SNEAKER HISTORY - TENNIS SHOES

After watching a few matches of Wimbeldon a few weeks ago, it got me thinking... I grew up loving tennis shoes. I used to play tennis occasionally, but most importantly I used them to play basketball in outside on the concrete. They had a tougher outsole that lasted longer.
What happened to the importance in tennis in our culture? The shoes now suck. Cool tennis shoe commercials are non existent.
We used to have McEnroe, Agassi, &  Chang. Before then Rod Laver, Stan Smith. They all had dope shoes. Reebok even took jabs at Agassi and his flavorful assortment of shoe colors with his pump. We need some more sneaker beef!


Coming up I bought Agassi's signature shoe every year. Just like I did with Jordans.
So now, I'm in the process of photographing all of my shoes, (I have most of them saved in storage that I've accumulated since the early 90's) I'm seeing all kinds of old tennis shoes.

Here are my top 5 tennis shoes of all time.
5. NIKE AIR FLARE (great baskebtall shoe)
4. NIKE AIR TECH CHALLENGE (the first 2)
3. REEBOK COURT VICTORY PUMP ("The Michael Chang's")
2. Air Cross Trainer 1 ("The McEnroe's")
1. ROD LAVER (one of my signature shoes that I wear atleast 4 times a week)

Here were a few shoes that I did for Adidas a couple of years back when Agassi just signed to Adidas. (So weird I know, but gotta chase that check right?) Like a lot of streetwear ispired sports graphics, these shoes were inspired by his first Tech Challenges.

48 HOUR SALE

USE CODE "UC48"

SWAG JUICE BY UNDRCRWN

Are you low on swag?
You want to look like a rapper in pictures but you're having problems with all of your poses.
Do you not own an expensive car or a chain....
Well you need some SWAG JUICE. A new product from UNDRCRWN.com

PLease note that this drink is fictional and should remain fictional.

Not like the people who made this. Or this.

Or maybe we're just dumb and they're making tons of loot on it - Either way, We would like to dedicate this t-shirt to you.



Available here.

UNDRCRWN LOVES THE KIDS!

Last week UNDRCRWN fam, Jason Davis(twitter addy: @JasonDavis43), Fullback for the Chicago Bears along with Carey Davis of the Pittsburgh Steelers hosted a weekend Sportsfest in their hometown of St. Louis. (shout out to Ozzie Smith!) UNDRCRWN designed and prodocued the official t-shirt. In attendance was Adrian Peterson (Vikings), Nate Washington(Titans), Jason Avant(Eagles), John Broussard(Bears), Christain Morton(Titans), Matt Sinclair (NFL), Brian Scaffering (Browns), Martin Nance (Steelers).

This weekend Jason will be hosting a Football Camp in Chicago. We also did the tees for that as well. More photos coming next week. Be on the look out for the Bears this season.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY 2PAC

Wish you were here to smack some of these corny sounding rappers!

ROOTS PICNIC

PIctures are worth 1000 words...
But how much are words worth? Here are some free ones...

The Roots Picnic was amazing this year. Not 1 million degrees like last year.
The highlights were:
- Santigold brought out Spank Rock on stage (he later shared the do-it-yourself barbeque grill with yours truly).
- Public Enemy x The Roots-Flav without Chuck D and Chuck D with out Flav is like the NBA players without white girls.
- seeing all of Philly back stage.
- trying to figure out how many people actually belonged back stage.
- Asher Roth wearing a Larry Bird Jersey until UNDRCRWN's Pete Small told him that Philly hates the Celtics... Asher eventually taped a piece of paper over the Celtics logo that read "PHILLY" - good move Asher!
- seeing people on drugs getting hauled off on stretchers- it's not woodstock people. Save your drugs for encounters with young Hollywood.
-Flavor Flav had the size label on his jeans still. (yes hipsters it was an accident-please do not try and add this to your scarf and dunks. It is not a trend)
- Everyone that wore the AIR YEEZY's must have spent days picking out the matching outfit with their friends.

DJ NEIL ARMSTRONG - UNDRCRWN Sweater cameo

Congrats to the homey Dj Neil Armstrong.
I know I'm a little late with this.

Buy the sweater he is wearing @ UNDRCRWN.com

CONGRATS DEREK ROSE

NBA ROOKIE OF THE YEAR was announced. Congrats D.Rose.
These would be good t-shirts to be selling right now.

HAPPY 4-20 - Congrats Asher!

Go buy Asher's album... and them some gear here.

Asher GYT & MTV Promo Spots
Uploaded by yardie4lifever2

PRODUCT OF THE DAY- MARCY TRACK JACKET

Although this may look like your basic track jacket from afar, I would like to expose the detail that one can only appreciate in person.

Exhibit A: A gingham pattern that is knit into the fabric. 

The pattern is subtle enough to avoid fashion paparazzi, but beautiful enough to proudly walk away from a crowd of gawkers as someone asks "where did you get your jacket?"
Exhibit B: The signature UNDRCRWN striped rib. 

The small stripes don't look too crazy from afar, but up close you can see the detail. It's like a "fresh elegance" as I like to call it.

Exhibit C: The detailed finishing of the garment. 

All of the inside seams are bound (covered up) so that you do not see the ugly seams on the inside. This is a detail that is most often found in tailored suits or reversible garments.

Other details include soft felt appliques on the left chest and sleeve. I've also created a custom zipper pull and added zipper pockets to ensure that you don't lose anything while wearing this jacket.

OFFICIAL PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:100% poly body with gingham jacquard. 1x1 cotton striped rib in insets and collar. Soft cotton felt appliqués on left chest and sleeve. All inside seams are finished because we don’t like when the insides are ugly. We make things like they’re supposed to. No inch of this jacket was not taken into consideration.

I've included the actual tech pack that was submitted to the factory to show you the amount of detail that goes into a piece like this. Also note that this is about 1/3 of the info that you have to give to the factory. Countless emails and revisions take place over the course of a year.

I'm not sure why I called it The Marcy Track Jacket as you can see in the tech pack it was named and designed over a year ago.

Don't just appreciate it. Get one for yourself here.

UNDRCRWN & ASHER ROTH

With Asher Roth's upcoming release of Asleep in Bread Aisle, UNDRCRWN will be releasing the second installment of the College Colelction. These 3 tees were inspired by the cult classic movie, Animal House.

Congrats on the album Asher!

UNDRCRWN T-SHIRT ARCHIVE

With the recent post of the Wizards youngbucks wearing UNDRCRWN tee's (which FYI is not an UNDRCRWN endorsment.. But thanks anyway), I thought I would show the shirt that Nick Young was wearing. We don't do too many custom tees but when Gilbert Arenas calls and want you to be part of one of his off court pranks, we listen.
Nick Young, a favorite target for Gil, must of opened his mouth one too many times. We sent a few dozen tees down to DC during the heat of the presidential race. The entire team had them on. If footage comes available, I'll let you know.

I have one tee for auction if anyone wants to bid let me know.

Otherwise check the 40% FInal Four Sale at UNDRCRWN.com

WASHINGTON WIZARDS COMMERCIAL

Featuring JaVale McGee, Andray Blatche and Nick Young of the Washington Wizards.

ASHER AND BEANS

The start of it all.


Mos Def - Beanie Sigel - Asher Roth - Mista Fab Freestyle Over Cannon Anthem from Decatur Dan on Vimeo.

UNDRCRWN literally made this happen.

UNDRCRWN Records coming soon. Right Free?

MOS DEF COLLECTION BY DUSTIN CANALIN FOR UNDRCRWN 1.O DROPS TODAY

Quick note. We had this version of Brooklyn We Go Hard for almost 3 weeks. We slept.


So the story goes like this. Mos Def was spotted multiple times wearing UNDRCRWN product in our first year. Eventually he finds us at the Magic show in Las Vegas in February of 2008. We exchanged props and went our separate ways. A few weeks later he was driving through Philly (home of UNDRCRWN Headquarters). He hit us up. To make a long story short, he and I talked about design and the next thing you know he was in Philly for a week and we had already presented a collection and worked out a deal with adidas for a shoe (The shoe was later cancelled. Not sure why. Mos really wants the shoe to happen as do retailers...We'll see).

Fast forward to August 2009, I had already become Mos Def's official design team. I've created t-shirts, graphics and other materials for his Watermelon Syndicate tour, Rock the Bells and other shows. He always performs with a rug that we created for him as a personal gift.

We debuted the entire collection in Vegas at the August Magic. We had a huge party. Outside of Mistah Fab killing the cipher, the show was a complete success. Click here to see the legendary moment. Asher Roth, Mos Def & Beanie Siegal.



The inspiration behind the line is from the Dead Prez RBG (Revolutionary but Gangsta) Album. Mos drew on napkins and small pieces of paper little symbols that represented his life and who he is. I took those symbols and incorporated them into the Mos Def version of the RBG print.



There will be 2 releases of his product. Tees first and then the Cut & Sew Collection in early April.




Purchase the collection here.

or at karmaloop.com

or undrcrwn.com

PRODUCT OF THE DAY- BULLSHIT CREW

The crew is one of my favorites from the Spring 1 line. The large gauge chainstitch is a great detail along with the cotton twill applique number 10.
I was kind of inspired by the Jordan 10 hence the number 10.

I remember trying to buy my mom a pair of those shoes whenever they came out.
She wore them once just to be nice. Oh well. Happy Birthday Mom. Want a sweatshirt?

buy it here.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:100% cotton french terry with printed stripes. Appliques on center front and back. We thought since everyone else made bullshit, we should too.

UNIVERSITY OF OREGON COLLEGE TEE (EXCLUSIVE)

College tee exclusive by Coolestshop.com
Get it here.

UNDRCRWN POP UP SHOP - 3.12.09 @ MADE TO ORDER - PHILA

FIGHTING CHICKEN

Inspired by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. UNDRCRWN brings you our version of the St. Patty's day T-shirt.

AVAILABLE AT UNDRCRWN.com


Official Press Release:
There’s more to St. Patrick’s Day than Green Guiness and corned beef hash.
March 17th will soon be upon us and to commemorate this years festivities (aka an excuse to start drinking at 9am)- UNDRCRWN is releasing A St. Patty’s inspired Tee based on the inafmous UNDRCRWN mascot- Roscoe the Chicken.
Available for purchase at undrcrwn.com

INSPIRATION OR NOT?

As a designer you always run up against imitation. Is it the greatest form of flattery?
What is flattery? Props? Adda-boy!'s? Hi5's? Last time I checked, my rent can't be paid with any of those. Although I realize that there is a fine line between originality and plagiarism, but when an idea is not expanded, pushed further or just blatantly ripped off I think that someone should say something.

I do realize that I was inspired by certain things that they may say I ripped off. But in this case the way it was flipped and made into our own creation is undeniable.

I am in no way talking shit but more proposing an offer. These huge companies that have millions of dollars and are trying to "get IT" or "figure IT out" should go to the source. I understand Canal St. but not these big brands. They have too much money and resources. I have a lot of friends that run & design for both sides of the coin. In the big corporate side and the small independent brands. There is too much credibility everywhere to allow these things to happen.

So LRG, Brand Jordan please go to the source. my email address is dustin@undrcrwn.com

Believe me if you think UNDRCRWN is a threat to Jordan Brand or LRG, please... I can only dream. It's not that serious.
My portfolio can be viewed here.