Nothing Has Changed.
A Journal of Sound and Vision.
Why Nothing Has Changed as the name for my journal to communicate what I see and hear?
As a 61-year-old about to turn 62, I believe the fundamentals of what makes something worthy has never changed. You could even argue that the way things were done over 30 years ago were better than today.
That’s not my view either because I am an OLD man.
Last week, I sat in a cigar lounge, tattoo shop and my factory with a crew of dudes in Los Angeles who all share a very similar outlook even though most of them are in their 20s and 30s.
Clothes were made better.
Music was raw.
It was still pretty analog back then.
My last month was non-stop travelling from Sturgis to New York to Japan to Los Angeles.
On the ground. In the air. On my Harley.
Watching. Listening. Everything is moving insanely fast.
I believe in slowing everything down. That’s a fundamental that has been in existence forever if you follow the Stoics and the philosophy of Memento Mori.
I have seen a lot. I have a lot to say.
Aging will do that.
Aging physically sucks.
Aging mentally rules.
Aging forces you to slow everything down...except for ripping on your bike.
Each week I will be writing about what I see and hear. Today and past experiences through life and business. No holding back either. I will write about people who are doing it right and inspire.
Thanks for reading and following what we are building daily at FR.
Building Denim in Los Angeles
I love Los Angeles and it’s one of my favourite places in the world. It’s chaotic so you have to force yourself to slow everything down. Traffic is a mess. The airport is a gong show. There are parts of the city that are super dangerous (where I ride through everyday to get to my factory) so you have to be fully aware of your surroundings. They have a very good baseball team who beat my beloved Jays in 7 games last year and one of the best caps in all of baseball (The best hat in baseball I won’t mention because I despise the team…).
We’ve been looking for a store location in LA for a few years now, but still haven’t found the right spot so I have spent a lot of time there.
Now that we're making our denim in LA, I am there all the time working with our factory and being on the floor watching all steps of the process. How the fabric arrives from Japan.
How it’s laid on the cutting table.
How the patterns are developed.
How the fabric is cut.
How each piece is sewn by hand.
How it’s finished.
Then I personally inspected all 350 pieces and numbered each one.
3 days in the factory getting it done.
Most brands send their “tech pack”, join a “zoom” call and only see the finished product when it shows up in their warehouse.
Not us. We are part of the process from start to finish.
Denim means a lot to me and this company. Japanese selvedge denim in particular because it ages with you and your body. Your daily life appears on the denim in the form of patina.
Here are process shots from last week during my trip in Los Angeles. Check out Kings Cigar Lounge and Enjoy Tattoo if you’re ever in LA.
I have been going to LA for over 30 years and would say nothing has changed.
Selvedge Denim Release Date: October 15th
Perfect Days | The Tokyo Toilet Architecture
This is one of my favourite films of all time. Almost no dialogue from the main character who chooses to leave a life of wealth to clean toilets and live in a simple dwelling in Tokyo. Hirayama is a cleaning technician at the Tokyo Toilet which consists of 17 architectural bathroom structures throughout Tokyo.
This movie had a massive impact on me because it’s not about possessions or so called status. It’s about waking up early (to no alarm) and dedicating yourself to detail in what you do. Taking pride in your attention to detail. Hirayama chose the Tokyo Toilets architectural masterpieces to do this in his life. Once he leaves work though, work is behind him. He reads used books, listens to old cassettes and rides his steel bike. His life has balance.
We were in Japan two weeks ago visiting our mills and factories so we took a couple of days there to shoot FR. product at the sites where Perfect Days was shot: his home, the bridge where he rides everyday, the book store and most importantly, the record store where he has to sell some of his vintage cassettes to help a colleague. This shop was amazing and the music the woman was playing in there was diverse - it was unreal to just be in there looking at vinyl(I found 5 albums which I brought back to the Toronto FR. Shop).
Back to vinyl - nothing has changed.
Watch this film and water your plants.
Surly Bikes
I used to ride a ton. In 2020 I rode close to 15,000 kms and half of that in 2021. Then I discovered motorcycles and barely rode. I also crashed my 3t(do not get this bike) at the end of 2021 as I was on my first ride of the Rapha 500. I did a lot of damage to the bike and banged myself up pretty good eating it on a patch of ice. Full yard sale while people drove around me sprawled on the road in agony. Thanks for stopping to help—NOT.
So I got out of shape, put on some weight on and was like what the fuck happened. It’s easy to get out of shape and put weight on. You feel like shit. You lose all the fitness you worked so hard for.
In 2020 I turned 56. Now I’m turning 62 so the road back is not as easy as it was when I was much younger or even how fit I was in 2020.
I fucking love riding bikes - moto and pedal. Like love it.
Cycling has been a huge part of my life since 1989. First bike was a British Falcon that was made in England that I paid just under $1000 for and I still have it. Then I bought a steel triathlon custom bike from the legendary Eon D’Ornellas in 1991 and then went carbon for decades. I even had a full wanker tri-geek Softride Beam Bike just like German Ironman, Jürgen Zäck. Then I became friends with Gerard and Phil and rode Cervelo for a long time.
I decided this year being soft and out of shape was not an option and wasn’t going to use lack of time as an excuse. I started researching new bikes and wasn’t going to be the full blown PNS, Carbon, High Sock “guy” - you know what I mean.
I wanted to just ride.
Not for racing. Not for wearing lycra in a pack taking up the full lane. I just wanted to ride when I was home in between travel. I also wanted to do some touring and bike packing as I was doing some of that on my Pan America.
YouTube kept leading me to Surly. Not expensive. Not flashy. Not light.
So I headed to Dismount (which is the best bike shop I have ever been in) and tried out a bunch of models and sizes. They spent hours with me to make sure I got the fit and model right. Then we dialled in a saddle, tires, pedals and got the stem length nailed.
I love this bike. Like LOVE this bike because it feels great and handles great.
Hopefully a few races next year but I really just want to ride bikes so I don’t give a shit about
speed or watts. Just wanna be outside exploring.
Back to steel - nothing has changed.
See ya next Friday and thanks for reading....
Peace
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ralph | fr.