Retreat Blog

This blog has moved

noreply@blogger.com (Retreat) — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 22:54:00 +0000

This blog is now located at http://www.retreatstore.com/.
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noreply@blogger.com (Retreat) — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 22:52:00 +0000

Retreat in Asia

noreply@blogger.com (Retreat) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:50:00 +0000

Watch this space.

Beanies - Cool for Cats

noreply@blogger.com (Retreat) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:38:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Retreat) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:11:00 +0000

Ludwig Zeller

noreply@blogger.com (Retreat) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:16:00 +0000

Embrace Retreat

noreply@blogger.com (Retreat) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:54:00 +0000

Cheers Danny

God Help Our Kids!!

noreply@blogger.com (Retreat) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:10:00 +0000

Rise World Wide

noreply@blogger.com (Retreat) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:42:00 +0000

UK Street wear brand Rise did a interview with us. Check it out here.

Newcastle Upon Tyne

noreply@blogger.com (Retreat) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:52:00 +0000

kaws

noreply@blogger.com (Retreat) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:12:00 +0000

Lenny McGurr

noreply@blogger.com (Retreat) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:38:00 +0000

I Still like his work

Planet Asia

noreply@blogger.com (Retreat) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:43:00 +0000

More to come..

Guns Blazing

noreply@blogger.com (Retreat) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 22:43:00 +0000

Retreat Patch Sweater

noreply@blogger.com (Retreat) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:31:00 +0000

Now available from the online store. Limited to 20 pieces.

Vintage

noreply@blogger.com (Retreat) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:44:00 +0000

El Wood

noreply@blogger.com (Retreat) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:39:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Retreat) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:23:00 +0000

Interview with myself

noreply@blogger.com (Retreat) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:29:00 +0000

here.

Now available

noreply@blogger.com (Retreat) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:43:00 +0000

via the online store

Has technology killed the Hip Hop DJ??

noreply@blogger.com (Retreat) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:42:00 +0000

It's something I have been meaning to write about for a long while now but didn't get round to it.
Although I haven't really listened to much hip hop over the last 6 years or so I still feel that the whole culture is embedded within me and would still consider myself a fan. The problem is I am still fascinated with how it was back in the early 80's until say 1998.

If you are a fan (new or old) I think you should check out Scratch. A film which was released back in 2001 and focuses on the music aspect of hip hop.

It covers almost all the important aspects of DJ'ing and turntablism which has been there from the very start. The "story" begins in the early 70's, and follows the evolution of turntablism as an art form up until early 2000.
It features a range of DJ's from Afrika Bambaatta to The Invisibl Skratch Piklz to DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist.

One of the highlights for me is The Cut Chemist and DJ Shadow sections. They both talk about the art of diggin for records which in my opinion is what a hip hop DJ was all about. Having that record that no one else had and covering the label so no one knew what the tune was when you drop that needle on it.

Cut even goes as far as explaining that when a friend of his travels around different cities he makes a point of ripping out all the record sections of the yellow pages so that no one else knows where the record stores are located. Genius.
I think it's that aspect which I loved.

Then Q-Bert and Mixmaster Mike of the Invisibl Scratch Piklz came out with their own pressed battle weapon 12". Although Shadow in the documentary states this as being a giant leap forward, I'm not so sure if it was for the best. Here they removed the secrecy by allowing people to see what records they used and in effect were kind of challenging DJ's to buy these records and to try to come up with better routines.

I must admit I own a few battle weapons but looking back I think it was these records which slowly made me lose interest in the art form. Long gone were the days of searching for that rare disco or funk track as many of these were widely available on one single 12" or even album.

Then as technology advanced we were introduced to the likes of Serato - A vinyl emulation software application which allows manipulation and playback of digital audio files using traditional vinyl turntables or CD players.
DJ's now don't even have to carry bags of records and worry about things like warped records etc.

I recall an interview with Jazzy Jeff who highly recommended Serato saying when he travelled abroad it reduced his luggage and costs and he didn't have to worry about losing valuable records etc. I guess there are pros and cons to this but I feel a lot of DJ's are using these types of software as an aid to help them DJ. Alot come with build in bpm counters and some even mix the tunes for you. Now am I missing the point here but where is the fun in that??

I for one know I spent alot of time locked away in my bedroom as a kid practicing hard how to beat match and even harder practicing scratch routines. I enjoyed going out and searching for records, pulling them out of their sleeves to check if they were warped at all and then before DJ'ing sorting my records out, lining them up with stickers and checking the centre hole wasn't too big. DJ's like a small hole!!
It would be good to hear your thoughts on this subject - especially from the younger generation, as I may be missing something with the way technology has evolved. I just think alot of the fun has gone out of the art form.

Snaps

noreply@blogger.com (Retreat) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:38:00 +0000

Retreat Patches

noreply@blogger.com (Retreat) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:45:00 +0000

Soonish!!

Discharge is the future

noreply@blogger.com (Retreat) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 23:17:00 +0000

I thought I'd discuss today about the foundations really to most if not all clothing brands out there. If you go back to when most brands started out you can guarantee they all started with the basic t-shirt prints.
I'm guessing because they are the cheapest form of getting your ideas out there, yet a printed t-shirt design is probably the most effective method in gaining brand awareness.

It saddens me to see all these brands that have progressed to full seasonal releases which will no doubt include denim wear, outer wear, head wear etc, who would have started out with a basic t-shirt design. This basic concept probably opened the door for their brand and helped get them to the position they currently reside.
So why do they feel the need to neglect the tee shirt in both design and print quality??

As you can see from our collections we have mainly focused on tee designs since 2005. I have researched alot on the subject of screen printing and take alot of care and time from the initial design stages progressing to the print stage and the choosing of garments.

I don't understand why alot of these high end brands don't seem to care about quality when it comes to a tee. They would rather knock out 5000 poorly executed designs using plastisol ink. Why would anyone want to walk around with a tee shirt that feels like it has a large piece of rubber attached to it?
We personally attempt to use waterbased and discharge ink for 85% of all our prints. This type of ink penetrates the shirts fibers, giving the print a much softer hand.
Although they only work best on light coloured tees discharge ink is used for dark garments. The ink uses special formulations that bleach out the dye from the garmment and replaces it with the ink. This ink only works on certain 100% cotton but the results can be really effective.

So think about this when you next pay £60.00 for your designer t-shirt (not mentioning any names this time). Wouldn't it be nicer to walk around with a design that feels like part of the tee itself rather than having something that adds a couple of pounds in weight on you.

There are independent brands out there who like ourselves truely commit to the little things like the quality of their products they are putting out. After all why would you want to put out something yo wouldn't be comfortable to buy/wear yourself.
One of these brands is Suburban Bliss shown above.

noreply@blogger.com (Retreat) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 23:47:00 +0000