If Seil Marschall’s look and modus operandi  of “highest quality products made with the finest natural materials to customers who appreciate and recognize handmade, well made, long lasting outdoor wear” sound familiar, you’re no doubt already familiar with Duluth Pack. Though Duluth’s history precedes Seil Marschall’s by a few years – Duluth established in 1882 and Seil Marschall in 1896 – both are still producing some of the finest canvas canoe packs. Greatest of all about Seil Marschall’s version, the same waterproof cotton canvas that used to outfit the Willys Jeep is the same used for the above for everyday, civilian use. Available here.

Something fairly surprising to come from Mountain Research when you consider they’ve generally stuck to pieces that are gorgeously understated. That’s not to be confused with White Mountaineering, which is also out of Japan. Kobayashi Setsumasa’s clothing line, previously known as General Research, has been putting out some of our favorite outerwear pieces for the past few seasons as seen with this A.M jacket. Unlike your other favorite outdoor Japanese labels, this one is actually available outside of Japan here.

San Francisco artist and illustrator Lisa Congdon is bringing us a daily dose of the simple becoming the sublime through her “A Collection A Day, 2010″ online art project.  Every day of this year, Congdon has and will post a picture, drawing, or painting of a collection.  The majority of the collections on display in the blog-style project are photographs of actual personal collections from her home and studio.  The rest, which are drawn or painted, are imagined.  While we do enjoy Congdon’s idiosyncratic illustrations, the photographs, presented with a real sense of devotion, are the definite hit here.  The unique history of collections of vintage crayons (picture above), Italian stamps, dice, or prayer cards, leaps from the page and brings an instant sense of wonder to the viewer.   Keep it bookmarked as Congdon stacks up more of the wistful and the treasured through December 31st.

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It’s no secret that Nike has taken full advantage the marketing opportunities at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and with the success of campaigns such as Write the Future and Joga Bonito, we can generally look forward to whatever they deliver. Enter Umbabarauma. The Brazil-based project is a slight departure from what we’ve come to expect from their soccer campaigns, this time shifting the spotlight to another of Brazil’s most important cultural exports: music. Nike Sportswear Brazil approached Tropicalia legend Jorge Ben Jor, whose song ‘Umbabarauma’ from the 1976 album Africa Brazil helped cement his place as one of the country’s most celebrated international recording artists. The term ‘umbabarauma’ has both Portuguese and indigenous roots; it can be quite offensive in some contexts, but its ties to soccer relate to the flashy style of play born out of the Brazilian favelas. The song tells the story of a street soccer player whose flair and determination make him a legend in the slums. With the World Cup in mind, NSWB sponsored a 2010 redux of ‘Umbabarauma’, teaming Ben Jor up with some of Brazil’s brightest musical talents, including hip hop artist Mano Brown, to rerecord and remaster the song for a documentary-style music video. So far this video is just a teaser of things to come for the project, so stay tuned on NWSB’s YouTube page.

The first folding bikes ever date back to WWII when British paratroopers required compact, folding bicycles for parachute jumps from aircraft. While folding bikes used to be more novelty than anything for city use, Dahon – who incidentally put out one of the first commercially successful folding bikes in the early 80′s – has been sticking it out and maintaing relevance for the past 25 odd years. The Mu Uno from Dahon is small enough to fit in a closet and light (22 lbs.) and compact enough to carry up stairs or onto public transit. Sticking to the basics, there are no gears, and simple back pedal brakes are all you need to stop. Available here.

Like the crush you always had that wandered in and out of your life, few cars conjure up the same emotions as an old Land Rover Defender – preferrably a 110 or 90. While not spotted often, when they do come into your life, you feel pretty special for having noticed and recognized the moment. Much like the same way Icon has breathed new life into the iconic Land Cruiser, Italian design house Aznom and tuners Romeo Ferraris, have teamed together on a gorgeous interpretation of the Defender. Forgoing the Defender’s roots in military service which is the official co-sign, from a purely aesthetic point of view, this version absolutely stuns with a matte two-tone white and black paintjob with red detailing and front and rear bumpers made of carbon fiber. Far from attainable, but never far from our minds and hearts. Until next time.

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Few kicks have aged as well as Nike’s Air Max line. After almost 25 years, countless models accompanied by that signature cushioned heel have kept Air Max at the forefront of sneaker freakdom. Everyone has their favourite, be it Charles Barkley’s CB 34 or the infamous Air Stab, but most will agree that the O.G. model is second to none. Among those in accordance would be Matt Stevens. The Creative Director and Senior Designer at HAWSE has taken his affection to new, interesting heights with the Air Max 1-a-Day Gallery, an ongoing project featuring a daily reinterpretation of the Nike model. Each entry showcases both Stevens’ skills and the AM1′s endless potential for design opportunity and aesthetic appeal. The highlight is the ‘Tribute Series’ he put together as a shout-out to his “favorite and most personally inspiring designers, illustrators and thinkers.” Pictured above is his homage to The Small Stakes’ Jason Munn; more after the jump.

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Anyone with even a passing knowledge of electronic musical instruments knows the name Roger Linn.  He created the LM-1, Linndrum, and Linn 9000 drum machines, which became synonymous with 80′s pop music from the likes of Prince, Madonna, and Michael Jackson.  However, that’s not even his most famous creation.   His most marked design would be the MPC, an instrument that molded and forever changed hip-hop production to the point where it is hard to imagine what it would be like without Linn’s creation.  In recent years, with the design of open-source instruments like the Monome or the Jazzmutant Lemur, there has begun to be a greater interest in moving away from the traditional keyboard as a pitch-generating solution for creating music.  Now, Linn is throwing his hat into the ring with this prototype for a multitouch, tone-generation pad that has some unique abilities when it comes to expressiveness (a point which is generally lacking in other multitouch solutions like the iPad and Lemur).  Production heads everywhere will be keeping a close eye on this one as it develops.

Like all major sporting events, the 2010 FIFA World Cup is a media circus. Between egos, injuries and trophy wives, the scoreline isn’t the only thing grabbing the headlines. Also detracting our attention from the beautiful game: the uniforms. Internationally, soccer is both a lucrative and competitive industry, with the likes of Nike, Adidas and Puma vying for the monopoly. To put things in perspective, almost 30% of Nike’s total revenue in 2009 came out of Europe, Africa and the Middle East, where soccer culture is as big as baseball in the US. In 2008, Nike purchased Umbro, arguably the O.G. of soccer apparel; their sales have since increased over 200% to $174 million annually.

Unlike the NFL or NBA, where the entire league sticks to one shirt sponsor, FIFA is fair game. From Japan to Slovenia to Honduras, each soccer ‘kit’ is a who’s who of all the prominent sporting brands. Where some brands don’t believe in reinventing the wheel, like Adidas for Argentina, others are content to reinvent the wheel as they see it fit, like Nike for the USA. There are varying degrees of success – we’ve seen our share of stinkers – but here are a few that we feel deserve a shout out after the jump.

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American craftsmen have seemingly had a lockdown on the leather goods market as of late and rightfully so. Billykirk, Tanner and Makr have all earned the right. One offering noticeably missing however, are colored options belt options. This search generally leads us to Europe where few brands, including Paul Smith have been making terrific looking leather belts in an array of colors. A recent glance over at Selectism the other day lead us in the direction of Italy’s Steve & Co. who, much like the aforementioned, have a great line up of belts, albeit, more affordable. Soft to the touch with a nicely polished buckle, European sourced leather just may be on the comeback. Though we might argue, it never really left. Browse their belts here.

It’s been a long time since we’ve mentioned Lanvin, but we haven’t been overly impressed with the recent collections. Even this seasons’ seems a bit off, whether it be an out of place color or flash of odd material, though we realize we can’t always mention our love for the monochrome options. We’ve always favored the high top versus the low as there aren’t many great options for high tops, especially when one is looking for something in quality suede and leather. Available here.

More of a revisit than a new discovery, Natalia Brilli‘s wonderful collection of leather wrapped accessories have always done it for us. After coming across her playful leather wrapped Rolex bracelet, which incidentally is one of our favorites, she’s out with a new color option for her passport cover that will surely one up one any from Louis Vuitton. That includes ours. Available here.

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