It’s as if it was yesterday when we went to check the bonfires in my hometown just last year. Wow, last year has probably been the fastest in my life. So many things have happened, we’ve traveled across the world and taken huge leaps in life. I believe the year of the Tiger was good in many ways and the on-going rabbit’s year ain’t half bad either. After all I can spend the little spare time I have chilling in beautiful weather playing with my son.

Last year Maxwell was still “marinating” as one of my friends put it. And today he’s a big boy playing on the yard. Time flies doesn’t it? We’re moving fast moving from baby steps to jogging speed and at this pace we need to run soon enough.

The sad part about moving fast is that one has to sacrifice a lot. As Rick Ross put it, “you don’t become young millionaire without putting aside things in life that are important to you.” Although I’m no millionaire I can relate to those words. Thankfully there are days like these that I can spend 100% with the family.

So many interesting on-going projects, of which the next one is the one that I will spend most time with. I have already hinted of a new denim project in development. We’re ironing out final details and I hope to make announcements soon, but for now I will leave things at teaser state. Stay tuned, I’ll be releasing more details soon enough.

But for now, if you’re celebrating midsummer, happy holidays and if not… Just enjoy the weekend and spend time with the family. That’s what I’m gonna do. Peace…

Midsummer this traditional holiday is once again upon us. Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedy by William Shakespeare “which is believed to have been written around 1594 to 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of amateur actors, who are manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set.” (Wikipedia) In Finland Midsummer basically has people escaping the cities into their summer cottages and villas in the countryside becoming one with the nature. Or so you would think. This holiday is one of the main drink-fests in our beloved Finland and it would seem that some have started the celebration early.

Don’t worry, the person in the picture is very much alive just so drunk he could not get up from the pavement. He did have the energy to take off his shoes though. This was taken yesterday at 3.30 pm in Helsinki. A really early start for the festivities.

I have been pushing the boundaries of a day’s work for the past weeks having the “Demon in a Bottle expression” on my face more than once.

But it has all been for a purpose of also escaping the daily routines for few days. We drove to my hometown last night avoiding the Midsummer traffic jams pretty nicely. There was a point where we were driving at 14 km/h at 120 km/h zone, but that 20 minute span can barely be counted as this was due to the road works. The weather is warm and sunny and although I’m still working as I’m writing this, I’m almost on the holiday mode. The next three days are my summer holiday so believe you me I’m gonna enjoy myself to the fullest. No month long holidays for yours truly.

Some announcements from our news section:
“Finland is once again in holiday mode with Midsummer just behind the corner. We’re still active but due to the bank holidays the orders placed between Thursday 23rd of June and Sunday 27th of June will be shipped out on Monday 28th of June.”

But although the country’s in a holiday mode your inquiries will be answered as always.

Life can be like one big yacht club party so whether it’s family time or a drink fest, make sure you take it easy and stay safe. Avoid those demons in a bottle and have fun.

Happy Midsummer everyone!

The Midsummer is over and everyone is getting (or already have got) back to routines. Funny enough, it’s like everything just froze for the past few days. Nothing against that though. It’s nice to realize that you had not missed all that many emails and such, heh. There are always few but hey it is what it is.

Sometime back I posted stuff about Veja, a French brand specialized in eco-shoes. Today I thought of jotting down few words on another set of alternative kicks; Koyuk hemp-shoes.

Hemp is one of nature’s wonder plants, a fast growing, sustainable weed and one of the fastest growing biomasses used in many ways, such as textiles, paper and of course  from paper, to textiles, and biodiesel. The plant has a slightly questionable reputation due to its relation to marijuana. However in Japan for instance, the plant has been historically used as paper and a fiber crop where as the seeds were eaten. Hemp is also portrayed in traditional Japanese Kimono as a beautiful plant.

Enough of the history lesson, Koyuk shoe comes in various colors. Kayuk is not the only brand around using hemp though. Many denim brands have also taken the initiative to use this hemp as a part of their organic denim production. Denim producers have mixed cotton with fibres from plants such as hemp and sugar cane to create a natural high quality fabrics.

Well I guess this is enough of that. Another thing I wanted to mention was that I would like to extend my thanks to all readers out there. Thanks for the feedback and for your interest. I will keep the text flowing. Much respect.

To reward all our readers, NDH is handing out a promotional code worth 10% (valid until 10th of July). Just include the coupon code “BLOG-NDH10″ at the checkout for the discount. Since it’s summer, we also decided to continue the KIKS TYO Tee-promotion until 10th of July. Midsummer is now done with but since it’s all so crazy let’s call it Midsummer madness. To quote the great Jackie Moon, “In the anals of history people are going to be talking about three things: the discovery of fire, invention of the submarine, and the Nordic Denim House Midsummer madness.” Haha…

Enjoy the warm summer days and keep grinding. I’m out but have no fear, I will be back in no time.