The Switch blog has moved!

We have finally moved our blog across to our own servers for ease of use, and you can now find our brand new blog site here.

Our new blog will feature a greater variety of articles, more in depth features, interviews with and profiles of brands, and a more opportunities for you to interact and get involved with us.

To get on board with our all new look blog, and keep up to date with the latest in streetwear, fashion, music, and all things urban, bookmark or redirect your blog feed readers to the following link address:

http://blog.switchclothing.co.uk/

See you on the other side!

Dephect Competition - win £300 of clothing and get your design printed!

If you would like the chance to win £300 worth of clothing, and the exclusive chance to get one of your designs printed on a tee, then Dephect are offering you the chance!

Run in association with Computer Arts, the lucky winner will not only see their design produced and used as part of a future Dephect collection, they will also have their own blog and profile added to their website, and will have a full profile and feature done on them in their next catalgoue!

Whilst the inspiration behind Dephect's collections are usually music, graffiti and urban art, there is no specified theme for the competition design - so its completely up to you and your imagination to produce a winning piece of artwork! For your chance to create the next iconic 'Scratch' or 'Natural Beats' design visit https://www.futurecompetitions.com/dephect

Work in Progress

Apologes for the rather quiet blog over the last week, we are transferring over to a new system very soon and trying to sort that out has taken up most of our time (it will be worth it in the end though!) Once our construction zone is cleared and the dust settles we shall be sure to direct you to our new home!

A few things to mention that have gone online over the last few days - we've had some men and women's denim shipped in from Dickies and Carhartt, along with some other great summer bits. We've had a restock of one of our top selling denim pieces, the Dickies Steel Selvedge - quite possibly the most reasonably priced selvage denim on the market, with a high quality that completely smashes its cheap price tag! With the sun out (then in again, then out again) we've had some great shorts in for ladies - the Carhartt Womens Presenter Bermuda's are set to be a real class look for this summer. We have also got a delivery due early next week of the latest tee designs from Chunk, with their usual mix of 80s movie inspired retro classic prints! We will keep you posted here as soon as they arrive, or if you sign up to our newsletter you will get updates straight to your inbox with an exclusive subscribers offer!

Stussy x Bathing Ape

Stussy's 30th anniversary this year has already seen them release some great designs and collaborations, and the latest one to emerge is another set of t-shirt designs with Bathing Ape. The all over camo collab received a slightly mixed response when it was released, but this new collection features the classic Stussy Camo Stock t-shirt, with Bape Camo design. Available in two different colour tees (black for Stussy version, white for Bathing Ape) the Camo print comes in 3 different colourways - blue camo, green camo and pink camo. Early indications are these tees will be priced as Stussy t-shirts, as they are printed on Stussy's standard cut tee.

So.... where can I buy the Stussy x Bape t-shirt? Thats a very good question, and sadly not from us - the release date is the 12th June, and they will be available from Bape stores and a strictly limited number of Stussy outlets. Its unlikely they will be available in the UK, but with such a high profile collab they won't be around for long wherever they land!

We will however have the Stussy x James Jarvis tees very soon, watch this space for details!

OBEY GIANT Pasting and more

We have just uploaded some photos from the Switch archives, which include some images of our stores past and present, and a great step by step gallery of our in-store pasting from Obey Clothing. With the famed OBEY Andre the Giant Face, which kickstarted Shepard Fairey's street art campaign, now greeting every visitor to the Switch store, we take you back to a time before the pasting when all that existed was blank wall!

Netsky album finally lands!

One of the most anticipated albums of the year so far, and probably one of the most anticipated Drum and Bass albums of all time has arrived in store! "Netsky" by Belgian super producer Boris Netksy looks set to propell him into the big time with his unique production and lush liquid D & B soundscapes. Netsky's sound has seen him find favour all across the Drum and Bass world, and his music has been played not just on the liquid favoured floors such as 'Hospitality' but also on many of the jump up and darker D & B floors.

Available on 14 track CD, with 2 tracks not featured on the illegally leaked promo version, this album for Hospital features a whole wealth of brand new unheard material, previously unavailable on any other Netsky release. The CDs have just dropped into our store, and will be available for official release from Monday 31st May.

Switch Newsletter Launches!

Its long overdue, and been sat on the 'to do' list in the office for far longer than it should have been, but we have finally put together to create the first of our scheduled monthly newsletters!

We will be using our newsletter to keep all our customers up to date with the latest at Switch - the latest men and womens streetwear clothing and brands that we receive (or are due to receive), any interesting fashion, music and lifestyle news we have to share, and perhaps most importantly special deals which will be completely exclusive to our newsletter subscribers!

If you are already signed up to our mailout list you will have received a copy of our first newsletter earlier on today. If not, to give you a taster we gave away an exclusive discount alongside featuring some awesome products from our men and womens summer fashion ranges. If you are not are not on our list of subscribers, don't worry you can sign up by following the link below, and filling in your name and address in the simple online form:

Sign up for newsletter, with exclusive deals for subscribers by clicking here: http://www.switch-clothing.co.uk/newsletter

Motel Summer 10 Collection

We've just had our long awaited delivery of dresses from Motel, and its definitely been worth the wait! The vintage inspired label release a new range of styles and fresh new prints 4 times a year, and rarely do they disappoint - this Summer range is no exception!

With a high emphasis on monochrome prints and their usual selection of figure enhancing bodycon fits, Motel have added a few striking new styles to their range - particularly the tee style 'Slash Neck Dress' and the 'blingtastic' 'Rae Dress'

Alongside this are some classic pieces such as the 'Jean Dress' and 'Bowtastic Dress' in brand new eye catching prints for this season. Check out our full range of Motel clothing here.

Fenchurch Womens Summer Range Online

Good news for the ladies, we've just finished uploading our Summer Fenchurch range, and there's some great pieces included perfect for this weeks warm weather!

Great summer dresses including smock style 'Chio Dress' and strappy 'Kaffie Dress', a great range of striking summer tops including best selling chiffon Peacock print tunic 'Trisha Top' and a hot shorts option with the pinstripe 'Herve Short'.

Fenchurch's clothing ranges get better and better season on season, and its amazing to see their rise from small skate inspired label only ten years ago to the industry giant they now are. They now have a number of high profile collaborations and endorsements, including music artists like Just Jack, The Nextmen, Foreign Beggars and Rusko - there is a ton of downloadable content available at their music page.

Our Summer range for Fenchurch Ladies can be viewed by clicking here.

FREE download of A-Trak latest Dirty South Dance mix tape

Thanks to the good folk at Obey Clothing the latest mix tape offering from DJ A-Trak is available to download for absolutely free!

This is the second installment in the Dirty South Dance series - the first was released in conjunction with Obey back in 2007. To get your free download follow this link: http://atrak.bandcamp.com/album/dirty-south-dance-2.

Also check out our full Obey range online here.

Final Bestival Acts confirmed

Breaking news from the Bestival camp, as they have announced the final additions to this years event starting 9th September.

Confirmed new live acts include Uffie, Philip Selway, Visions of Trees, Wax Tailor and the Isle of Wight's very own Lucky Elephant and Council Estate Supermodels. Additions to the DJ line up are: Jon Carter, Justin Robertson, The Trojan Soundsystem, Kicks Like a Mule, Loose Cannons and Midfield General plus many more.

Full details of the new additions can be found at the Bestival website, along with information on their 'Back to the Phuture' line-up for the Thursday night - http://www.bestival.net/news/back-to-the-phuture-line-up-even-more-acts-announced.

Ticketline, the main outlet for tickets has now sold out, but contrary to rumours there are some tickets still available from Red Funnel and Wightlink. Get onto it quick though if you don't want to avoid disappointment!

Noise Complaints over new Skate Park

Local council appear to have upset local residents in their recent installation of metal ramps at the new Bembridge skate park. Some of the locals have described the noise as being like a 'Nightmare', but were made aware of the intention to build metal ramps through all the correct planning channels several months earlier.

Unfortunately the draw back of metal ramps is quite a bit of noise, but at least its giving the kids somewhere to actually go and skate - thankfully the council are on this occasion going to stand their ground and try to reduce noise levels by landscaping round the park, and not just taking the ramps down. With Ryde's skate park still not open, despite large amounts of work to redevelop it, the last think the Isle of Wight skate scene needs is another facility closing down.

Checks still topping the style charts

Its been a few years since the 'return of the check', but they are still absolutely huge and selling all over the place. Whether its simple short sleeved check shirts for guys, or the massively popular check shirt-style dresses for girls, this seasons patterns have yet again been a smash with all our customers.

With a great range of checks available for summer from the likes of Carhartt, Penfield, Boxfresh and Fenchurch we've put together a quick list of our best selling pieces for Mens and Women's so you can 'check' (sorry couldn't resist!) them out before they disappear:

1. Carhartt Mens Havenwood Shirt - slick looking stonewashed blue/white/grey check on a lightweight long sleeved flannel shirt, perfect for all year round wear.
2. Penfield Mens Tompkins Shirt - as the Penfield range edges away from checks, they still shift at high speed, this long sleeved guys shirt has a fold away collar feature giving it two different looks!
3. Boxfresh Mens Cerate Shirt - classic Western style long sleeved shirt with contrast check detail on the shoulders and front placket, and tidy looking fit.
4. Carhartt Womens Riven Dress - short sleeved shirt dress in hot pink and purple check and roll up and button sleeve detail, can be worn as dress or create a great look with skinny jeans.
5. Fenchurch Mens Keef Shirt - awesome looking short sleeved shirt with a Gingham style mini check, and 'micro' style collar topped off by an wicked 'slim fit' and great price.
6. Carhartt Mens Folsom Shirt - short sleeved yarn dyed shirt in a simple yet striking blue and white check. Featured in image above.
   
7. Carhartt Mens Peyton Shirt - almost looking like a long sleeved version of the Folsom shirt, cotton poplin in a classic red and black square check.
8. Carhartt Womens Jo Shirt - gorgeous looking ladies check shirt, yarn dyed in purple/blue/yellow with roll up and button sleeve feature.
9. Penfield Mens Anzak Shirt - one of the best sellers of last summer returns, Penfield's classic hooded shirt in Navy Blue Gingham check.
10. Fenchurch Mens Hank Shirt - classic western style short sleeved shirt with popper fastened front enclosure and fold over chest pockets.
    

Rapanui Online Store Relaunches

Good friends and fellow Isle of Wighters Rapanui Clothing have relaunched their website in the last couple of days, and it has to be said its looking pretty damn fine!

The online store not only features a complete redesign, with brand new features, images and blog links, but it also features a whole host of brand new clothing designs for this season! Founders Rob and Mart Drake-Knight have built on the success of their original collection of clean, simple designed pieces, and by collaborating with other designers have produced some quality 'Ec0 themed' designs on the same organic materials as before.

This new look site and collection should push Rapanui forwards into the bigtime, and we'll be behind them all the way! Check out their new range, coming soon to our Isle of Wight store, and online on their sparkling new site: http://www.rapanuiclothing.com

Summer hits so its time for shorts

Waited for the first cloudy day to post this, as anybody with any love of the sun should have been out basking in its glory for the last two weeks! The Isle of Wight is a cracking place to be when summer arrives, with festivals, beaches and scorching hot weather to look forward to - with the sun taking so long to arrive this year we were starting to wonder if someone had forgotten to order any...

Anyway we have now uploaded a range of mens shorts, with a good mix of board shorts, smart shorts and classic cargo shorts from the likes of Carhartt, Boxfresh, Dickies, Fenchurch and Obey. Our full range is available to view by clicking here, with a handy list of our top 5 best sellers below:

1. Carhartt Cargo Bermuda (Cypress)
2. Obey Standard Issue Killtime Short (Camo)
3. Carhartt Maki Board Short (Green)
4. Fenchurch Ranger Short (Black)
5. Carhartt Primary Bermuda (Leaf)
   

The Quiet Life Summer Collection

We've just uploaded some t-shirts from The Quiet Life's new season, including their new t-shirt from the 'Good Cause' project.

Founded by Lakai designer Andy Mueller in 1997, and originally only producing a couple of design a year, The Quiet Life has now grown into a fully fledged streetwear brand producing two seasons of t-shirts and cut and sew each year. The focus is on unique designs, as seen on one of this seasons top pieces the 'Fox T-shirt.'

All their profits from the 'With You' t-shirt will be donated directly to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, as part of their campaign to raise funds and awareness. This is a project that is now run each season by The Quiet Life.

Gentle Fawn Spring/Summer Collection for 2010

Just added to our site we have had the fantastic new collection from Canadian based womens brand Gentle Fawn. Fawn stuff has been crossing over into the streetwear field ever since they began in 2003, with their unique stylings, fresh thinking and great use of fabrics. Some of the strongest pieces from this collection, the 'Taken' and 'Goddess' tops are great examples of this - unique looking clothing that can be dressed up or down depending on the occasion. One of our favourite styles this season has to be the 'Anna Dress', a jump-suit style dress with striking pinstripe and pocket detail, and also the appropriately named 'Glimmer Dress'.

Our full Gentle Fawn collection can be viewed here.

Liquid Lunch anyone?

For any of our local followers theres some very good news musically... The Isle of Wight is finally getting a Liquid Drum and Bass night of its very own! After years of a predominantly jump-up only scene over here, we are aiming to steer attention away from the bad rep that D & B has managed to collect over the years and flip it to the kind of rocking nights and atmospheres Hospital Records put on around the UK with their Hospitality events.

This will be a very special preview night, for advance ticket holders only, and will feature some of the best local DJ talent on the Liquid Dnb scene. Its gonna be on the 17th of April, at the Raiders Bar above Ryde Arena, and its only gonna cost a miniscule £3 a ticket! Given the fact this ticket will also give you the chance to win some free Hospital Records goodies, its not really something to miss... full details can be found on Facebook event here.

Stussy Top Up

We've had a topup on Stussy t-shirts from their new Spring/Summer collection - celebrating their 30th Anniversary with some wicked looking new designs. Keeping things simple with the heritage/college style 'Stussy Inc T-shirt', guest reworking of a Stussy classic by artist Eric Haze on the 'Haze Camo Stock T-shirt' and our personal favourite the mashed up 'dino-clash' design 'Dino Sport'.

Dephect raise the bar yet again!

One of our favourite brands, and also one we have worked alongside since day one is a small independent brand based out of London called Dephect Clothing. They need little introduction round these parts, as since the beginning their cutting edge, on trend designs have sold in equal number alongside some of our biggest brands! All this is made all the more impressive when you consider that the brand started by Matt Drane (Drane) and Paul Kemp (Keshone) remains the work of a collective of friends and associates.

Our favourites from this latest batch of designs include Keshone's graff inspired 'Pest T-shirt', Drane's vinyl junkie homage 'Vinyl Stack T-shirt', and a couple of Dephect classics in fresh new colourways - 'Natural Beats T-shirt' and the 'Scratch T-shirt'.

These designs are also complemented by some of the best fit tees in our store - check our whole range of Dephect out here.