downforwhatver! dfw is the first agency specialising in helping brands get closer to the street, where some of the latest trends are born.
dfw works with brands helping them connect with celebrities including sports stars and actors both here in the UK and increasingly in the US.
If your current PR agency tell you they know what's going on...it's probably already happened.
Designer Jeremy Scott’s work with Adidas has received mixed reviews, from ‘heads and celebs alike. We first saw the J Wings sneaker almost a year ago in an all white colourway, and up now is this pair in metallic silver and black.
On any other shoe, the first thing that anyone would notice would be the metallic silver leather upper, but because the namesake wings along the side, we can immediately see that these aren’t your average Adidas. The old school thick midsole and outsole are done in black, contrasting the stitching throughout. Scott’s signature also appears near the heel and the debray near the toes features a grill with “Jeremy” on the “teeth.”
Only one sports venue ever contained fans that cheered for the injuries of opposing player, thought “sportsmanship” was a four-letter word and pelted Santa Claus with snowballs. Santa Claus! The 700 Level of Philadelphia’s Veterans Field, where the Eagles played from 1971-2002 is paid tribute for its legacy as the “Nest of Death” with this pack from Puma and Philly retailer UBIQ.
Consisting of four sneakers, this pack dons green, white, silver and black to pay tribute to the city’s favorite team. Two Clydes and Two Mids are included, with a mixture of jersey mesh and leather used for their uppers. The heels all display the stadium’s years, 1971-2003 (The Eagles moved to Lincoln Field in ‘02 and the Phillies stayed through ‘03). The laces also feature to above 700 Level’s nickname for good measure.
The NBA season started this week and in celebration Adidas Originals is dropping the latest pack in its popular series of NBA products. The Centennial Low – Western Conference Pack features 5 colourways of the classic Centennial silhouette in a low cut. The shoes take inspiration from 5 teams in the Western Conference – The Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets, and Los Angeles Lakers. Each features the classic team colors on a suede upper with large vintage tongue logos and come with 2 pairs of laces.
VisionRacer is a racing fanatic’s dream rig – a low-slung, comfortable racing game set-up that puts you in a driving seat of your favourite console or PC game.
The first thing that strikes you about the VisionRacer is the excellent build quality. The tubular stainless steel chassis feels rock solid, and the overall impression is the sort of clean, strong design you’d see in a piece of exercise equipment at a smart hotel gym.
It’s also a very simple set-up – an adjustable bucket seat that faces a monitor, with a standard PS3 unit attached neatly behind and some smart cable management that makes the whole thing feel neat and well put together.
The seat is considerably more comfortable than the one in my first car and feels nicely realistic. There’s a bar under the seat to pull it forwards or backwards, and you can make a few other adjustments to get yourself comfortable – effects which contribute well to the illusion that you’re in a real driving machine.
The steering wheel has impressive force feedback that really judders when you go round corners, and it’s great to have the gear shift low and beside your hand, just like on a real car. The speakers have an easy accessible headphone jack so you can burn rubber without infuriating the people you live with.
As with any driving simulation, what matters is whether the sum of the parts adds up to an immersive racing experience, and here VisionRacer really comes up trumps. The handling of the unit we tested felt fantastic: the judder of the steering wheel alive in your hands leaves you feeling authentically battered after a long race. Our group of wannabee Stigs found the gear stick a bit of a let down – although changing gear manually does draw you into the race, the stick itself doesn't really feel mechanical enough, and was the only control that slightly undermined the illusion of actually driving.
So how much does this driving loveliness cost? For people who already have a monitor and a games console and the various Logitech components, the bare rig will set you back £649. A fully configured "Ready to Drive" option, with a PS3 and a 24-inch monitor, will set you back a hefty £1,849. For someone who adores driving games and has a taste for luxury (and wealthy friends), this could be the ideal gift.
The rhythm game format has become firmly entrenched in mainstream consciousness over the past few years, to the point where the coloured symbols at the bottom of Guitar Hero and Rock Band have practically become pop culture icons. But there's clearly a need for innovation in rhythm game controllers - the standard band configuration is starting to look a little tired. So why not merge fretwork with football?
Football Hero is a wonderfully bizarre project which swaps plastic axes for acrobatic strikers, dreamed up by Phil Clandilon and Steve Milbourne, the creative geniuses responsible for The Editors Street View hack and the Calvin Harris' Humanthesizer. Clandilon explains the concept to Make:
"Football Hero is basically an experiment to create a Guitar Hero type game played by footballers. The game was constructed in a warehouse in West London, and a talented young team of freestyle footballers were drafted in to participate. We created the game to promote the Kasabian single Underdog.
The game was powered by the open source GH clone Frets On Fire, and we used two enormous projectors to create a three story high image on the side of the warehouse wall. The coloured buttons on the typical guitar controller were replaced by five huge pressure sensitive pads which were carefully positioned on the wall in order to line up with the game's descending notes. The idea being that the footballers would try to hit the pads in time with the music in order to play the Kasabian track Underdog. Each of the pads contained a piezoelectric vibration sensor, and these were wired back to an Arduino, which in turn was connected to the MacBook Pro we used to run the software."
So unless you have a very large living room bereft of breakables, this unique take on the rhythm game won't be coming to the home market anytime soon. It seems the game has a high barrier to entry, too: their team of talented freestyle footballers only managed 13 per cent accuracy on their first try, but by the end of the day that score had been bumped up to a respectable 76 per cent, and that was at a reduced difficulty setting.
We see a lot of black and grey colorways dubbed “Raiders,” but we’ll refrain on this pair of Zoom Air Harbours, as their clean looks make them a “win,” and we know how rare it is lately that Oakland and winning are associated.
Team association aside, the greyscale colour blocking of these often overlooked Nike SBs provides a nice look for the cooler weather, while keeping the white Swoosh and sole to keep the classic look. The entirety of the upper is suede, using black for the toe and heel caps. The mid-panel and tongue use grey, though the latter is mad with mesh for breathability. The dark toe cap should help with wear for those who will actually skate these.
And while we may have made a joke at the Raider Nation above, it’s all in good fun. The most loyal fanbase in the land is sure to appreciate these, as they don silver in black no matter their team’s situation, and that’s something we can all respect. The real question is, do you respect these sneaks enough to grab a pair?
To many people’s excitement, the 2009-2010 NBA season begins tonight. The world champion Los Angeles Lakers are one of the teams that have a game on opening night. At the beginning of their game against the Clippers, the NBA will acknowledge their championship with a ring ceremony and a banner raising. In addition, Adidas will be honoring the Lakers’s feat by releasing a special edition Superstar colorway.
Obviously, this Superstar’s colourway is inspired by the Lakers colour scheme. It features a mainly metallic gold leather upper with the multiple yellow and purple accents throughout the upper. Specifically, the infamous Lakers logo is seen on the tongue just below the Adidas logo and on the insole. The latter area also feautres the number 15 which represents the 15th NBA championship for the Lakers. In addition, the three stripes are done up in purple and yellow, while the toe cap, shoelaces and the sole are coloured in white. How does this Superstar stack up against previous Lakers inspired sneakers?
Yesterday we got a look at the Boston Celtic’s Centennial Mid and New Englanders welcomes it with open arms. But before they can rejoice in being the only NBA squad with their own Adidas, LeBron’s followers will be happy to know Cleveland now has an Adidas, too.
Like the Celtics’, the Cavs’ is constructed from a mixture of suede and leather. Orange stripes and an orange heel panel contrast the navy blue majority of the rest of the shoe. The old school Cavs logo is over-sized on the tongue, too.
These are available at select adidas Originals accounts for a lowly £80, which is half the cost of repping the Cavs than the upcoming LeBron VIIs.
To coincide with the opening of its traveling ICON-TEMPORARY trainer store with Mark Ronson, Gucci has launched an iPhone app. It is now available at the app store for the iPhone and the iPod Touch.
The Gucci iPhone App fuses fashion, music and the Gucci lifestyle into a technology-driven attribute. The app allows the user to access exclusive Gucci products, unique playlists, videos, fashion shows, news, events, latest collections, store listings and the ability to mix their own music. As fore the aforementioned traveling store, it will debut in New York (43 Crosby Street) on October 24th. However, it will then appear in Miami on December 1st and in London and Tokyo some time in 2010.
The majority of you that own an iPhone are constantly searching for the newest and latest app to coincide with your everyday tasks. Well, in an attempt to aid to your sneaker fetishes, Nike has just created an app specifically for NikeiD. Check out the video below to find out what is available through this app.
downforwhatever spent the day backstage at this years MOBO's in Glasgow. We seeded products from 2 of our clients Ecko Watches & Nautica Watches. Check out the celebs we gave watches to.
Adidas is after the heart of Celtics fans yet again. Last week got a look at a Centennial Mid “Boston Celtics” and many of you loved the design, but not the high cut of the sneaker itself. While these Sambas may not carry the actual team logo, the colourway is right out of the Boston Garden.
The uppers are green suede, and the black leather stripes are also back. The heel tab is also made with black leather. The stripes, toe panel, eyestays and heel panel also all utilise white contrast stitching. Sambas have been around for as long as many of us can remember, and while many of us aren’t still using them for football, the appeal of this classic is near undeniable.
downforwhatver! dfw is the first agency specialising in helping brands get closer to the street, where some of the latest trends are born.
dfw works with brands helping them connect with celebrities including sports stars and actors both here in the UK and increasingly in the US.
If your current agency tell you they know what's going on...it's probably already happened.
