Fans of card games & baseball games alike will enjoy this recent release given away to New Era customers in Asia upon purchase. The faces all have little hats for the pips and the hats have their respective suits in the center. The hats were also added to the court cards which makes you feel like you are at a sporting event. Consider yourself lucky if you own one of these decks!

A few weeks back, I spent some time in Hong Kong made a point to “look-under-the-hood” of the inner workings of Hypebeast as I spent the afternoon with Managing Editor, Eugene Kan. This was a great chance to put a face to a name on someone I’ve only had contact through the internet and also an opportunity to “take things in” as a curious contributor to the EC/PROCESS brands. We spent the afternoon discussing the current state of streetwear and the global economy’s effect on all of us as consumers. Eugene also agreed to this exclusive interview with me based on our conversations of that day.

Check it out after the jump.

Your studio in HK reminds me very much of being in the Epidemik Coalition/PROCESS studio in Atlanta. You have a relaxed environment, a constant white-seamless backdrop ready for the next photo story, and gear everywhere. How long has Hypebeast been at that location? Any plans for the future?
We’re going on almost two years at our current office. It has been fun, it was a hell of a lot cleaner at the beginning but of course it sure got over-run with a ton of shit and has basically served as a mini-warehouse at times for any collaboration products we’re working on. It’s full of like 100 pairs of shoes from our Hypebeast x adidas “The Complete Ride” Zeitfrei collabo as well as accompanying bags and shit. We’re actually probably not going to re-new the lease come August, the office is sort of out of the way and aside from the occasional storage/product shots, we can work pretty much from anywhere.
 
 
How did your path lead you to working as the Managing Editor for Hypebeast? What did you do before that?
When I first moved to Hong Kong, I came to play semi-pro/pro soccer with full intentions of bouncing and going back to Canada to lead a boring, fruitless life. I had mad time to kill each day so I hooked up with the guys at Kix-Files.com via a friend I had met on sneaker forums and and did some blogging for fun. In exchange for posts, I got deals on shoes, nothing crazy. That same friend who introduced me started doing stuff with Kevin (founder of Hypebeast) who had just recently moved to Hong Kong around the same time as me. From there on in, I started contributing at Hypebeast cause it paid a few bucks per post. From contributor, I stuck it out for a few months and once soccer ended for the season, I went back to Canada with a plan to return to Hong Kong to assume a role as editor at Hypebeast. Fast forward, I’m a managing editor… that’s pretty much it. Boring story haha.
 
What’s your favorite thing about working at Hypebeast?
I don’t really know, I guess it really varies on my mood. I know for sure if I could travel more (you’d think I’d be all over the place but I’m not) it would enhance the experience. But I guess the most consistent positive of the job is meeting people. While online media can obviously work from anywhere, at least Hong Kong is a relatively “destination-like” spot where people tend to roll through if they’re in Japan or about to go up to China for production. I guess the free swag is decent too, I’d be lying if it wasn’t a nice added bonus.
 

In order to manage the content on Hypebeast, it seems you have to keep up with so many sites, brands, events, publications, in order to curate “blog worthy” stories. How do you keep up?
It’s funny how some of your useless skills tend to be one of your greatest assets sometimes I guess. I was never a keen learner in school cause that shit just flat-out didn’t excite me. But when it comes to shit I’m down with, I find it quite interesting… I almost take on this otaku mentality and go to the earth’s end to find out about it. So in essence, I obviously have a pretty strong interest in what Hypebeast represents, so this aspect of keeping track of shit comes naturally and it just makes me feel educated (albeit dumb irrelevant shit sometimes). Always something new to learn and that’s the fun aspect of everything.
 
Do you have any plans to bring on interns?
Yeh we have plans, I don’t have the best skills in delegating but there would be some things that I think would make it more efficient around here. But then again, with no experience with interns, nor having ever interned, I don’t want to be that asshole that makes the intern take on trivial tasks and doesn’t really learn anything all that important. But I guess the bitch work really does build some character to a degree haha. Being in HK, it’s not all that easy to bring on interns cause either they can’t speak English all that well or they really aren’t the best fit in terms of interest for HB.
 

How do you decide what gets featured on Hypebeast?
The process isn’t all that hard. Unfortunately by way of sheer volume, one post will never make or break you so to say. Shit usually falls into two categories. The stuff people want to read and the stuff you’re feeling yourself. The stuff people want to read are often the things that you get a feeling your demographic will be very much interested in. Sometimes this doesn’t really do anything for you, and other times you might be feeling it as well. The second part is shit that we like. This is often pretty simple… photography needs to be on-point as well. That’s always important. It’s the fucking Internet, you’re stuck in a tactile-less 2-D environment so you have to ensure the importance in trying to entice people is stepped up. Too often decent news might get put to the side cause the pics were terrible and they really benefit nobody. It’ll make Hypebeast look like shit and make your brand’s products undesirable (I think so anyways).
 
How do you feel about western brands emerging into Eastern markets and vice-versa?
I think it’s good. More so than ever, the market has grown at a rapid pace. It’s about finding the people that are in tune with your brand on a global scale. You need this globalization to effectively broaden your horizons. Although for the most part, I feel that “streetwear” embodies strong regional themes, at the end of the day streetwear is rather consumable and good, solid product regardless of where it came from does have a good chance of thriving anywhere in the world. But one big problem will always be the technical aspect of fittings. Country to country, region to region you’ll have different sizings. I can name a shit load of dope brands from various parts of the world that just won’t translate in terms of fit which is a pity.
 
I’ve been following your twitter feed for quite some time, and one of my favorite things is reading your “Dumb Email of the Day” updates. You must get a ton of crazy email requests to info@hypebeast.com daily! What’s the Dumbest Email you’ve ever received?
I’m not sure what the dumbest one I’ve gotten was… oh wait I do. The day you were in the Hypebeast offices I think I read it out loud to you about that guy who thought we should give him a personal blog cause everybody else on our current blogroll were fucking losers and got beat-up in high school. He said something about giving away Yeezys on his piece of shit Geocities website.
 
Speaking of twitter, how do you see it changing the blogosphere?
The Internet’s biggest downfall is the lack of intimacy… and by that I mean that you can’t really connect with people on that next level tip cause by and large, the Internet is really impersonal. You sit miles away hammering away at a keyboard. You won’t ever get to that level of where you can truly understand a person’s personalities. I see Twitter as a tool that gets you closer to the ultimate goal of being face to face albeit it’ll still always fall short. Twitter unlike HB gives me a chance to be myself more so, I don’t have to be some pretentious prick sometimes using big words to describe the colorway of a shoe you can see with your own eyes anyways haha.
 
Do you have any shout outs?
Wow, I never get a chance to do these… but I will abstain for fear of somebody catching feelings about me not shouting them out ha!

Ted’s headed back to Borneo to continue the work from when he went overseas earlier this year and the complimentary Estate LA 5-Panel cap that he’s wearing in this photo is going with him. It’s pretty cool to realize that in a matter of 5 days, that cap will have traveled from Los Angeles > Atlanta > Brooklyn > Borneo.

Last summer I had the pleasure of previewing the newly opened Nike Sportswear flagship store at 21 Mercer in NYC along with it’s opening festivities. In true Nike fashion, I was invited to check out NSW’s digs in Hong Kong. Although the store’s Grand Opening has long past (it opened in October of 2008), I still wanted to take advantage of a rare opportunity to feature an HK destination that should be on the top of everyone’s lists when visiting.

See the rest of NSW Hong Kong after the jump.

The entryway of the store is designed to feel like you’re in the concourse of a sports area and is lit with neon lights.

These LED tickers display Nike related messaging tying into the atmosphere of the 21 Mercer store.

A view of the interior. It has some unique elements of it’s own, such as the concrete slabs and pillars. But it also reference’s the 21 Mercer store, calling out treatments such as the wood paneling and LED tickers.

A very desireable pair of Tier Zero Air Max Current 90‘s. You can only get these in few places on the planet.

Probably my favorite sneaker to come out in the past year. Fusing an old school icon with new school technologies: The Tier Zero Flywire Air Max 90 Current. So sweet.

The Cortez is back in ’09. The Cortez Flymotion (Top Row and a few in the middle) takes the classic Cortez and reinvents it using Flywire and FREE technologies.

Some new colorways of the Terminator Hybrid. Another old school/new school release.

One of the signature pieces of the Nike Sportswear collection. The Flywire Windrunner. It has super-strong construction, yet is super lightweight. This jacket weighs less than an iPod. No kidding. Also pictured are are the Lunar Mariah, Air Max 90′s, and an SB backpack reminiscent of the Buzz Lightyear backpack from a year ago.

Hanging Windrunner jackets, including the women’s version of the Flywire Windrunner. The Men’s jacket colorway represents sunrise and the Women’s represents sunset. Both drawing on the ACG color palette.

NSW tee made from Japanese Loopwheeler Fabric.

Vintage Tennis Classics. The HK kids love ‘em.

Last, but not least. The Air Yeezy. Probably the most sought after colorway. Dropping on May 2nd in select stores worldwide. I know Standard and Niche are definitely getting them in the Southeast.

Air Yeezy

Air Yeezy

…And some clothes to match!

Howdy from the other side of the globe! I’ve been in HK for the past few days and I thought it’d be nice to rep StreetLocal (one of our favorite brands/crews from ATL) while on the go. I’ve been using this StreetLocal Gentleman comb every day to keep my mane in check. As soon as I have a chance to edit my photos, I’ll post some interesting stuff I’ve been working on. It’s fun being in Asia but I can’t wait to be back with the crew in the Dirty-Dirty. Let’s get it Hawks!

A group of 9 architects, 1 industrial designer (me), 1 anthropologist, and 2 health system engineers have been working since January to design a health clinic for a village in Sukadana, West Kalimantan. Kalimantan, otherwise known as Borneo to us westerners, is an island in Indonesia situated on the equator, exactly 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. The weather is a constant 85° with 90% humidity, making HOTlanta seem like the arctic.

Who are we working for? An American MD named Kinari Webb and her health organization named Health in Harmony provides integrated essential health care and environmental education to the citizens of Sukadana. It is one of Health in Harmony’s missions to reduce the local illegal logging industry towards preservation of the Bornean rainforest, home to one of the planet’s largest assets of flora and fauna including wild orangutans! It turns out Dr. Webb had a connection to a fellow at Georgia Tech, who pulled resources to organize the course.

After months of work, six students from our group were sent to Borneo (expenses paid via a grant) to present architectural plans as proposals to the organization. During an intense 3-day charette, we gathered their feedback in order to create a more informed design. Those involved in the charette included Dr. Webb, her health clinic staff, and the community who would ultimately be using and building the clinic. Each day of the design discussions took place at Health in Harmony’s current health clinic which is a 3-room house next to the ocean.

We returned from Asia full of ideas, rice, and a realistic outlook on what life looks like in Indonesia. On a personal note, it was humbling to be in a place so disconnected from western culture and so full of noise and LIFE. This information is being pumped into a final, refined design that will be handed over to the Health in Harmony group in a few weeks at a final presentation in Atlanta. Those architectural plans will be used to gather funding in America to be put towards construction starting in November.

See some pics of my journey after the jump

The location was very remote, meaning we were on an average of 1.5 planes per day.
The final list of places visited is as follows:

Seoul, South Korea
Jakarta, Java, Indonesia
Semarang, Java, Indonesia
Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia
Pontianak, Kalimantan, Indonesia
Ketapang, Kalimantan, Indonesia
Sukadana, Kalimantan, Indonesia
Pangkalan bur, Kalimantan, Indonesia


The Sultan’s Palace in Yogyakarta, Java

One of the 7 wonders of the world, Borobudur, a 5th century buddhist monument, overlooking foggy mountains.




Children ride bicycles by our van on the way across the island of Java. They carry flags celebrating the harvesting of rice.


We take a break hiking through the rainforest.


We find a man cutting down a 100+ year old rain forest tree for lumber.


We find a man cutting down a 100+ year old rain forest tree for lumber.


The main street in Sukadana. In Indonesia, motorbikes are KING!


A typical house in rural Kalimantan. This may house 4-8 people.


The existing Health in Harmony clinic. The local government had setup tents on this day, as doctors were arriving to provide free cataract surgery.


We present our architectural plans to the health clinic staff. They covered the walls and our models sat on the table.




We get a tour of the health clinic’s site neighboring, which will be used to build the new clinic and now houses a seedling nursery to help grow replacement trees.


Down the road from the clinic, looking out onto the bay. The water was a constant 70°… great for swimming.


We spent one night in Seoul, Korea. Big contrast between Korea and Indonesia.

See more photos and Videos HERE