Earlier this week, I got the invite to check out Hong Kong’s first NIKEiD Studio. I don’t really like calling it a “studio”, seems a little too proper and an over-glorification of what is essentially picking a few different color panels on a sneaker. For the longest time I’ve always fucked with NIKEiD, but alas, I never lived anywhere in which I could get a pair done domestically. Back when it first launched, I remember the colors and models were pretty limited but that has quickly change. The pioneering movement of allowing people to customize their own shoes is a commonstay in the market these days with virtually all the big brands out there having their stake. And of course we can’t forget all the other artisan brands out there that have been doing it for a minute. NIKEiD itself has matured nicely. There’s an overwhelming opportunity at your grasp with many familiar models as well as apparel and accessories. The interesting aspect is that in the past, you couldn’t really expect big marquee products to hit NIKEiD… but these days you have top-of-the-line performance products like the Kobe V, Air Max 360 and the CTR360 Maestri all up for grabs alongside cornerstones of Nike’s lifestyle segment with Dunks, Air Force 1s, Air Max runners etc.
The Hong Kong NIKEiD studio is located in Silvercord, a relatively well-branded mall in Tsim Sha Tsui right near the harbor. Within the mall, they’re pretty well stacked with retailers like IT, D-Mop, an IT outlet and various other flagship stores to which IT holds a license. Nike has a pretty big presence in the mall occupying a few floors. I sat down to an iMac running the NIKEiD website exclusively. Overall, the experience is pretty painless, in fact you probably experience the same thing online at NIKEiD anyways. The choices as I mentioned are staggering in the form of exactly what you can and want to customize. I figured I’d focus more on lifestyle stuff since I don’t really have any need for performance activities aside from soccer (although I did put together a pair of CTR360 Maestris).
You obviously don’t have free-reign in all the colors, but you are given a pretty solid selection. I found some shoes easier to customize, but that’s totally up to you. I mean, what it comes down to is how can you link colors together as you see them on a screen. I actually wonder how they decide which colors and hues of colors to use. Seems somewhat random but I’m not sure. All in all, as much as I like the LunarTrainer, it just looked like shit no matter what I did with the colors. Some people were relatively simple, ok I take that back, overly simple and went a full-on tonal route in white or gray *cough cough Kevin haha*. But I figured, why not put together something that had a few colors but could still look good. There’s a bit of oversimplification these days that I’m getting somewhat bored of. Not that I don’t appreciate cleanliness in colors and design, but overall, there are times when it’s simply too boring for me. Don’t get me wrong, I would still wear it, but I wouldn’t be exclusive to something ultra-minimalistic.
-Eugene
What to pick?!
Some special gift lacelocks.
I didn’t end up doing this. While aesthetically I liked it. Definitely not something I would wear all that often. The shit on the wing flap is Safari which was something you couldn’t really deviate from. But based on the colors, I was thinking Fred Flinstone.
My first choice was the Blazer, I actually don’t own a single pair of Blazers but the shoe itself is so representative of the times… simple, basic… oh and yeh vulcanized. Based on my outgoing line of the last paragraph, pretty contradictory on my part hahah. But the Blazer is a pretty easy shoe to fuck with, only a few choices when it comes to paneling. The “Haversack” yellow wasn’t necessarily my first choice but it was the most consistent throughout so I just stayed with it. When I mean consistent, I mean that for some parts of the shoe, you get scaled back into only 3-4 choices as opposed to the full set of colors. This is usually on things that require rubber or molding like the vulcanized foxing band. I’m a fan of monotone soles/outsoles/foxing bands so I went that route on the Blazer and wanted some color in there.
I wish the black could have been gray on these CTR360 Masetris!!! Straight reminiscent of the Nike Mercurial R9 from 1998… but alas… no dice. On the collar I had 2 FOOT embroidered… not that I am one to be two-footing people on the pitch… guess I’ll have to start haha.
So what I couldn’t do with the CTR360 Maestri with the Mercurial R9 from 1998, I did it with the Nike Free 5.0 haha. Pretty happy with how it turned out. Black outsole is a bit weird but it was that or white as my other option and the white against the gray wasn’t look right. I’m pretty stoked about this one.
I won’t lie, I was messing around with this extensively, but then realized they weren’t the Lasers… so I politely put it in the trash.
Here are some samples on the wall… can’t say I found a lot of inspiration here. But the all-gray samples are pretty neat.
They say 4-6 weeks… I say way over 6 weeks. It’s Chinese New Years this month, that’s the equivalent of Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving rolled into one for the Mainland folk.
We’re here at ASR in sunny San Diego. Yesterday was day 1, which was a busy day running around from all three different shows. Some images of the action below!
Team // SF
I guess some time back in January, the massive consumer electronics tradeshow CES featured the unveiling of a collection of adidas x Sennhesier headphones and earphones. All in all, it was a pretty exciting collaboration in my eyes. The key elements of the collection for me were the Kevlar-reinforced cables and the fact they were water-resistant. I’m notoriously hard on my earphones having gone through something like 3 pairs in less than 6 months. I was as audacious as to have a pair last a whole 2 minutes. I was wearing them around the house for the first time when I got them caught on a door handle and ripped something internally resulting in only a half-pair of earphones haha. So these were all pretty interesting aspects. I was more than happy when a pair of the CX 680s landed on my desk. (There’s some official press-release jargon at the very bottom)
Ok first off before I dive into things… I have a weird relationship with music. I listen to it virtually every day in some facet yet I could just as easily go without it. I have little ability to differentiate good and bad audio quality unless it hits me in the face like a sock full of quarters. So with that I mind I can only really offer my thoughts on the overall design of these joints. Maybe my indifference to music is a direct reflection of my inability to dance. Here’s a review that actually talks about sound.
From the get go, the whole package was pretty complete. Aesthetically I think the earphones are pretty clean. There’s a certain yin-yang approach to logo placement as they balance things out with both the adidas and Sennheiser logo. While the yellow cord does draw attention to you rather easily beyond the usual white shit that comes with iPods that everybody seems to use… the use of color is a welcome change. When you first pull out the buds, another thing you’ll notice is an additional attachment to the earbud that looks rather Batman-esque. The angular rubber fin nestles itself into the lobe of your ear. Rather than just relying on the friction of the rubber flanges, the rubber piece does do a good job in helping the earbuds stay in place.
While putting them through their tests, the earbuds never once came out through both sprinting on the soccer/football pitch (warming up of course) and while in the gym doing various dynamic lifts like high pulls and power cleans. So passing marks in that regard cause I have worn earbuds that fell out part-way through a set.
Previous earbuds usually crap out after awhile when continually subjected to sweat so I can sort of take confidence in that fact that the same shouldn’t happen to these. But I have a feeling that I won’t be entirely surprised if these decide to die on me in 6 months as has been my track record.
Packaged within the box are a series of customizable options. Included are ifferent sizes for the flanges and more of the lobe-fin attachments as well as a co-branded nylon bag, and an in-line volume control which I must say is pretty handy. The in-line volume control has a clip on it but unfortunately you can’t choose which direction it points. There’s also a swiveling clip (like on older mobile phone headsets) you can attach. The wing-lobe attachments can be removed but that seems like more trouble that its worth unless you REALLY think people will be staring at the black fins in your ears. But I must add that the fins do a good job when both earbuds are inserted, it doesn’t have enough holding power if the whole set is dangling from only one ear as I found out.
For a street price of about $90 USD, I think these are worth it. They feature a 2 year warranty which is about 4 times as long as any headphone I’ve used in the gym. If you’re in the gym, I think there’s more important things to worry about than the absolute best sound-quality that $90 can buy… but keep in mind the durability benefits. I love to bag the shit out of my stuff so we’ll see how these go.
-Eugene (Twitter | flickr)
The texturized part on the body doesn’t really serve any purpose in my eyes.
Yeh this happy face didn’t turn out so hot…
Perfect sound for jogging and working out – Sennheiser and adidas present new sports earphones
Top-quality sound, excellent wearing comfort and insensitivity towards external influences such as water, sweat and cold: these are the features that characterise the new range of sports earphones from Sennheiser and adidas. These two renowned companies are launching their new cooperation with a total of four earphone models that have been specially designed for sports applications.
“When you’re listening to music while jogging or working out, you want your headphones to provide an energetic sound. At the same time you expect them to meet the extreme demands of sports applications without compromises. Precisely these expectations are fulfilled by the new range of Sennheiser/adidas sports headphones,” explained Sven Wilhelmsen, Product Manager at Sennheiser. “The models of the new sport line enable sports enthusiasts to concentrate entirely on their training. The ear pieces fit securely and comfortably in the ears and offer fantastic sound,” said Franz Brunnberg, Head of Licensee Management and Marketing Cooperations at adidas.
For optimum sports performance
In all of the models, powerful and robust dynamic loudspeaker systems guarantee excellent, motivating sound. The volume can be adjusted at any time using the volume control integrated into the cable. Their sturdy and hard-wearing materials mean that the earphones are insensitive to vibration and even the toughest use. The fibre-reinforced cables still remain flexible at temperatures as low as minus ten degrees. These true sports companions are also unaffected by external influences: a completely new protection system against moisture not only effectively repels sweat but also protects the internal components of the earphones against rain water. After a workout, the earphones can simply be rinsed off under the tap.
A perfect fit is guaranteed by various ergonomically designed ear pieces. For the MX 680 stereo earphones, Sennheiser’s patent-pending EarFin holding system ensures, that the ear pieces fit securely and comfortably in the ear. A simple twist fixes the innovative “fin” to the outer ear. Ear adapters and various fin sizes are included to make sure that the earphones fit any ear size.
The premium-quality CX 680 ear canal earphones are also fitted with the new EarFin system and come with various ear adapters. The ear canal phones fit securely and comfortably and are ideal for sportsmen and women who want to concentrate on their music while working out: the ear pieces offer excellent insulation against external noise.
Adjustable ear clips and a special ear fitting system with three different adapters ensure that the OMX 680 also fits securely during even the most gruelling training sessions. The ear clips are made of a flexible material and offer optimum wearing comfort.
The PMX 680 guarantees a particularly secure fit with its sturdy and ergonomically designed neck band. The single-sided cable also offers plenty of freedom of movement while jogging or working out. An additional feature is the reflective strip on the neck band for extra safety in the dark.
Reliable training partner
Each sports earphones model comes with tried-and-tested accessories. An extension cable allows the standard-length cable to be extended at any time – depending on whether the audio source is in a trouser pocket or clipped to the arm. To ensure that the cable never gets in the way during the most energetic workouts, it can be fixed to the clothing by a handy cable clip. When the training session is over, the sports earphones can simply be packed away in the carrying pouch provided.
The new sports headphones will be dispatched to Sennheiser sales partners and adidas Sport Performance stores from January 2010.
It’s not up for the title for the biggest burger ever by any stretch and from initial reviews, it’s probably more bread than anything. Nevertheless, I look forward to this for the sake of saying I tried it/shit-kicked it when I go back home (Edmonton) sometime in the next few months for my brother’s convocation. It’s something like 2lbs of beef with all the homemade fixings but I think if you take the air out of the bread and squish the shit out of it, should be doable. I’ve never entered any eating contests haha but I have been known to pack away the food haha.
For an additional reason to visit, the decor of the place is apparently cheesy as fuck and just how I like it… D-I-R-T-Y. But I’ll reserve judgement for when I step up to the plate at this “project” motorhome which was originally built for a roadtrip to California. Hong Kong’s grimey eateries really do leave you de-sensitized on a level of dining cleanliness.
My little brother has gotten a few practice runs in having gone twice in the last few weeks. No big deal.
The Motoraunt
12406 66th St.
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
p: 477-8797
-Eugene (Twitter | flickr)
We had the best burritos in the city yesterday which is refreshing considering some of the crappy ones we’ve had thus far. Met up with Austin and Brian who we’re working with on some HBTV projects. Our photographer Brad stopped by to help finish up our latest project…launching on Monday.
Teaser here:
Also, see if you can spot Brad in the last pic…haha.
The weekend is upon us, enjoy!
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