Sneaker Con D.C. Recap

What's going on?! Since you can't respond back, I'll assume your day is going smooth. It's a late recap, but here it is and with pictures! Sneaker Con D.C. came around and it was time to continue expanding Branded Baron in different locations. I decided to head down to D.C. with Anderson of Bluu Dreams, whom I've known for a couple years and bounced design and business ideas off of. All I know is I was excited for Sneaker Con D.C. to happen, because leading up to it there was nothing but issues that started with me checking in at the hotel with a very bitchy front desk worker to not having 1 piece for my clothing rack where I could not use it.


I requested that the Branded Baron and Bluu Dreams tables were next to each other, because we may have to help each other during the event and it turned out we did. Alan of Sneaker Con always hooks me up at a nice location at the events and big THANK YOU goes out to him. Sneaker Con always gets packed and D.C. was huge. I was very happy that it was at a larger location this year than it was last year. I was so busy during the day that I did not have the chance walk around and scope out the other vendors. It was a success overall and I'm very thankful for everyone that came by chatted up with me and supported Branded Baron. I did have fun, which is very important to me and it didn't hurt that people picked up some shirts.

Enjoy the pictures below.


Stay no less than Stunningly Fresh,
      Joe

This is me taking picture of Anderson as hes taking a picture of me taking a picture of Anderson.(Yea, I stole his line from his recap, but took out my name and replaced it with his.)

The mural that was across the street from Sneaker Con

One of the other vendors came by and picked up the button pack. Supporting each other is a positive indeed.

She picked up a tank top

Rocking the Jordan jersey and soon will be rocking that Branded Baron

A glimpse of the crowd at one point.

Sneaker Con D.C. July 28-This WEEKEND

Sneaker Con D.C. is this weekend and I'll be down there again. Sneaker Con D.C. was cool last year and I thought it would be great to do it again, so I will be there this weekend.

EVENT DATE
July 28th, 2012 – 12pm to 7pm
EVENT LOCATION
2427 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE
Washington, DC 20020
ADVANCE TICKETS
http://sneakercondc.eventbrite.com/


From Sneaker Con:
 "The Summer sneaker season won’t be complete without hitting up Sneaker Con, so those in the Nation’s Capitol are in for a treat as Sneaker Con makes its second stop in Washington DC this July 28th. After a massively successful showing last August, Sneaker Con returns to the realm of Foamposites, Trainers, and anything 90′s basketball-influenced to celebrate the world’s greatest sneaker buy/sell/trade event of its kind. Expect a repeat of last year’s Sneaker Con DC greatness, so circle your calendars for July 28th and don’t miss out on the greatest sneaker event of the year by buying your Sneaker Con tickets ahead of time right now! For full Sneaker Con DC event info, check out the flyer."

I hope to see you there.

Stay no less than Stunningly Fresh,
     Joe

Kokayi's "Robots & Dinosaurs"

Music was something that I've always wanted to affiliate Branded Baron with and you can see that with shirts like our Astrohop and Listen To Your Heart. I always want to strive to be progressive and create designs that are hot, unique, and connect with the wearer in some way. I'm very picky when it comes to my designs and rightfully so. I have high standards. From my second in command, Anthony to whoever is helping me sell at shows to even when the Branded Baron shirts are being printed. We should never subject ourselves to mediocrity. Everyone has different tastes that's a given, but as long as we have high standards then everything is fine.

Since I'm so picky with music as well, especially purchasing music, when I do pick an album it's almost quite a feat. Introduce Kokayi(Pronounced “Ko-Kah-Yee” (or KOKE for short), Qn5 Music's latest grammy nominated artist. His latest album "Robots & Dinosaurs" is a great 14 track album of good music. His backbone would be hip hop, but he shouldn't be labeled a hip hop artist. No, this Washington D.C. native knows how to blend funk, afropunk, hip hop, rock, and soul to create a fresh sound for your ears. He actually can sing unlike many people out there who use autotune or a rapper that think they can harmonize.  The production uses a lot of real instrumentation layered wonderfully, which again is rare in today's music.

You can listen to his entire album here and if you want to buy it, it's only $7: http://qn5music.bandcamp.com/album/robots-dinosaurs
If you want a hard copy or have become such a fan that you want more you can pick up the "Paleo Pack" which has a more than the album go here: http://qn5.com/kokayi/

You'll this is on the bandcamp page:
        The official follow-up to 2008’s Mass Instructions, Robots & Dinosaurs is a self-produced tour de force that showcases the Grammy-nominated artist’s varied talents on every track. With lush layers of live instrumentation, soulfully expressive sung-vocals and wordplay galore, Kokayi has managed to create a work that highlights the spaces between the extremes of modern pop, rock & hip hop and subsequently deletes them. 

Like anything else, this may be for some people and not others. Just give it a listen and listen again, then decide. I'm going to listen to Kokayi's "Ninety 5" which features Substantial & Tonedeff.

Stay no less than stunningly fresh,

     Joe