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A whole heap of images and details from Pokémon Legends: Arceus have allegedly leaked ahead of the game’s January 28 release, and fans of the series aren’t happy with what they’re seeing. The leaks seem to depict the designs and evolutions of many of the game’s Pokémon. But rather than expressing dismay at possible spoilers, many series devotees have taken to social media to dunk on the game’s art style and creature design.
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There was a moment, about six years ago, when Nigo realized he felt old.
This is not a particularly unusual feeling for someone in his mid-40s, as he was then. But this was Nigo, one of the most influential figures in street wear, who helped turn a subculture into culture-culture, who practically pioneered the concept of selling $400 hoodies to lines of hungry, hungry hypebeasts. Nigo had been tapping into youth culture since 1993, when he founded A Bathing Ape (or Bape). Often seen wearing Bape’s signature camouflage pattern, along with diamond-encrusted necklaces, the mononymous designer and music producer had become a cool guys’ cool guy, a hero-collaborator to men like Pharrell Williams, Kanye West and Virgil Abloh. But as he approached middle age, Nigo found himself dressing more conservatively, he said. After 20 years with Bape, he had sold and left the brand, focusing instead on his other labels (like Human Made, founded in 2010) and other roles (like creative director of the Uniqlo UT collection, appointed in 2014). He began to think, “Maybe it’s not my time anymore,” as he recalled in an interview, speaking through a Japanese translator. Then Mr. Williams intervened. Related post: kaws rug “I was like, ‘What are you doing?’” said Mr. Williams, a longtime friend and business partner through their Billionaire Boys Club label. “Now is not the time for that. Now is the time for you to really hunker down, put your head down low and do what you do best. You are one of the greatest curators of taste and purveyors of what’s next.” (“Everything was just changing really rapidly,” Mr. Williams said of Nigo’s quasi-midlife crisis. “And Nigo’s a Capricorn. Capricorn’s an earth sign, so they’re into certainty.”) Nigo took the advice seriously, realizing it was part of his job, he said, to not “succumb to those kinds of tendencies” of feeling old or out of touch. Now, a few years removed from his intervention, Mr. Williams sees this moment in Nigo’s life as necessary, “so that he could make room for this” — this being Nigo’s newest role as artistic director of Kenzo. On Sunday in Paris, the 51-year-old designer will present his first collection for the brand, which is owned by LVMH. When the announcement of Nigo’s appointment was made in September, it emphasized that he was the first Japanese designer of the house since Kenzo Takada, its founder. Mr. Takada left the brand in 1999, a few years after selling to LVMH for about $80 million. He died in 2020 at age 81 of complications from Covid-19. Nigo never met Mr. Takada, he said, although Mr. Takada had occasionally visited the campus of their shared alma mater, Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo, while Nigo was a student. Still, Kenzo’s early work was a big influence on Nigo as a teenager. The brand “had a particularly interesting way of using powerful colors together,” Nigo said, which differed from the dark, somber, cool use of color dominating Japanese fashion at the time. Mr. Takada’s collections highlighted Asian textiles but also borrowed elements from European folk dress, theater costumes, military uniforms and more. This absorption of eclectic influences is something Nigo sees reflected in his own work. He has long been inspired by (and has inspired) hip-hop culture. His work incorporates military themes, cartoonish animal illustrations and vintage American work wear silhouettes. Yet his first Kenzo collection will be largely a homage to Mr. Takada’s early work, particularly his designs from the 1980s. Those early collections included accents like kimono sleeves and oversize berets; the new Kenzo kimonos are imagined as overcoats, and its large berets are embroidered with the year “1970.” (That’s the year Nigo was born, but also the year Mr. Takada presented his first fashion show at Galerie Vivienne, which is the site of Nigo’s Sunday show.) Editors’ Picks How Meat Loaf Made a Cult Favorite: ‘Paradise by the Dashboard Light’ Oh, By the Way: I Had a Baby English Island Seeks a Landlord-King Who Likes Solitude, Seals and Beer There are some tiger graphics in the new collection — a Kenzo motif that was commercially successful under Humberto Leon and Carol Lim, Kenzo’s creative directors from 2011 to 2019 — but for the most part, Nigo’s Kenzo is exceptionally floral, incorporating poppies, cherry blossoms and other botanical prints that are new, old or redrawn from archival patterns.
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Forget NFTs: This 31-year-old boss says sneakers are better investments with up to 120% returns1/20/2022 31-year-old Richard Xia walks into a room and the first thing you can’t help but notice is his shoes. This avid fan of streetwear loves collecting pieces from brands including BAPE and Supreme. In 2018, the Hwa Chong Institution and National University of Singapore graduate decided to set up sneaker and streetwear business Novelship with his long-time friend and schoolmate Chris Xue. “The idea to start Novelship came from our mutual interests in sneakers and streetwear. As avid sneakerheads, we saw an enormous market opportunity across the Asia Pacific region, and wanted to solve our own problems with buying and selling sneakers and streetwear, namely the availability and authenticity of the products.” Today, the company employs about 70 people, has five processing centres and a presence in six markets including Japan, Taiwan, and Malaysia. From Carousell shop to US$2 million funding
The founders started selling sneakers on Carousell in 2017 with their own savings of US$9,000. “At the start, Chris and I were just listing things day in and out. I think we probably cranked out a few hundred listings a week just trying to gain more exposure. It was a good start for us to build our user base and some of them are regular users of Novelship up till today.” The business subsequently branched out to its own marketplace website. The goal was to optimise the buying process of streetwear drops so that streetwear fans can easily buy and sell authentic and exclusive fashion goods online. Novelship’s interface is designed to look like sneaker reseller marketplaces that sneakerheads would be familiar with, where offers (bids) and lists (sales) are displayed to facilitate transactions. Popular brands on the site include Nike, Air Jordan, Adidas Yeezy, Fear of God, Supreme, and Bearbrick. Other than sneakers and streetwear, there are also collectibles sold. In 2019, it bagged about US$2 million in a seed round led by Global Founders Capital, pushing its total raised capital to US$2.3 million. The plans then were to fuel its expansion in key high-growth markets across Asia. The business has not yet hit profitability, shared Richard, because currently its main focus is to expand rapidly to serve more customers in the region first. “We’re fast approaching a nine digits annual run-rate,” Richard revealed. Sneakers as investments Collecting these items may not always be for personal consumption. The shoes and streetwear on Novelship provide unique investment opportunities for buyers, said Richard. “Sneakers and streetwear as “alternative assets” help those who are looking for additional streams of income, and present major business opportunities to sneakerheads or even first-time buyers locally and regionally. Customers are able to buy and sell hot releases for a profit on the go,” he said. “Personally, the thing that makes sneakers one of the hottest traded assets, is that sneakers are a catch-all – they have a great aesthetic, are very comfortable to wear and are flexible.” Richard mused that he is also a collector. At one point in 2021, he collected almost 50 pairs. “I resold some of the things that I don’t use, so currently I have about 30 to 40 pairs of shoes.” However, there’s a caveat interested collectors need to know before getting into this space. “The reality is that some sneakers do really well while others do not, but most sneakers don’t completely fail, which means it’s relatively safe as an asset.” So what’s the best brand if I want to invest in my first pair of shoes? Richard said that for a first-timer to venture into reselling or investing in sneakers, it’s best to go for a classic pair such as the Nike Air Jordan 1 Retro High OGs. “No matter the silhouette, colorway or models, the Air Jordan 1 High tends to hold its value really well and is most likely to increase in price. Another type of sneaker worth investing in would be the Nike SB dunk or a sneaker collaboration with a designer or celebrity,” he said. “One of the most valuable releases we had last year was the Nike x G Dragon PEACEMINUSONE 2.0 which was an Air Force One release with Peace Minus One G Dragon.” As for profitability? Richard said they look at retail premiums to calculate how profitable certain brands and models are. Retail premium is derived from deducting the sales price over the retail price. Shoes like Nike SB Dunks fetch the highest average retail premium of 121 per cent, shared Richard. Meanwhile, Air Jordans make up roughly half of all sales in Singapore and Malaysia. If anything Covid-19 has taught the company, it’s to be nimble to change. “Just like many other businesses, we were badly affected when COVID-19 hit. Our logistics lanes were cut off and we could not ship reliably out of Singapore. This meant delays in customers receiving their items. When the circuit breaker happened, our warehousing crew and logistics flow was further disrupted,” shared Richard. >> See more at: sneakerhead rug “However, the entire team quickly came up with multiple contingency plans while implementing various safety processes at the same time to ensure we could continue operating our business.” Richard added that the pandemic has also pushed him to be more innovative in his approach to the business. “Despite the challenges and setbacks faced, it has helped me focus on making my milestones achievable – this helps me to keep things in check, celebrating wins and having visibility of where we stand as a business. Furthermore, the surge in online shopping during the many months of lockdowns and heightened restrictions definitely helped the company to navigate this period.”
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StockX to Create NFTs Tied to Sneakers1/20/2022 ![]() StockX, an online sneaker and streetwear reseller, is planning to launch a service allowing consumers to buy and sell NFTs that are linked to physical sneakers from major sports brands. Known for selling gaming hardware, trading cards, and other collectibles, StockX will launch Vault NFTs to open a new stream of revenue. Consumers will be able to purchase digital sneakers from brands like Nike and Adidas. The purchase of an NFT will accompany a physical version of the corresponding sneaker. StockX will ship consumers their physical sneakers at a time of their choosing. StockX is preparing to go public in the first half of this year. The company is reportedly working with Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to facilitate its transition to the public market. The Collectibles Boom In April 2021, the resale platform was valued at $3.8 billion, a 35% increase compared to the valuation it received in December 2020 following a $275 million Series E funding round. Despite the growth, attributed to the surge in popularity of collectibles during the pandemic, StockX has emerging competition in a market valued at more than $372 billion. In another collectibles blockbuster earlier this month, Fanatics agreed to purchase Topps in a deal valued at $500 million. The company’s trading card business raised $350 million at a $10.4 billion valuation last October. |