We're Back from Salt Lake City

We just got back from the Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City. Usually these trade shows wear on us but I have to say this one was our best yet. We had a killer booth in a great location. We hired models to cruise around in our threads, a surfboard raffle with an eco board from Entropy, and we launched the newest part of our line, “Balance by Carve Designs”. We have created some comfortable movement wear that looks good in and out of the exercise studio. So there was a lot going on but we have a great team over here so we were able to pull it all of with some style. We had three showing stations this year so it made it easier for our stellar reps to show the line and not feel too stressed about incoming traffic. We designed a swim wall to show all our newest styles and a “retail” section that let passersby and PR people cruise the line without having to sit down. Here is a sneak peak at what we are offering, a view into the backside of the retail world and fun candid shots (taken by our loved photographer Chris Bezamat) of the party we had to celebrate the new “Balance” line. I hope you get as excited as we are for next summer!

Click Here to Check out the Carve Party Photos

Angles

I am into angles these days. Zig zag prints, geometric shapes. I feel like with the resurgence of tribal comes cool patterns that we haven’t seen in a while. Case in point, we have a great “zig zag” print we are running at the moment and it seems like people are digging it b/c it’s almost all gone!

But, we are not the only ones doing fun shapes and patterns. Net-a-porter is selling a cute, yet expensive full piece with a fun zig zag pattern.

And, Free People has a ton of Pendleton inspired motifs they are running now, making geometric soft and wearable.

Lastly, Vanderhurd has amazing textiles in so many different geometric patterns – they are addictive to look at:

Have fun seeing and wearing geometrics this year, as I hope they inspire you as much as they do me!

Surfing Montauk

While we are here suffering through another foggy summer in San Francisco the east coast is alive with heat and color. It’s just not fair. But I was lucky to be able to spend sometime back there this already and I am hoping that I soaked up enough vitamin D to last me until September. We traveled to many different places on the eastern seaboard but found one very special place in New York. I am sure you have all heard of Montauk. It seems to be making headlines these days in the media and I am afraid that in a few years it will be overflowing with people but for now it’s still relatively quite. We stayed at the Surf Lodge.

This place is a little overpriced for us Californians but seemed to be right on target for New Yorkers. But I have to say it was well worth the stay. It’s located on a fresh water pond called Fort Pond just down the road from the beach. We seemed to be quite blessed this trip because we had great 5 ft surf for most of the time we were there. The beach reminded me of our home break of Ocean Beach so we were immediately at ease. The great thing about the east coast in the summer is the warm weather so we were surfing in our bikinis and getting a tan. When the wind came up we were back at the surf lodge taking out paddle boards for the pond in back and renting bikes and biking into town. Montauk feels a little like Encinitas back in the day. Lots of blonde, wild hair surfers cruising around on skateboards eating fresh seafood at the plethora of crab shacks located on the side of the road. It felt like we were kids again. Nothing can beat that feeling. We ended our days with jack and gingers at the surf lodge bar grooving to bob Marley tunes and watching old surf videos. Dinner time really drew a crowd but we opted for other dinner places and we think South Edison is not to be missed. It was already named one of the top 25 places to eat this year.

So if you are having the summer blues here in SF and have the money and time to travel 6 hours back east, Montauk is not to be missed. Surf's up.

A Yoga Teacher We Love

We do a lot of yoga over here at the Carve offices. It calms the nerves and offers a nice break in the middle of the day. Plus, it’s good conditioning for Surfing. We have been reluctant to talk about a teacher that we love- only because we don’t want his classes to get too crowded, but we decided to let the cat out of the bag and share. Tim Floreen is his name and if you want a kick ass, sweaty, leg burning, ab working class with thumping tunes, this is it. I don’t think I have ever left his class dry. That may sound gross to some of you but to us, it’s just what we need to start or break up the day. He’s a smart guy who is wickedly funny and likes to make his class laugh. He infuses just the right amount of spirituality that you feel connected to what your doing but not overwhelmed with it. He teaches at Red Dragon Yoga in Mill Valley on Mondays at 11:30am and 1pm- his power hour class is perfect but doing the double takes being sore to another level. He also teaches in the City at International Orange on Saturday mornings and The Yoga Tree throughout the week. He has killer taste in music and its hard to not want to shake your tailfeather. Thankfully he shares his music on line at www.yogatim.com . We highly recommend him. Namaste.

Carve Welcomes New Athlete

We're welcoming a new athlete to our team at Carve Designs...and we think she is just plain COOL. And, I am not just saying that because she wears our clothes. This woman rocks.

She learned to surf just 4 years ago and is now competing on a near-professional level. Having learned to surf late in life, I can tell you from personal experience how difficult this is. Surfing has a super long learning curve. You can surf and surf every day for months and never catch a wave. It's frustrating, to say the least. Then one day, you'll catch a wave and it changes your life.

And, that’s what it did for Danielle Marvin, our latest and greatest. Having grown up on the East Coast, she earned a soccer scholarship to Southern Florida state (where she got the surfing bug). She was asked to play professional Soccer for Spain and instead, she followed her passion and moved with her husband to Hawaii to pursue an unlikely career in professional surfing.

I'm not sure how familiar you are with the Women's surf tour, but it's super competitive and not exactly lucrative. The purses are much smaller than the men's tour. Despite that fact, Danielle is working hard to join to tour to be one of the few woman in the world that can lay claim to such a feat.

In her spare time, she is an artist and works as a waitress. We are totally psyched to have Danielle on the Carve Designs roster. Watch out for her as she is a force to be reckoned with, and keep updated on her wins and life at http://www.daniellemarvin.blogspot.com/ . We know you will think she is as cool as we do.

Our favorite Danielle Marvin piece of Art (see more at:http://www.cafepress.com/daniellemarvin )

Ethnic Prints

I am really into Ethnic prints these days, Navajo blankets, Pendleton inspired stuff and especially Ikat prints.

I was a hippie back in the day. I went to the University of Oregon, followed the Dead and Phish (should I even admit that?). The whole time, I was wearing Ikat tunics and Navajo jackets. I love how fashion comes full swing...here we are again revisiting these old motifs.

Luckily, usually when the fashion world circles back, the result is better. And now, everything is much cuter. You can get an ice bucket with a great ikat print from www.shopiom.com. Madeline Weinrib has an amazing line of Ikat fabric out at www.madelineweinrib.com. Gucci is even making a dress out of a great grey, black and blue ikat. My Fall 2011 line will be full of these prints, but you'll have to wait a little while for that!

Cabo and the 2011 Collection

Sorry it's been so long...we've had a busy couple of weeks. Lucky for us, we were busy surfing in Cabo and shooting our 2011 collection.

We invited four amazing women to join us. They rip on surfboards and can hop in front of the camera and look pretty.

Here is a sneak peak into our new Spring 2011 line, hope this gets you all excited for what's to come!