Thursday 16 October 2014

Getting Our Groove On

We have finally christened our illustrated man, thanks to our two Facebook follower winners, Charlie O'Hare and Rachel Louise Lunt.  Now, when we dress (and, more to the point, undress) our mannequin and we actually know his name (Dr Edwin Jones), so it's less...awkward.

Facebook followers may also have noticed a couple of Wednesdays ago, we posted a link to an Undertones song featuring Wednesday in the title.  For some reason (wishful thinking?), we always think of Wednesday afternoons as gathering pace for the weekend and feel the urge to celebrate.  So yesterday, we interrupted our news feed with some classic Jimmy Hendrix - Voodoo Child.  From now on, we're christening Wednesdays, "Get-a-wiggle-on-Wednesdays!"  Any song nominations are welcome - just steer clear of boy bands and Bieber!  

Now that the weather's turned pants, we're taking stock.  Literally.  We're going to be adding beanie hats and hoodies.  Keep your eyes open and your ears uncovered and we'll update you as the new stuff arrives.  Also on their way are more of our popular hot rod tees - in "man size" and in hoodies - (we hear you!) and some logo tees.

Finally, we are in the process of adding to our Voodoo Street Vintage line - currently featuring our "Haunting of Voodoo Street" retro hoodies.  From time to time we come across vintage items, something a bit special, we think you will love.  Given the success of our Vespa/Lambretta/Mod-inspired stickers, when we discovered a little cache of genuine vintage Mod scarves, we couldn't turn them down.  These are one offs and should appeal to all men who like to look dapper once in a while.  Everyone from Johnny Depp via Paul Weller and Martin Freeman to Liam Gallagher has been spotted wearing one of these scarves.

CJ has for this purpose, assumed the roles of blogger, fashion stylist and photographer.  Plus Dr Jones seems a little more upbeat, as these threads make a nice change from T-shirts!  He scrubs up well don't you think?  Little does he know that he's going to be donning Cuban shirts next, but more of that soon...

Vintage Mod Scarf No. 13

Thursday 25 September 2014

Shiver by the River to Heaven by the Severn!






Last week was probably our craziest to date.  On a weekend road trip through Shropshire, we spotted a sign advertising the first VDubs in the Valley festival.  On a whim, we decided that it was the right time to unleash Voodoo Street onto an unsuspecting public and where better to start than our favourite local market town, Bridgnorth!  Only problem was, we had less than 7 days to prepare.  And so, fuelled by coffee and adrenalin, we worked a series of late nights labelling and finishing stock, finalising paperwork and packaging, designing a trade stand, buying a weather-proof trade stand, sourcing props and signs to furnish said trade stand and sorting transportation.  Oh, and we also designed and produced a sticker to mark the occasion.  At first we decided it should read "Shiver by the river" (still loving that!) but after seeing a more promising weather forecast, opted for "Heaven by the Severn."





With very little time to spare, Thursday (set-up day) arrived, literally like a damp squib.  In relentless drizzle, Gaz pitched up next to an old oak tree in the middle of a damp but beautiful field by the Severn....with literally no-one else in sight. Starting to fear the worst and experiencing something like first night nerves, he set up shop (with a little help - you know who you are, cheers!)  He needn't have worried.  By the time Claire rocked up at 7 (ish), the place was full and she was greeted by security staff and organisers grinning like Cheshire cats, chuffed that their humble little festival was taking on a life of its own.




COMPETITION TIME!!

The rest of the weekend went in a blur of amazing people, awesome vans, huge support, a raft of compliments, a little alcohol, delectable food, great music and a few rays of sunshine!  Our tattoo'd mannequin (aka "The Illustrated Man) proved to be a big hit, so much so that we have formally adopted him, which leads us to the point of this blog.  No adoption process is complete without a name and our man desperately needs a show name.  So, we're throwing it out there.  The person who comes up with the best name wins a free goody bag!  To enter, simply check out our website and like our Facebook page (to get a flavour of what we're about) and then put forward a name you feel befits such a handsome dude!  Please post your suggestions on our Facebook page and we'll pick our favourite and notify the winner on Monday 6th October.  Good luck and thanks again!


Thursday 12 June 2014

Bloomin' June



Hope you all managed a break from the grind over Easter and the May Bank holidays.

We’ve hit the road quite a bit recently, heading up to Manchester for the BMX Supercross on Good Friday, taking the younger members of our team to the Insomnia Gaming Festival in Coventry and chasing the sun all the way to Cornwall last week.  Our Instagram followers have been treated to regular updates from action shots of the BMX competitors to gaming festival pics where pretty much everyone had a ponytail and/or a dose of acne. We spotted several confused looking dads roaming around the arena wondering how the hell they had ended up in the Minecraft Zone! 

Last week, we headed to North Cornwall in our ageing Golf - roof box all stickered up for the journey.  The waves were disappointingly flat (to quote Gaz, “Flat as a witch’s t**!,”) which leads me nicely to our pilgrimage to the Witchcraft Museum in Boscastle last week, which even had it’s own Voodoo display! 

It wasn’t all play last week.  In between the sun, sea and cider, we still found ourselves posting out sticker packs on a daily basis.  As you will have noticed, the Voodoo Street brand now includes a pretty cool range of stickers.  Hot rod enthusiasts, surf bus/campervan owners, BMX riders and skaters are coming out of the woodwork and showing love for our limited edition vinyl sticker accessories. 



New designs are tested on Ebay, so check us out:

…and give our regular bidders some competition!  We also sell through our website, Facebook page and via Amazon.  As we speak, we’re compiling sticker packs specifically aimed at surfers, skaters and hot rod owners.  Gareth’s prolific at the moment, so keep checking in.  There are new designs all the time.

Meanwhile, we’ve produced a limited run of kids’ tees (age 9-11) in two designs.    They are very robust and, we are told, apparently don’t require ironing!  We only have a few left, but the response has been encouraging.  At only £12.00 (free postage) we think they’re a bargain.





Tuesday 1 April 2014

Nobody's Fool!

It’s April 1st and we made it through the morning unscathed, managing to avoid becoming fools for the day, although there was a close call when a friend posted a photograph of herself having undergone a quite dramatic hair transformation.  She is an artist and so her Rosemary’s Baby/Mia Farrow pixie crop wouldn’t have been a complete surprise, but something just didn’t ring true!  Also now questioning whether the re-christening of Wolverhampton Station as “Wolverine” Station for one day in honour of the new X-Men film is legit?!

Some very real news is that we’re testing the children’s market.  Why should the little terrors be excluded from wearing Voodoo Street apparel?  We’re hearing reports of how difficult it can be to find really good kids tees, by which we mean, quality of the kind you can repeatedly wash and wear (maybe even get away without ironing) and good design that kids want to wear – not just recycled, rips offs of old designs.  From the feedback we’ve received, we hope we’ve achieved that. 






Currently, we offer two designs (limited stock) for the age group with the most discerning fashion taste - 8-10 year olds.  This may surprise some of you, but in our opinion, this is the age when children decide that they are no longer happy to just wear clothes their parents have chosen for them.  It’s the age that marks the first bold steps towards attaining a unique fashion identity.  While many teenagers have the desire to fit in and wear similar clothes to their peers, we’ve encountered one 9 year-old child who is adamant that his favourite colours are red and green.  Nothing else will cut it.  He knows what suits him.  Another was keen to wear the design that his friends had not picked in order to stand out from the crowd! 

We’re now receiving enquiries from parents of children in other age brackets, so watch this space…and at £10.00 plus postage; we think they’re a bargain!


Wednesday 12 March 2014

March-ing On!

Not sure whether you spotted us in the local press.  The Stourbridge News, obviously stumped for exciting news, featured us in last week's issue.  Inkeeping with Voodoo Street's underground image, we argued the case for donning masks (Point Break style), but sadly, the photographer insisted we reveal our identities to the folk of Stourbridge.  We guess it could've been worse.  The sun shone brightly that day for the first time in what seemed like months and we found a pretty cool graffiti backdrop!  

The photo which made it into the story was taken in front of the darker part of the graffiti, featuring a Slash-from-Guns 'n' Roses-style character, due to the intense sunlight bouncing off the wall and blinding the photographer.  But we managed to take this pic in front of the more vibrant part, which we think does justice to our new Vibe tee.  What do you think?  


As a result of the article, we've picked up some positive reviews of our new design and more new followers from the Dudley area, so it's all good!

Now Spring has sprung, we've launched our new 5 panel snapbacks in black and navy.  We decided to buck the trend of shouting from the rafters branding and have instead opted for a cool, more understated look.  

We're also continuing to develop new sticker designs, so any BMXers, skaters, car pimpers or stickerbombers, check out the website.  Our stickers now have their own category, to make the website more user-friendly.

We've also altered the category layout, so as well as having all the products available to view at one time, if you're specifically looking for men's tees, just click on "Men's" etc. etc.  This should hopefully save you all some time.

In other news, we're pretty excited to have got hold of tickets to see the BMX Supercross World Cup in Manchester next month. Anyone else going?  Look out for us and come say hi!

***

6.02 pm

Anyone been watching Inside No. 9?  Each week there's a new darkly comic story.  Tonight's the final episode and, judging by this promo poster, the producers have drawn upon the same influences as we did for our Vintage "Haunting of Voodoo Street" women's hoodies! 



Wednesday 26 February 2014

Soft launch...





Who else but Voodoo Street would choose to launch a new clothing brand selling predominantly T-shirts during what is now officially recognised as the wettest and stormiest winter on record!

Undeterred, we’ve been busy working up new designs, getting to know our uber-cool followers and doing a little promotion here and there.

We met with the guys from Unit3Sixty on 4th February at their first public consultation.  Cool to see so many skaters turning up.  Look out for Voodoo Street merchandise in future Unit3Sixty promotional events.  We’re proud to support such good guys.

Inspired by that meeting, we’ve returned to our roots.  We’re off to the  SuperX in Manchester in April.  We’re also hoping to rock up to a few of the Vdub events running throughout the UK this Spring and Summer.

The youngest member of our team, who just turned 9, is stickering up his new stunt scooter, trying out new designs for us.  Our stickers are attracting their own following!  Anyone wishing to sticker bomb their wheels (BMX, skateboard, scooter, car or surf bus) keep checking in on the website, as we regularly add new ones.

We’re also due to make our first appearance in the local press.  The Stourbridge News has featured us in its pages.  We tried to persuade them to let us appear in the photos donning masks - think DaftPunk (or for the 90s brigade, KLF), but they were having none of it, so we can only apologise in advance for our mug shots!  Just focus on the clothes and the street art backdrop.  The sun came out for us too, which we hope is an omen!

As ever, don’t forget to sign up to our contacts list for the latest news/exclusive offers.  You can also find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/VSTREET, Twitter (@VoodooStreet) and bombard us with your questions on tees, life and the universe at enquiries@voodoostreet.com.

Speak soon!

Tuesday 21 January 2014

The Art of the "Selfie"



Detox is never an option for us this month, as January also spells party season for several members of the Voodoo Street community who celebrate birthdays.  

And so it follows that the fitness regime needs to be upped to keep the body in line.  Our local tow paths have taken a pounding and my recommended track for tackling inclines is "Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat," which provides an apt sound track for us this month, although "work" needs to be substituted for "rave."

Just in time for the plummeting temperatures, we now have back in stock our popular long line women's vintage/retro hoodies, featuring "The Haunting of Voodoo Street."  These really keep the cold out and come in French Navy and are pretty awesome, even though we say so ourselves!

We're also blown away by the number of cool and interesting people we have liking our Facebook page and following us on Twitter.  We appreciate each and every one of you.  You also give great feedback!

One area where you're not so forthcoming, is entering competitions!  The deadline of 31st January is fast approaching.  All you need to do is send in a selfie to enquiries@voodoostreet.com and we'll pick 3 winners!  (See Facebook page www.facebook.com/VSTREET for details).  

For the less vain amongst you, here's a definition of "selfie" courtesy of Urban Dictionary:-

A picture taken of yourself that is planned to be uploaded to Facebook, Myspace or any other sort of social networking website. You can usually see the person's arm holding out the camera in which case you can clearly tell that this person does not have any friends to take pictures of them so they resort to Myspace to find internet friends and post pictures of themselves, taken by themselves. A selfie is usually accompanied by a kissy face or the individual looking in a direction that is not towards the camera.



Champions of the "selfie" include Justin Bieber, Harry Styles, Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Madonna, President Obama, Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian and Justin Bieber.  It was probably the most overused phrase of 2013 and supermodels also jumped on the bandwagon, modifying the tried and tested method of the "full facial selfie" by instead taking a shot of their sun worshipping torsos.  Our tongues are firmly in our cheeks with this competition challenge. 

We would like to see what you all look like, but there's no need to take yourselves too seriously! We're tired of being force fed celebrity pouts, we just want to see the folk who like what we do!  

Friday 10 January 2014

JANUARY BLUES: VOODOO STREET FIGHTS BACK!!!

     


The bad news is, January is probably the most depressing month of the year.  We're all partied out like we've partied since 1999 and are experiencing a permanent fog, which has nothing to do with the weather!

The good news is, we've officially survived the most depressing day of the year and can now look forward...and that's where we come in.  To cheer everyone up, we have some news to share with you.

First up, we've kick started the year with a sale, which sees many items slashed to ridiculous prices and have
even thrown in free UK delivery!  This week, the sun has decided to show its face and as we all know here in the UK, as soon as the sun comes out, we are required by law to don a T-shirt!  

Secondly, we're nurturing our ever-growing Facebook family by giving them the heads up on any offers and competitions before we spread the word.  So a couple of days ago, we launched a competition.  If you haven't already done so, check it:  www.facebook.com/VSTREET as we have some awesome prizes to give away to 3 lucky winners.  We'll level with you, even we haven't decided exactly what's going to be included in the goody bags yet, but winners are guaranteed a free T-shirt and some surprises!  Oh and did we mention, that many of our designs are intended to be one offs, so once they've been sold, they won't be repeated?!

In other news, we're hoping to support a worthy local cause, Unit 3 Sixty, a proposed urban recreation centre in nearby Stourbridge (for those of you who remember 90s bands The Wonderstuff and Pop Will Eat Itself will know it) by donating some T-shirts to a fund raising event.  Any skaters might want to take a look: 
http://www.unit3sixty.com/  

And finally...we're working on a new range of designs, one of which I can't wait to get my hands on!  It has all the hallmarks of Voodoo Street and is being inked in as we speak.