Urban Lifestyle Profile Report: Skurban, Urban Freeflow, Freestyle Rolling, Fixed Gear: How Urban Culture is Influencing Latest Trends in Sports, Street Fashion, Lifestyles

In the past 2 years, we have had a range of stories about various aspects of the growing influences that urban culture has on the evolution of sports, streetwear, music, and youth culture lifestyles in America -with a ripple effect that’s felt around the world.

Graphic T-shirts: Top Designs and Styles from DIY to Name Brands to Band Merch -Label Networks Takes a Look at What’s Fresh this Summer

Much can be learned about the youth culture marketplace by checking out street trends in t-shirt graphics. In our latest round-up, we deliver fresh images of where things are right now, and the inspiration behind where things are headed next.

Nu Rave Fashion’s Evolution: Street Snaps from Label Networks’ Reporters Capture Subculture of Styles, Colors, Inspirational Brands, and Their Muses

New takes on neon, steovepipes, accessories among youth culture have created fresh concepts in the subculture of nu rave fashion, moving now towards synth-punk %u201880’s with hip-hop/hyphy influences.

Alife Out of NYC Continue Producing Original Concepts in Street Fashion, Sneakers, Retail, Publishing, and Art, Creating a Wake of Wannabes from Their Own Natural Evolution

The guys behind the legendary core brand alife, Rob and Arnell, are not the type of guys who are going to spill their guts to media about how they stay so original in order to prove their cred-factor. They simply are original and have gained cred by working seriously hard for a long time on aesthetics, product, and quality results that embrace their lifestyle -which happens to be enviable in today’s contemporary street fashion scene. These guys, who were the Creative Directors for Mass Appeal Magazine, presented graffiti art and the artists behind the scenes in such original formats that some account it for being the birth of the mainstream graff movement of today.

Japanese Dekotora Subculture of Illuminating Trucks Gives New Meaning to Pimp My Big Rig

In the United States, the after-market car market continues to grow as an important subculture within various demographics, with individualism expressed through one’s ride becoming an important way to make a personal statement. Coming from Japan, the Drifter scene has also had a great influence on car culture in America with competitions scattered now throughout the country. But the latest evolution, as documented by writer and photographer Tatsuki Masaru in his new book “Dekotora,” which means a truck decorated with illuminations, is the growing fascination of truck drivers across Japan who pimp their big rigs with massive neon lights on the outside and luxury interiors on the inside.

Nike Pushes Technology with Introduction of the USB-enabled Sportsband to Track Your Running, Journal it Later and Join a Global Running Community

After the success of the Nike iPod collaboration whereby runners could insert a Nike sensor into the footbed of their (Nike) sneaker and set up a Nike tracking system on their iPod along with “booster” music for that last mile, they’ve taken running to the community level with the Nike Sportsband. Instead of listening to how you’re doing when you’re running, the Sportsband allows you to see how you’re doing with a digital display mechanism.

Burton Sacks The Syndicate Lays-off Marketing People, Providing Yet Another Sign that Action Sports Is Getting Trumped by Other Genres

Ironically, at Label Networks’ prepares for a keynote presentation at the upcoming TELUS Ski and Snowboard Festival at Whistler, BC, organizing fresh new data on snowboarding trends, we heard through Burton-friends and others in the industry such as Transworld Business Online and Fuel TV, that Burton Snowboards laid-off up to 50 people in total last week -including the entire The Syndicate staff which contributed to creative direction for the brand.

X Games Re-Instates Vert Competition After Heat from Pro Skaterboarders BMX Rider-What This Means about The State of Halfpipe Competitions, Including the Youth Olympic Games

Heated talks between ESPN X Games organizers such as Chris Stiepock and professional skateboarders such as Bobby Burnquist, Tony Hawk, and a slew of others (not to mention those flaming message boards on various skate-related sites and blogs) have caused the X Games to continue with its 13-year-tradition of holding a vert (a.k.a. halfpipe) competition for both skateboarding and BMX at the Summer X Games in Los Angeles in July.

Grn Apple Tree Street Fashion Brand Keeps Music-Inspired Roots for Fall ’08 Collection, but Among New Leaders Moving to Clean Looks with Political, Punk Attitude in Wovens, V-Necks, T-shirts, and Denim

When we met up with Bonner from Grn Apple Tree at Agenda, we had a feeling that the brand had evolved into a cleaner direction and away from last season’s more nu rave inspired color palette. Their booth was by far one of the best on the show floor with clean lines, almost Japanese aesthetics, muted grey background, and a collection that hung on clothing racks made of tree limbs. In essence, it was a booth design they brought back which also happened to correspond with their new Fall ’08 collection including different color palettes in grey, red, black, white, and chocolate colors.