With a satirical sense of humor and a severe infatuation in pop(ular) culture, the creative team behind CakedOut translates these influences into piercing and witty designs. For this upcoming Volume 8 collection, CakedOut focuses on the style and swagger of the 90’s and West Coast hip-hop. Through their creations, Mikey and Vincent nost algically reminisce the past and apply these inspirations to poke fun at the present.

A fitting example of this is the Dream tee. By t aking the iconic D.A.R.E. program logo, and assigning a new acronym (D.R.E.A.M. - Drugs Rule Everything Around Me,) the graphic becomes a comment are not on illegal narcotics, but rather the suspicious expansions of pharmaceutical companies even during a time of economic recession. Another key design is Electric Relaxation. The prison er giving thumbs up while being electrocuted is a comical means to point out the ironic glorification of troublemaking and mischief - a central theme of both the 90’s and CakedOut.

CakedOut Volume 8 drops on Friday, December 4th, 2009.

Triumvir Winter 09 “Hell Is For Heroes” Collection will release on webstore at tonight at 9:00pm PST, and the stuff is looking amazing. I’ve been excited about the two warm coat pieces for a long time and soon…soon they will be able to be purchased. This stock should be landing in Mr Fredricks within the next month (once it gets packed up and shipped over from the US!).

Panzer Division Wool Jacket

This jacket can be worn a few different ways according to your preference.

Hospitaller M-65 Jacket

And if that wasn’t enough for you, head over to Triumvir’s blog and take a sneak peak at the rest of the collection to whet your appetite before it drops. It’s gonna be a big one.

Triumvir Hell is for Heroes Winter Collection drops tomorrow (Friday 11.13.09) at 9:00pm (PST). Click HERE to go directly to the Triumvir webstore.

Mixing its strong influences of history that have accented past collections with a variety of films and ani-
mated features, Triumvir has created a post-apocalyptic world where the old fuses with the new. Entitled, Blind Faith, the autumn collection references the Roman Civil Wars era of Constantine the Great, who adorned, for reasons dis-puted by scholars, symbols of Christ (Chi-Roh or Labarum) upon his warriors’ shields, standards, and later his own helmet. Fictional works referenced by Triumvir, including Fist of the North Star and Mad Max, are set during times of chaos and anarchy where law and order are subjective and the cruel reign over the weak.

This sets ground for the winter collection, Hell is for Heroes, which also focuses on the Knights Hospitallers– a Christian military order during the time of the Crusades. Through clothes designed for the protagonist (Blind Faith) and the antagonist (Hell is For Heroes,) Triumvir tells an epic tale of two male characters, who live in an abstract world that is a blend of all these elements.

With both of these new collections Triumvir moved its production of Cut & Sews back to the United States for
better quality control. Triumvir T-shirts will also receive a minor adjustment, by switching over to a slimmer fitting blank. As an incentive to try out Triumvirs new slimmer fitting tees, they have 10% off the new collection. Enter risew003 at checkout for this special introductory offer.

Triumvir’s autumn collection, Blind Faith will drop Friday, October 16th and the winter’s collection, Hell is for Heroes drops on Friday, November 13th.

TRIUMVIR - SUMMER 2009 COLLECTION - WILD DAYS (ORIGINAL) from BRANDONUS on Vimeo.

Triumvir have hit the ground running this summer, with a sweet little video for us. Wild Days collection shoot with Mildred Bailey woooooing us in the background. After Triumvir’s action packed A/W with all the cut and sew and big collab’s, they have brought out a really simple but effective round of tees for this summer so go and grab them now at http://www.triumvir3.com.

I received my orders from Ranui that I must complete while in Japan, Number 1 on the list was to find a type of cafe where the girls who serve you are dressed in wierd outfits. This is the result of one of Ranui’s research methods into japanese culture, and you’ll have to ask him what the program was called as I can’t remember.

So to get to this cafe I ended up walking around Nipponbashi, and then asking an overtly excitable sales assistant in a clothes shop if there were any Maid Cafe’s about and she gave me some simple directions and then sent me out the back of her shop to get there. I have to admit that there were times when I thought that I may have been going to a brothel….but alas…i wasn’t.

I got to the cafe and its pretty normal, apart from the funnily dressed girls, and then the 10% of customers who are utter freaks and are pretty dang scary. They pay like a fiver to get a picture with the maids, and ring bells to call them over, and collect maid cards with the girls in different clothing outfits etc. Wierd. But the majority of people in there are totally normal, just going in for the fact that its a cafe and does good iced coffee.

At last, we understand. Below on this page you can read what the guys over at Triumvir have to say about Cakedout. And go to Cakedout.com to hear what Vincent & Mikey (Triumvir design team / interns) have to say about transitioning from assisting Triumvir to becoming the creative brains behind Cakedout. I’ll also drop you in some fresh images from their latest collection. Witty, pop-culture, fun, enjoyable and accessible fashion / streetwear. Big props to the Triumvir boys and girls and now in their own right…the Cakedout peoples.

“How did Cakedout come to be? Why was it created and by who? Well it’s time we answered these questions. Cakedout was conceived back in late 2007 with the first collection of tees dropped at the beginning of 2008. This project sprang from the mother of all invention, necessity. Due to the maturing of our first brand, Triumvir, it was brought up by the younger crew members that they missed and still wanted fun and more colorful designs. At that point for Triumvir, gone were the pop culture parodies, the sneaker inspired color ways and youthful mischief. After kicking this point around we decided why not take those elements and build a brand around it. After all isn’t that what we do anyways?! We took the lessons from the battles of Triumvir and forged Cakedout. Why are we telling you this now? Why not from the start? It was decided that Cakedout would have to build the foundation on its own merits, left to fail or succeed as its own. It’s been a year and a half now and thank you to all those that have supported Cakedout thus far. We felt it was time to step out of the shadows and put a face on our little project, after all its growing up. We subscribe to the belief that the best way to learn is to just fuckin’ do it and the best way for the next generation here at Triumvir to learn what it is to start a brand, well boys hope you guys keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road…”

~ Richard Vaughn (Marketing & Special Projects | Sr. Partner)

“I have a lot of ideas that I visualize in my sleep and although not all ideas are great or nor can it all fit within the Triumvir brand, I still wanted an outlet for those concepts. It’s a waste when ideas are stored away, because you’ll never get to it. I also think it’s a waste when brands hire young designers and not involve them in the actual business aspect of running a label. Instead they use them like they use a tool in illustrator or photoshop. At the end of the day who knows how long we’ll be doing this for, so I rather show and teach these kids the growing pains of creating and running an apparel business. Brian and I still oversee the direction of Cakedout but as the volumes go higher the reigns becomes looser. Vincent started out in the warehouse three years ago with hope to one day join Brian and I in the design room. Mikey, needing to complete his bachelors with an internship had the luck to cold call one day and get Julia on the phone to bypass his resume. And I think the time has come with guidance to let Cakedout be known. Vincent and Mikey will be taking care of the Cakeout blog and hopefully Cakedout can be an inspiration for all the youngsters who share a similar goal like I once did at their age…”

~ Brandon Cheng (Creative Director | Sr. Partner)

Above is a shot of some of the tees released as part of Triumvir’s Spring ‘09 Collection, continuing on the theme based on The Civil War and Legio XIII of Roman times. Hit up the online Store to pick yourself up some of their merch.

The second lot of images below is Triumvir’s World Warrior series which forms part of the above collection. The tees are hot, so head straight over to their online Store

Triumvir X SEGA - MadWorld from BRANDONUS on Vimeo.

Triumvir x Capcom Street Fighter: The World Warrior Collection & The Shadaloo Collection from BRANDONUS on Vimeo.