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Friday, November 28, 2008
MASSIVE BLACK FRIDAY AND BEYOND SALE!
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Save up to 60% OFF on footwear and apparel during our biggest blow out yet.
In-store Sale: Friday, Nov 28th - Sunday, Nov 30th
Friday & Saturday 10 AM - 7 PM, Sunday12 PM - 6 PM
Keep Fairfax Store
532 N. Fairfax Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323 655 1010
Online Sale: Saturday, Nov 30th - Friday, Dec 5th
Don't miss out! First come, first serve. Thanks for your support!
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Tuesday, November 25, 2008
QUANTUM OF QUILTING!
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Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Keep Inspires Nike
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As the child of an immigrant, I was raised on the American dream. I
was raised to believe in the potential of people who created huge
things from nothing, were visionaries and leaders, and ushered in a
bigger, brighter time. Size wasn’t lame; size was rad. It meant more
power, more influence. I remember feeling inspired. It was
aspirational.
Now corporations are giant behemoths, with no
central vision, no humanity, little soul, and are efficient monsters
that often have little moral code. We fear large corporations. They
don’t inspire us as an example of human ingenuity, instead they inspire
fear within us, along with discomfort and anger.
The other day
I received an email showing an “inspiration board” at Nike. Lo and
behold our Ramos with Magic Print took a nice piece of real estate on
that board, the only non-Nike shoe on it. While I appreciate the fact
that Nike hires independent artists and designers – we all need to make
a living – it’s depressing how the company that was built out of Phil
Knight’s trunk is no longer a source of inspiration. It is the king of
market research, it pays big bucks to find out what you truly love.
Then it takes it and with no soul, no heart, compresses it into a
glossy package and disseminates it to the world. All that power to
bring a greater message to the people is lost, because the messenger
doesn’t understand what he’s saying, he just knows the words. Sure,
there was some guy at Nike smart enough to recognize the value (and I
do mean value, since the bottom line is money) in whatever artist or
skater or style of the moment they’ve chosen to co-opt. But that’s
one person in a corporation of thousands, and the brain of that
operation doesn’t care about its limited-edition-whatever. Your
interests, your passions, and your identity is a marketing write-off.
I
don’t hate Nike. I just think it’s a shame that a company so large and
with so many resources can’t focus on internally creating mind-blowing
design that inspires little companies like us as opposed to the other
way around. They used to. Now it’s just plain laziness. They throw
money at people who do know these things. I don’t blame the people who
take the money, they have to eat and so do their families, and
sometimes it’s the only way you can see something you love get made.
But I do blame the company for fronting like they care.
Just
remember, while you obsessed over your collectible toys, or your X-girl
t-shirt, or your Tortoise/Stereolab split 7”, or what your word would
be; while you spent countless hours destroying your hearing in the
front row of every show; while you practiced every week with your
semi-shitty band and toured on no money eating crappy Denny’s food;
while you loved Seinfeld and the Wu Tang; while you broke bones bombing
hills and ruined your knee on that last frontside grind before dinner;
basically while you lived your life, became a person with more depth
and real interests, while you paid your fucking dues, Nike paid someone
to spit back what you took seriously with total dedication and complete
sincerity, just so they could pretend like they know who the fuck you
are.
Again, I don’t hate Nike. I’m just disappointed. This
is a call to them to do better, be better, and to inspire me. Create
culture. You have all the power and money and knowledge to do it.
Don’t co-opt culture. You’re better than that. Just do it.
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Sunday, November 16, 2008
STAY SHARP!
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Tuesday, November 11, 2008
TRAILBLAZING IN GRIFFITH PARK!
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Every so often we like to spotlight Keep customers. One day we were visiting our local cafe in Griffith Park and ran into Jenny, the baker/manager of Trails. We've never seen a pair of Keeps worn so thin. That takes dedication! Jenny rocks her Keeps every day while baking up amazing delectables. The girl has a skill with crusts and her scones are the best with a little cappuccino. Whether munching on vegan mushroom cashew pies, tomato tarts, or lavender vanilla cookies, we love kicking back at Trails. Plus it's outdoors inside an epic park! Rebel Without A Cause!
Jenny studied the culinary arts at Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena. Although she never intended to be a baker, somehow one thing lead to another and voila. At home she reps her mom's recipes and makes a lot of Korean food. Kimchi jigae anyone? Although she loves to cook too, baking is her preferred method of food creation. "Cooking's more forgiving, but baking's more creative. You get to use your hands more." Plus,"people get more excited about baked goods." So true. You can also check Jenny's skills at the Blue Hen in Eagle Rock. Those flourless chocolate cakes are made by her!
Trails is the ultimate chillax spot and we heavily loc it out. Everything is made from scratch right there in the kitchen. It's a rad neighborhood joint that's community-oriented and you can't beat being in the middle of nature. Afterwards you can do a quick hike up to the observatory and check out LA from above. Maybe we'll see you there next time.
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Monday, November 10, 2008
EDDIE AND THE ZAPPOS CREW!!!
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Kevin, Jeremy (Library Showroom), Paul, and Eddie.
Eddie headed over to the Zappos.com offices in Henderson, Nevada and met up with our buyers. According to Eddie, Zappos.com is the most legit shoe-selling website in the game...the Google.com of shoes, if you will. Plus, their buyers are studs. Just look at Kevin and Paul...single, good-looking, and intelligent.
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Friday, November 7, 2008
¡VIVA GUATEMALA!
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Tuesday, November 4, 2008
TIME TO VOTE!!!
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Monday, November 3, 2008
GET SMART WITH KEEP'S VARSITY JACKET
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