This past Tuesday, September 1^st, 2009 marked the 60^th anniversary of Onitsuka Tiger and in celebration, LH in association with Reed Space launched Made of Japan – the official recap of Onitsuka Tiger’s original sports heritage, vision and evolution. Guests were able to flip through the limited edition magazine, have an unlimited supply of drinks, listen to the musical stylings of DJ Chip, meet some key people and enter to win 1 of the 6 limited boxed editions of Made of Japan of which, there are only 250 available worldwide. From Onitsuka Tiger to our sponsors, Asahi and Function, to Jeff, Anna, Do and everybody at Reed, Amy, Christina and everybody who came out, tweeted, blogged, whatever, thank you for supporting.

More pictures (or peep our Flickr stream) and a word from us after the jump.

Read More

While we’re normally not ones to get overly excited about lone t-shirts, let alone one by Rocawear, this Jay-Z designed number featuring tennis legend Arthur Ashe is one we’d actually wear. All proceeds will benefit an endowment fund named after the late social justice hero and his USTA National Junior Tennis and Learning Network (NJTL) in their fight against AIDS. The shirt will be released as part of the NJTL’s 40th anniversary celebration on September 10 at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center during a ceremony leading up to the U.S Open.

Much like the way Moncler does shiny winter coats, Italian brand Duvetica is doing the same with a quilted style of everybody’s favorite winter staple, the down-filled jacket. While the jury is still out on shiny nylon for winter, nobody can deny a stylish, lightweight, warm option with Italian craftsmanship and a rare hood to keep your lid hat-head free. The one pictured above is black with gray stripes running down the arms. Available here
.

While we struggle to find the functional benefits of a chambray shirt with a hood, we couldn’t resist a new take on one of our favorites. Using a thicker gauge indigo-colored chambray, Japanese-brand (waste)twice, known for their new takes on classic American-inspired workwear pieces on everything from overalls to fishing jackets, have created a new interpretation of the classic workshirt. Always nice to see new pieces from (waste)twice, and if you haven’t peeped the mean art direction of the lookbook from this past season, check it out. Available here.

Christian Bedat’s newly launched RED8World brand is like the NIKEiD of watches. RED8World’s website features a Creative Design center which lets you choose the color of the case, bezel, insert ring, dial, index, hands, straps and background. It even lets you choose the four words that appear on the insert ring. But if you don’t trust your color coordination skills, don’t worry, there are eleven RED8 models to choose from. The watches feature an automatic battery charging rotor dubbed I-Matic. They’re only available through the RED8World website and retail for $880 USD.

[SOURCE]

Read More

It’s hard to believe how fast physical media is disappearing from our daily lives. While systems that can stream music wirelessly sound systems is not entirely new, Bose is bringing it more to the mainstream with its simple Bose SoundLink Wireless system. With no wires, no software or setup its probably the easiest system you’ll ever use in you life. All you need is a laptop (or desktop) with you music library handy and USB port, the system broadcasts your digital music whichever way you want to listen to it, be it iTunes or Internet radio. The speakers are powered by rechargeable lithium-ion batteries so no fuss moving the speaker wherever you want in the house. All this with Bose’s trademark wave speaker system and high quality. Available here.

Read More

Levi’s and Original Fake have collaborated again making it their fifth collaboration thus far, something we originally heard about back in July. While we still enjoy a good pair of beat up Levi’s, not to mention a few from this season’s new collection, it’s always nice to have another creative option mixed with a classic piece, especially one that was previously only available in Japan. This patent sees the trademark Kaws Tooth Mark on the trademark Levi’s 501 jeans in 1947 and 1955 models designed by Nexus7. Available at Colette’s Eshop.

Today marks Onitsuka Tiger‘s 60th anniversary, and on the heels of the release of Made of Japan, we catch up with Sandor Lubbe, the editor-in-chief of the limited edition publication to talk about the inspiration, the personalities, and the decision to put a ‘Ping Pong Princess’ on the cover.

If you happen to be in New York we hope to see you tonight at Reed Space for the official launch.

Otherwise you may order your copy of the magazine here: Tokyo Art Beat (TAB).

LH: Tell us about how you got involved with Onitsuka Tiger and what your original ideas and concepts were for the Made of Japan magazine.

SL: We got involved with Onitsuka Tiger through Sandra Koopmans, who is responsible for marketing of Onitsuka Tiger Europe. We had several discussions about the 60^th anniversary of the company. Conclusion was that many companies who celebrated their anniversaries have been producing books where the content primarily was about their own history. The result in my opinion is that these kind of books are most of the time nice, but less interesting for readers who don’t have a relationship with the company itself. Inspired by the kaizen philosophy (sharing wealth and wellness), which was implemented into the company by its founder Kihachiro Onitsuka, we felt the need to step out of the box and to do something that was extraordinary but at the same time would underline the company’s soul. For us it was clear that we needed to create something that is about sharing knowledge. The red thread of the magazine is all about bringing Japanese culture to Europe and vice versa, bringing both worlds together so to say.

LH: Have you been a longtime fan of Onitsuka? Do you remember your first ever experience with OT?

Read More

While we’re not usually up on briefcases, this one was hard to pass up. Originally announced last winter but now available, this elegant leather attache-case is the result of Thom Browne‘s collaboration with luggage maker Samsonite. Featuring interior lining in Thom Browne’s signature blue, white and red striped pattern with a dark grey leather exterior, the project got underway when Samsonite approached Thom to help them create a new unique case that was inspired by the classic briefcases of the sixties, a theme from Thom’s Fall/Winter 2010 collection. For now this is just a limited run, but Thom has said that he would like to create different versions of Samsonite’s hard travel cases in the future. You can order it now at Colette, but it’ll also be available via Samsonite Black Label stores and select Thom Browne’s store in New York.

Read More

Within the offices of LH is an on-going debate about in-ear versus on-ear headphones. In ear: “They hurt your ears after a while”. On ear: “I’m not a DJ, and they make my ears sweaty”. We do however, all agree on the look of the Grado GR8, and while we haven’t actually tried them out yet, their background lends themselves to having high expectations. Grado, one of the oldest family owned companies in the Audio Industry, and best known for their remarkable headphones have just released the Grado GR8 as a rookie entry into the in-ear headphones game. The GR8s boast a wide bandwidth, single magnet armature design making them lighter than the competition, more comfortable to wear and will be priced on the higher end of the scale at around $299. And just like that, the debate continues.