London Undercover really knows how to stay relevant. They’ve been dropping some really impressive umbrellas, all made with people that have a story to tell, one that shows through the final product. This time, they’ve teamed up with Michael Williams of A Continuous Lean for the “New York” umbrella. This is their second drop and features a maple wood handle/shaft, industrial strength frame and a plaid waterproof canopy.
The folks at hard graft have released the Flat Pack, a larger, more versatile version of the Personal Pouch. On the outside is the caramel tanned Italian lather juxtaposed with sand colored Italian suede. On the inside, you’ve got room for your iPad, MacBook Air 11″ and other essentials like your wallet and phone. There’s durable, thick padding between the goods and your body to ensure the contents are safe and secure.
From Japanese label nonnative comes this daypack in an impressive colorway. The dusty blue shell works well with the tan leather base and trimmings. The double metal zipper features a long leather zip pull to protect the goods on the inside. Speaking of which, the bag features an extra external compartment to accompany the main internal compartment.
Here we have a look at a special collaboration between Isaora and Porter. This canoe pack is made in Japan by legendary bag maker Yoshida & Co., and inspired by the ‘Poirer Pack’, a bag that was designed in the late 1800s by French-Canadian Camille Poirer. The bag’s designed all the elements of traveling outdoors like a thick canvas shell and flat square shape to keep things stable. This Canoe Pack features plenty of modern elements such as its engineered shape, internal iPad pouch, black felt padding, 2 side pockets, and zigzag stitching.
What makes it even more special is that $200 from each bag sold will go to the Japanese Red Cross to help with ongoing efforts relating to the devastating tsunami that hit the country.
Here’s a weekend size bag from Maison Martin Margiela 22, one that’s made from water repellent cotton/polyester and fitted some fine details to make it worth the dollars. The dark blue shell just looks great year ’round and coupling it with silver zippers really helps to give this Italian-made bag an inviting aesthetic.
From Augustin Pictures, one half of whom spent 3 years living in the country, comes Afghanistan, a short film that looks to shed light on the beauty of the country rather than what the political media as delivered in the past decade or so. The travels span highlighted in this video span from Kabul to Mazar-e Sharif, locations the producers chose were the least probmatic though this doesn’t mean incidents didn’t occur. Enjoy the clip below.
Gear Patrol turns us to a new book from the NYT, one that sheds light on the amazing travel destinations available to us in the United States as well as Canada. “Filled with photography and gorgeous illustrations, The New York Times, 36 Hours: 150 Weekends in the USA & Canada ($25) brings together a host of their famous travel series in one complete package, without a single ludicrously overpriced expedition in site. Take it with you for a cross-country sojourn or leave it at home as inspiration for your next excuse to break out the weekender. After all, Columbus didn’t have Trip Advisor, so we’re pretty sure you can survive without it too.” Well said, friends.
Selectism and Tumi have teamed up to create a completely new bag in Tumi’s lineup — the Alpha Four-in-One Duffle Bag. The bag’s versatility is tremendous as it includes a main packing case, a zip out laptop case, a zip out tote and a zip out camera case. The shell is made from ballistic nylon and trimmed in leather while the duffle’s lined with polyester in a striped print. You’ll get a ton of utility from this bag if you travel often and even more if those trips are on the shorter side. This way, you’ll have a duffle that can fit your clothes and you can pull out the tote and laptop case for when you’re on the go, leaving everything else at the hotel.
The folks at Gear Patrol have never ceased to amaze us with their work ethic, creativity and their relentless approach for doing the epic. Case in point, the team’s recent West Coast Blitz with two sets of keys in hand — one for the 2012 Nissan GT-R and another for the 2012 Black Diamond Edition Cadillac CTS-V. Their excuse? To get a cup of Joe from Blue Bottle Coffee, a local sensation in San Francisco. The problem was they were in LA. 400 miles between them and their Blue Bottle, they hit the road with 1,100 horses combined. Round trip — that’s 800 miles of pure adrenaline and lucky for us, they got it all on camera.
Watch the video below and catch the full spread over at Gear Patrol.
In part 1 of our week with the new 2012 Mercedes-Benz C350 Coupe, we gave you all a look at the exterior of the newly designed beauty. We drove the C350 Coupe everywhere — work, play, errands and, yes, shopping. We can go to the mall anytime but we really wanted to see how the car would handle on a slightly longer distance and so we decided to take our first ever trip to Woodbury Commons Premium Outlets. It’s a short while outside of New York City and the drive is as relaxing as it is scenic. We won’t be disclosing what we bought but here’s how it all went down.
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