Kevin Lyons

Kevin Lyons does not give a fuck what you think and at the very same time, he is petrified by what you think. He really wants to know, but gets bummed at the news. He so doesn't want to suck, but is not that talented to always avoid it. He wants to win the war, and does battle everyday. He will never be satisfied and will always want to do more. He will think about it all, and obsess over it, and even on his deathbed will pass with five different versions of his gravestone, all equally viable and valid solutions to mark his death. He will love all five, but there will be one that he definitely prefers, but just doesn't quite figure it out in time. He is self-absorbed and tries hard not to hurt the ones he loves the most.

Website — http://www.naturalborn.com

Latest Posts

Return of the World’s First Football Brand

March 21st 09, 11:26

For the past 10 weeks or so I have been working with Umbro International. You remember the huge soccer brand from the seventies and eighties? When we all started playing youth soccer, Umbro was THE BRAND of football. The checkerboard shorts and the iconic diamond logo stood for “real football”. Total authenticity. It was the code to which at least US kids repped the sport.

Founded and born in Manchester England, the mythic and epically gray home to the haunting ballads of Joy Division, Factory records, the birth of Northern Soul as well as the Rave benders of the soulful side of the eighties, Umbro was founded as a tailored sportswear company, whose owner, Harold Humphreys pushed into sport, specifically football. At one point during the late sixties, Umbro clothed every major football brand on the planet, outfitting 25 out of 26 World Cup teams in 1966. It was the only football clothing brand. Adidas was on the pitch as well but only on feet, not on the chest. But somewhere during the late eighties and nineties a lot happened and Umbro suffered. Competitive inroads by the likes of giant, mega million dollar brands like Adidas and Puma and then Nike and many others made it hard for local Umbro to get the players needed to compete and then even to stay on the pitch as a uniformer. As English football exploded and Beckham and Ronaldo and money bags bloated the business, Umbro got pushed aside. It also took on unfair associations with the rise of violent hooliganism throughout the UK. Personally I still remember as late as 1990 trying to hunt down the Umbro jacket I saw Tricky wearing on stage. So dope.

Needless to say, Umbro is back. Nine months ago,Umbro was sold to Nike. Yeah Nike. And the good thing is that Nike fully respects what they bought. Letting Umbro be Umbro. And they have set a course to right the brand and fast. Turn the ship around. The first opportunity came quickly. In March Umbro will release the much anticipated, English national team Kit. You know the one Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Theo Walcott, John Terry, Steven Gerrard, and of course with a little luck and consistent play, Becks himself will wear into the 2010 World cup in South Africa. And Nike did not skimp. Designed primarily by the young modern sportswear juggernaut designer, Aitor Throup (of Stone Island and CP Company fame) along with Umbro’s seasoned design team and tailored and finessed by English tailor, Charlie Allen. The new kit is a perfect combination of sports fabric technology, anatomic construction, and modern tailoring. The look is sleek and uncluttered. A throwback that looks forward but which remains super top secret until March 28th.

What did Bob Marley say about knowing your past in order to know your future......

The post-modern Kit: Aitor cutting and pasting, disrupting the category

So the company I am a Managing Partner in: the ad agency-turned brand builder, Anomaly in New York City was hired to launch the kit and do all the advertising. We are also doing all the retail roll-outs. With a bunch of us ex-Nike guys, a few Wieden & Kennedy muckity mucks, and a full roster of Brits, we have worked closely with Umbro and the kits designers to make this one of the most dynamic launches in football history if I may be so bold.

I have had the privelage of going back and forth between New York and Manchester and London. Working inside and around the brand with terrific set of global partners. The following is a series of photos from my travels. I will continue to report on the launch and this brand as we enter the last week of March when the kit is unveiled. Mark my words, Umbro will be a brand to reckon with going forward. The English Kit and the pieces surrounding it are more than football replicas, they are cultural pieces that can easily be worn around town and chillin’ with your friends. Umbro is back and you won’t be disappointed.

En route. Me and my trusty SSUR Helmet Bag. 12 years going....

Physically Installing the collage tease campaign retail Tease in London Soccer Scene.

If a picture says a thousand words, then one hundred pictures....

Trying to do the Kit justice by continuing to disrupt category through retail execution.

Taking a walk on the wild side with Hide-Out's take on Lou Reed Supreme poster. Dope.

Soccer Scene at Carnaby Street.

Super 77 is a wonderful medium.

Aitor's Sketches x House Industry script finesse x Anomaly bizness x Umbro heritage x the Diamond Logo x Super 77

For more info and to see some of the first pictures keep checking back in here and/or go to umbro.com/england.

Cheers mates.
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CHUCK STEWART

September 11th 08, 13:52

I collect a lot of records. A lot of us do. But my passion lies in two very specific areas both straddling the same time period. One is early Reggae Soul, Rock Steady 7inches and the other is melodic Free and Avant-Garde Jazz from the late sixties and the early seventies.There is one major label which fully captured the biggest artists and some of the best music of that era and that is Impulse!Records. Impulse! put out both the biggies of the genre like Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp and Charles Mingus as well as some of the more innovative in Alice Coltrane, Marion Brown, Albert Ayler, McCoy Tyner, Joe Henderson, and Don Cherry. The period is like none other. It is earthy and spiritual, melodic and rebellious.

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WELCOME TO MY BLOG

September 11th 08, 12:28

I am no blogger. I am no cool hunter. I have updated my own website, naturalborn.com only twice in 15 years. I own two others, wefreekings.com and bonethugsandtypography.com which are just splash pages since going up nearly two years ago. I do not pretend to be anything more than a guy who works and works and hopefully finds things that are worth sharing. I have another blog post on the Arkitip Intelligence page which is basically a running list of 100 of my favorite artists, writers, filmmakers, and designers – basically a new way of looking at approaching blog posting. But despite my digital and informational drawbacks, I do feel I have a unique take on things and I do in fact believe I have something to say. I am an old man now. No doubt. But I love cool shit and isn’t that what a fucking a blog is all about anyway when it is all said and done and typed and posted. Stop in or tune out. Up to you. The rest will be up to me.
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Coming Soon…

September 1st 08, 13:50

My Blog Coming Soon
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