AGAR Apparel

The Wilderness Downtown

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:06:37 +0000

There are good websites and then there are awesome websites.
Then there is The Wildnerness Downtown.

Working in conjunction with Google Chrome and built in the new HTML5 The Wilderness Downtown is an interactive interpretation of the song “We Used to Wait” by Arcade Fire. Featuring custom rendered maps (from Google Earth), choreographed windows, interactive flocking, real-time compositing and more this brings your web experience to the next level. The site uses the newest web technologies including HTML5 video, audio and canvas.

Prepare to be mind f*cked.
As a graphic designer, way to ruin it for the rest of us.

Experience The Wilderness Downtown

Find out more about the project here.

The God of Sneakers

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 17:11:01 +0000

Talk about killer kicks. 23 year old artist Jacob Patterson has been customizing sneakers for some time now but one of his more recent creations may just take the cake. His God of War sneakers (requested by one of his customers) not only features his custom hand painted design but chain laces with the Blade of Olympus at the ends. We normally have a lot more to say about killer designs but I think we’ll let these speak for themselves.

You can also check out a video of Patterson hard at work making this pair as well as an interview with Stig Asmussen, the director of God of War III, after the break.

Jacob Patterson via Kotaku
Image taken from Kotaku website via Jacob Patterson

The Mobile Dress

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:50:02 +0000

Fashion and technology can be hit or miss (think the disco activated LED shirt) but in the case of the cellphone dress it’s a huge hit. London based fashion company, CuteCircuit, has been producing a line of wearable technology that that combines smart textiles and micro electronics that instantly makes their clothing state of the art telecommunication devices.

When you look at the CuteCircuit it’s easy to see why Time Magazine awarded them with a Best Inventions of the year award. They made Katy Perry’s couture gown for the MET Ball that makes her sparkle more than she normally would. Made from silk chiffon the dress had over 3000 LED lights creating a shimmering rainbow of colors. The M-Dress combines that aeshetic beauty with telephonic function.

The M-Dress allows you to make and receive phone calls without having to actually carry your cell phone but by using the dress itself. With the an antenna built into the hem and a port for you to plug in your sim card for the ability to send and recieve calls. Built in sensors allow you to answer calls by simply lifting your hand to your ear Inspector Gadget style.

There is no keyboard or screen so beware – screening phone calls is not an option! The dress does allow you to program one phone number into the dress to make outgoing calls though, so choose wisely.

It should be noted that Agar Apparel is researching various technologies for our line. So far, we have created and innovated the neck tag. BOo yeah.

CuteCircuit via Gizmodo via TheStar
mage taken from CuteCircuit website

Abyss Watch

admin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:21:26 +0000

The Japanese seem to like taking our inventions and making them better (for example – we only made him a governor and they made him a star). Anyway, watches have always been cool but this Japanese LED takes that coolness to a whole new level. Combining sleek Japanese design and a touch-screen interface, the timepiece doesn’t make use of hands to tell time but it has a single ring of LED lights that circle the circumference of the face. White dots indicate the hours while blue ones are for minutes. Instead of pressing buttons as you would on a standard LED watch, The Abyss remains black until activated by the touching the crystal screen.

While this watch completely fails the drunk test (as in, I have no idea what time it is if I’m drunk) it does pass the cool test. I can only imagine how awesome it would be to look at a few flashing lights and explain the time to a passerby.

Chinavision via Gizmodo
image taken from Chinavision website

Summer Giveaway!

admin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:15:26 +0000

In the spirit of giving and to celebrate the last month of summer, we’ve decided to give away some free swag!! The best part, it’s so simple even a baby could do it.

follow us on twitter or “Like” our facebook page
ReTweet our contest link with your friends or show us some love on our wall!!

Be sure to keep us tagged so that we can keep track of who’s tweeted about us. The contest is open for the next three weeks and we’ll be giving away a couple shirts so make sure to check back. Winners will be notified via facebook/twitter.

Target Kaleidoscopic Fashion Spectacular

admin — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:18:52 +0000

Where better to put on a show than at the Standard Hotel in New York’s Soho. Naked guests and revved up couples have already proven that the glass façade of the Standard is the perfect place to catch a glimpse of …. well to just catch a glimpse (or sometimes even a full show). Capitalizing on this voyeurism Target is using the venue for their Kaleidoscopic Fashion Spectacular. Set for August 18 at 9 pm, Target will debut their fall collection in the windows of the Standard. With an expected 66 dancers in 155 rooms on the south side of the hotel, the dancers will be clad in Target’s fall line and putting on a performance accompanied by a light display. For a closer look 25 models will be wearing the top looks of the line on a stage in front of the building.

If you’re in the area, you’ll be in for a treat. The show can also be viewed life on their Facebook page.

Target via Racked NY
image taken from Racked NY website

HoodieBuddie

admin — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 17:20:23 +0000

I’ve had a few million dollar ideas in my day that have never quite taken off the runway because somebody beat me to the punch (special gift for anybody who can figure out what Speef is). In an odd twist of events, I never imagined marrying an ipod and a hoodie. It’s an elegant choice for your musical needs in such a turbulent time.

Using patent-pending HB3Technology™, the HoodieBuddie contains a standard headphone jack in the front pocket that plugs into any headphone-compatible device, like an mp3 player, iPod or iPhone, or other mobile device.

Once plugged into the device of your choice, the audio travels through embedded cables within the HoodieBuddie to the headphones, which are built in to the ends of the drawstrings. The HoodieBuddie’s drawstring earphones are always available, free of Tanglitis and sound great with rich, full sound.

Best of all, the entire Hoodie is machine washable (even the headphones).

It does look a little weird to have the drawstrings of your hoodie plugged into your ears but none-the-less a novel idea. What could be better? Try a HoodieBuddie with Betty Whites face emblazoned on the front. Designed to resemble Obey’s signature logo the Betty hoodie puts this sweatshirt on the map.

Apparently the best ideas are the still the simple ones.

HoodieBuddie via Thrillist
images copyright of HoodieBuddie

The Best Cry Ever

admin — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 17:25:04 +0000

We here at AGAR try to keep all of our posts relevant with either a fashion or graphic design tip but sometimes something comes up that’s just too good to pass. For those of you A&E watchers you may already be familiar with the show Intervention, where families try to save their loved ones from a downward spiral of drugs and abuse. While the stories are sad, some the scenes on there can just be outright ridiculous.

For legal purpose we should state that we here at Agar are not laughing at drug addiction or the act of intervention. We’re all for them to be honest with but out of context, this guy’s crying sounds eerily similar to Chewbacca sex noises.

This clip is a couple months old but it’s a classic … The Best Cry Ever.

Jello, nice to meet you.

admin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:57:26 +0000

All the kids are going green. We here at AGAR have always been the cool kids so we’ve been searching for the newest ways to be green (see our biocouture post). What we uncovered though not only gives back to the Earth but combines it with our love of drinking (both virgin and non-virgin). Enter jelloware cups.

From the imaginations of the ladies over at The Way We See the World, these cups are cast out of agar. AGAR, in the urban scene, is the new wave of hip clothing but agar is also a gelatinous goo derived from seawood used as a food additive and as a bacterial culture medium in science. The jello-ware caps are agar based and come in three flavors: lemon-basil, ginger-mint and rosemarry-beet; each meant to compliment a specific drink. Once you’re done with drink … toss them in the yard! Since it’s made from natural elements the cups can double as fertilizer for your plants.

How could we not blog about this one. AGAR is the future. Pun intended.

The Way We See the World via Gizmodo
images copyright of The Way We See the World

Cheeseburger Couture

admin — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:26:46 +0000

We here at Agar have always loved women’s couture and food but our boys in R&D have never thought to combine the two. Why? I don’t know but in hindsight it seems like an amazing idea.

Joy Kampia O’Shell’s creations have been called Cheeseburger Couture by the folks over at Grub Street Chicago and her creations look pretty damn good. Apparently O’Shell can crochet just about anything and has managed to create whole line of clothes with food as her inspiration. Our favorite was of course the wearable knit cheeseburger dress, complete with all your favorite toppings and the sesame seed bun. If Jodi Foster wore this in “The Accused” there would be no question she was asking for it.

Joy’s other works include sculptural pieces like “Taco Meal,” complete with silverwear, plates, a fully loaded taco and shredded cheese … all hand knit.

So simple and yet so ingenious, I’m not really sure why I have an R&D research team when they’re best idea was the ketchup stain on my shirt.

Joy Kampia via Grub Street Chicago
images copyright of Joy Kampia (also pulled from Grub Street)