Hope your Thanksgiving went well. The parade certainly went off without a hitch, you could hear the marching bands getting ready at 630am all the way over in Woodbridge. There’s a little holiday spirit for you, much earlier than anticipated.

With the holidays here it means there are more things to do than you can shake a stick at. Let’s discuss.

This week, Massimo Ferragamo, son of Salvatore, the Italian designer for the self-titled (does that work for things other than albums?) shoe company, will be delivering a talk at CCS on his professional career and personal lineage. The lecture is free to attend and taking place at the Benson and Edith Ford Conference Center at the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education. Probably worth it to check out.

This weekend is the Detroit Urban Craft Fair at the Fillmore (I sort of still want to call it the State Theater). DL! will be there with some brand-new new winter items and then also the beginning of the products coming from the stART space project. That’s right. Recall discussion of the project– blank canvases set up at fairs and festivals encouraging folks to paint or illustrate something on them. Now the fabric is being re-purposed to produce new items. Those items will be available for the first time at the DUCF.

Speaking of items available, East End Prints has now launched over in foggy London town, and they have a print available from DETROIT LIVES! I got a proof and those prints are pretty swell lookin, so consider picking one up if you so desire. See the poster here.

Finally, the ever-famous (38th annual! Geez!) Noel Night is this weekend. Wahhh! You can read all about it, get a map, check out the schedule and do anything else you might desire right on over here.

Ready, set, go.

Good news for a Monday: South Street Skate Shop in downtown Rochester will be carrying DL! clothing as of about Wednesday of this week when they get their first delivery of wares hot off the press. The shop is located at 410 Main Street right in the heart of downtown Rochester. From clothing to decks, they have the whole kit and caboodle. And the shop is only half the fun, they also built a skate park down the street. Pretty cool. Go check out the place while making a trip to downtown Rochester to see their lights display all through downtown during the holidays (Trivia item courtesy of Linda, the owner of the shop: Approximately how many people go through downtown Rochester during the Holidays to see the lights display? Answer: 1 million).

Speaking of clothing, DL! will also be at the Detroit Urban Craft Fair in about a month. The show is now two days long, taking place downtown at the Fillmore December 4-5. Got some tricks up the sleeve for stuff that will be on sale, including some new accessories from the “stART space” project we did this past summer on the festival circuit whereby folks were tasked with painting and drawing on large panels of canvas:

The ornately illustrated canvas is now being re-purposed, where the fabric, or in some cases panels of it, are being used to construct new pieces— zip totes, backpacks, tote bags, duffle bags, pockets on t-shirts, etc.  It’s all a newfangled way to represent creative culture in the D.  These new pieces will be available for sale at the DUCF.

Alright, back to it. Ever heard of a pump track? Well, it’s kind of like a dwarfed BMX track constructed so that you can orbit the track at about 20 or 30 miles per hour without peddling your bike much. Seem crazy? Well, that’s why you call it a pump track– you sort of “pump” your bike up and down to move forward. Interesting. Well, a bunch of Wayne State people and some others built a modest little pump track in North Corktown, and you can watch this video to catch all the action.

Lots of other stuff to talk about. The new apparel prints sold really well at DUCF and will be posted online soon. The hoodie design sold out completely which was kind of awesome. One of the new designs, as seen on the masonite test print on Facebook, got quite a bit of positive feedback. So yeah, new apparel up and available for purchase soon. AND, thanks to everyone that came out to say hello at the fair. It was good fun. Was boothed next to Courtney Fischer who does all kinds of handmade jewelry. You can see her stuff here.

Things have been hectic. And by hectic, I mean awesome. And the awesomeness is mostly derived from the fact that we are printing all the new apparel in the basement right now. Yep. Sweatshirts of multiple variety and texture, long sleeve sorts of stuff, all new patterns and layouts, a new tote bag– holy mother! Stuff for ladies and gentlemen. Whew! All the hot mess of trying to get everyting screen printed is in preparation for this weekend’s appearance at the Detroit Urban Craft Fair, Saturday, 10am-7pm at the Majestic Theatre. You should come out. Say hi. There will definitely be action shots of all the printing up on Facebook by tonight or tomorrow.

They are selling Detroit! Uhh, what? Detroit is always aiming to bring the creative, blast-off-worthy, young folks in to set up shop within the city borders. A feature from CNN Money calls for an actual ad that is a call to arms for those folks. These are the results from multiple agencies and individuals around Detroit. You can vote on a winner and a formal announcement will be made on December 2 to determine the gold medalist. Leo Burnett’s ad featuring Kid Rock showcases a dusty Kid sporting potentially the most powerful mirrored lenses this side of the Mason-Dixon. Doner’s contribution and its simplicity is quite sexy, although it’s up for debate who would want to respond to that ad. The Campbell-Ewald message is enticing and straightforward, though does the aesthetic follow? The McCann Erickson attempt has oodles of firepower in the way of examples– that’s for certain. Chances are even your grandmother is listed in one of those letters. DL!’s multiple versions of such copy will be on display at the Detroit Urban Craft Fair this weekend– 11/21, 10am-7pm, Majestic Theatre.

Jim Griffoen, super-Dad behind the blog Sweet Juniper!, is starting a new feature on his blog where he is combating the negative force put up by Andrew Grossman of the Wall Street Journal in a recent article. Grossman points out the fact that a lack of national retailers in Detroit is a bad thing. So, Jim will be posting accounts/details/anecdotes of the retailers and shops that we have all come to love in the city. So stay tuned, it should be a refreshing look at small business in Detroit.

Switching gears a little bit now. DL! will be appearing at the Detroit Urban Craft Fair on Saturday, November 21 at the Majestic Theatre. As a result, a bunch of brand new pieces will be available for purchase. Well, actually, the whole Fall/Winter slate of releases. And quite frankly, they are looking pretty good. Think sweatshirts, zippers, hoods, some more poster’ish sort of prints and a remake of the tote bags. So get ready! Stop by from 10am to 7pm!

Leaves are changing, the weather’s cooling. Fall is here, so is October. Mm hm. Now, for a few updates on projects and such– very necessary. For one, DL! will have a booth at the Detroit Urban Craft Fair on November 21. As a result, there will certainly be new items available for purchase. Right now, we are currently working on new designs for some hoodies, possibly some wacky jewelry sorts of pieces and some prints of various media and type– all of which are capable of showing off your excitement for Detroit (and make great gifts). In other news, the mural is pretty much complete with the exception of the spaceship that will soon be painted. The mixtape project is moving along to completion, too. DETROIT LIVES! // the short film is in the final stages of editing and with all good luck should be done real, real soon. We are hoping to get it in to some local film festivals/events for viewing– if you have any ideas or are putting on an event where a screening would be appropriate, let us know! Stay tuned to the site for official releases and don’t forget to go jump in the leaves when you get a chance.