Came to Taipei because VEIL participated in an exhibit currated by COOL Magazine. It wasn’t a tradeshow, as it was opened for the public. There were fellow clothing brands, celebrity performaces, Freestyle Sessions with the b-boys, the works. Lots of fanfare. It was fun for me since I got the chance to meet some old friends over the 3 days span. We just all met up at the venue, and then went out for coffee meetings all weekend long. Yup, I had alot of coffee and pizzas between those 3 days.

For VEIL, we put on display the latest items we have developed for Autumn/Winter 2011. Usually, we don’t like previewing products too early before the actual drop, but for this event, it seemed the right thing to do. The folks were happy to see our luggage collection, as well as our accessories section of the catalog. As blogged here before, our collaborative efforts with jewerly-maker VOLT continued, and we showcased some of those new items here.

It was a good environment for media and brands to mingle. A few tv stations came over to investigate how different brands will tackle this ever-changing youth market. VEIL’s Queenie was shot here for a MTV spot. Once stuff like this hits television, … you know what will happen.

Thanks to Taiwan for embracing VEIL, embracing what we are trying to do. And of course, thanks to our fellow brand-builders for supporting an outsider like VEIL in entering their market, lots of mutual respect here.

VEIL released its VEIL Angry Skull Ring this week. Designed with our friend VOLT out in Taiwan, and handmade by VOLT, this .925 silver ring is only the begining of our long term program with VOLT. Only 25 pieces produced this season, the plan is to only produced that many per season to come. While we hate to use the term “limited edition”, these are still quite limited. Only 50 people can get their hands on the Angry Skull per 12 months.

This item is sold exclusively through VEIL Taipei Store and online store in PRC.
Expect to see more items from this collaboration line soon.

If you are in Taiwan this month, remember to grab a copy of COOL Magazine. On the back cover, you’ll see this adFunture YOKA image. COOL Magazine did a 4-page spread on adFunture and a small recap of the YOKAs we previously released. Really excited to see they gave us so much love. For the occasion, we gave some preview shots of the next new series of YOKAs to them to publish. Go check it out!

For those who haven’t visited Taipei City or understood the streetwear scene, Taipei scene is basically divided into 2 districts; East Side and West Side. In the East Side, you have BAPE, CSL (carries Visvim, Neighborhood, Sophnet, etc), Phantaci (Nike Tier-0 account) and INVINCIBLE Store (New Balance, OF, Resonate, Undefeated, Revelator, HUF, realmadHectic, etc). West Side being Shi-Men District (Shi-Men Ding), you have your Taiwanese street labels such as B-Side, Provider, C&S, TAKI, and these 2 Taiwanese giants; REMIX and OVERKILL.

Both REMIX and OVERKILL are dominant forces in the TW scene in terms of local brands, and it is so great to see these two working together on a collabo piece. The use of the New Era empire cap 505 cut is a sign that they are trying to think outside of the box, when everyone who is anyone was making their 5950, they went with this lesser use model. The short tongue is making a come-back? Some would say the “WEST” on the side panel might mean West Coast Style, since REMIX seems to go down that route, but to my understanding, OVERKILL is not doing West Coast Style, so, I think (and this is no proven) the WEST meant West Side of the TW scene. Both flagship stores of REMIX and OVERKILL are on the same street (America Street) in Shi-Men. If I’m correct, is quite meaningful.

I love both of these crews, so, big up to both of them. Eric, Kenju, Jess, Tian-Wei, very cool stuff, boyz!