start of the brand and its background, energetic customer service, personal style, appreciation for art, and understanding of evolving current world issues and knowledge of the brands target customer.

Cheap Monday: Article by Morgan Rogers

 The Cheap Monday brand and products are associated with high fashion design with moderate budget pricing. They are associated with convenience of online shopping and having a variety of retailers. Another element of the Cheap Monday brand is their position in helping the environment and an idea that they call “Humanism” for their employees. Humanism to them is about seeing people as equal value, with respect to human rights and diversity. They also strive towards a safe environmental approach in their production and the farming of the fibers they use.  Cheap Monday with all its good press and innovative design has recently received negative press about the logo they developed to go on their products. The logo is a skull head with a speak bubble that says Cheap Monday, but what’s making headlines is the upside down cross in the skulls forehead. Orjan Anderson, creator of the brand, stated, “I believe in neither the devil nor God. I’m not interested in religion; I’m more interested if the logo looks good.”Logo designer Bjorn Atldax states, “It is an active statement against Christianity. I’m not a Satanist myself, but I have a great dislike for organized religion.”The training required to sell this brand would be to explain the meaning behind the logo to customers with concerns about it, energetic customer service, knowing the background information of the company, personal style yourself, and knowledge of the brands target customer. 

Obey prints

  

Posted Oct. 23, 2009, 2:35 p.m. ET

SHEPARD FAIREY GOES DENIM

BY LUIGI TADI    

Street artist Shepard Fairey was catapulted to superstardom last year when he created the iconic “Hope” poster capturing the mood of an entire country in the days preceding Obama’s historic presidential win. Pioneering jeans company Levi’s, throughout its lengthy history, has proven to capture the masses' demand for durable products dressing men and women from the cotton fields to artist studios, so it is no surprise that these two creative forces would join together to unveil a new collection of street-inspired styles Obey x Levi's. The collection of distressed denims and Fairey-designed graphic tees (which feature hangtags emblazoned with Fairey's signature Andre the Giant graphic) are priced between $35 and $148, and in commemoration of the launch, the artist will unveil a series of four collectible poster designs which will be given away with purchase. The night of the Obey x Levi's launch, Oct. 29, will offer fans have the chance to meet Fairey for an autographing session at Levi's flagship store in Times Square. The line will be carried in select stores nationwide, and lucky for us New Yorkers, it will be available in both Levi's Times  Square and SoHo locations.

'Hope' creator Shepard Fairey to design Levi's collection

October 27, 2009 (USA)

This October, the Levi's brand - the name responsible for the invention of the blue jean - continues its ever-evolving relationship with acclaimed street artist Shepard Fairey by unveiling Obey x Levi's, a collection of co-designed, street-inspired styles for men. Obey x Levi's is a celebration of the renegade spirit embraced by both pioneering partners and features denim silhouettes, distress details, and finishes inspired by Fairey's personal collection of Levi's jeanswear and collaboratively developed by Levi's and Fairey.  The highly-collectible Obey x Levi's capsule collection will be carried exclusively at select Levi's Store locations in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago and Santa Monica. The collection will be available beginning October 29.To commemorate the launch of the collection, on October 29 Fairey will unveil a series of four new poster designs at a live art installation outside The Levi's Store in New York City's Times Square. Once Fairey completes the installation, he will meet-and-greet event participants while autographing free museum-quality reproductions of his new posters.  The series of four limited-edition Shepard Fairey posters will be given away as a free gift, while supplies last, with the purchase of any item from the Obey x Levi's collection in the following Levi's Store locations: Times Square and Soho in New York City, Union Square in San Francisco, Santa Monica and Chicago. The front side of each of the four double-sided posters features artwork that exists as a stand-alone piece. The reverse side of each poster also includes one piece of a oversized mural image specially designed by Fairey.  "I've always felt that keeping my art bold, simple and refined was a way to cut through the clutter, and it's a formula that Levi's has been using for decades that keeps them accessible and populist yet stylish and relevant," said Shepard Fairey. "The posters I created for Levi's are returns to the roots of my style: one side with an industrial propaganda poster feel that connects with the heritage of Levi's as a brand for workers, and the reverse side reflecting my other biggest influence, punk rock, and the connection of Levi's to punk and rock in general." "Shepard Fairey is a groundbreaking innovator who has changed the way art is perceived and consumed in our world today. His revolutionary work uniquely reflects the optimistic, pioneering spirit of the Levi's brand, making Obey x Levi's a truly authentic collaboration," said Doug Sweeny, vice president of Marketing for the Levi's brand. "As fans and loyal supporters of Shepard's pioneering art, we are proud to introduce this special clothing collection rooted in Shepard's favorite Levi's styles." A graduate of the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, Shepard Fairey was catapulted to super stardom last year when his "Hope" poster became the predominant image of President Obama's successful campaign. But it was Fairey's "Obey" guerilla art campaign that first gained mass attention nearly a decade ago. His now infamous "Obey" images of Worldwide Wrestling Federation star Andre the Giant continue to appear on public canvases worldwide today and inspired Fairey to create OBEY Clothing - a collection of street and skate-inspired apparel he introduced in 2001.  Fairey's unique art and view of the world captured the attention of many fans at Levi's and in 2002, the brand proudly sponsored Authentik - one of Fairey's first art shows. The show, which was held at the Levi's Vortex Gallery in the San Francisco Levi's Store, marked the beginning of the relationship between Fairey and his favorite denim brand. Since then, there have been several collaborative projects including a series of one-of-a-kind "Obey" 501 jean art pieces, a timeline portrait collection of punk and rap music trailblazers and a silk-screened image of Levi Strauss that Fairey created to pay homage to Levi's jeans founder. Earlier this year, the Levi's brand proudly sponsored Fairey's first-ever, career retrospective museum exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. Levi's and Fairey also created a co-designed denim tote bag that was sold exclusively at the ICA Boston's museum shop to commemorate the show and benefit the museum.  The launch of the Obey x Levi's collection is the latest result of the ongoing collaborative relationship between Levi's and Fairey relationship. The line consists of a tightly-edited assortment of eight essential menswear pieces that showcase fits, finishes, rips, patches and design details selected by Fairey and inspired by his personal collection of Levi's denim. Each piece is a hand-customized original, punctuated by "spray paint" drip details, stenciled art imagery, pins and "wear and repair" finishing touches. The collection is replete with exclusive branding details including an "Obey" Giant tab-device that lives alongside the iconic Levi's Red Tab and a "Two-Horse" rear waistband patch that also includes a stylized "Obey" Giant face. Artfully executed, the Obey x Levi's collection is aggressively worn to evoke the look and feel of one's favorite pair of jeans. Each pair of jeans, denim jacket and flannel shirt comes with a specially designed, co-branded bandana. The collection consists of: • Obey x Levi's 511 Skinny Jean in black over-dyed denim with various distressed "Obey" patch details. • Obey x Levi's 514 Slim Straight Jean -The jeans Fairey wears modernized with a dimensional, textural finish, custom destruction and "Obey" patchwork. • Obey x Levi's "Spray It" Trucker Denim Jacket featuring spray-paint drip details, a sewn-in black French terry hood, covert interior pockets and custom artwork throughout the interior of the jacket. • Obey x Levi's "Bomb" Trucker Denim Jacket, in a black, top-coated, blue denim punctuated by a tonal black spray-painted surface, "Obey" patches, herringbone tape inserts, covert and custom, exclusive artwork sewn into the jacket's interior. • Obey x Levi's Overdyed Flannel Woven Shirt, featuring pigment, spray paint and bleach drip details and custom surface patches. • A series of three Obey x Levi's super soft, aged t-shirts, each featuring collaborative artwork.   Levi's

Oki-ni Article on Spring 2008

New Obey Spring ‘08 collection! This season their campaign can be explained as an experiment in Phenomenology. “THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE” – With great designs, patterns and colors incorporated into the collection, it’s a free spirited look that anyone can pull off. I’ve got to admit, I’m not a huge Obey rocker but after seeing some of their Spring line, I’d like to cop a few pieces. Take a look at a few items that caught my eye from their look book.

Fashion Week by Berns Article

CHEAP MONDAY

Today Cheap Monday is a full concept denim brand, but it's only five years since the first pair of denims with the characteristic skull logo hit the market. The first pair, a tight fitted denim with stretch, was originally made as a product exclusive for the Weekday stores. The concept and design was a direct reaction to the increasingly expensive denim flourishing on the market at the time. It was an immediate success and the collection, now carrying both a wider denim range and tops soon grew too big to be carried by the Weekday stores alone.

After five years our idea still remains: to offer the customer fashion at an extremely good price. By putting Cheap Monday alongside more expensive brands in good stores where we like to shop ourselves, we aim to create clothes that compete with high-end brands both in attitude and fashion level as well as in quality.

Cheap Monday started in March 2004 when the tight denim with the characteristic skull logo first hit the market. But to tell the story correctly we have to go back to November 2000 when Orjan, Adam and two of their friends opened a small second hand store in a Stockholm suburb. The store was called Weekend and was only open during Saturdays and Sundays. Despite its remote location, and thanks to a very good selection of garments, the store went well and the decision to team up with Lasse and open a bigger shop in central Stockholm was taken. The store was a full-time concept, open every day of the week, and therefore got the name Weekday. From the start, they carried high fashion and exclusive denim brands mixed with second hand clothing - a blend that attracted the young and trendy. Some of the denim sold in the shop was very expensive and Orjan felt there was a need for cheaper, but still fashionable jeans. The first style Tight was born, and at this point made exclusively as an in-store brand. An unwashed, very tight fitted stretch denim jean for a shockingly good price! It was an immediate success and the first 800 pairs sold out in a couple of weeks. The skull logo, fashioned by a Mexican death mask, was made by their friends Bjorn and Karl who had helped them with imagery for the store. Cheap Monday was named after the cheapest day of the week when all your money is spent on weekend fun.  CHEAP MONDAY WOMENS CHEAP MONDAY MENS BACK TO DESIGNERS INDEX

Satanic logo not hurting sales of Swedish jeans

Designer hopes to spread anti-Christian message; others just like the style

updated 2:53 p.m. ET, Fri., Dec . 30, 2005

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - A punk-rock style, trendy tight fit and affordable price have made Cheap Monday jeans a hot commodity among young Swedes, but what has people talking is the brand’s ungodly logo: a skull with a cross turned upside down on its forehead.

The jeans’ makers say it’s more of a joke, but the logo’s designer said there is a deeper message.

“It is an active statement against Christianity,” Bjorn Atldax told The Associated Press. “I’m not a Satanist myself, but I have a great dislike for organized religion."

Atldax insists he has a purpose beyond selling denim: to make young people question Christianity, which he called a “force of evil” that had sparked wars throughout history.

Such a remark might incite outrage or prompt retailers to drop the brand in more religious countries.

But not in Sweden, a secular nation which cherishes its free speech and where churchgoing has been declining for decades.

Cheap Mondays are flying off the shelves at about $50 a pair. The jeans have also been shipped throughout Europe and to Australia, and there are plans to introduce them to the United States and elsewhere.

The jeans’ makers say about 200,000 pairs have been sold since March 2004, and they say they have received few complaints about the grinning skull and upside-down cross, a symbol often associated with satanic worship.

Even the country’s largest church, the Lutheran Church of Sweden, reacts with a shrug.

“I don’t think it’s much to be horrified about,” said Bo Larsson, director of the church’s Department of Education, Research and Culture.

“It is abundantly clear that this designer wants to create public opinion against the Christian faith. ... But I believe that the way to deal with this is to start a discussion about what religion means.”

Other Christians, however, are calling for a tougher stance against the jeans.

“One cannot just keep quiet about this,” said the Rev. Karl-Erik Nylund, vicar of St. Mary Magdalene Church in Stockholm. “This is a deliberate provocation (against Christians), and I object to that.”

Nylund complained that Swedish companies don’t treat Christianity with the same respect they afford other religions.

“No one wants to provoke Jews or Muslims, but it’s totally OK to provoke Christians,” he said.

Some buyers have ripped off the logo from the back of the pants or even returned the jeans once they realized what the symbol means. But such cases are very few, according to the brand’s creator, Orjan Andersson, who said he doesn’t take the logo too seriously.

“I’m not interested in religion,” he said. “I’m more interested in that the logo looks good.”

Henrik Petersson, 26, said he picked up his first pair of Cheap Mondays a few months after they were launched because he liked their punk-rocker style and the logo caught his eye.

“I think it’s a cool thing. It stands out from the rest,” he said. “I haven’t really reflected over whether there is an underlying message.”

Martin Sundberg, 32, co-owner of a clothing store in Stockholm’s trendy SoFo district, said people shouldn’t get upset over the jeans.

“It’s just supposed to be a bit of fun, some kind of anti-culture,” he said.

The jeans are selling in Norway, Denmark, Britain, the Netherlands and France. Andersson, the brand’s owner, hopes to tap the lucrative U.S. market soon — and said he isn’t worried the logo will hurt sales.

“Surely, most people understand that we are not evil people,” he said. “My mom doesn’t think so, at least.”

nylon tv: SHEPARD FAIREY + LEVI’S + TIMES SQUARE

nylon tv: SHEPARD FAIREY + LEVI’S + TIMES SQUARE

       Obey is sold in twenty different countries worldwide as well as online distributors. In Tennessee, you can find Obey products at Buckle and Lansky Brothers. Online retailers include Karmaloop.com as well as ObeyGiant.com. A customer shopping for this particular brand at these retailers would expect them to be just as informed and concerned with world topics and humanity as Obey is. Obey is a shopping brand on the clothing side of the label, but is a luxury brand at its art level with prints near the thousand dollar range.

Obey’s brand differs from other clothing brands because it started as a more of a street art project. A way for self expression in unlikely places. This “tagging” is still going on and there are many street teams devoted to its cause. The brand works with causes such as 180 South, the 11^th Hour, the Hope Campaign, and Rock the Vote all in which allow people to get informed through other mediums like art and fashion.

Obey background information..

1.     Obey’s target customer is a trendy young man or woman ranging from ages sixteen to thirty. They are strongly influenced by hip hop and music in their personal style, yet they also seek to make a difference through the threads they wear by getting involved in world issues through design. This individual does not want to sit back and let the world’s tragedies happen around them, they want to do their part to help make the world a better place to live in. I see this person living in a large urban city like New York or Chicago. This customer came to the city in search of artistic freedom and expression. They are educated in mind and spirit, but do not have a lot of extra cash to throw at high end fashion because they would rather be spending it on helping the community or starting a revolution. This brand appeals to this kind of customer through the many outreach programs it offers and the knowledge their website offers about world issues. 

Obey...the beginnings!

 After attending the Rhode Island School for Design, Fairy became very interested in Screen Print. One day eighteen years ago, while teaching his friend the craft, Fairy grabbed a picture from a newspaper of Andre the Giant to screen print and made a joke about the wrestlers posse and BAM an idea was born. This image became Obey’s first brand icon and was Xerox copied into stickers that were then mounted everywhere along the city. Fairy decided early on that he wanted his art to reflect world events and their leaders as well as his own interpretation of pop culture. Fairy seeks to blur the lines between fine art, commercial art, and street art and asked designers, Mike Ternosky and Erin Wignall to help him translate his ideas from canvas to t-shirt. Obey first got its name recognized through stickers and posters that are used to tag the streets and now the brand has everything from coats to t-shirts and hats to accessories for both men and woman. Obey is currently partnered up with Adopt a pet and has a limited edition line of dog collars and leashes. The essence of this brand according to Fairy is a critique of “society’s trendy and conspicuously consumptive nature,” a criticism of the way in which we thoughtlessly accept the advertising messages that bombard our senses daily. 

Anti Christian????

The Cheap Monday brand and products are associated with high fashion design with moderate budget pricing. They are associated with convenience of online shopping and having a variety of retailers. Another element of the Cheap Monday brand is their position in helping the environment and an idea that they call “Humanism” for their employees. Humanism to them is about seeing people as equal value, with respect to human rights and diversity. They also strive towards a safe environmental approach in their production and the farming of the fibers they use.  Cheap Monday with all its good press and innovative design has recently received negative press about the logo they developed to go on their products. The logo is a skull head with a speak bubble that says Cheap Monday, but what’s making headlines is the upside down cross in the skulls forehead. Orjan Anderson, creator of the brand, stated, “I believe in neither the devil nor God. I’m not interested in religion; I’m more interested if the logo looks good.”Logo designer Bjorn Atldax states, “It is an active statement against Christianity. I’m not a Satanist myself, but I have a great dislike for organized religion.”

Diving into Cheap Monday!

Established in March 2004, Cheap Monday is an up and coming fashion brand based around cheap great fitting denim.

Cheap Monday is the brain child from friends Orjan and Adam who first appeared on the fashion scene in 2000 when they opened up a second hand store called Weekend that was indeed only opened on Saturday and Sunday. The store was in a small location in Sweden, but despite this it had major success. The boys decided to run with this success and pair up with Lasse and create a bigger store in central Stockholm that would be open everyday called Weekday.  The team developed an eye both for quality second hand and vintage pieces and for high end denim. This combination gave their store an edge and brought a trendier costumer to their stores. Orjan felt that in order to appease all of his customers he needed to find a balance between second hand prices with a high end look, so in this Cheap Monday denim was born. He kept the youthful trendy look of luxury jeans with great stretch and fit, all while doing it for cheaper.  Cheap Monday’s range of design does not stop with denim anymore; they also have both tops and dresses for women as well as jackets for both men and women. The essence of this brand is to offer the customer fashion at a great price. Fashion that competes with high-end brands in both “attitude and quality”. This brand also represents rebelliousness and a more daring side to fashion.

           Cheap Monday can currently be found in 30 countries and about 1500 stores all over the world. They have agents and distributors in Europe, USA, Japan, Canada, and The Middle East. Cheap Monday continuous to use their Weekday store to sell their products, but for those of us who cannot be in Sweden they also have online distributors, such as Karmaloop.com and UrbanOutfitters.com. These outlets are cohesive with the Cheap Monday brand because they are both trendy and artsy stores that bring customers of that nature.