Neighborhood Technical Apparel (more commonly known as Neighborhood) is a Japanese street label that takes influences from punk and street culture and fuses it in their limited edition graphic t-shirts and selvage denim. As of lately, their denim has been the biggest hype in the Asian street fashion scene, spreading to North America. Starting at around $300 retail price and being resold at reseller shops and online for as much as $1500, these jeans seem to validate themselves on the market.

Created by Shinsuke Takizawa, Neighborhood first began in 1994. Their flagship stores can be found in Harajuku, Shibuya, Tokyo and last month their first flagship store out of Japan opened in Central, Hong Kong. Licensed retailers are located around the world as well, in Singapore, Australia, London, Italy, New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and Hawaii.

Check out www.neighborhood.jp for more goodness

> image courtesy of neighbourhood.jp

While browsing through Roots, that ever so classic store of Canadiana, I fell in love with their new Treetap Rubber collection. Featuring three classic leather bags made of 100% Amazon Treetap Wild Rubber with Vegetable Tanned Leather, this collection is the newest addition to the revamped green focused Roots line. Now I have to say, I have no idea what other methods of tanning are available or what difference veggie tanning makes but who cares with classic styling like this. With its largely dark brown leather, cherry wood leather straps, and brass detailing, these bags remind me of a time when leather goods lasted generations, not months. Not to mention, next time someone asks you where you got that, you can say I got the laptop from Dell, the bag from the Amazon.

> images courtesy of roots.com

Taffeta beware – we’re coming after you.

Fairweather is flourishing and teen magazines are cluttered with imagery of overly elaborate prom/formal dresses. I’ve somewhat decided to skip out on my university formal for the sake of saving a buck, and relieving the unnecessary stress of trying to look unrealistically perfect and partaking in an expensive, contrived evening.

But that didn’t stop me from online-browsing for something I would’ve considered wearing if I had decided to go (hey, girls never stop finding excuses to shop).

Dubbed as “what GAP should be”, Madewell spells out their founding principles with the brand name. Driven by 71 years of quality, fit, versatility in matching and originality, Madewell has marked itself in my mind as a colourful clothing line with a plethora of personality.

Their website boasts numerous enviable looks that cry out “semi-prep-trendster”. You can’t help but to rifle through the looks to store them in queue for your next casual day out.

Check out http://www.madewell1937.com/ for more happy.

> images courtesy of madewell1937.com