Is this the best selling JUZD shirt?

This shirt is the favourite of many people. I wasn't surprised when the first report I got showed it sold 2-3 times more than the other shirts. Can't confirm how many days it was actually on the floor. Then on the second week it went all the way to second last. What was going on here!

This perplexed me for a long time. I was trying to schedule production of long sleeves base on the popularity of the designs.

The answer did not hit me till late last night after my visit to the two Holt Renfrew locations in Toronto. When I went to the Bloor location they had a new stock of Dom Rebel shirts in and JUZD was moved to a few less stacks. Due to the space they had to stack some of the black shirts on top of the white Studio. Ah! That's why. These shirts used to be spread out and now the white ones are not visible.

So lesson here is that you cannot just look at stats. Shirt selling is based on many factors. But also the paradox is that the only practical way to measure the popularity of shirts is through stats.

Let's say there are 100 stores carrying JUZD shirts, we cannot go into each one and note what happened during the week and discount that in the stats. That would be impossible and inaccurate. With everything that's happening, the only way is to average out is with numbers. There will be a lot of abnoramlities but the law of averages will cancel everything out.

Project Show New York City July 21st 2008 - Two hot new labels - Vernum and Adam Spagnolo

Project show is the clothing show for small to medium sized lines. For this year like the others is held at the Javits Center. Check out the impressive architectural accomplishment at the entrance.

Pretty impressive!


According to my Dom Rebel boys, there's 10 times more traffic at the Las Vegas Project Show. But you got to stay true to your roots (Project started in NYC) plus for Dom Rebel they signed a couple of big accounts. Some buyers don't head to the Las Vegas show. For my boy Yuichi who's the west coast rep for Goldspun it was a quiet day, for him not his brand.

Here are two hot brands I like. These are classic cut and sew. Being in the graphic tee business graphics printing don't really awe me. It's like a magician watching another magician. But cut and sew to me is like a magician watching a scientist. It's totally magical to me.

"Verum strives to be an honest expression, and all the while maintaining an accurate representation." A mens and womens line started by Johnny Quach and Khue Trinh met while working for other streetwear brands. They have worked at such brands as Roxy, Quick Silver, and Tarina Tarantino.

This simplicity and honesty really shows through in their designs. Their style is contemporary, timeless, clean, and hidden. Hidden in the sense that you will find small details and craftsmanship you only find when masters really pay attention to their art.

What I like is the simplicity of the pieces with the strong geometric shapes. As you can see from this mens sweater the simple shape that crosses the chest and goes deep.

For the women this wraps all the way around nicely slim fitting and shimmers with a nice deep blue satin.

Their influences are Marc Jacobs and Yohji Yamamoto. The high end runway stuff.

As for the future they want to stay simple and true trying to not overexpand. Focus on only boutiques and maybe Barneys.

Another brand I found is from a guy who was inspired by his dad who was an architecture and mom who was a model. To be posted soon.

Dom Rebel - one of the hottest up and coming labels

I finally got a chance to meet the founders of one of labels I really admire. If you know anything about street culture in Canada you know Dom Rebel. These guys are the talk on the streets. Justin Svatina the Lead Designer for Dom Rebel of Montreal is a pure artist.

Dom Rebel's success is different from the other brands who seem to make it because they copy what's hot or have a celebrity friend put on the shirt. Dom Rebel's success is based on artistic talent. In talking with Justin he's in his own world not too concern about what's out there or what others are doing. That is the true epiphany of a great artist that sets the trends not follow it.

Justin said he draws skulls just because he likes it. His skulls are not mad or angry like others. It's just is. His skulls are poetic. It's not a copy of the typical angry skull that you find on many (too many) shirts.

One thing you will also notice with the Dom Rebel collection is that all the shirts are consistent. One of the reason I started JUZD was that it is common for a collection to consist of different styles different designs with no coherent theme. The philosophy of clothing labels seems to be make as many designs as cheaply as you can and hope the consumers will bite on a few. Dom Rebel even goes a step further.

Each season is a different theme and different concept says Justin. And the designs are different for each season. He does not reuse any designs so once the season's over you can't get that shirt anymore. This season is "Fire in the Disco", it is like the Devil's playground says Justin. You will notice that the colours of the shirts are bright and fruity, contrast with the rebellious and aggressive designs, creates a very unique feel to the shirts.

The reason that Dom Rebel is so hot and why they would stay hot is that it's truly about the art. Justin is a pure artist. In following Dom Rebel for over a year now and personally going through the same path as Justin I am very impressed at the amount of artistry in his designs especially being freshly introduced to silk screening only in 2003.

Justin Svatina (Head designer Dom Rebel), Jing Liu (Co-designer JUZD) - Terence Chung (Co-designer JUZD), Don Nguyen (Sales Marketing Dom Rebel)

Some of the shirts take 5 to 8 hours of labor (of love) to make. Yes! That's on just one shirt. Even Don Nguyen, marketing and sales said he still sees it as doing something they love.

Each shirt is truly a piece of art. That's why this label is on fire with stores carrying it all over the world. Check out the Dom Rebel Collection.