Tuesday 31 January 2012

NEW RELEASES:




The ultimate adventure film, the movie which defined a generation, our generation, the Goonies is as magic today as it was in 1985, we are proud to release what we think is the greatest unofficial Goonies tee you'll ever see. Using an amazing freehand illustration commissioned for Peter O'Toole we have three ace colourways including an epic 80's-tastic brown, white and orange combo which takes u right back to Baby Ruths, BMX'ing and Rocky Road Ice Cream. NOW AVAILABLE!

Staying down retro lane, we have also released a new version of one of our earliest tees, the 'Mummy's Little Monsters' features a nod to the original gangsters themselves, Ron and Reg Kray -with another specially commissioned hand sketched version of a famous David Bailey photo by Section 76. OUT NOW! YHN

Monday 30 January 2012

SWINGTAGS.





We're fast running out of swingtags for our product, that can only be a good thing mind.
Here's a look at the new tags as we go ahead into 2012, thanks to our good pal Sean for the superb illustrations. CD

Friday 27 January 2012

"WHAT IF...."












This is pretty bloody clever, a few of the imagined ones look actually worth watching now.

"What if..." Movies reimagined for another time & place... by Peter Stults. CD

Wednesday 25 January 2012

FORTHCOMING HEADWEAR.





Over the next few weeks we have a great variety of nice hat offerings, starting with a splendid bit of tweed in the shape of a proper dapper Newsboy cap, we've taken all inspiration from old New York for this in the shape and style of young 'Vito' himself, put your hands together for The Andolini, somewhat fittingly made right there in the Big Apple itself.
Back to the modern day mean streets and as we head into spring we've a nice new selection of Midtown hats in two shades of super Chambray and two more Tuff ones in a hardy ripstop both styles are one size fits all and again come directly made in the USA. The popular Villain hat has a small restock too.
Out shortly. CD

Monday 23 January 2012

CONNOISSEUR CREATIVE - WINNER!!



Last Autumn we announced our first 'creative competition' in which someone got to design a new official released t-shirt. The brief for this one was a Serpico themed tee. We had quite a few entries and all in their own way great and worthy of a new tee, but we could only choose one winner. After a long and difficult deliberation we decided minty's entry was the one, However it was Welsh artist Minty who caught our eye the most with his entry - an original oil painting and a real mix of the connoisseur ethos of an iconic image with it's own twist and quirk was the one.
We'd like to say thankyou to all who took their time out to send in a design and commiserations to the other entrants. Minty's design wins the first creative and will be going into production as an official release over the coming months for sale. Check out the winning design. YHN

Friday 20 January 2012

WEIR 4.2 OUT NOW.


The last release of Weir hats for another 12 months are now available, fastest fingers first : WEIR 4.2 CD

Thursday 19 January 2012

WEIR TIMELINE...



Bobble hat bonanza, our cult Weir hat has been given a complete timeline as requested by some.
Check it out here.

Wednesday 18 January 2012

MATTHEW CRAVEN.







I stumbled across this artist whilst Googling, like you do. Matthew Craven paints and illustrates great artwork. He also makes these fucking ace sculptures like the ones above based on the great old British series' Play for Today; Abigails Party, The Blackstuff and a Davis from Scum inspired piece, I love stuff like that, proper talent. Nice little book on offer too. CD

Monday 16 January 2012

WILDERNESS.








A look back at an old school catalogue from Wilderness Experience, this is from 1979 and whilst one or two bits and bobs have dated there's still some great bits on show and a lot of which is evident in many of today's collections. Captain Nemo chose wisely!


With the sample of our very own mountain parka hopefully imminent it's nice to have a look back at some charming old apparel offerings. Whilst some think the whole 'heritage' thing is a bit tired now, there's no denying there's a mine of amazing garments from back in the day, with our own outdoor brands and those across the pond, nice simple, classic outdoorsy schmutter remains a firm fave here. Thanks to Nick C for the catalogue. CD

Saturday 14 January 2012

THE DARTS.


Well, aside from watching Bullseye as a kid and chucking the odd arrow in a pub whilst pissed, darts hasn't really been something we've gone crazy for, I'm not for one moment proclaiming to be some armchair darts fan, as I'm far from it. This years BDO World Championships caught our attention though, and we got a little hooked towards the end as local lad and regular Stockport County fan Tony 'Silverback' O'Shea battled his way into the final, it was actually quite gripping viewing and refreshing to see an old school British sporting institution going well and everyone having a ball, there were some real characters involved in the game, eclipsed only by some quite unintentionally hilarious folk in the crowd. 'WWE meets Jeremy Kyle' to quote our chums from Proper Mag. Unlucky big man, keep the faith. CD

Tuesday 10 January 2012

2012 : THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME.














Yes, it's been a mad, mad year just gone, especially the last few months. Most releases consistently sold out in double quick time, we're not ones for blowing our own trumpets but it's been pretty amazing and overwhelming at times really! Thankfully we've not really had to do the whole January sale thing this year either, but we are a little thin on the ground right now, but fear not - we have an abundance of new product on the way... There's been lots of planning and producing behind the scenes since the back end of summer and as always it's great seeing ideas and sketches finally come to fruition.
Last week saw the launch of the new Weirflake hat, as always a limited edition of 100 hats - split over 2 colours, which once again arrived and sold out in well under an hour! We also released some snazzy Jotters and didn't expect them to sell out in just a day at all, which was crazy. We've should have secured a small restock of those and hat wise the second release of the Weir 4.2 is just ten days away, then that's yer lot for another 12 months! We've started planning ahead now and have a wealth of ace graphic tees on the way, already we can preview some now as well as others aplenty still to come, some are still on the drawing board.
Each one totally different from the other as always. We'll revisit one of our first ever tees from way back when with a brand spanking new super cool edition of the Ultraviolence tee. We've got a splendiferous tee from everyone's favourite cult childhood film The Goonies, some Russian Revolutionary flavour designed in Moscow, a new Joy Division tee paying homage to their debut album recorded right here on our own doorstep in sunny Stockport, 1979. Despite releasing over 750 hats in recent months there's some more on the way still too, with another splendid bit of tweed inspired by a cinematic masterpiece, we've also wangled a re-stock of the Villain and after selling out of The Næss bucket hat in deepest autumn we'll be redoing that for the summer months, perfect headwear for a certain summer music event.
One thing many have pestered us about over the last year is a substantial jacket, of course this has always been part of the plan. These things cannot be rushed into, our designer-in-chief knows a thing or two about classic outerwear, so we want to get our first stab at a parka just right, all we can say is watch this space, we're currently at a pre-production stage, and funnily enough, excuse the metaphor, but Connoisseur coats are just like buses, you wait ages for one...
We have lots in the pipeline including some possibilities we cannot yet talk about except to say they'd be carrying on the collab theme from last year. What we can do is give you a preview of just some of what's ahead. The Woodbank 2 went silly quickly last year so soon we'll be offering a new polo, this one tying in a Parisian student uprising twist! It'll also coincide with a tee on the same theme. Later on as summer approaches they'll be a new short sleeve polo with Neapolitan flavour! Bright pastel colours for walking the English Rivera, strolling around Gay Paree or in a beer garden in Grimsby. fingers crossed they'll be topped off (or rather bottomed) with some tailored shorts we're in the very early stages of sorting. We'll see. YHN