Urban Jacksonville

image courtesy of Paper n Stitch

Update! I’m giving away a free Arturo shirt to the person who comes up with the best reason why it matters that Arturo is moving to Springfield.

Arturo Clothing, a local clothing maker and friend of Urban Jacksonville, announced on their blog they are moving operations to the BBB Complex at 1520 Main Street:

We are moving our screen printing supplies into the Burro Bags shop. This will be a great opportunity for both us and Burro to feed ideas off of each other and expand our companies!!

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This is significant because it not only increases the retail footprint of the BBB Warehouse, but of Springfield. Main Street can now boast four lifestyle retail businesses in one location. All thanks to the benevolent landlord SRG.

1. Burro Bags – custom messenger bags
2. Zombie Bikes – bike co-op
3. Royal Treatment Records – record shop
4. Arturo Clothing – hand screened shirts, bags and knitted hats

5 Reasons Why The Arturo Move Matters

Sure, you can chalk one in the win column for my 2009 Predictions (yes, I’m keeping score), but it’s bigger than that. Here are five reasons why the move matters:

1. More bodies on Main Street means more money will be pumped into local businesses like Chan’s and the BBB itself. It will also give the appearance of activity and set the tone that something is happening on Main Street.
2. It’s a vote for Springfield retail illustrating the environment in the neighborhood is favorable enough to pick up and move current operations.
3. Power in numbers demonstrates to the benevolent landlord that there may be something to this little retail experiment, encouraging them to keep it going indefinitely.
4. Concentration of creative energy keeps everyone inspired and makes it more fun. Working in a vacuum sucks.
5. Fill in the blank and tell me why you think it matters. Yes, I know it’s a cop out, but I gotta go get ready for work suckas. The person with the best answer gets a free Arturo shirt!

Here is a background of the BBB Complex and a link to the
Arturo Clothing feature on the Paper n Stitch blog.

There are lots of benefits to buying local: less packaging and package waste, no shipping costs, which uses less fuel and it promotes/supports the local community. Here are my gift picks for this buy local holidazzle!

The Royal Treatment Record Store

www.myspace.com/theroyaltreatmentdjs
1520 Main Street, Springfield

$30 – 3 CDs and T-Shirt make the Royal Treatment holiday gift pack! (pictured above) CDs: The N Word, Tough Junkie and Willie Evans Jr.

Deals on vinyl records too!

• Alligator (local St. Augustine band)
• The Smile Rays – Party Place EP
• Beastie Boys – License to Ill (still wrapped)
• Beck – Mellow Gold

Anomaly

www.anomalyfivepoints.com
1021 Park Street, Five Points
Recommendations from Emily, the owner

Mention you saw this on Urban Jacksonville 10% off of an entire purchase.

For the ladies
I love Molly M. jewelry. Everything is priced at $38 for the small pendants and earrings and $48 for the large. It’s laser cut wood and acrylic. All handmade in San Francisco. We’re also all stocked up on party dresses and other great sparkly jewelry!

For the guys
We’ve got great new tees from Upper Playground and Obey, as well as $20 artist series wallets by Poketo. These wallets are produced by Poketo but the images are designed by different artists from around the country and makes great pocket art!

For the kids
Allover print hoodies from Loyal Army are too cute! sized to 4T, $32.

For your friends
I really tried to get alot of $10 and under gifts this year. Our “saving up for good weed” bank ($9) is back and always funny! And there’s always the book of seriously bad baby names ($6) for the person that has everything.

Burro Bags

burrobags.blogspot.com
1520 Main Street, Springfield
Recommendations from Matt, co-owner

$65 to $130: Medium Burro Bag constructed of retired highway billboards
$12 Beard Bandana – Get your lady some facial hair for the holidays!

Arturo Clothing

http://arturoclothingco.blogspot.com
Find Arturo at Anomaly in Five Points, Kona Skatepark’s Pro Shop, and at Art Walk every first Wednesday of the Month

Arturo Clothing Co. is a DIY company that produces original, hand screened shirts and bags on the highest quality materials available. Shirts run at $15 and bags at $10. You can find our products at Anomaly in Five Points, Kona Skatepark’s Pro Shop, and at Art Walk every first Wednesday of the Month.

December 20th is the perfect day to buy local at the BBB Complex Art Show at 1520 Main Street where you can get Arturo, Burro Bags and The Royal Treatment Records pack. Along with local art and these other vendors:

• Heart of Gold – (Boca Raton) Clothing
• Hot Life – (Orlando) Clothing
• Robyn Crews – Pillowcases made of recycled materials

I first met Arturo in the streets of Jacksonville where I noticed their distinctive designs over and over. Shortly after that I received and email from them, followed by a package in the mail with tshirts and stickers. I finally met them in person at the Partisan the Sea poster show. They’re an awesome group who make quality clothes so I wanted to spread the word.

Who is Arturo Clothing and what’s up with the name?
Arturo Clothing is a underground movement based around the Jacksonville street scene. The name was inspired from a small bundle of joy who we befriended at a local summer art camp.

What types of clothing are you making. What are you planning to make?
We basically make clothes for everyday use. Things like tshirts, bags, and beanies….because everyone wears clothes.

Where can I buy Arturo?
Well you can’t really buy Arturo himself, but you can buy our clothes at Anomaly in Five Points, Artwalk the first Wednesday of every month, and we will be launching an online store early next year.

You guys are currently using a lot of insect symbolism in your clothes. Is there any meaning behind that?
Well, our product isn’t necessarily based around bugs, but around the pests of society.

What would you say distinguishes Arturo from other local clothing brands
We make everything at our house, all of our images are original, and we only print on the highest quality of shirts. For instance our screens are hand crafted instead of the popular photo emulsion process that most local clothing companies use.

You say on your myspace all your shirts are hand screened. Why did you choose to screen shirts yourself instead of outsource it to a digital printer?
We are a diy company. We do EVERYTHING ourself.

Why do you choose to use American Apparel instead of another brand of shirt to screen on?
American Apparel makes the highest quality fitted tshirt that we can get our hands on.

What is your next big project or promotion coming us?
Well coming up quick we have our booth at the Art Walk. Big event wise we are hoping to put together something along the lines of a fashion show, and have urban jacksonville be part of it!

myspace.com/arturoclothing
arturoclothingco.blogspot.com