Happy NFC Championship Week 49er Fans! We are excited to celebrate the big victory with a BIG announcement regarding a new 408k collaboration. It even has a little San Francisco 49er tie-in, but first…some back story.
When I was in high school one of my best childhood friends, Blake Dadson, (<- click to see some amazing art) returned to San Jose to live at my house and attend junior college in the area. Blake and I had grown up together in Willow Glen, then he moved away to Portland, but the prodigal son returned to the 408. It was awesome on so many levels. He’s an incredible artist, an amazingly nice guy and has always supported me like a brother.
While Blake was living at our house he was involved in the local graffiti scene around San Jose. Painting murals, scouting abandoned buildings, and all types of adolescent antics. During this time Blake was always talking about this dude Orly who he met through graffiti. Orly this, Orly that…youth groups and art. And for some reason the name stuck with me.
Fast forward 15 years and we’re producing the San Jose 408k and we’re looking for a local artist to produce our 2014 race shirt. I’d heard about this local guy that was doing incredible tattoo work in Bay, heard he even did work on Colin Kaepernick, and that he also had an emerging clothing brand based in San Jose’s Japan town. At that point I was set. I needed this artist. He was clearly San Jose through and through, the leader of my favorite team trusted him with his own skin, and he had a San Jose based business. I had to find him and trick him into partnering with a little old road race. Of course later, with a bit of research, this man turns out to be Orly Locquiao the founder and owner of the Cukui brand.
Luckily I still had my brother from another mother, Blake, connect me to his old friend and boom. I’m proud to announce our first creative collaboration.
Orly and the designers at Cukui, including the incredibly talented Sam Rodriquez, will be creating our participant shirt as well some limited edition merchandise for race weekend. It’s hard to express how excited we are to have these guys supporting the 408k, but lets just say it’s the next step to creating the true community event we envisioned three years ago. I love how these things come together…so organic, such community, and it’s just a good fit. We love Cukui’s style and ethics and we cannot wait to show you the final designs in the coming weeks.
Learn more about Cukui clothing click here: www.cukui.com
And as I’ve always said, if it’s good enough for Kaepernick’s ink then it’s good enough for your race shirt. See Humble Beginning’s work on Kaep HERE.
To get one of our Limited Edition 408k x Cukui race shirts you will have to register for the 3rd Annual San Jose 408k “Race to the Row” Sign up today at www.run408k.com
