CONNOISSEUR X WALSH - ROUND 2 The Ensign...

Our next collaboration with Walsh, the only British owned, designed and manufactured sports footwear company left, have been manufacturing in Bolton, The North West since 1961.
After last years trainer we decided to revisit them again for this summer with a new model and new details and colours. 
The Ensign Connoisseur edition is a limited run of trainers, made right here and very, very exclusive which is what it's all about for us!
There's two colour ways this year, "Acacia Road" and "Linear North", the names being nods to each respective colour way.  The Ensign The Ensign silhouette was originally created for the Bolton Harriers and the New York marathon they completed in 1981 .
Details:

This release is dedicated to the founder, creator and pioneer, the late Norman Walsh 1931-2014.

They're online tomorrow evening at 7pm. TC 

CURVA'S CONNOISSEURS!

Our next hook up with Curva Nord is a 'remix' of a previous design from a few years ago. The second collabo following the Dexys tribute last year is a new play on their previous BOCA Juniors themed tee. A twist on the characters this time. 
We're saying All Connoisseur's Are Brilliant, or All Curvas are Bazzin', Andrew, Chris And Benjamin, All Cats Are Beautiful etc..it might mean something else too, perhaps? a world renowned acronym which will appeal to many I'm sure. But, that's up to you to decide. Given the Buenos Aires club's most famous son was Diego, there's also a tie in with Frank Zappa and a famous lyric from the 1983 single of the same name - another Curva Nord idea which never left the drawing board. 
Tee goes live online at 7pm tomorrow evening.  TC

CC x OC

From Stockport to Stockholm!
The latest collaboration with our Swedish brethren  Our Culture. They Shall Not Pass (¡No Pasarán!) has served as the war cry of Revolutionaries and frontline soldiers throughout history. This Situationist style artwork in one colour print was one of the coolest things we've seen and now one of the coolest tees you'll see all year.
It's also available in a print too. Online Thursday 10th July at 7pm TC

VERAS X CONNOISSEUR ROUND III - THE CORD SHOE

The elusive (until now) 'Manchester Cloth'...Made in Spain with Veras. 
Online tomorrow evening from 7pm GMT TC

BOBBY WOMACK

RIP

WOLF TEES...

That's right, tees. Plural! 
We loved the film that much we went and did two tees. At last they're here!
First up is a twist on one of the early shock scenes in the film Despite being released right at the start of this year, it's most likley our personal favourite this year and even sneaked into our all time Top 100 list.

A defining moment in The Wolf Of Wall Street film was us sitting in a trendy, arthouse cinema surrounded by middle aged couples tucking into their frozen yoghurts and home made packed lunches. Up pops ladies man and all round nice guy Leonardo Di Caprio (in character of course) doing something fairly unspeakable with a sweaty, naked girl-for-hire. Those couples gasped as this incident happened, an action only a very successful Wall Street trader with way too much time and money could do. We chuckled loudly. This one kind of came up by accident. On further viewings we commented on how a screenshot came out looking like our very own CC logo, yeah the top looks like a nice arse, basically. Thus one of the maddest designs we've done yet was born.

Secondly, how can you do a WOWS tee and not cover the whole ludes thing? So yeah there's two options and this one is about the lemmons, the This one pays homage to the 'Lemons', the Ludes, or Methaqualone to give it's proper name - the drug of choice for the man who has tried everything there is to try. Unavailable now, these were actually prescribed to pregnant women, but fast became the happy pill for the man of excess. 

Anyone who watched this film will have come out with the same thing on their mind. What exactly are Quaaludes, and where can we get some? 

Both of these tees come with the usual button badge but because we're oh so nice we're even throwing in a special customised cut out vinyl sticker that features the artwork, whilst they last! TC

Online Wednesday 25th June at 7pm (GMT) 

BOBBY AND WILLIE...

A re-run of two old staunch favourites. World Cup Willie. Who as well as being England's successful mascot of the '66 World Cup campaign, was also THE first mascot of any World Cup. A real trendsetter and arguably he's the best there's ever been. 
Sixteen years later, England started another trend by just setting up their own mascot when they went to Spain in '82 and thus old Bulldog Bobby himself was born.
They've ditched the kits for their own trendy clobber once again this time. 
Online at 7pm(GMT) Wednesday night. TC  

CONNOISSEUR IN MOTION...

Ah The World Cup! Whilst football has pretty much eaten itself now, there's still magic left when every four years the Countries come together to battle it out for the unprecedented title. Is it the same as it once was? Well not quite, but it's still enough to get the juices flowing. Our personal favourite without doubt was Italia 1990. Written off by the press and many others, it was a dark period for both football and the Country with football disasters, hooliganism rife and the Country in a right fucking mess, poll tax riots et al. 
That campaign literally brought people together, it changed football for the better on home soil, Bobby Robson, Gazza's tears and a semi final. The England team that was hounded before it, came home as heroes. That game against the then West Germany remains the most watched British sporting event of all time. Then of course we had the music, Nessun Dorma and England's World Cup song from New Order. 
This new tee pays full tribute to that event and everything about it as an alternative World Cup themed tee release.
We teamed up with Yorkshire based indie band Tokyo Corner and our pal Lennie who illustrated this one for us too, for a little shoot as a nod to the video. Sadly John Barnes wasn't available to do his rap.
Available on Navy and White which contains a nice gold print. online at 7pm. (GMT) TC

RIK MAYALL

Really sad news today hearing about the untimely death of comedian Rik Mayall. Aged just 56. Growing up on recorded tapes off BBC 2 of The Young Ones, it was, back then and still is now, one of the funniest things we've ever seen and something that shaped us growing up. We were quoting bits from it on Friday just gone. The Comic Strip and Bad News, Kevin Turvey, Blackadder and Bottom meant he was a household name and a seemingly genuinely nice chap. A real shame. Rest in Peace to 'The People's Poet himself.' TC

"I feel sorry for you, you zeros, you nobodies. What's going to live on after you die? Nothing, that's what! This house will become a shrine! And punks and skins and Rastas will all gather round and all hold their hands in sorrow for their fallen leader! And all the grown-ups will say, 'But why are the kids crying?' And the kids will say, 'Haven't you heard? Rick is dead! The People's Poet is dead!' ... And then one particularly sensitive and articulate teenager will say, 'Why kids, do you understand nothing? How can Rick be dead when we still have his poems?'"

MUNDIAL MAGAZINE.

Lot's of emails back and forth and then a group of like minded folk meeting up in a pub, with the idea of doing a decent one off World Cup magazine without the bore, ponce and ledge behaviour, a proper World Cup magazine for the people. 

This looks fucking awesome. Loads of people got involved to make this happen and contribute, working around the clock to make sure it materialised, it's been a privilege to be a part of this. With Seb White (Stand), Daniel Sandison (Halcyon) and graphic designer Adam Gill putting it all together, there's too many other people to mention but what we will say it's a fine piece that all can be proud of and perhaps most importantly we've got 100 copies to sell. TC

Online at 12pm.