Contagious
Contagious Magazine included LoveJozi’s fakes campaign as one of the most contagious ideas of 2009. We were really honoured to be included in the creative industry’s premier subscriber magazine, DVD and online resource. You can see the caption here, page 15 to be precise, but if you’re interested in non-traditional marketing, the full report is most definitely worth a read
Queen Charlotte
The Highbrow Range’s swing-tag has been spotted from Hillbrow to Hong Kong. Did you know that these surgical masks – that are currently known as swine-flu masks – are actually known as Queen Charlottes? And the packaging they come in from our supplier changes with a new Queen Charlotte every couple of months.
Queen Charlotte’s packaging is as good as Bruce Lee Magazine’s, and if you are lucky enough to have the new issue you would have found a Love Jozi mask there too (along with Bruce Lee’s other give-aways like condoms, pens, and gum). Charlotte has also been seen in last month’s SL Magazine, at Hong Kong Airport and at various Halloween parties round Joburg.
Be Inspired
We were really excited to be included in SA Tourism’s new book called “Be Inspired”. Not only once, but twice. [Pages 48 and 90 to be precise].
The 230 page visual feast celebrates South African creativity and focuses on how we “Communicate our Nation’s Brand”. Who else but the sharp and sassy brand experts at GridWorldwide could have pulled this off? It’s an intelligently researched collection of art, food, comics, design - everything creative that defines our country’s image, and we’re flattered to be part of it.
Shirts off to Collette, Shelley, Nathan and Jean @ Grid.
City Slicker
House and Leisure magazine featured four different wall treatments in their July 2009 issue. To demonstrate the creative use of mosaics, they asked us if they could use the Love Jozi iconic Skyline design.
How could we resist.
They had it made up by printing the graphic onto a computerised grid that calculates exactly where the tiles should be laid. The end result was a 2 x 4m design that the Douglas Jones Collection produced for them.
Back to the ‘brow
Being nostalgic about old world Johannesburg is touch and go. If you have memories of 80s Hillbrow ‘jols’ then you’re old enough to have experienced the first-world city facades that the apartheid government presented. Nostalgia in South Africa can sometimes be a filthy word.
On page 8 and 9 of the book ‘Hillbrow’ by Paddi Clay, a photo of six teenagers “waiting for the Hillbrow night to turn on” REALLY turned us on. While shooting The Highbrow Range we tried to reimagine the hope of Hillbrow and its potential future.
Chris Saunders shot TThe Highbrow Range, and Jacques van der Watt styled it. Starring Flash Republics‘s Tamara Dey, Sparkling, Andy Shandy and Conquer.
BTW - The book ‘Hillbrow’ by Paddi Clay is out of print. We found one online for $150!
Fuck me Andre
It was Andre Frauenstein who inspired the LiebeJozi design in The Highbrow Range. He wears LoveJozi wherever and whenever he performs so we thought it would be only fair to his fans in Berlin to produce that t-shirt. Hang on groupies in Columbia, Barcelona, Moscow… yours’ are coming.
How many DJ’s do you know that only mix music composed by themselves? That’s why we say Andre ‘performs’ instead of ‘plays’ in the paragraph above. A performing artist of the highest calibre.
What about the punter’s t-shirt (above left) inspiring the next range? FuckMeAndre for Range 12. We think it may work, how about you?
Tick tock tick tock tick tock
DJ Clock loves Jozi. DJ Clock loves Love Jozi. Love Jozi loves DJ Clock. Why wouldn’t we? Since his debut album last year he has maintained being part of every House fanatic’s conversations and playlists. Not to mention that he is South Africa’s biggest DJ sans the biggest ego - of course we love him.
99% South African
There’s nothing fake about Love Jozi t-shirts! We use 100% combed cotton so our t-shirts don’t contain synthetic fibres. Real deal.
Also - we often get asked if our t-shirt fabric is locally produced. The answer is yes, they are 99% South African. The path a cotton fibre takes from its harvest to your t-shirt is long and complex. In short: The cotton used in a LoveJozi t-shirt could’ve been reaped in South Africa, Israel, Turkey or India (those are some of the world’s largest exporters). South Africa alone doesn’t have enough cotton to support our entire textile industry. So that’s the assumed missing 1 percent. Following that, the process is completely local. The ginning, combing and milling gets done in the Free State, Northern Province and Gauteng. Manufacture happens either in Gauteng or Northern Province, and design and silkscreening right here in Johannesburg.
NB: Only one of our styles - the TwistSeam - is made from a 95% cotton 5% lycra mix due to the nature of it’s cut (as it requires a stretch for the cut to succeed).
Off the wall
Shoote’s payoff line ‘images for design’ sums up why we collaborated with them to make these wallcoverings (as Business Day’s Wanted magazine aptly describes them). They take photos, we combine them with our graphics, together we make it challenging not to love Jozi.
Contact irma@shoote.co.za for more info. If you’re in the mother city contact megan@shoote.co.za, we make Cape Town ones too (full of cryptic messages together with sensational images). Our work was recently seen on the set of Harambe for SABC1, Wanted magazine and TheOne&Only hotel.
Lisa’s tattoo
“Wearing your heart on your sleeve is not something Jo’burgers do easily. You may love this place now, but you’re gonna hate it sometime. The trick is keep breathing in the smoky air, sooner or later the love returns. And so will you.” says Lisa Cohn.
Lisa loves her city so much that she asked if she could use the PlanetJozi t-shirt design as a tattoo. “My right side represents my logic. This tattoo is on my left. No real sense in feeling this city as deeply as I do, except that I am hers and I belong here. Just like a great affair, I’m often driven crazy with anger, passion, inspiration and resentment. Nobody can pretend it’s a healthy relationship. But I’ll always love my city. She’s my heart. On my sleeve.” she exclaims. How could we say no.
We think she is nutty but in a very not-nutty way, and we love her for that. And if this can activate our brand then bring on them needles.
Not afraid
The image on this t-shirt was inspired by the model wearing it. Elli Garb stencilled the message ‘i am not afraid’ throughout Johannesburg city over a decade ago. Some can still be seen around town in un-renovated areas where recent street art hasn’t caked up the walls. Spot one and be reminded that fear is often just a mindset. What weren’t you afraid of Elli? Was the statement about a personal challenge and not about Johannesburg? Well does it matter really, that grafitti makes me feel like a little pig singing “Who’s afraid of the big bad ‘burg, the big bad ‘burg, the big bad ‘burg, who’s afraid of the big bad ‘burg? Not me not me not me.”
Elli’s latest piece of genius is a simple decal about 5cm wide that says EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OK [upper case serif font reversed out of black]. I’ve had friends tell me how when they spotted one at a mall boom or police station they’ve suddenly felt their shoulders unwind and become warriors and not worryers.
Oy vey. ‘Yeheyeh beseder’ they promise in the Holyland too.
