Icelandic Mafia

     The break room at Trader Joe's (my day job) has a constant flow of diverse literature... from 3 inch thick fantasy novels that are always volume five or six in a series of twenty seven, to muscle mags, to the weekly Portland periodicals like the willamete week or the portland murcury, with the odd national geographic thrown in. So I'm on my lunchbreak wading through piles of print, and as luck would have it I stumble upon a copy of Thrasher from a few years ago. Flipping through the pages I come across this picture of John Cardiel destroying a rail while wearing one of my shirts. I can't tell you how stoked I got. I remembered that John had picked up one of my shirts at Cal Skate here in Portland where I had a few on consignment. Before LOI I had a likkle ting called "Icelandic Mafia". My gramma on my dad's side is Icelandic, and was born in 1922, hence the 1922 on the shirt. Anyhoo, John got in touch with me through the shop, and I ended up doing a series of decks for Anti Hero. This was right before his gnarly injury.

John and I lost touch after the accident, but from the phone conversations we had and the ragga we exchanged I could tell he was a down to earth person. Much respect John!

One Love,

blakely

Super Model's can Skateboard?

This video is pretty funny, it shows a super model racing a bike messenger on her skateboard through the streets of manhattan....yes  I said her skateboard. She seems like she handle the street pretty well, despite her statuesque size and constricting outfit. This video is part of a series of "fashion moments" videos on style.com, which is really interesting because I wouldn't have thought that they would feature any kind of activity that might produce some sweat...I stand corrected

{Krochet Kids}

Congratulations to our friends at Krochet Kids for getting the new site up! KK is a non profit org that is helping a small community of women in Uganda develop a micro industry through the art of crochet. Their passion and dedication is such an inspiration to us, and we are super stoked to see how far they've come since we first heard about their idea. For our Red, Gold and Green collection, we asked KK to make a few hats especially for our shoot. Thanks again!...the beanie looks awesome on Rocky. For more info and to check out their line of handmade hats go to http://www.krochetkids.org/

Why Forty Four?

As we start getting the word out about LOI, many have been curious about the pricing of our tees. There are three main factors that go into how we assign value to our products:

Authenticity

Every image that shows up on an LOI tee is hand drawn by an artist, and is carefully prepared and printed. We take pride in the fact that each tee is a piece of art.

Sustainability

We make sure that our tees are sweatshop free and that our vendors are complying with fair labor standards. We invest in our local community by printing our tees right here in Portland, a practice that we love and will continue as we expand our line. 

Environmental Stewardship

Currently, all of our tees are printed on 100% organic cotton. We respect the environment and do our best to use environmentally friendly methods and materials every step of the way.

These are principles we firmly believe in and which give our products their value and integrity. Equity, environmental responsibility, building community, and providing you with product that is thoughtful and unique is what makes our tees more expensive than the average t-shirt. So when you wear an LOI tee you can rock it without feeling guilty. 

Original Don Dada Carp Fishin'

Last week I got a chance to kick it with Olivier, my friend/coworker/LOI model, on the east bank of the Willamette in Portland. He was posted up under the Burnside bridge, and had already caught four fish by the time I arrived. Olivier grew up hookin bottom feeders along the Sienne river in Paris. About a year ago he moved with his family from France to Oregon, and his unique style has already won him lots of attention among Portland's fishing community.

If you dun know about Paris style carp fishing, lemee tell ya a bit. First of all it's for sport...not for eating.  You use hooks without barbs so that the fish can be put back without being harmed.  This method increases the challenge cause the fish often times are able to unhook themselves.  You weigh and measure the fish, and most importantly, take pictures to document the catch.  In some ways it reminds me of graffiti, you only have a flick to prove what you did.  Olivier is an artist in his own right, it is amazing to watch him fish...he is super in tune with what goes on deep down in the murky waters. On the day these pictures were taken he hooked a 6 ft sturgeon and battled it for a couple of hours before the fish got loose.   But never fear...he'll get that bad bwoy.  For live action you can catch Olivier most mornings on the east bank esplanade....make sure your tell him ca va! from Blakely

You Know My Steez...

One of our all time favorite past times is people watching. Whether we're in NYC, Portland, or San Fran,  we love to see everyday people express their own personal style. With help from blogs like "The Sartorialist", we keep up with what's happening on streets around the world. Here we share a few photos from our archive that have been inspirational and important in defining LOI style...

Conceived in Brooklyn....born in Portland

One wintry afternoon while riding the Q train to Manhattan, we were inspired with a vision. As we sat waiting for our stop, an awareness of the cultural diversity surrounding us came into focus. We recognized the fact that we live in a land of immigrants, and that ours is a culture of cultures. At that very moment we were compelled to celebrate the heritage of our neighbors and friends, and to explore their individual stories through our own work. 

It's been two years since that train ride, and we are more than excited to finally see our vision begin to take form. A million thanks to all of our friends and family, who helped us get started with their encouragement and support. In particular we'd like to thank Tyler for making LOI legit, Matt for being a super talented photographer, and the Andy's, Daniel and Wess for working their website wizardry. Stay tuned for more immigrant style...

Respect, 

Blakely & Viviana

-LOI cofounders