The web is amazing for how fast you get things out about your brand as well as how many people see it. It allows small brands like ours to get some attention without corporate budgets. One thing though, is you basically have little control over what and how your product goes out sometimes. We have released Generic Surplus out into the world a week ago and the response has been amazing. We sell to a store in Atlanta called Standard. They took some photos and put them on their blog. Things went crazy with blogs and stores requesting to buy, celebrities asking for product etc… all starting from their blog post. [thanks guys] The thig is, the photos were not the greatest [no offense] the color was off and the shoes got a little warped making them, as one person commented on, like baby shoes. So here’s the dilemma, how do we control how our product goes out. I don’t really have an answer but what I can do is put some info and photos on this blog and let people view this way. Once again, thanks Standard for the post, nothing against it.

Few thing about Generic Surplus, they are made in Korea at a well established factory. We spend a lot of time working on quality to ensure the shoes are well made in comparison to the price point. We do that for both brands. If anyone hasn’t actually seen the shoes in person we hope that they see them in person before passing judgment. We started with 4 basic styles a Plimsol, Military Hi-top, Boat shoe and Wing-tip coming in black, white, grey and navy blue. For fall we have added 8 more styles and for SS10 we’ve gone up to 16 so we are expanding the range quite a bit. We feel very comfortable in the design and quality for shoes that retail for $58 to $79 as they will for Fall. Here’s  some photos so that you can view the current spring collection in a clearer light. You can view all colors at: genericsurplus.com

For Fall 09 we designed the Buckminster for the International market. It comes in four color material combinations, black leather, black wool, carmel leather and grey suede. Availability is limited throughout Europe as well as through custom order in the US directly from TGM. It’s made of all 100% Italian leathers, suede and wool, hand-made at a 100 year old factory in Portugal, the price is $375, delivery is 7/15 and can be ordered by contacting us at:  contact@thegenericman.com

Mohawk General Store in Echo Park will be hosting a Generic Man Spring Cleaning sale. The sale will start Saturday the 14th and continue until the 27th. Also, come by the Saturday night party. See below.

If you’re in Los Angeles, come by for wine and cocktails from 7-9pm Friday March 27th at Mohawk General Store.
ATELIER will be showing new works and taking over their window.
There will also be showing films either inside or out…I think it will be a screening of  ’Contempt’ By Jean Luc Godard.

I know this is a men’s blog but I thought I’d throw in a little femininity promoting the small Generic Man for women collection we just shipped in the US. This spring we did a small run of a few of our styles for women. First, we developed our TGM shapes to have more of a feminine fit while still retaining a masculine feel. These are actual men’s shoes for women, made at a 100 year old men’s factory in Portugal with all Italian materials. The soles are hand-crafted leather soles created by craftsmen that have been making exquisite leather soles for mens shoes for generations. The response has been amazing and we have expanded the line for fall. This Spring they can be found at only at a hand full of stores: Mohawk General Store in Los Angeles, Canvas in Malibu, The Block in Vancouver BC, and Stuart & Wright in NY. Each store receiving two size runs. We’ve expanded a few more doors for Fall 09 in the US as well as adding Edifice Japan and Browns London.

Enjoy.

Yesterday at the Tuesday Eastside lunch, Kevin was telling us about a BBC Imagine series piece on Marc Newson. Interesting watch though a little pretentious. It’s a 5 part series on youtube.