Thursday 29 August 2013

OUT & ABOUT : CANTABRIAN MOUNTAINS.





















Its uniqueness, beauty and scenic interest earned it the name of National Park in 1995, converting the western most part, that of Covadonga Mountain National Park, into the first National Park in Spain - one of the first in Europe.
The highest altitudes of the Cantabrian mountain range are located in the central massif of the park, wedged among the steep crags of Los Urrielles, where the most symbolic figure and summit of the Picos de Europa stands: el Naranjo de Bulnes, which is 2519 meters high,and a lure for many sports enthusiasts and climbers who cannot resist climbing its craggy walls.
It is an exceptional place where the oak tree rules the forest, forming the largest oak grove in Spain and one of the best preserved in all of Europe. Living among its rich and varied fauna, are the Cantabrian grizzly bear and the grouse, both protected species; although you can also find wolves, bald eagles, roe deer, vultures, wild boar,chamoins and others.

Irra,from Barcelona.

Saturday 24 August 2013

NEW TEES UPDATE.















Now then! As we may have mentioned recently; last month we placed a bumper order for new tees which are now starting to finally arrive. There's lot's of new options and as always with us, each one different to the other.













First in is our Alan Partridge tee. Which pays homage to East Anglia's wackiest DJ. Sir Alan of Partidge, you might catch his big screen outing now, but this is from his Knowing Me, Knowing you fashion skit, 'A Partridge in Paris'...

Secondly we have our SCUM tee, a nod to the brutal system bashing film of the 1970s and a fresh take on one of our very first designs. From the late, great Alan Clarke and of course featuring a break out role from Raymond Winstone. Scum still hits hard today and is a favourite amongst many, yet one you'd never see anything cool to go alongside it, well, that's where we come in!



















 
BOTH tees go online on Bank Holiday Monday at 10 am (UK time). 
 (They will also be going to our stockists with other tees over the coming weeks as we receive deliveries.)













Hot on the heels of those two to be delivered next, we will have Breaking Good. Released Monday 2nd September at 7pm.














Then finally! We'll have Chicks in Kicks III from Saul, Boardwalk Empire, Working Men's Club, Goodfellas and more. 
Everything is happening at once here at CCHQ as is typical. Watch out for more updates on further new product release dates as we get them. TC

Wednesday 14 August 2013

MADE IN SPAIN











































Snapshots from Spain, by Neil Morris of Veras shoes. Whilst living out in Spain, Welshman Neil (Nelly to his mates) was inspired by his surroundings and set up the Veras brand. Tapping into his experience in clothing retail - Nelly co-ran Cardiff's renowned Drooghi store on High Street Arcade, back in the day, as they say. 
Doing his own line with Drooghi and the cult Rather Not Say brand. Ahead of it's time, this independent store was stocking and also 'breaking' to an extent, the likes of 6876, Patagonia, Silas, Mandarina Duck, Duffer and YMC, Drooghi were also doing lookbooks and fanzines before lookbooks and fanzines were the real norm too.
Starting out with the signature summer footwear, Veras cater for varying seasons now with another impressive collection just previewed at London tradeshow Jacket Required. We're genuinely chuffed to have made our own footwear this year collaborating with Veras, progress has always been key for this little brand and it's a great meeting of minds which works on so many levels - to me, what a collabo should always be about. DC

Monday 12 August 2013

NEW TEES ON THE WAY....


Now then, there's a crazy amount going on here at CCHQ and we're busy bee's so it's all good. As well as the exciting forthcoming release of the 'El Mono' boots with Veras going online over the coming week and the expected release of the new Connoisseur cagoules, we're also planning ahead with the next array of winter hats, the lovely Union II shirt, next in the range of the pins and a new reversible bucket hat made in collaboration with Our Culture to name a few things.

On top of all that as you may well know we've got a bumper tee order on the way to us and our stockists due any time now and we're eagerly awaiting them!! 
Here's something a little different, we'd gone and made a few vids to give you a preview, whilst we wish we were, we're not Stanley Kubrick by the way...TC



Monday 5 August 2013

JAMES GANDOLFINI BUON' ANIMA

















Now then. It's not that often you are left flat out gob smacked and genuinely gutted by a famous death, but when James Gandolfini died suddenly in June it left the world totally shocked and stunned! Here at CC we were huge fans of big Jim. First coming to our attention in one of our favourite films in True Romance as mob henchman Virgil who meets his match with Alabama Worley, to the role that cemented his place in history as Tony Soprano the troubled mob boss trying to run his two families and all the mither and pain that comes with it. For us most certainly, The Sopranos is/was the greatest series in the history of television, revolutionising it in fact and he was central to the whole thing with his outstanding powerful portrayal. He was a bona fide star, taken far too early.
People asked us to do something, another tee. But given we'd already done one nod to Tony and another one to the series we felt we should do something a little different, so we got Peter to come up with a new commission and we release an A3 print that comes in limited numbers of 51. Online Monday evening from 7pm TC