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Embracing “The Uncommon Thread”
as its mantra, Stance has turned socks
into one of the world’s most exciting accessories in less than five years. Stance’s founders saw a category that had been ignored, taken for
granted, looked over, and dismissed.
By breathing life into something that had been overlooked, Stance ignited a movement of art and self-expression
that has drawn athletes, performers, and iconic cultural influencers to the brand – a group they call the Punks &
Poets. By underpinning its creative roots with a relentless focus on
technical innovation, Stance is now
found in over 40 countries on the
feet of those who dare to be different.
Don Pendleton 018-019 Kid Creature 052, 058-059 Brooke Reidt 062
Heartbreaker Banquet 010-012
Zio Ziegler 070-071
Playlist: Soko & Dwyane Wade 084-085
Margaux Arramon-Tucoo 080 Rose Ashton 081 Russ Pope 087
Art of the Build: Brian Bent 014-017 The Wallride Project with Mark Oblow 032-035 Lens Crafter: Quang Le 053-057
What’s Good In The Hood?: Philadelphia 028-029 Baldface Lodge 030-031 Surfing The Northland with Mikey DeTemple & Nick LaVecchia 042-049
Avante Uprising with Hanne Gaby 020-027 Match Made 064-069 Close Inspection with Imogene Barron 078-079 #theuncommonthread 082-083
Go Skateboarding Day 013 The Anatomy Of A Sock 036-037 Run For Your Life with John Joseph 040-041 Fusion Athletic 063
Babes Ride Out 013
Andre Drummond in Detroit 072-077
Wheels & Waves 013 Words with Ronnie Fieg 060-061
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Heartbreaker Banquet P h o t o :
The words “communal” and “intimate” usually describe the opposite of a music festival, not true of the Heartbreaker Banquet held at Willie Nelson’s Luck, Texas ranch during SXSW. We’re at a loss to think of another opportunity to rub shoulders with a legend like Willie at an event where he curates the music… at his ranch. Maybe Neil Young’s annual Bridge School benefit, but Willie has Neil beat on the setting. Luck is a dusty old western town 30 minutes outside of Austin complete with a saloon, jailhouse, and even a pack of wild horses; it was originally built as the backdrop for Nelson’s film, The Redheaded Stranger. This annual one-day festival features 20 musical acts of the Americana and indie folk persuasion across two stages. Willie Nelson and his Family Band headline the main stage, with notable past performances including Delta Spirit, Nikki Lane, Father John Misty, Leon Bridges, Heartless Bastards, Blitzen Trapper, Nelson’s sons Lukas Nelson and the Promise of the Real. heartbreakerbanquet.com Photo:
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June 21st, Go Skateboarding Day (GSD), is a national holiday founded by the International Association of Skateboard Companies. The big day falls between “National Dump The Pump Day” and “National Chocolate Eclaire Day,” which sort of takes the shimmer off the ‘nationally recognized holiday’ aspect as it seems they’re giving it away for free in whatever bureaucratic basement office that pushes this paperwork. Regardless, the day rules; It’s all about ditching responsibility and skating. The big cities go off on GSD—NYC stands out with all day events spanning the city from Brooklyn to the LES. And last year in LA skaters took over the 6th Street Bridge and sessioned the newly liberated ledges of the West LA Courthouse. You don’t need to be in the city to celebrate GSD, it’s as easy as going skateboarding. #Goskateboardingday is the official tag to participate and to find events going on near you. theiasc.org
Babes Ride Out
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Motorcycles and surfing—we’re not talking about riding your motorcycle while juggling a surfboard under your arm on the way to a kook-of-the-day session. These are two separate activities ingrained in the setting of Biarritz, France where morning surf sessions naturally lead to afternoon rides through the Basque countryside. In short, this is living.
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Here’s what you need to know, Stance’s own Ashmore Ellis co-founded Babes Ride Out with Anya Violet in 2013. The two bonded over their love of riding and planned a female-only motorcycle ride and campout in Borrego Springs, California which drew in 50 girls on motorcycles. One year later, over 500 ladies were registered to attend BRO’s second event. Clearly they were on to something. Fast forward to 2015 and word of Babes Ride Out continues to spread through social media connecting female riders from around the world to converge on nearby Joshua Tree. The annual gathering brings between 1,000–1,500 female riders for a weekend of camping in the desert and riding. For a lot of the riders the journey to Babes Ride Out is a huge part of the draw. Ashmore says, “Lots of shit can go wrong when riding any distance, but figuring it out and making it to your destination is part of the fun.” babesrideout.com
Wheels & Waves
The Wheels And Waves celebration of classic and custom motorcycles started in 2009 among six friends from Toulouse collectively known as the Southsiders. This annual getaway to ride across the countryside to surf the waves in Biarritz. The gathering grew and today is a four-day mid-June festival mixing art, music, surfing, customized motorcycles, and friendly rivalries including surf contests and the infamous Punk’s Peak Race. Allez! wheels-and-waves.com
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Revivalist Brian Bent reimagines a 1928 Ford Model A -Banger When it comes to classic cars, artist and musician Brian Bent isn’t interested in restorations. His creative mind approaches each build as a re-imagination where function follows a new creative form. We caught up with him at home in his art studio/ gas station in San Juan Capistrano to talk about his most recent build—a 1928 Ford Model A 4-Banger (first year model A). Brian is a self-taught mechanic with classic cars in his blood; his grandfather built his first hot rod in the late ’30s, followed by his uncle who has a shared passion for hot rods and surfing. The Ford Model A represents Brian’s fifth build, a series of builds that keep going further back in time—eras that are reflected not just in the car, but in Brian’s art, music, surfing, and his own personal style.
What was the inspiration for the look of the car? Completely early speedsters with cut downs [no fenders]. It seems like the cars I’ve built are almost more in relation to a motorcycle than a car—really stripped down, really light, basically a motor chassis and a small part of the body. So this was built around the 4-banger and made to look like an old speedster—kind of homemade, cheap, and inexpensive. I built the look of the car first because that’s easier for me than getting into the mechanics, with mechanics you have to think differently. But that was also an inspiration to finish the car and get it to run, so it’s a twofold deal.
Did you have a clear plan going into it or do you develop as you go? It totally develops. How I paint and how I build the cars it’s like an art piece—you start with a foundation or an inspiration and you build up from that. You almost build it all the way to the top and then adjust back and then finish it. You take that step back and look at it and make minor adjustments. What were the challenges of this specific build? The only challenge was figuring out the 1928 Model A motor because it’s different than most cars, specifically the positive ground of the battery and the way the spark advancement was set up on the column. The coil that puts electricity to the spark plug is always hot, so I had to run a switch to turn it on and off. Henry Ford designed it that way. I was researching for two weeks how to even wire it; it was like going to school again. Even the process for starting the motor is complex—it was so simple it was complex to me. There’s a process for starting it up like an old motorcycle. You see the old cartoons of them, it hops around just like that—it’s a small little power plant. Also, when I got it, the motor was completely seized and rusted; we scraped it out and lubed it up to loosen all the cylinders. I started taking a crowbar with the flywheel and bending it out to break loose the stubborn cylinders. What would you say are some trademarks of your personal and artistic style that come across in a build like this? Totally, a fly by the seat of your pants approach and it has to be super simple but have something to it. It has to click in a way that’s real and full like a painting.
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It has to be simple—too many things and it gets to be too animated. With these I try to use what I have around the house, like the side panels were off my ’27 Oakland fenders. I want to keep it real and match what they did back then. I get my inspiration through old photographs and I’ll have those images in my head. I’ll think, ‘If I’m going to build this with all old parts, generally maybe somebody else did the same thing with those kind of old parts,’ and that’s how something develops. And then you start driving it, and at first it was form over function, but after you start driving it, it has to go function over form because if it’s not functioning right it’s going to be dangerous. So there’s a point where it flips.
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“We’re heading toward this dirt road when all the sudden it was like, pop-ka-ka-BOOM backfiring all over this milliondollar neighborhood and then it just died.”
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What adventures has this car been on? Well I had just finished it and I picked up my friend Turkey Stopnik and gave him a ride, anyway he texts the guys a photo of the new rig. Then I dropped him off, and I headed over to pick up another friend JJ Wessels, and we’re heading toward this dirt road when all the sudden it was like, pop-ka-ka-BOOM backfiring all over this million-dollar neighborhood and then it just died. I thought I blew the timing gear, but it wasn’t, it just came out of timing. So JJ tows me back home with a tow strap, then Turkey takes a picture of that, “Well BB’s car was running…” It was pretty funny. How does a project like this fit into your overall life as an artist and builder?
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Honestly having something real is really cool for me because I pull a lot of my inspiration from the cars or from surfing those old wood kook boxes and the feeling you get. All of it together builds a style or a lifestyle in a sense that you can really enjoy—you build the car then you need the jacket and the goggles for example. Also, for a while I was trying to paint in the style of the era of the car I’m building or the surfboard I’m riding. Now I’ll paint with the inspiration of these and it’ll still reference the cars and surfing.
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Styling: Hanne Gaby
In recent years the Belgian beauty has become one of the most highly sought-after models in the world. She has walked the runway for designers including Alexander Wang, Chanel, Givenchy, and Prada. It’s not just her ethereally androgynous good looks catching everyone’s eye, it’s the simple mastery of her own style that’s so encapsulating. The effortless way she pulls off the most outrageous and unordinary outfits drawing the hardened eye of fashions’ elite. Her stylistically advanced outfits are her art form and the sidewalks her canvas.
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Even in a crowded room heated by a slew of sinewy, long-limbed ingénues, model Hanne Gaby Odeiele radiates enough cool to send bystanders searching for a sweater — no easy feat in a profession practically built on the sartorial smarts of its players.
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A shape-shifting journey with model Hanne Gaby.
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- Hanne Gaby
“The outfits that take the least amount of time and just fall into place are usually the ones that end up being my favorite.�
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“As long as you believe in it, you can pull it off.” - Hanne Gaby
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Top 10 spots in Philadelphia by skaters for skaters (... and people who like cheesesteak).
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The Wallride Project is a free public art project in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Stance Punk & Poet, Mark Oblow, was invited to contribute a 150foot mural this past winter-an experiential art piece for both the citizens of Sao Paulo and the artist himself.
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Offered in five specific sizes for a precision fit across all foot sizes S (3–5.5), M (6– 8.5), L (9–12), XL (13–15), XXL (15–18).
FIRST CLASS FIT
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Our own blend of yarns wick moisture away from your foot preventing hot spots, bacterial growth, and blisters.
FUSION FIBERS
Cushioning where you need it, not where you don’t, with cooling air channels and a traction design that allows you to make cleaner cuts in your footwork.
SAW TOOTH ANATOMICAL LATERAL COMPRESSION
Ultra-high loft cushioning to protect your ankles from wear and tear.
We added extra-dense cushioning to protect your feet from the sheer forces involved in high-performance play.
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A Y-shaped seam is knitted into the heel cup to provide you with a perfect fit.
Y-GORE SEAM
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Our toe box is linked stitchby-stitch for a f lat look and an abrasion-free experience.
SEAMLESS TOE CLOSURE
Knitted mesh improves ventilation, thermo-regulation and forefoot comfort.
SEAMLESS INTEGRATED MESH
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Unseasonal surfing coastal Maine with Mikey DeTemple and Nick LaVecchia Wintertime in New England comes with many benefits—Mikey DeTemple and I have found that uncrowded winter swells are one of them. When a Nor’easter kicks up on the radar, one of us is pretty quick to call the other to start laying some plans. This particular storm was no different, aside from the fact that we already had a few feet of snow on the ground to start, which just added some excitement for Mikey’s drive north from NYC to meet me at the Maine coast. While there were plenty of unknowns as there are bound to be when dealing with winter weather, one thing was certain—once Mikey escaped NYC he knew he wouldn’t be fighting crowds in the Northland.
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With the days being so much shorter in the winter, that means waking up in the dark, shoveling out the truck, and loading it up all before the sun breaks the horizon. With seven-plus inches of snow on the ground, it does take a bit more time to get out to those untracked beaches and far off points. Luckily, Mikey has the truck for the job. I honestly think that for him, driving in that much snow out to some remote beach is as fun as the surf. With coffee made we head down the road to
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get the first peek of offshore spray over the freshly plowed snow banks. This first glimpse sets the tone for the day. Usually a quick morning surf in subfreezing temps ensues. Sessions only last an hour or so when it’s this cold. You choose your waves wisely. After a quick pause for late breakfast. A drive to some more remote and beautiful beaches is in order. The truck reeks of the wetsuit, booties, and gloves set on the heaters trying to dry. An extra winter suit is a must for this time of year. Mikey knows all too well how painful it is to pull back on a freezing wet winter suit. If we’re lucky, by mid afternoon we’ve reached our next spot without getting buried in a snowbank. With the sun setting by 4:00 and the temps dropping rapidly thereafter, a quick afternoon session is on tap. I usually hover around the truck at this point to have it running and warm when Mikey gets out. No fun struggling out of six mils of rubber with frozen lobster claws. All for the love of surfing in a beautiful place. Alone.
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On sneakers, collabs & creating your own path. When you walk into the offices of Ronnie Fieg and his Kith enterprises, you feel like you’ve entered a Zen oasis 50 years in the future. Owing to its stark white color palette, the space, which is located in New York City’s NoHo neighborhood, offers a respite of calm from the constant bustle of the city streets below. In a nod to Japanese culture, people entering the office remove their shoes (inevitably some of the most sought-after kicks at the moment) at the door and swap them out for a pristine pair of slippers. Taking a seat in the sunken lounge, it’s easy to overlook the lighting above your head. In the case of Fieg, the bulbs tell a story. Rows of lights are arranged like arrowheads marking a trail that leads to an X just outside of Fieg’s glass-walled office. If you want to know where streetwear and sneaker culture is headed follow the treasure map. X marks the spot.
The lighting isn’t just a metaphor for Fieg having his finger on the zeitgeist. It’s also emblematic of how he operates on a different plane. While most would take their ceiling and its lighting for granted, Fieg sees it as an opportunity to showcase creativity. After more than a decade spent working his way up from the trenches at one of NYC’s largest sneaker retailers, David Z., Fieg set off on his own to launch his own brand Kith in 2010. Fieg has collaborated with a number of different footwear brands on limited-edition collections that have sneakerheads camped out in front of the Kith store to pick up new releases. He also produces his own well-received collection of streetwear under the Kith label, ranging from T-shirts to sweats to jeans. Fieg’s own map to success has followed an uncommon path. There is no “keeping up with the Joneses” with him. “I don’t look at what others are doing to be honest,” Fieg says. “We have our own lane. We built our own lane. I’m just interested in doing the best that we possibly can.” The first pair of sneaker that stands out in Fieg’s
memory is a pair of Nike Air Flight 95s in black, white, and graphite popularized by NBA star Jason Kidd. Fieg received these a present for his bar mitzvah. “It’s the first shoe that I really cherished and loved because before then my parents weren’t spending that kind of money on footwear,” he recalls. “It was [also] the fact that I really loved something enough where I wanted more than one.” Those Air Flight 95s sparked his sneaker interest. When his older sister got her first credit card in 1995 and was eager for someone to go shopping with her, Fieg tagged along to the Manhasset Mall on Long Island. Lucky for him, the Athlete’s Foot sneaker store didn’t have anything in her size. so she let Fieg pick up a second pair of his prized sneakers. A sneaker collector was born. That pair still sits unworn in Fieg’s impressive stockpile. But Fieg has always been more than a mere consumer of sneakers. He began working at David Z. as a teenager in 1995, starting in the stockroom, gradually rising through roles in sales, management, and buying until he eventually became general manager. The experience helped hone Fieg’s feel for what a consumer connects with. “Everybody has their own taste level. Mine is one that is not so different from others, it’s just that the others don’t know that they’ll want what I already know I do,” Fieg says. In other words, “The things I want to present to the world are things that I believe people will want, they just don’t know they want it yet.” Fieg knew from an early age that opening his own store is what he was destined to do. “I was already drawing what my store would look like when I was in junior high school,” he says. Recently his mother discovered a sketch that Fieg had done as a kid, and he was amazed by how similar it looked to his current Kith store. “It was an amazing moment. The design didn’t stick with me throughout, but I remembered it once I saw it,” Fieg says. “I didn’t realize how long I’d had it in my mind.” What appeals to Fieg most about sneakers isn’t just the design of a particular model. It’s what the choice of footwear says about the wearer. “With footwear, I believe you can tell a lot about a person and what they like, what they don’t like, what they’re into,” says Fieg. “It’s the biggest form of self-expression without knowing somebody.” Fieg has used the sneaker as a canvas through collaborations with brands ranging from Adidas to Sebago to Asics to Puma. The meaning of collaboration has changed a lot in recent years with some brands using it as a shortcut to gain instant credibility. But for Fieg, who was one of the pioneers in using co-branded projects to create new and distinct products, the goal of a collaboration remains the same. “What it really means to me is when both brands bring something to the table where they can create something that couldn’t be created without the other,” he says. “It needs to be something that can sustain energy and an interest.” It needs to be quality. That always comes first for Fieg. It’s what attracted him to Stance even before he began working with the brand. “They’re the best at what they do. I emptied out my sock drawer to replace every last sock I had with Stance Socks.” Once he began working with Stance, he recognized an
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approach to creativity that was in line with his own. When Fieg does release a new item, whether it’s a sock or a sneaker or a streetwear collection, people take notice. The recently redesigned Kith store is just around the corner from the company’s offices. You won’t have any trouble finding it on release day, though. It’s the place where lines stretch down the block filled with guys hoping to snag whatever Fieg’s latest creation may be. The appeal isn’t limited to downtown New York City. One of the things Fieg is most proud of is the pop-up shops he’s launched in recent years, particularly the international ones. Fieg has brought the Kith brand to Sao Paulo, Paris, Tokyo, and Milan as well as domestic outposts in Los Angeles. Each time he’s amazed at the reception. “Seeing how other cultures react to our product and brand is an amazing thing,” says Fieg. “We gain a whole new perspective on what we do for a living.” Fieg recognizes how fortunate he is to be in this hard-earned position at the top. “We get to do whatever we want when we feel like doing it. That’s a beautiful thing.” It’s also a position that can lead to complacency. When everyone is singing your praises, it’s easy to fall back and rehash ideas that have already been successful. That isn’t a problem for Fieg however. The thread that runs through all of his projects is a constant striving. He’s always on the look out for new ways to improve. His Kith store has been acknowledged as one of the best-looking and bestcurated boutiques in New York City. So what did Fieg do? He completely redesigned it and made it even better. “No matter how well I’m doing I always want to do better,” he says. That’s the thing with Fieg. X may mark the spot, but with him, the location of X is always changing.
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Everyday athletic socks creatively reimagined. White is for walls. Express your style while running, working out, shooting hoops or however you spend your waking hours. The Fusion Athletic line of everyday socks for men and women feature the perfect mix of vivid art and performance science. Get noticed.
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Mixing athletic wear with street leisure is the vibe. Don’t match, don’t matter. Seriously, don’t overthink it.
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Day to night. Use bold socks to bring new life to a favorite look.
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Put your best foot forward when the occasion calls for head-to-toe class.
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“Detroit is one of those places that feels alive, almost like it has a soul. It’s gritty and resilient and proud. I love playing for the fans here. Their energy makes you want to work harder everyday.” - Andre Drummond
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Creative Director, Stylist, and Publisher Imogene Barron opens up her closet and lets us peep her deep collection of vintage tees.
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