New Era continued its innovative New Era Introducing campaign which encouraged people to design their own 59Fifty caps to unleash their creativity last week for the judging of the first 120 entries.

New Era continued their innovative New Era Introducing campaign which encouraged people to design their own 59FIFTY, unleashing their creativity with the most unique designs last week for the judging of the first 120 entries.

More info on neweraintroducing.com

New Era Introducing is a global creative project designed to introduce the creative minds of tomorrow by encouraging self-expression and inspiring artists to make their own unique statements for the world to see.

New Era are hoping to provide an opportunity for fresh artistic talent to make their own statement using a classic black New Era 59FIFTY as their canvas. Those judged the most unique and the best display of self-expression will go on to form a touring gallery exhibition and be published in a limited edition New Era Introducing book.

From the finished works of art, the artist who has displayed the most uniquely creative expression in headwear design will secure a £10,000 bursary with the intent of assisting the launch into their chosen artistic career.

The first phase will encourage talent from eight participating countries – United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, UAE and South Africa – to enter New Era Introducing. Using any medium, participants will upload an entry piece that demonstrates why they are one of the unique creative minds of tomorrow. Their response must be submitted digitally; so all work can be showcased in an interactive online gallery on the New Era Introducing website neweraintroducing.com. In addition, New Era will be enlisting the expertise of eight curators in their respective countries, of whom will be an integral part of the creative process.

Upon the second phase, fifteen uniquely creative individuals from each country will be issued a blank New Era 59FIFTY cap and asked to express themselves and their talent by transforming the 59FIFTY cap into a distinctive work of art as well as capturing the creative process behind their cap design; detailing it’s birth, creation, experience and influences. The final entries will then be appraised by an international judging panel and will form a touring exhibition that will visit galleries throughout major cities in the contributing countries. Each finalist on the tour will experience invaluable international exposure among creatives, industry professionals, and tastemakers alike. Their work of art will also feature in the limited edition New Era Introducing hardback book.

neweraintroducing.com

Internet entrepreneur, director and friend of RWD Jamal Edwards (SB:TV) has been selected as the latest Fly Your Own Flag Flagbearer for New Era.

New Era today announced that Jamal Edwards, Internet entrepreneur and founder of SB.TV, has been chosen as the latest Flagbearer to represent the Fly Your Own Flag global brand campaign which focuses on self-expression and individuality, and features those who make their own statement. New Era Flagbearers are diverse in career, ethnicity, and background, but are all cultural icons in some way — whether they are famous to just a few, or famous to many, the all have unique ambitions and spirits, but share a genuine passion for the New Era brand.

Starting out four years ago with just a hand-held camera and a YouTube account, Edwards’ pioneering site has attracted attention from some of the most influential businessmen from around the globe. With all of SB.TV’s success, it’s Jamal’s love of music that still drives the brand: “We showcase talent, not status.

Once again we hit one of the hottest and definitely the wettest festival of the Summer; Wakestock with our friends at New Era.

It’s RWD’s third year at the wakeboarding festival that is always drenched in sport, sounds, good times and yes, occasionally a little rain. But no amount of precipitation could damage the spirits of us, the wakeboarders or the amazing acts that performed – and for once the weather was brilliant and sunny! Double win. Thursday night kicked off with Toddla T and Serocee blazing some massive beats as the sun set, but it was Friday when the real action began. After a hard day on the waves, festival goers, riders and ravers caught Chase & Status, who played the set to end all sets – they might even have topped last year’s incredible performance. The Royal-approved Ellie Goulding meanwhile got us all Starry Eyed with a string of hits, making it tough for the likes of The Noisettes, Example and Biffy Clyro to match up to on the third and final day. They did a great job however (Example was of course amazing with festival ready smashes like Won’t Go Quietly, Hooligans and latest smash Changed The Way You Kissed Me which was immense live) while Biffy did the damn thing with Mountains and Bubbles. Kelis was also a big hit with her and new Calvin Harris collab , leaving headliners the Wombats to close the party to end all parties with their indie-pop bangers Moving To New York and Tokyo. Once again, we had the best time, surrounded by the rolling hills, blue sea and (in the main) big blue sky. It might not get the fame and acclaim of bigger feasts like Glastonbury, but if it’s an intimate experience with some of the biggest names in pop, dance, indie and urban, Wakestock is the one for you.

New Era set a new World Record last Wednesday (6 June) for the largest hat mosaic made up of 1875 official Major League Baseball 59FIFTY caps, which was proudly displayed at last week’s Bread & Butter tradeshow in Berlin.

Promoting the brand’s Fly Your Own Flag campaign, the mosaic encourages consumers to make a statement with their New Era products. The Guinness World Records adjudicator had the arduous task of individually counting each of the mosaic’s hats in order to determine the World Record set.

RWD were in attendance for the announcement of the world record, and we can attest that the mosaic was a very impressive site!

Grizzle Emcee, co-founder of The Daily Street returns to hip hop with the video for ‘All I Need Is…”

You may have heard of Grizzle as one of the founding members of fashion blog, The Daily Street. What you are less likely to know is that the fashion blogger began his career in hiphop and has decided to dust his mic off and get back in the game.

The video for the single ‘All I Need Is…’ hit the internet this weekend and features Grizzle wearing an array of New Eras, a selection of threads from Johnny Cupcakes UK, The Bronze Trade and Nike – amongst others.

The Daily Street feels that the video has perfectly captured Grizzle’s off the wall character, with the bizarre video scenes of the MC sitting in a bath of teabags and indulging in some kind of Alice in Wonderland banquet.

Grizzle’s PR explain the meaning of the song,

“Grizzle takes us on a journey into the thoughts of a British rapper hailing from the suburbs of London – torn between a diverse culture of the big city and the simplicity of small town life, Grizzle argues with his surroundings and eventually comes to the conclusion that ‘all he needs is…’ a nice cup of tea and a sit down.”

Check Grizzle Emcee’s ‘All I Need Is’ video for yourself.…

International lifestyle brand, New Era add alternative hip hop group, N*E*R*D* to their 2011 ‘Fly Your Own Flag’ campaign.

Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo and Shae Haley (collectively known as N*E*R*D*) join an eclectic mix of athletes, entertainers and entrepreneurs to feature in the brand’s ‘Fly Your Own Flag’ advertising campaign. The trio join Major League Baseball players such as Joey Votto, BJ and Jason Upton, iconic skateboarder Steve Williams and teen filmmakers from the Ghetto Film School.

New Era CEO, Christopher H. Koch explains why N*E*R*D* are a perfect addition to the ‘Flagbearers’ family,

“This is a group that made a name for themselves in the music business by creating a sound all of their own. They are unique individuals who embody to core values of the Fly Your Own Flag campaign.”

New Era describe their Flagbearers as “Making a difference. Changing perceptions. Doing what they do because they love it. Simply, flying their own flag. With vision and inspiration, and always, with style.”

New Era design special caps for the new film Tron: Legacy and new Wii game Epic Mickey.

New Era have collaborated with Disney on their new film Tron: Legacy and their new game Epic Mickey to produce a range of limited edition baseball caps. Tron: Legacy hit cinemas in the UK on December 17 with the special London Premiere [with the cream of UK Urban Music expected to be in attendance] taking place this weekend.

There’s currently no word on a UK release for these range of Tron: Legacy and Epic Mickey caps.

New Era have designed five individual characters for their Animal Cannibal series including a Christmas Husky.

This Friday, New Era are set to release Animal Cannibal, a five-piece collection featuring five individual characters including Teddy, Bunny and Husky, a Christmas special. Only 144 pieces of each character have been made, and every purchase comes with a replica key chain of the respective character.

The collection is exclusive to New Era’s European flagship stores in London, Birmingham and Berlin as well as online at neweracap.co.uk.

Craig Green designs the most unique interpretation of the classic 59FIFTY New Era cap.

New Era, the international headwear and apparel brand, most recognizable as the Originators of the True Fitted (The New Era 59FIFTY), has officially launched New Era XC, a unique creative project with some of the most impressive up and coming artistic talents from across Europe, in the vibrant East London – the first of five cities to host the exhibition during the months of November and December in celebration of the brand’s 90th anniversary.

Uniting nine decades of design and fashion experience with the creative minds of tomorrow, the project welcomed a shortlist of 90 graduate artists from some of Europe’s most prestigious design schools including London’s Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, to unleash their creativity on the on-field baseball cap silhouette (59FIFTY). Each graduate was issued an exclusive commemorative box containing a blank cap and had free reign to channel their creative aspirations. The designers then implemented their artistic influences, inspired talents and natural flair to project their vision onto the cap.

Of the 90 designs involved in the project, 24-year old Craig Green from Central St Martins created a cap design that was deemed to be the most unique in self-expression by a judging panel including renowned milliner Piers Atkinson. Craig will be awarded a £10,000 bursary with the intent to assist in launching him into his chosen artistic career.

Speaking about his key inspirations behind the winning design, Green said: “The mask of masculinity was key in my design, with references to the role of the male in western society. Taking influence from both American and English culture I made reference to class, money, patriotism, D.I.Y, nature, Native Americans and hunting. The choice of material was also a reference to these ideas of currency, masculinity and nature. I have attempted to create a cap that is as much about culture as it is about escapism.”

Green has recently been accepted onto this year’s MA course in Fashion at Central Saint Martins. He hopes to specialize in sculpture, fashion and millinery.

“The project, New Era XC, is a platform for self expression. We partnered with design school graduates, with varied interests in fashion, jewellery design, graphic design, street art, and a variety of other artistic genres, with the aim of creating an exhibition displaying the unlimited possibilities of raw creativity using the same canvas,” explained Wayne Best, New Era’s Marketing Director. “The designs that were submitted far exceeded our expectations and clearly demonstrate the wealth of creative talent, about to enter the commercial world.”

The diverse works of art will now move onto a two-day exhibition at the CircleCulture Gallery in Berlin with further visits to the cities of Milan, Barcelona and Paris.

Exhibition Dates:

London: November 5-7 (Dray Walk Gallery, Dray Walk, E1 6QL)
Berlin: November 12-13 (CircleCulture Gallery, Gipstraße 11, 10119)
Milan: November 19-20 (Spazi Originale, Via Savona 55a, 20144)
Barcelona: November 26-27 (Angels, C. Dels Angels, 16 08001)
Paris: December 3-4 (Espace Vertbois, 40 rue Vertbois, 75003)