On fun press kit design and packaging - this one made me pretty giddy. Nike put a jersey in a bottle! And no, as much as i tried, pulling it out of the little hole doesn’t really work. They ingeniously put a pull tab across the label which hid the split in the bottle. Conceptually it really drives the point home that these super light dry-fit jerseys are each upcycled from 8 plastic bottles. I do hope they didn’t waste more making/using the plastic bottles to house these though! These also came with the most adorable teeny tiny USB keys containing the press releases and high res pics of the newly launched collections.

On design details to watch out for as the Nike World Cup team kits get launched (home kits we got a peek at, but official launches are to come…) ~ All of the 2010 World Cup Nike jerseys have a secret message printed on the inside behind the team emblem, next to the hearts of players ~ for the Brazilian one it says “orgulho e amor”, which is Portuguese for “pride and love”! It was the most exciting feature i was looking forward to once i got the shirt out of the bottle… for the others, waiting to see the artwork/calligraphy when Nike has pics ready! Take a peek at the un-bottling and details on the next page!

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Tags: gifts - nike - outdoor - packaging - press - shirts - shopping - sport - unboxing

James Jarvis!!! Ok, that’s my first reaction… or, maybe my second after, “oooh, florescent lights.” But what we have here is a first look at a the jackets in the new Nike Sportswear Six Collaborations… and its 5am, and i should sleep, but i wanted to share it with you… so see the pics on the next page, and SlamXHype has some good info and apparently more will come tomorrow… but for now, check out the close ups of the artistic crests and crazy fonts on the back. For each of these 6 countries, artists from the respective countries were selected to reinterpret the full team kit! The artists are as follows ~ USA - Mister Cartoon, England - James Jarvis, France - So Me, Netherlands - Delta, South Africa - Kronk, Brazil - Nunca. See the fun pics on the next page. I’m madly James Jarvis lusting.

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Tags: fashion - football - gifts - nike - shopping - soccer - sport

Good morning 3am London ~ it’s been quite the evening with Nike Football/Soccer, running around and ending up on buses with ~400 international press folks ~ ending up at Battersea Power Station in the rain with its huge purple projections, only to delve deeper into what some felt was like a bat cave or villainous lair of lights and steps and shiny new products to tempt us with. But the main attraction announced tonight (with the help of Cristiano Ronaldo) ~ was what all this purple was about! And my favorite part of course is not only the new shoe, the Nike Mercurial Vapor SuperFly II… but the magical glowingly purple glass/cement box that looked like an apple store in a shipping container. The purple dots on the glass became smaller and smaller until you could see the wall of shoes hung upon them… On the next page see pictures of the installation, the new Nike Mercurial Vapor SuperFly II, the new Nike Football+ iphone app (with twitter/facebook integrations), design sketches… and the full press release!

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Tags: fashion - football - gifts - london - nike - outdoors - shoes - shopping - soccer - sport - travel

On exciting CES launches to poke at in person next week ~ Liquid Image (who started with the scuba goggles with integrated digital still/HD vid cameras) ~ is announcing the Freestyle Series Swim Camera Goggle and the Summit Series Snow Camera Goggle. So now you can use their handsfree wide angle still/video cameras in the pool or in the snow… and actually with the goggles, you can use them anywhere as a wearable handsfree camera since you won’t have to breathe through your mouth if using them out of the water! See more images and details on the next page!

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Tags: ces - fashion - outdoors - scuba diving - snow - sport - swim - technology - water

It was a gorgeous day in NY to take the VIP ferry out to Governor's Island for my first official polo match/picnic. Granted this was no ordinary day in the park ~ since there was much buzz with Prince Harry playing, Marc Jacobs and Madonna wandering around, and never ending Veuve Clicquot flowing at the second annual Veuve Clicquot Manhattan Polo Classic. The views were absolutely stunning ~ the manhattan skyline peeking out from behind the game, endless smatterings Pantone 137c between the lush green grass and perfectly clouded blue skies, and amusing people watching with lots of "daring hats" as requested. Take a peek at the experience on the next page...

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Tags: animals - champagne - nature - new york - polo - sport - travel - veuve clicquot

Sinking into my bed barely conscious, debating what to show you before i give in and pass out... been quite the night of wandering, but the most bizarre and not so design week related event this evening brought me back to those awesome Artek Shigeru Ban chairs i showed you... only instead of being on a tour... this was the The Standard SPiN New York Classic - for those (like me) who know little about the ping pong world - here is the SPiN bio: "SPiN New York is a 13,000 square foot ping pong social club on Park Avenue in Manhattan's Flatiron District. The club offers unparalleled table tennis courts with Olympic quality cushioned flooring and 17 individual tables, including a stadium-like center court. In addition, SPIN New York houses a pro shop, lounge, bar, private room sponsored by Fred Perry and over a dozen internationally known professional coaches and players who are available for private and group instruction." Intense, right? Did you know Susan Sarandon is a huge ping pong lover?

Anyhow, in addition to this party of a ping pong classic (don't get me wrong, there were some there extremely serious about the sport, and alongside were many party goers and an open bar) - the sunset out on the deck and in the background was absolutely stunning. Jaw dropping to say the least... so check out the many pics of this scene on the next page!

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Tags: events - hotels - luxury - new york - ping pong - sport - standard - travel

With a title like, FreeDarko presents The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac: Styles, Stats, and Stars in Today's Game... how can you not look twice? And then when you see the incredible illustrations? And that this is described as "The indispensible, amazingly illustrated companion to today's NBA--a roundball Rosetta Stone that hilariously decodes the trends and tendencies of pro basketball." on Amazon... I think we may have just found the perfect gift for both basketball fans and designers without a clue about the current state of the NBA... Who knew it'd be possible? And only at 15$!

The illustrations are drop dead gorgeous, the Style Guides incredible, and FreeDarko even has limited edition prints and shirts! First spotted over at Bobby Sattler's Whole Lot of BS, then i got quickly distracted at the FreeDarko site (so gorgeous, and full of design details and digital goodies)... then got busy making pics for you to see my favorite excerpts from the book on the next page! So, go on, click to the next page and take a peek inside the book!

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Tags: books - gifts - holiday - illustration - shopping - sport

Karma Balls! I am in love with the packaging for these Nike Karma Golf Balls ~ apparently, for the golfers, these are more forgiving on slower swings - they are " Nike's softest compression ball designed for added feel and distance." You can read a review on the balls from 07 over at The Sand Trap... i discovered this fun grassy/cardboardy/vectory packaging over on BeSportier. Larger image on next page!

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Tags: gifts - golf - packaging - shopping - sport

The Veuve Clicquot Manhattan Polo Classic will take place on Governors Island (Sat 31 May) and can you believe that this will be the first time Polo will be played in NYC for over 70 years... bringing taste of Hamptons to NYC. Ralph Lauren's team (Blackwatch) is playing Asprey's team and Nacho Figueras (the face of Polo Black and best player in the world will be playing)

And guess what? The event is open to the public! So head over to Governor's Island on Saturday if you are in NY, and let me know how the polo match turns out! Hopefully it will be a beautiful (non rainy) day! More images on the next page...

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Tags: luxury - ny - polo - sport - travel - veuve clicquot

In addition to my growing porcelain fascination this ICFF, i have also been noticing a lot of Foosball Tables going more high design. During the Conran Shop's Rojo opening (incredible! Definitely worth how wet i got in the rain to get there)... i came across the bright red metal RS Barcelona RS #2 foosball table designed by Rafael Rodriguez... and then saw the white one downstairs in the shop... the silver one at ICFF... and the coat rack versions in both the Conran Shop and ICFF. Really what stands out about this one is the bright metal frames and the arms and expressions on the player! Their faces scream "pass it to me! pass it to me!" with that excited/alert look... and their arms make them look like they are always on the go... which is admittedly, even funnier on a coat rack. There is also a hilarious stumpy super-buff silver and black set of players on another table i found at the Conran Shop that you've got to check out on the next page (and maybe one of you knows who made that one?)... see all the pics on the next page!

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Tags: foosball - football - gifts - icff - kids - shopping - soccer - sport - toys