The last time Monsieur T and Hecklewood collaborated on an art exhibit it was to show off some serious skate decks. Having enjoyed success with their Wood Pushers exhibit back in December, two of our favorite tee design lines are primed for yet another brilliant presentation. The spanking new Noir, Blanc, et Gris exhibit at Hecklewood Gallery in Portland is all set to roll out with a reception on March 5th from 7 to 10 p.m. The show will feature contributions from Spear favorites like Royal Remarkable, working within the color scheme of black, white, and gray.
Skateboard art just keeps getting better and better. Like graffiti, it’s made its way from street level with a flare for deliquency, to carrying content dope enough to warrant a gallery show. If you happen to be in Portland this week, be sure to check out Wood Pushers, a show curated by Monsieur T. It’s all happening at Hecklewood Gallery. Check out their site for a list of artists and some of the work to be featured. Contributing artists were given the choice of painting a blank deck, or creating a piece with a skating-related theme, which should make for some interesting eye candy.
Today marks the summer solstice, and if for some reason you’ve been holding out for the official start of the warm season to shed those long sleeves, you’re probably going to need a few new T-shirts to replace the undershirts you sweat through while trying to beat the heat. Luckily for you the folks behind the imaginative apparel at Hecklewood have a new line that is destined to show off your sweet sense of style rather than draw attention to your overactive sweat glands. The Portland-based brand’s latest line Cult Status consists of a bevy of boss looks that, when plastered to the billboard you like to call your torso, is sure to make you the center of attention at any rooftop party or BBQ this summer — for all the right reasons.
If you've never heard about the suave leather goods being made by Hecklewood's TANNER sub-brand, don't blame us. We've trumpeted their fine quality product for quite some time and we see no reason not to continue to do so as long as our fine-leathered friends keep whipping out boss belts. The latest in keeping-your pants-around-your-waist technology from the Portland-based brand includes natural, brown and matte-black treatments for their best-selling Standard belt, as well as two brand new belt styles in “The Scout” and “The Eastern Bloc.” The Scout is made of the same Latigo leather as the standard bearer of the TANNER brand name but is thinner and lighter and maybe a little bit dressier, whereas The Eastern Bloc “mixes heritage styling with Eastern European military functionality.” In the event you wake up and find yourself in the military of an Eastern European Country, you'll be ready with your belt displaying a double-tongue roller buckle and retaining post that just so happens to be a tad bit wider than the standard belt. If you think these new belts are exciting, just wait the boys unleash their new lines of wallets and bags in the coming weeks.
Swedish designers always do it better, right? Ultra comfy, designed by Swedish brand Ntrl Tlnt (Natural Talent). You can thank the weakness of the dollar for the price conversion on this puppy!
Who doesn’t love Chucky? What happens when the No-Pattern legend does a t-shirt, well, duh, it’s good. Kinda-funky design printed on AAA fabric, worldwide shipping is $10 from an international designer of mystery.
Pretty much every t-shirt YASLY drops is worth owning, from the Monster Eyballz T-shirt to washed out Aztec Patterns. Always limited edition, always soft, always classic.
One of the softest-wear-for-your-money t-shirts on the market, the Winter 2007 Beautiful Decay Line is incredible to look at (they’re like works of art), incredible to wear, and damned near impossible to get when the line sells out. Get yours quick, they will be gone fast. Hecklewood’s Teenage Wasteland: Read JS Review| Buy It ($32, Shown as 5 and 8)
Hecklewood is our favorite up-and-coming line– we call them the Portland bad-asses, the little t-shirt line that could. We’ve been long time lovers as they’re always on top of the best fabrics and most ingenious printing methods. This new winter ‘Teenage Wasteland‘ line is too much, we had to choose two pictures to share!
An oldie, a goodie, who doesn’t love funny French-guy living in Oregon t-shirt humor? Designs are always creative and quirky, I’m a big fan. Star Electric Eighty Eight: Read JS Review | Buy It($28, Shown as 7)
Arguably one of the most impressive new lines I’ve seen in a very long time, point blank, SEEE.us is going places. Go, indulge, the selection is incredible. The Jane Fonda t-shirt is just too much! Momimomi’s TEaA Party Subscription: Read JS Review | Buy It ($120-$360, Not Shown)
A JS mainstay, a family affair, an always-in-the-ring for top 5 anything t-shirt related, Momimomi reigns supreme. Best gift of the season? Give yourself or a loved one a subscription to the Momimomi TEeA party, a limited edition supremely soft t-shirt every month. Just awesome.
Are you ready for the JS08 Gift Guide? If you are, that’s a shame; we’re actually not doing one this year — we’re going to do even better. Over the next month you’re going to see itemized lists, broken down into separate categories for your easy perusal, and all you’ll need to do to get to those posts is hit the “gifts” tag at the bottom of any of them. If you have any suggestions for a list, feel free to hit us up at feedback at josh spear dot com. If you’re staying in today (instead of braving the malls and stores), we salute your intelligence. If not, try not to get arrested. Happy holidays!
Our Oregon pals Hecklewood just dropped their latest, and even though we always like sharing the things our crafty buddies come up with, we’d be liars if we said we didn’t like sharing it a little bit more when it’s extra awesome. This season, the Hecklewood crew found inspiration in North Western Cascadian culture, pulling fabrics, patterns, and graphics from their own NW roots, then reinterpreting them with a dose of 80s/90s color. This drop also marks the first release of Hecklewood’s cut-and-sewn garments, taking the shape of a hoodie and scarf set made form Portland’s very own, world-renowned Pendleton wool. Like the company’s recent foray into leathergoods, their transition into cut-and-sew has resulted in some effortlessly good-looking, well constructed, no doubt gonna be raved about pieces (we’re on that train), and we’re excited to see how this new segment develops in the future. Get all the goodness on one page here.
We’ve written about Portland-based Hecklewood a fair bit around here. What do you expect us to do when we find a completely badass brand and/or store doing their own thing and doing everything right?
TANNER, Hecklewood’s sub-brand for leather goods, has been producing messenger bags and wallets for about a year now — I’m in serious need of one of their Lscape messengers; that’s a piece of beauty right there — and they’ve now moved on to the land of belts. Not these department store, last-a-year-and-fall-apart kind, but the old school could-serve-as-a-weapon-in-a-pinch belt, where the leather pretty much stands up on its own. “All of our belts are cut, edged, assembled, and branded by hand from super heavy-weight 9 oz. premium strap leather…This stuff will last a lifetime – no joke….” And, to top it off, they’re offering our faithful readers a 15% discount with the first 25 orders getting a free key leash to boot. Just enter “joshspear” as the coupon code when you check out. Then get back here and tell us who’s the first to get spanked with your new belt…or what kind of pants they’re holding up.
Perennial Joshspear.com fixture and Spear Collective member Jason Thielke has been featured on t-shirts before — the Hecklewood collab tee is probably my favorite — but until now, he’s been too busy to make his own line. Right now, he has three designs available for both guys and gals, and for those of you who haven’t been fortunate enough to acquire an actual Thielke piece, these should give you your fix until that day comes. On a side note, we’re hearing rumors that Jason has been offered a solo show at Denver’s Limited Addiction Gallery for next year… so stay tuned.
Just this morning, perennial JoshSpear.com fixture Hecklewood launched their Summer ‘07 collection, Teenage Wasteland. T.W. is heavily influenced by cultural events in the 1990’s, and draws from our time as wasted youths (seriously, sometimes I wonder how we were able to emerge from that decade with our sanity and normalcy somewhat intact). It’s basically one part punk-in-gutter, and one part toxic wasteland. But that’s not all! To accompany their T.W. line, Sammy and crew have also launched a smaller collection that focuses on 3D pattern graphics that I’m really digging (’New Wave‘ t-shirt shown above). And remember everyone, Hecklewood has M’s and W’s gear– get some!
Sammy and the guys over at Hecklewood seem to do a superb job of getting behind the scenes with (and into the minds of) artists we love. In preparation for their upcoming UNKL exhibition called ‘Amerkin Wasteland,’ they recently uncorked some exclusive material from vinyl toy “co-consipirators” Derek Welch and Jason Bacon. Take a look at Hecklewood’s post to see some great montages and some first looks at the newest – and in my opinion – the greatest UNKL offerings yet. The super-limited edition Carbon Series HAZMAPOS you see here, are set to be amongst the debuts at this summer’s Comic Con show in San Diego. Sammy also hinted that they’re going to be dropping a new UNKL x Hecklewood collabo t-shirt next weekend at the show, and that’ll be one nasty shirt if they continue with what they did with their Thielke collabo shirt a couple months ago. I’ve included the full flyer for the show after the jump for those of you who will be in Portland next weekend. READ MORE…
“Music. Sex. Clothing. Party. Art. Some of the most important reasons for living. The reason for Renegade Magazine… Always down, so we know what’s up.” I don’t know what else I need to tell you about Renegade Magazine– I think their mission statement says it all. They’re an online lifestyle magazine covering the unique “Cascadian” culture in their region (BTW, by “Cascadian,” they mean the area between Victoria BC and Eugene Oregon). I am liking what I’m seeing on Renegade– probably because they are so in tune with what they care about: music, clothing, sex, parties, and art in their (Cascadian) region. Look for them at events, functions, corporate retreats, and baptisms… and take a look-see at their slideshow from the Hecklewood Toxic Show last weekend.
As many of you know, Spear Collective member Jason Thielke was the centerpiece of last weekend’s Toxic Show at Hecklewood in Portland. The guys at Hecklewood did a great job capturing some of what went on via video footage and photos. This video is a little long, but is well worth a watch if you want a little insight into the mind of Thielke– I’m not so sure I’d consider these trade secrets, because only Jason can do what Jason does, but he gets pretty in depth in the Q&A with the inspiration behind his work as well as the specific methods he uses to create his art. Hecklewood’s ‘Art‘ page has some more photos from the show, and I’ve included a few after the jump (including the new Hecklewood/Thielke t-shirt collab, available for purchase here– the thing is sick!) READ MORE…
For all of you who will be in the Portland, OR area in the next month or so, Jason Thielke– who’s an esteemed member of the Spear Collective, and a virtual fixture on JoshSpear.com, will be showing his work at Hecklewood’s Toxic show. Starting with the launch party tomorrow night, March 16th from 6-10 P.M. with ice cold PBR’s and music from hip hopper Ohmega Watts, you’ll be able to see the latest and greatest of Jason’s industrial inspired art. If you’ve never seen Jason’s work in a live show setting, this is a must-see. And while we’re on the subject of Hecklewood, it appears as though they’ve just released some new additions to their TANNER line of leather goods, with a fresh Spring apparel line on the way. Niiice, I liiiiike!
In celebration of the launch (finally) of The Hecklewood Boutique, they’re throwing an online, one-week only, 40% off sale. Enter the code HWOODHOMIES at checkout to get the discount. This promo code is only good through next friday, October 27th. None of the items above will ever be reprinted, so this is your last chance to pick them up– believe me, these are superb t-shirts.
Well Threaded is like Monster.com for those looking for jobs with progressive fashion labels. If you want a career with one of these uber-hip companies, go to Well Threaded, set up an account, post your resume, and browse for jobs. You can get in touch with posting employers, or — if you are something really special — they may get a hold of you. I checked out the job postings this morning, and there were definitely some good ones on there–Director of Planning for Trovata, Regional Sales Manager for Hecklewood, Strategic Business Director for New Era Caps–just to name a few. Well Threaded also has a news feed that will keep you up to date on the happenings in the fashion world. While Well Threaded has a lot of room to grow, I really like the idea of a narrowed-down, niched, fashion-focused version of Monster.com and its progeny.
Our Oregon pals 
Perennial Joshspear.com 
“Music. Sex. Clothing. Party. Art. Some of the most important reasons for living. The reason for 
