Hypebeast 2008 Year End Review | Hypebeast

Everything Else

Kevin Ma’s take on everything else for 2008
A number of interesting Chinese artists were able to enter the big stage in 2008. A far cry from the days of offering art reproduction of already established masterpieces, we are in the midst of seeing a new cultural hotbed of contemporary art emerge. With KAWS on fire in 2008, artists such as Yue Ming Jun were able to develop a stronger worldwide fan base with their Companion collaboration. Some of my favorite toys this past year were unfortunately priced out of my collection including the sexy wooden Bearbricks and the SiLLY THING x Medicom Toy The Beatles Kubrick set. From a bias point of view, the 3G iPhone was my top pick of the year and although a true QWERTY keyboard will probably beat me in a typing contest, the whole package from the software and apps to the general aesthetic of the phone is something that will destroy everything else. Oh and thanks to Gmail, Google Reader and WordPress, without them, 2008 would have been a massive uphill battle.

Eugene Kan’s take on everything else for 2008
I think this segment always garners the most interest. Maybe for the vast number of products that fall under this group, it allows for the most fun based its real lack of expectation. I saw some interesting pieces this year and despite (and sorry to beat a dead horse) the great deal of fitted caps and G-Shocks, there was still some good solid designs.

Tonal was a dominate force in going about colors and Commonwealth’s tonal All C-ing Eye was sick as well as whiz showing exactly what you can do with matte black as your base color on their DW-6900 G-Shock. The rest of my favorite picks were rooted in objects and products that really are in a league of their own with few parallels which really left you in awe. Examples included Flight Club’s collabos with Spalding and the Kermit Kubrick with Supreme. Capping things off, the Hypebeast trucker with Subcrew was something that we knew wasn’t going to fly with lots of North American cats for the unfortunate circumstances laid by the likes of Von Dutch a few years ago and the powergrip of the fitted cap, but it carries a different connotation in Asia. The whole project essentially kicked off our three year anniversary and it couldn’t haven’t been better in terms of coming out exactly as we had hoped for.

Luis Ruano’s take on everything else for 2008
Although New Era collaborations were off the chart in 2008, I found an appreciation for the way companies managed to put their own flavor on classic headwear pieces like the trucker hat. Two different styles stood out above the rest including a well executed tonal effort from DIVISION and our very own 3 year collaboration project with Subcrew. Keeping in tune with my admiration for duffels/messenger bags, MHI took the cake with their solid army green military collection alongside Nike’s equally impressive ACG Pendleton lineup.