Renegade Write Up!

Well, it's been a few days since the show and I'm finally [mostly] caught up with backlog here in Atlanta. What makes things a bit tricky is that I'm moving "headquarters" (office + storage + shipping space) into a larger place soon but before that I'm taking yet another road trip up to NYC with some friends, and shortly after that I'll be doing a show in North Carolina, so I'm in this weird limbo stage where I don't know whether to unpack everything and get organized or leave it be for the next trip... I think laziness will determine this round, to be honest. In the meantime I'll just be rummaging through a bunch of bins for the orders...

In any case, I'm way overdue for a writeup on the Chicago show, so here it is!

Renegade Chicago

Renegade Chicago

Renegade Chicago

Renegade Chicago

Renegade Chicago

Renegade Chicago
Firstly, big thanks to my pal Jason who flew over from Hawaii to help me out with my booth and served as the official photographer for the trip. All of the pics here are his!

As you might be able to tell from the images, it was a dreary weekend. And not just the occasional, gray drizzly spells, but total torrential downpour (at times). The night after the first day I sat soggily in my bed and was equal parts amused and annoyed at learning that it was actually record-breaking rainfall that day. Yup, real nice.

Sunday was a little better though. Though it was still rainy for most of the day, it did start clearing up in the afternoon, and by 4:30 there was a really nice-sized crown ambling through the displays on Division Street. We also figured out how to make things a bit easier on ourselves by buying some thick plastic siding for the tent. We didn't have this the first day, which let a ton of angled rain into the booth and onto us and the products. Fortunately nothing was ruined, but it made for a pretty cold and unpleasant experience.

But despite all that, it was just amazing how many people were there for the show. Most local, but even some from other states who'd traveled up just for Renegade. Their die-hard-ness was inspiring, and helped me stay positive. There were other highlights too, like being told countless times that our booth was the best of the show. Even I had trouble believing that since I saw some other killer displays, but I think the washing machine/tentacle combo won a few hearts. :)

Also of note was finally getting to meet David Murray of Seibei. He's been a big inspiration to me since my humble beginnings and has been a huge help in getting prepped for my first show. Unsurprisingly he was a totally great dude in person, and I look forward to running into him at more shows in the future! (Be sure to check out his shop!)

Another cool part of the trip was getting to meet some of the Threadless team. This is another company that's been an inspiration to me in the way I run my business and the style and quality of my customer service, so again, meeting them in person was very cool. We even managed to get hooked up with a tour of the Threadless HQ on Monday (Thanks Speedy Joe!), where we ran into more familiar faces (and I was able to snag a sweet print!).

So, despite the weather issues, the trip ended up being a total blast. Another thing I can't forget is the simple value of exposure at an event like this. Even for the folks that didn't buy, I'd often at least warrant some turned heads, and they'd usually chuckle as they said "Linty Fresh" aloud! So hopefully I'll be back next year, and it'll be 65 and sunny, and everyone will be digging the new lint.

In the meantime, I've got loads of stuff to get done! Apart from the moving insanity, this week I had to order another thousand lollipops, two thousand business cards, two thousand stickers, and a thousand button parts. I ended up moving a lot more of this stuff at Renegade than I expected, so it's time to restock.

Oh! And before I forget! Big congrats to Edwin G., who won the LF drawing for Renegade. (For those who don't know, I usually have a special drawing at each show where folks can put their email in a bowl for a chance to win a bunch of free swag!)

Alrighty. Off to go watch a movie!

posted by Mr. Linty @ 9:34 PM, ,


Hope for day 2!

Well, it's Sunday morning here in Chicago and I'm writing this up right before I head out for the second day of Renegade.

Yesterday was pretty gross. It was either drizzling or pouring for the whole day, and the crowds were a bit thin because of it. Still, I have to give major credit to the people of Chicago for even showing at all. There were whole families with tarp-covered strollers and raincoat-clad dogs braving the weather. Pretty hardcore! So I guess I don't have much right complaining about it myself - I was under a nice waterproof tarp for the day, so I kept fairly dry. And mercifully there wasn't much rain while we were setting up and breaking down, which made it a lot less miserable than it could've been.

Anyways, I'm looking outside my hotel window and it's looking like another dreary day. I checked the forecast and it's kind of depressing. So on the upside, and if nothing else, I'll at least get to poke around the other booths and possibly do some shopping for myself and friends back in Atlanta...

I guess this comes with the territory.

posted by Mr. Linty @ 7:52 AM, ,


Well poo...

Well we're here in Chicago after a 14-hour road trip from breezy, warm Marietta. It's Saturday morning, the first day of Renegade, and it's wet and dreary outside. As a matter of fact, that's the forecast for the entire weekend. It doesn't clear up till Monday, after the show is over.

What that means for me is some last-minute running around to various hardware stores to look for stuff to keep my wares dry - plastic dropcloths, tarps, umbrellas, towels, etc. I'm dreading all sorts of disasters that may happen - shelves of tees getting blown over, shirts getting soggy and un-sellable, wind blowing away my displays, you get the picture. And sadly, it looks like my tentacles may not even get to see action today since they're made of cloth and were designed to sit on the ground, which will no doubt be wet.

Bummer.

On the bright side of things, I know that Renegade's show in Brooklyn was just as wet, and the turnout for that was supposed to be really amazing, so I'm hoping today will be the same. So I'm trying to keep a positive outlook and go into it with a smile... Wish me the best!

posted by Mr. Linty @ 7:41 AM, ,


New contest!

I don't think I'll ever quite get over just how rad it is to get pics in my inbox from fans showing off their wears. This week I got a picture from someone in Eastern Europe wearing my UPC tee, and it was just the coolest thing ever!

That said, I've been trying to think of a way to get even more involved with the awesome folks that support my brand, and encourage them to show off their LF stuff, so here's what I came up with:

A monthly photo contest! It'll be based on a Flickr group which I've just launched (flickr.com/groups/lintyfresh) and will be available for folks that want to strut their LF gear. In turn, the submitter of the best (most creative, funny, classy, etc) photo of the month will win a prize package. This package will increase in value as the competition gets a bit more heated, but for now it's worth:

1 shirt
1 belt
1 button pack (customizable packs are coming soon with 22 new designs)

The winner will be announced at the start of each month, so they'll be able to choose from the new releases if they like. There are only 2 stipulations:

-At least one LF item must be present somewhere in the photo
-Only 1 pic can be submitted per user per day

See you there!

posted by Mr. Linty @ 11:43 PM, ,