Ben Sherman Blog

Alex Gets Offended.

So me and the lovely lady went to a gig different to the ones we usually frequent last night. We went to see one of the most mental bands I have seen since Prodigy at Reading festival last year! Does it Offend You, Yeah? As the name asks, it did. They were crazy! And also fresh from supporting Prodigy on their recent world tour. It's not often I go to gigs with mosh pits! I enjoyed it very much as an event but it was more show than substance for me. With some great dance rock tunes, they are what I deem a weekend band. Music to party to.  They also had a support act that really interested me. The band Worship really stood out. With galactic sounding songs that reminded me of Radiohead, I really enjoyed them. Also their bassist/ keys player is my band's recording engineer and producer. So I promise I'm not being biased!

 

 

Also on that note my band, Golden Hours, are recording at the moment so hopefully we will be releasing some of it very soon! Got some really awesome stuff coming up so I will do some more blogs ASAP!

 

Keep up to date with our Brand Ambassador Alex by following his Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/alexwookie

 

Does it Offend You, Yeah? will be supporting Kele in a series of gigs in the US with Nylon and sponsored by Ben Sherman! Check back here and on our Ben Sherman Facebook Fan Page (http://www.facebook.com/bensherman) soon, for details on how you fans from the States can bag yourself some tickets!

 

Ben Sherman's Creative Director Mark Maidment braves the camera...

Our Creative Director, Mark Maidment is becoming more famous by the day!

Check him out here talking about the Ben Sherman brand in an interview for Swedish television!

CAUGHT ON CAMERA?

 

Ben Sherman’s Berlin store was a victim of its own success during Bread & Butter as passers by robbed shirts from the store windows.

Hard to believe, take a look, we sneakily caught it all on camera!

Bread & Butter 2010

Last week the Ben Sherman creative team packed their suitcases and headed to Berlin for the largest trade show in the retail calendar.

 

Bread and Butter is a outstanding three day trade event which sees over 800 brands congregating under one roof  to showcase their latest collections for the up and coming season. One hundred thousand square meters of fashion stands, a hundred and fifty thousand visitors and an electrifying buzz… welcome to Bread and Butter 2010.

 

The Ben Sherman Stand.

After months of preparation and planning it was time to unveil the Ben Sherman stand for the Spring Summer 2011 collection.

 

This year the Ben Sherman stand returned to its roots and focused on the original gingham shirt and we definitely saw the return of the original shirt maker.

 

The whole three days were a huge success and the stand was a credit to the brand and the team. All the blood, sweat and tears were well worth it as it looked phenomenal- take a look at the pictures and tell us what you think.

 

 

 

 
  

 

Limited Edition Carnaby T-shirts have just landed online.

Carnaby Street has been a fashion mecca since the 60s and to celebrate its 50th anniversary we have created an exclusive limited edition t-shirt.

Ben Sherman opened his first showroom in Carnaby Street in 1967 and the area has been intrinsically linked to the brands heritage ever since.

Only 50 of the t-shirts have been produced so don’t miss out and purchase one today at

http://www.bensherman.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product2_12051_-1_27158_78051_10551_24505.

Suits,Soul and Shots

March, a new month and a new allocation of allowance to spend at Ben Sherman. After the initial excitement of wanting as much as possible when we had our first allowance, I decided on a much more calculated approach as to what I would pick up from the Lakeside store. I need a pair of jeans, so a pair of jeans is what I am going to get. Eyes on the prize Scott, only get what you need.

 

Well, that plan went out of the window as soon as I clapped eyes on a truly stunning 3 button slim fit blue tonic suit. Bada-Boom, Bada-Bing.

 

Easy come, easy go. With the suit and some cufflinks bagged up I left the store knowing it would be another 3 months until I could safely step foot in-store with out worrying about my overdraft.
 
Matt B may bring you the latest and greatest in plastic toys and Alex may get exclusive interviews with Didz and Brett Hammond but I bring much more to the table then both of them put together. Yes Ladies and Gentlemen, what I have for you is even better than a plastic toy interviewing Didz Hammond,

I have (Drums Please)…The Signatures and Stifford Clays Social Club!!
 
The Signatures, for you squares not in the know are one of the best Northern Soul bands this side of the Mississippi (If the Mississippi just happened to be round the corner of my house). And tonight they would be entertaining a crowd of fans that even John Terry would be proud to have turn up. Social Clubs may have a ‘old man’ stigma attached to it, and even though that is the case, what they lack in youth they make up for in drinks prices. Where in the south can you get two Jack Daniels and Cokes, and a Archers and Lemonade for less the a fiver.

 
  The 10 piece band were on form tonight tearing their way through a set list that includes dance floor fillers such as Beggin, On My Way, Tainted Love, Landslide and Turning My Heartbeat Up. The hour they were on stage for went far too quickly for everybody’s liking, especially for Mitch and Jay, our very own dance floor extraordinaire’s. Watching these two dance is like watching Evil Kenival, you really want to give it a go, but it’s only going to end in disaster. So I stuck with what I know. Drinking and shuffling my feet to the music.

After all I am ze Ambassador, I can’t be seen messing up on the floor.

The band finished to a rapturous applause and the DJ’s kept the music going well into the night. The drinks flowed and the sambuca shots started. A good time had by all and only 2 months till the next one, 22^nd May, Thurrock Civic Hall, Blackshots, Grays be there or not be there, the choice is yours.

Introducing Matt...Our Birmingham Brand Ambassador

The button-down blog introduces Matt,our 2nd Brand Ambassador for 2010.

Not only has Matt provided us with lets face it, an amazing illustration based on our London Conference. He has also dropped us a couple of lines about the Droplet Launch that he attended this month in Bristol.

Check out Matt’s lovely ensemble and have a wander back on to our e-Shop to get the look!
  
  
London Conference

Well... January was a hectic month, amongst its highlights- opening my solo exhibition, a week in sunny (ok, not so sunny in this instance) Brighton, and of course, my first official duty as Brand Ambassador attending the Ben Sherman January Conference.

Myself and the other Ambassadors met at the event in Shoreditch along with staff, representatives, designers et al from across the company for a presentation of the Ben Sherman ethos, a journey in to Mod education, a sneak peek at the looks available in 2010, and some of the best tasting chocolate brownies known to man. For me the most poignant memory of the day (other than deeply considering how socially acceptable it would be to start dancing to The Who during one of the showreels) was the passion and enthusiasm with which the design and marketing teams approach their work, and the excellence of the results speak for themselves.

 

 

Illustration by Matt B

 

“Droplet” Launch

Saturday 6^th February saw me heading south once again, this time Bristol bound for the launch of JamFactory’s adorable second series of Droplets.

For those of you that don’t know, over the last 10 years “designer vinyl” toys and ornaments have become highly collectable items. Often produced in limited editions, sold in ‘blind-boxes’ and including rare variants and designs, the figures are predominantly marketed to adult collectors and hard to find specimens can boast pulse raising price tags.

The Droplet is a 2.5" vinyl toy, designed by Gavin Strange AKA JamFactory and produced by Hong Kong toy company 'Crazy Label'.
Making its debut in May 2008, the success of Series 1 online and in toy stores all over the world, led to a second series now, comprising of 5 new designs.

The launch was held in Park Street’s FIFTY FIFTY store with an accompanying exhibition of droplets on the lower floor that had been customised as one off pieces by specially selected artists and designers including Pete Fowler and Nick “Wallace & Gromit” Park.

 

 
Collectors, photographers, and design geeks alike flocked from all over the country to get their hands on the latest offering, by which time their was a very impressive queue leading off up the street.

 

Photos by G-Han

On a nearby wall, a projector cast a looped animation and a feed of Twitter updates sent using the dropletlaunch ‘hash tag’ which kept the crowd amused until the doors opened at 6pm. As the hoards of punters flooded in they were handed droplet decorated cupcakes and while they bought their way through the toys, t-shirts, and tote bags, there was a giant droplet replica left blank by the door with a collection of pens for people to sign or doodle on as a sort of guestbook (an offer I was quick to take advantage of!)

With people desperate to get their hands on the sought after mustachioed King figure, the whole launch batch of 15 cases sold out in just 58 minutes leaving Mr. Strange overwhelmed and delighted, while satisfied customers swapped their “gots” for “needs”.

As for me, I didn’t go away empty handed, but I’ll have to join the fanboys watching JamFactory’s online shop for the second batch if I want to get one of those Kings!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome To Our Brand Ambassadors

 

Well its been a while since we last updated our blog and huge apologies for the absence. We've been busy launching the new collections and welcoming lots of new people to Ben Sherman, in particular our very own Brand Ambassadors.

After whittling down the large number of entries and judging you good-looking lot on your styling skills and wit, we decided on Mat, Alex and Scott to be our Brand Ambassadors for 2010. These lucky three have won a steady stream of the latest Ben Sherman clothing to wear whilst undertaking various Sherman-esque missions. They will, of course, be reporting back on their adventures for the blog and you can see what they got up in their winning gear.

 

Their first official engagement was our company conference, where we present the new season's collections to everyone in the business. As fashion works in advance the catwalk previewed the looks that will be on sale in Autumn 2010 - a real insider preview. The boys got to meet everyone at Ben Sherman, learn about the brand and come to the party afterwards. They got stuck right in and are now very much part of the family, here's Scott's account of the day. 

 

A day in the life of a Brand Ambassador

 

The terms and conditions for the BA competition stated that we were expected to attend “Events”. Now I don’t know about you but I think “Event’s” is a fairly broad term, your Nan's 50^th birthday is an event, so is a dogs funeral, so I was relieved to find out the event we were to attend was a Ben Sherman conference where they would be unveiling the autumn/winter collection.

The theme of the conference was “A Mod education/The Beat Goes On”. This to put it bluntly was right up my street. So in a cold old warehouse in the heart of Shoreditch we were teased and treated with the latest and greatest that the Ben Sherman wizards had conjured up.

Beatnik style is what we are all gong to be wearing come Christmas 2010 and having seen some of the collection were all going to be looking damn fine. The Coats and Jeans were a particular highlight where I think I shall be spending a fair amount of the BA’s winnings on. If you’re a fan of checked shirts then you better start saving now, there is enough check in this collection to make even the burliest of lumberjacks look good.

After the collection the real fun started, we were treated to some fine food and some even better music in the shape of the irresistible D.C. Fontana. The beer was flowing and by the time the band finished and the DJ started it was time for action, we had be invited to show off and with enough Dutch courage I took to the dance floor. This is where my brain likes to play tricks, and apart from dancing I can’t really remember much else that happened. I made it back home in one piece and thoroughly surprised at what a good time I had.

 

Only 8ish months till the collection is released. Can’t Wait!

 

Keep checking out the Ben Sherman Blog and Facebook page for more rock revelations from our Brand Ambassadors.

 

 

 

 

We're on the cover!

Love him or be mildy irritated by your girlfriend's obsession with him, Disney poster-boy Zac Efron has made the move from High School hearthrob to fully fledged fashion hit.

Check him out on this month's issue of Nylon, in one of Ben Sherman's best. Got to have one now? Try Jackdaw for the long-sleeve version, or keep em short with Curlew.

Sportswear International Nominee for Best Fashion

2009 has certainly proved to be an excellent year for Ben Sherman so far. Our house-check socks were blown clean away by your amazing response to the Brand Ambassador search, we opened our fantastically-received Savile Row store and the collections are looking stronger than ever.

And to top it all off, hot from the press, we have received a nomination from Europe's biggest sports- fashion rag Sportswear International in the Best Fashion category. Alongside sartorial hard-hitters Sass & Bide, Alexander Wang, Isabel Marant and Wood Wood, we're certainly in good company. And with the Best Fashion category line up billed as the "Most impressive, saleable, exciting and fashionable collection that is not primarily jeans-based" we feel we're right where we need to be heading into 2010.