Tag Archive for EYECANDYAIR

OET Interview: Hockey Broad

March 1, 2013 Interview No comments

hockey broadI hit the Twitter scene nearly three years ago and felt overwhelmed by the countless hockey accounts I could follow. With so many options came many disappointments. Accounts either didn’t tweet often or tweeted too much. Tweets could be too dull or too colorful. However, I found Hockey Broad to be an excellent combination of hockey knowledge and humor.

So it’s no surprised I hunted her down for an OET interview. If you already follow Hockey Broad, then I know you will really enjoy this interview. If you are not following her work and tweets, then you will crazy enjoy this interview and have a new, fabulous hockey writer to follow. You’re welcome.

OET: For those unfortunate souls who are not familiar with you, give us a little bio.

HB: I’m Cheryl Adams, a hockey writer and photographer. (Neither of these are my primary job, but I wouldn’t mind if they were!) I run my own site, HockeyBroad.com, and I also am the lead Blackhawks writer for TheCheckingLine.com. I live in Chicago, so naturally I follow the Blackhawks, but I love hockey in general, so my rooting interests are spread out across the country.

OET: When did you first fall in love with the sport of hockey?

HB: I was a kid for the 1980s “Miracle on Ice”. Back then, when the Olympics rolled around – remember, they were only every 4 years then, not alternating spring and winter Olympics every 2 years – watching them was an event. All the other TV stations would run repeats because they knew everybody was watching the Olympics, and as kids, we’d get to stay up past our usual bedtimes to watch. I remember watching the US-Russian game and it was just huge for our country, not just as a sports event, but a political event. It was the kind of thing that even as a kid, you understood it was something big. Anyway, I first got interested in the sport from that, but nobody else in my family was too interested in hockey then. Meeting Kevin Dineen my freshman year in high school, when I was on a school trip to Europe, sort of cemented to me how awesome hockey players were, and I’ve followed the sport ever since.

OET: Do you play as well?

HB: I wish! Right now I’m something awful on skates, but I’m working on getting more in shape, and I want to take skating and hockey lessons once my budget allows. There’s a lot of good “learn to skate/learn hockey” programs around Chicago.

Bobby Goepfert (Photo by Hockey Broad)

Bobby Goepfert (Photo by Hockey Broad)

OET: Who is your favorite person to follow on Twitter?

HB: Bobby Goepfert (@geffman47). He’s a funny guy, and a goalie.

OET: You seem to have a love for goalies. Who is your favorite tendy and who wears the best mask art in your opinion?

HB: I have a really hard time picking between Pekka Rinne, Antti Niemi, and Jonathan Quick. Two Finns and a guy from my home state of Connecticut, although that’s not why I like them. They all have their own style. Rinne is just a big guy who is amazingly athletic in the net, like some kind of Cirque du Soleil acrobat. Niemi of course helped bring the Blackhawks the Cup. Sometimes you look him in the net – even with some of the changes he’s made since going to the Sharks – and you think he seems too hunched over or even awkward, but he really keeps his teams in the games. And Quick – until the Kings won the Cup – was kind of overlooked out there on the West, quietly having several nice seasons behind a good team. Read more

Feel the Love with New Hockey Life Apparel

February 13, 2013 Behind the Designs, General No comments

The birth of Outer Edge Threads in June was an exciting venture quickly dampened by the NHL Lockout, but thanks to your support our rookie line was well received and we thrilled to offer the next generation in OET apparel.

OET's Lockout Survivor threads

OET’s Lockout Survivor threads

We will debut our winter line with five new designs on Thursday, February 14th! We figured Valentine’s Day was an appropriate launch date since we appreciate the love, and because of you, we were able to pay that love forward.

The Kids ‘N Community Foundation, a charity that supports many North Carolina non-profits, received a donation check from OET from the Blackbeard shirt sales. Again, many thanks to EYECANDYAIR for loaning us Cam Ward’s sweet goalie mask design.

We were also able to support the Carolina Fury, a power wheelchair hockey league, thanks to your Facebook ‘likes.’

We sincerely appreciate everyone’s support over the past seven months. We received some terrific feedback and we’re excited to offer more color and size options with this new line of hockey threads.
To show our thanks, we are offering a 15% discount code active February 14th on all apparel through Sunday, February 17th. Just use the code: PEACELOVEPUCK at checkout.

OET Supports Youth Hockey…And You Can Too

August 9, 2012 General No comments

OET ad on the boards in Charlotte, NC, home of the AHL Charlotte Checkers and Jr Checkers

Supporting youth hockey programs was a top priority to us when starting OET. Whether we make a $50 or $50,000 profit, we want to be able to give back a good chunk to the young’uns on the ice and to the programs to which they belong. Our first step was creating apparel to benefit the Kids ‘N Community Foundation and the Tim Thomas Foundation with our Blackbeard and Fear the Bear shirts.

Side Note: Funny, no matter how much you plan, you can’t always predict controversy like the Thomas blow-up on Twitter and Facebook. Whether you hate him or love him for his views, we continue to support his hockey camps with our Fear the Bear shirts because it is for the kids. In the words of Forrest Gump, “That’s all I got to say about that.”

OET water bottles will be available in October.

Our second effort is slight, but exciting. We supported the Charlotte Junior Checkers with the purchase of a dasher ad and supplying water bottles for the kids in partnership with the Extreme Ice Center. We know this is just of first of many efforts to encourage youth in the sport.

Help us support the team with a purchase of our charity tees. Our new line will launch in October with more designs, sizes, and accessories. Oh, and of course we will have a new charity line to support various charities.

What apparel you like to see? What hockey charity would you like to support? Let us know in the comment section.

 

Olympic Sale: Red, White & Blue Threads

July 28, 2012 General No comments

Ryan Lochte claiming most of the USA headlines in these games. Photo: Ralph Lauren/AP

Red, White & Blue Sale

The 2012 Summer Olympics kicked off Friday in London. Mr. Bean was a fantastic surprise and my favorite moment from the opening ceremonies. View it here. What a mug that guy has, eh?

Combine Mr. Bean with a killer day one of the games and we are in a great, patriotic mood. So champs, enjoy $5 off all our true red, white, and blue shirts until Sunday (7.29.12) at midnight (EST) or until supplies last. Offer is valid for all US and Canadian orders (because we love our neighbors to the north).

In case you are colored blind (poor bastards), below are the shirts on sale that have already been discounted $5 for your convenience.

Southern Creases Adult

Blackbeard Adult

Good Things Adult

Good Things Youth

Despite the discount, we will still donate 15% of the sales from Blackbeard to the Kids ‘N Community Foundation. Save money and donate to a fabulous charity! Tell your pals.

On a side note, was anyone else shocked at how thrilling archery was today? Or how about Michael Phelps barely qualifying? And how sick is the women’s USA soccer team? Nice little appetizer before the hockey season, no?

Coming to America: Hockey Life Apparel

July 5, 2012 Behind the Designs, General No comments

Prince Akeem: Fascinating! Semmi, look at this! America is great indeed. Imagine a country so free, one can throw glass on the streets! -Coming to America

Happy Fourth of July! I’d first like to thank all the men and women who served and continue to serve our great country. This day in our history means more than fireworks and hot dogs. Although, I can guarantee there will be a lot of barbeque’in in my neck of the southern woods. I thought today, of all days, would be a good time to stress OET’s American pride philosophy.

Or, I may just spew Coming to America quotes for the next 400 words…

(steps out from hotel room to soak in NY cityscape) Read more

OET Launches as Underdogs

June 20, 2012 Behind the Designs, General No comments

Logo by Joe Warner of 89 Ideas

On Sunday, June 17th, the Outer Edge Threads website went live after eight months of hard work. I popped about ten anti-acids and prayed to the hockey gods that the world would find my work…nice…yes, I’ll take nice for now, because let’s be honest here…

OET went in as the underdog. I’m not making gear “for the boys, by the boys.” Nope, last time I checked I was definitely a female and I focus more on the ladies of the ice. My company also isn’t based in northern hockey country, rather the good ‘ol south of U.S. of A. Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect when we launched. To add to my stress, I entered OET is a best business social media competition against companies that were already in business and have customers. Do you see why the anti-acids were important? Read more

2011-12 NHL Goalie Mask Rankings

June 19, 2012 General No comments

Cam Ward inspired charity tee by EYECANDYAIR at www.outeredgethreads.com. Watermark not included on actual shirt.

There is much to love about those crazy crease bandits, but one thing that sets goalies apart is their beautiful mask art. Some tendies are in need of a serious mask makeover, while others have nailed it. Here are my rankings on starting NHL goalies in team alphabetical order starting with the first 15 teams. I ranked them on a scale from 1-5, five being supreme.

I must give thanks and encourage you to follow I Love Goalies and The Goalie Crease Network. They made my research easy peazy. Click on the player name to view the mask on the I Love Goalies blog.

Anaheim Duck: Jonas Hiller by Airxess, Score 3

I simply do not get his regular mask. There is no clear theme or purpose; however his Movember art was fantastic. The November mask displays Ducks’ player profile pictures with moustaches painted on their faces. I love it. Combining the two persuaded me to give him a solid 3 out of 5. Read more

Behind the Design: Fear the Bear

May 27, 2012 Behind the Designs No comments

Fear the Bear sneak peek

I was thrilled to reveal EYECANDYAIR’s Blackbeard Beauty design Friday, so I thought I would keep the momentum going with a sneak peek at our second charity tee. Also designed by Steve Nash, Fear the Bear was inspired by Tim Thomas’ head gear and 15% of the sales will go to the Tim Thomas Foundation.

This All-Star goaltender is well decorated. He is a Stanley Cup champion who has earned two Vezina Trophies, a Conn Smythe Trophy, and two ESPY awards.

Fear the Bear will be available in mens, womens, and youth sizes in grey or gold colored t-shirts.

Please note EYECANDYAIR retains full trademark rights to this design. The Boston Bruins and Tim Thomas do not personally endorse these products.

Many thanks to Steve and Steph Nash for their participation. Be sure to check out their amazing masks on their website and give them a follow on Facebook and Twitter.

I also would like to thank Joe Warner for piecing Mr. Nash’s design together for a killer looking shirt. Give Joe a follow on Twitter!

Behind the Design: Blackbeard Beauty

May 25, 2012 Behind the Designs One comment

Blackbeard Beauty by EYECANDYAIR

Hands down, this is the design I’m most pumped to reveal. I’m so excited about this line, I don’t even know where to start. Please hold while I give fake fist bumps to an invisible bench.

Now that we got that out of the way…

OET gave birth in Raleigh, North Carolina, so it is no surprise we’re Carolina Hurricanes fans. If you follow us on Twitter or Facebook, you also know we are a little partial to goalies and we have one of the best in Carolina. Cam Ward is a Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe winner. The All-Star netminder also became the first starting goaltender to win the NHL championship as a rookie since Patrick Roy in 1986. He also has some of the sickest goalie mask art in the game thanks to EYECANDYAIR. Read more

Supporting the Team: EYECANDYAIR

March 25, 2012 General One comment

Fans can easily wear replicated jerseys of their favorite player. Hockey enthusiasts may also sport t-shirts and hats displaying their favorite team’s logo. However, the most artistic designs on the ice are not readily available.

Goalies stand apart from other hockey players for a variety of reasons. Their unique mask art being a clear example. Outer Edge Threads is beyond thrilled to announce we are launching charity apparel sponsored by EYECANDYAIR. Now you can wear shirts supporting two Stanley Cup goalie’s non-profit organizations…and look good while doing it.

Steve Nash, of EYECANDYAIR, is the artist behind the masks of Cam Ward, Tim Thomas, Martin Biron, Jonathan Quick, Chris Mason and more. I interviewed Mr. Nash a few months ago for CardiacCane.com and I couldn’t wait to find a reason to work with them again. Read more