Inspiration LA Event 2010 - 2011 - …

[rnrswitch]

You dudes should have totally said what's up.

[morse9443]

You guys saw switch and didn't say hi? messed up.

Can't wait for some pics. I gotta go to this thing next year.

[Snake]

Yeah, I should have but Sansome was really animated talking to you in the Orslow booth. Didn't want to interupt the conversation.

I finally got the "Jeans of the Old West" book on the second floor today. Great book. Can't wait for the second one.

[OG_M3]

made my way there this afternoon as well.

met kiya as well- interwebs introductions are awlays awkward haha.

here are a couple snaps i took with my phone just in case:

[TUYOR]

went to both days. pretty sick turn out

[Snake]

I must say the Flat Head booth was the best out of all the Japanese denim brands there. Full range of products including T-shirts, sweats, shirts, jeans, leather accessories and shirts. Pictures of manufacturing processes with English explanations and used samples of T-shirt and denim. On top of that, four or five translators on stand by ready to answer any questions.

Watch out for the pincheck work shirt coming out this spring. A must have.

[mpcec]

Went to inspiration yesterday and it was very cool... thought it was going to be more denim/repro-centric but the vintage was interesting, rare dollar tee shirts and barely there jeans going for thousands.

Highlight for me was probably nerding out with the (owner?) of Flat Head and having the Samurai crew go nuts over Akuma No Uta's 2 yer old beat to shit samurais.

Also saw some sufu dudes, wanted to say hi to RNR, Farhad and Matt but could never seem to catch them outside of deep conversation with others and didnt want to interrupt haha.

[rnrswitch]

You damn morons! You shoulda said hey.

Rivet Head needs to post one of those pics of me and kiya. It looks something like this:

I am drago of course. But kiya packs a good punch. It later looked like this:

[setterman]

You guys saw switch and didn't say hi? messed up.

I'm sure he's extremely intimidating in person!

WIsh I coulda been at this event, looking forward to a buncha photos.

[LandoCal126]

You guys saw switch and didn't say hi? messed up.

Yeah WTF is all this didn't say hi bullshit??? Oh man I wish I was in Cali right now. Must spread negs...

[rnrswitch]

I'm sure he's extremely intimidating in person!

WIsh I coulda been at this event, looking forward to a buncha photos.

Yeah, I gotta admit, I am pretty intimidating in person. I am 5'11" and about 150lbs. Gotta watch out.

I really wish I coulda met Snake so I could snatch all that freewheelers shit he's got! haha.

[Joseph Hill]

I thought you were supposed to get liqoured up to go to these things. Granted anyone wearing ROYs IS better than anyone else, but sheesh. I think the only problem I'd have is I never remember anyones name (real or handle). So if you ever meet me, and I can't remember your name, don't take it personally, I just built alot of plastic model kits with no ventilation when I was a kid.

[gregoire13]

All I know is Adrianna Lima was there and she did not introduce herself to me!

[lefty]

Lots of photos posted on the Fedora Lounge

[Snake]

Yeah, I gotta admit, I am pretty intimidating in person. I am 5'11" and about 150lbs. Gotta watch out.

I really wish I coulda met Snake so I could snatch all that freewheelers shit he's got! haha.

I'll trade my freewheeler shirt for your Roy!

Shit. Now I feel bad for not even saying what's up. Next time I'll have to buy you and Sansome a round.

[rnrswitch]

Lots of photos posted on the Fedora Lounge

Those pics reminded me of the brand "Blue Blanket" I believe they were from italy and they are not selling anything right now. They were just showing what they are working on in production. Stuff looked great though.

[Sansome1877]

I'll trade my freewheeler shirt for your Roy!

Shit. Now I feel bad for not even saying what's up. Next time I'll have to buy you and Sansome a round.

I would have liked to meet up with you, Rivet head came right out and introduced himself... we had a good talk(he was a super nice guy) Snake maybe next year? BTW looks like next years show might be at the Queen Mary again, maybe Paul T can show up at the next one?

[kiya]

The doctor shot some photos:

http://hypebeast.com/2011/02/inspiration-vintage-clothing-americana-culture-world-gathering/

[thedoad]

this kind of slipped my mind this weekend. Looks fun but there was fun surf saturday and I braved the heat at the Rose Bowl sunday which was also pretty excellent.

[zissou]

Barring any natural or financial disaster, I should be there next year.

It would be the perfect time for a Mister Freedom/Rose Bowl/Rising Sun/SELA/RRL run. Better start saving now...

And, a big ol' WTF at all the stalkers in this thread.

[jaspar]

I didn't plan to post these, since I felt they kinda blew, but I've been surprised by the dearth of photos so far. I'm comforted that how awkward I felt taking them means I'd lack bloggers' intuitions. That said...

Orslow fatigue pants. The item I coveted most. Modified cut made from DS fabric. Their rep said that they currently didn't have a US stockist, so Unionmade must have sadly dropped them already, and they're $225 via proxy but tempting...

Unintended fellas, promise.

Old habits die hard for Axis Powers, I guess.

Buddy Rees...

Real McCoy's dudes were real cool.

This Himel Bros. pony/horsehide perfecto wasn't typically my style but so sick.

Ball + chain. Beams bag was worth the price of admission. Keiko (Inspiration) was emphatic about its 'iPod pocket,' which I found funny

This was plain adorable...

[devilish]

Here's a question for the lucky folks that actually got to go to this. How much stuff was for sale? or was it all just for 'inspiration'?

[rnrswitch]

Most everything was for sale. There were some nutty prices on some stuff. Obviously the old levis (1880s) were going for something like 20k - 30k. There were a couple stifel dot shirts going for 5k and 7k.

[devilish]

^ Thanks Riff, good to know. I'd better start saving now for next year.

[ThisSunday]

Barring any natural or financial disaster, I should be there next year.

It would be the perfect time for a Mister Freedom/Rose Bowl/Rising Sun/SELA/RRL run. Better start saving now...

And, a big ol' WTF at all the stalkers in this thread.

I'm hoping to make it out there next year too. I said the same thing last year though.

Shouts to jaspar for the stalker pic of rnr, sansome, eltopo & eric (?)

[nameness]

I was surprised by the lack of JP denim compared to last year, there definitely felt like even more of a vintage tilt. It was also cool to see more surf-related vendors. I think it'll be interesting to see how it evolves. I went with the full intent of taking tons of pics but seriously got lost in looking at everything, though I didn't end up buying a damn thing. The people that had items I would have bought, weren't selling them at the moment.

[Rivet Head]

I would have liked to meet up with you, Rivet head came right out and introduced himself... we had a good talk(he was a super nice guy) Snake maybe next year? BTW looks like next years show might be at the Queen Mary again, maybe Paul T can show up at the next one?

That's because I'm an extroverted weirdo! LOL! Great meeting a whole bunch of you guys. I was at the event from start to finish and had a blast.

Gonna have some pics up in the next couple days after I recover. Basically got up Saturday morning at 7.30am, did Inspiration, loaded out, went to see a band in Pasadena, did the Rose Bowl and didn't get to bed until 9.30pm on Sunday.

[jaspar]

Here's a question for the lucky folks that actually got to go to this. How much stuff was for sale? or was it all just for 'inspiration'?

Unless I'm completely mistaken, only a few non-vintage booths seemed equipped to retail: LVC,OC Style (of whom I'd just learned ), maybe another couple others; Himel Bros and maybe Lewis leather would do orders? Other than that, most of the dealing was being done in vintage items.

[Rivet Head]

I would say you are correct...a lot of the repro booths were set up to take wholesale orders vs. retail sales. It would have been difficult and costly for many (particularly the Japanese brands) to have brought enough stock to satisfy even small demand amounts. Levi's was able to deliver their own goods because they are in the same state. Michael Hodis had a really nice selection of stuff from Rising Sun for sale too.

To be honest, I spent most of my time shopping vintage, but I did take a peek into most of the repro booths. Good stuff all over the place!

[morse9443]

Lots of photos posted on the Fedora Lounge

Lots of pics there posted by a guy who had this to say about who attended the event. ouch.

Also the crowd really threw me off. I certainly was not expecting a large showing of the vintage living crowd. However I knew I was going to see the same weirdo middle age North American "Storage War" dealer-speculator guys (who were there) as well as the middle aged eccentric Japanese collector/enthusiast and the young hip Japanese searcher-dealers who scour American flea markets to sell to them (who dominated this event). However, what I didn't expect to see was such a large contigent of, not so much urban hipsters, but mainstream 'Style Forum' self professed denim aficionados. These are the kind of guys who, 6 years ago, would want nothing to do with anything vintage, and 6 years from now, will have moved onto something else.