Your recent purchases

[cowsareforeating]

every time i hear about this collaboration i have to laugh thinking of that text undercover issued about its political approach to fashion and what not. i mean, nike. wtf.

i think its been vaguely discussed before, but the main point being that nike does its fair share of fabric development and even if it were purely for that reason, the collaboration is worth it alone. Not many designers choose to use "tech-fabrics" and i doubt its because of their qualities...

[kunk75]

yeah tights and sneakers are for running, i lift barefoot

Isn't that clothing for running? I mean, wouldn't you need totally different soles for weightlifting? Plus, I personally wouldn't like to squat in tights. Would probably stretch the butt out too much.

Nike may be a pretty bad concern as such, but they do the best designed sportswear IMO. I don't own much of it though (you know ... functionality and quality over style). I like these though

[Phantom]

Marsa: what size did you get? and what are you normal useing?

thinking about geting a set myself.

[Faust]

i think its been vaguely discussed before, but the main point being that nike does its fair share of fabric development and even if it were purely for that reason, the collaboration is worth it alone. Not many designers choose to use "tech-fabrics" and i doubt its because of their qualities...

Meh. I am with Rilu.

[kunk75]

i call bullshit, if you have a political stance $700 sweatshirts and $3000 nb-3's are probably not in line with it

[zamb]

I prefer the Puma/ Chalayan collab, as I am not a Nike fan, but that's just my personal bias. I own quite a number of the tees and the quality is great...........

[cowsareforeating]

^ exactly, recycled poly is hardly high tech (no matter how environmentally friendly)

a lot of mountaineering gear, softshells and hybrid jackets mainly are pretty impressive imo. Nylon will always be nylon but cool materials like polartec and then individual brand-developed material has potential (membrain, windstopper, (rip stop nylon is pretty nice, like the ones you find on puffies), and primaloft insulation.

Take rick/attachment/viridi to name a few; they make down jackets cut and designed in an "acceptable manner".
which is all fine and dandy within their own design philosophies but what good is 100 fill down? i take wool over that. if they don't like the volume of high fill down, they can achieve the same affect with the aforementioned primaloft. They don't like baffling to achieve consistent down distribution? Fine. Figure out a clever and design-friendly way to achieve the same effect.
Nylon doesn't have to be tacky. It may not respond to dyeing as well, but theres no reason a coated layer shouldn't work.

I forget which members have mentioned before, but if the weather gets shitty enough, out with the fashionz and in with ugly rubber boots and down parkas. I don't think that has to be necessary. I think not enough designers have the desire to experiment with traditionally athletic materials and put the research into that department. Our personal aesthetics may favor boiled wool, but research in fabrics doesn't only come in the form of luc, it can also come in other forms as well.

[Faust]

Eternal, the question why buy or not buy Nike is one thing, but the point was here how Undercover x Nike fits this idea of Undercover being something different from mass produced fashion. But as cows said, this discussion was here already and this post from the thread on Undercover summarizes what i had in mind anyway :)

p.s.
in fact, now that i re-read some stuff from that thread, there is a number of other really good posts there, with excellent points on this issue.

Yes, that's what I was referring to as well and that's what we covered in depth in the Undercover x Uniqlo thread.

[marsa]

^
The basis of this critisism is whether or not nike fits within the official "SZ" context and it probably dont.

Previous statements made by Jun aside - times change, deal with it - an according to various sources, most stores were only allowed to buy 1-2-2-1 (1) - and the stock from NIKE europe apparently sold out on monday. So its not like its a super high volume....

I have severalt items from the two previous seasons and the reason why, is that unlike must other NIKE NSW, Nike Running etc collections, these items have those "little things" that complete them. Good fits, clever pocketing, lightweight and durable + the design is significantly better than on anything made for the "athlete" market.

I dont wear a SZG uniform everyday/allday and certainly not when going out for a run, or for a walk, so as for clothing for outdoor activities, they perform perfectly...

[modalsaliency]

Some recent Obscur purchases. I got one of the heavy wool coats as well, but I had to return it sadly as even an xs was too drapey on me. Their outerwear really runs large for whatever reason.

[Crowzer]

Nice buy. Obscur make really great pieces of clothes.

[tron]

ugh I'm jealous. I've been drooling over those obscur pieces for a while now (along with every other collection)

[messenoire]

i'd like to see those boots worked into an outfit if you get a chance. i've been looking at them for some time now.

[upsilonkng]

Faust, to some extent I agree. There are a lot of bad aspects with a huge company such as Nike, but they have also been innovators in so many fields, and they really do a lot of good things for different sports.

Most businesses are in it for some profit after all, Nike is a huge corporation which are targeting the mass market. To do this they need to have prices acceptable for that market, which again is causing a reaction of unfortunate circumstances. Not blaming it on other people than the company, but your telecom company is probably not any better after all.

The mass market are not ready for "handmade in italy" in any sense, which is sad but true. I think the right approach in some cases for most people would be to follow the "least damage" idea, which might not be Nike, but they are doing something right as well. Nike is not claiming they are something different than what they actually are, which is why I actually care to buy their products. All their marketing emphasize on the experience working out wearing Nike, and not about their great production facilities and under what circumstances the products are actually produced ( which is not always that bad).

As Fraser Cooke says himself "Nike running by and large, at the highest end, are going to make stuff for the Olympics or athletes at a certain price point. There’s some stuff we would never think to do [for the mass market], because an average runner wants to buy an affordable piece that functions"

I'm more pissed every time I walk into mid range scandinavian stores or high end designers and see somehow "functional" fabrics which are not even comparable to my standard running gear and they think they can charge these prices.

to add a little to this, my brother used to do a lot of work for Jordan Brand advertising and it's a well known fact that Nike makes no less than 300% on any item including costs, commercial, development etc..
So on a pair of Air Jordans that are $200, wholesale is $100, that means the costs of making the shoes including marketing average out to about $25. Having said that.. Nike does have around 90% of basketball footwear market share, and while not as high for running and other sports it's still the biggest sporting company in the world. They have 10 times the research capability and they use it. I'm a basketball freak and I've played in everything over the years, but I've never played in a better pair of shoes than Nikes. Each year they do 2 or 3 pairs of real basketball shoes that no one can touch. It's important as you get older to get the best equipment for the job and at least Nike is able to provide that, plus they do have the best materials for running and overall exercising. I remember when dri-fit came it out it change shit forever.. there would be no climafit or underarmour w/ out dri-fit, which as far as I know Nike did first.

[Servo2000]

Ervell shirt with a metallic fabric that holds creases, interested to see how wearable it actually is.