We over at AOI are constantly looking at websites and blogs for sources of inspiration, cool tips, insider knowledge, and just plain curiosity. Blogging has become a common thing to many individuals as well as clothing brands and companies. It makes a person/brand become more transparent to their friends/followers/clients. And since there is really no standard rule to blogging it allows people to express themselves without rules and regualtions and actually use their so-called freedom of speech. So in the spirit of blogging we wanted to share some of the sites and blogs that help get us (AOI) through our normal work day.

www.thehundreds.com

The Hundreds is  clothing brand based out of California. They are a pretty big deal when it comes to street wear brands. But their blog is amazing. You can definitely get a feel for the people behind the brand though their blog. Great photos and great daily entries. Very consistant in their posts and great brand transparency.

www.abduzeedo.com/

Abuzeedo is a design/inspiration blog started by Brazilian designer Fabio Sasso. Another blog updated daily with multiple posts. Great insight on design, architecture, cool gadjets, tutorials, and interviews from designers all over the world. If you don’t get inspired by this blog then you might have a problem.

www.verysmartbrothas.com

Verysmartbrothas.com is a blog thats speaks more on relationships, theories, race, politics, andetc.. Its one of those funny but true type of blogs. The duo The Champ and Panama Jackson are the main writers of the blog and they give out a lot of advice like: “Ya Unnastand: Things Black Folks Do That White People Don’t Understand “, “10 Reasons Not To Date Dimes” and “3 completely practical reasons why he’s with a white woman“. Definitely a good read.

www.okayplayer.com

Okayplayer is a portal into all things in the hip-hop culture. They review new artist’s, albums, hip-hop news, and more. This is a site for the more alternative hip hop focused person. A breath of fresh air when it comes to your normal hip-hop/rap sites.

www.huffingtonpost.com

We have to get a daily dose of news. Huffington post is a internet newpaper/blog that talks about breaking news and articles that not every site covers.

www.johnnycupcakes.com

Johnny Cupcakes is the man so ofcourse we follow his blog. He gives updates on what he’s doing around the country and also makes his brand more transparent. Always a good look when we go to this blog.

www.webdesignerdepot.com

Webdesigner depot is a blog more about graphic design and web design information and inspiration. They give a lot of cool tips and great articles for the aspiring designers out there. A wealth of information for anybody interested in design.

www.planetgreen.com

Plant green discusses pretty much everything “green”. Since we are environmentally conscious brand we like to keep up with “green news” and awareness.

www.espn.com

Ofcourse we cannot forget espn.com. Pretty much the whole AOI team are sports junkies so we have to get our weekly dose of good ‘ol sports highlights and news.

Also here are some of our close friends blogs check them out.
www.pathologicaldesigners.com
www.officialstylesociety.blogspot.com
www.naturallyleslie.blogspot.com
www.broccolicity.com
www.hbcudigest.com
www.singlebubblepop.blogspot.com
www.mylifestylemude.com

I hope i didn’t miss anybody but if I did just leave a comment with your blog. We appreciate all the support from everybody. So I hope yall check out some of these sites because they all are good reading.

Last week, my good fortune struck again and I was sent to LA for a business trip. So once I landed, I decided to make a couple of stops on the way to my hotel. Once I arrived, words can’t describe the quarter mile radius of t-shirt heaven full of shops that have blazed a path in the t-shirt world over the past decade. Johnny Cupcakes, Kid Robot, The Hundreds, and more stores I’ve never even heard of before. All within walking distance of one another. Like most things, pictures tell the story even better than words. Take a look.

First stop off of the plane, In-N-Out!

If you've never been to Cali to enjoy In-N-Out before, it's a must do. Every single one of their stores are family owned and you can tell even down to the french fries. Which are made from fresh, never frozen potatoes. Same goes for their beef. Sadly, because they are family owned, this means if you're not in Cali or Nevada, no double double for you.

Even the views on regular drives such as these are amazing with mountains in the background.

Next stop, Johnny Cupcakes!

Johnny's storefront

For the design of the store, Johnny carries the bakery theme even down to the sizing chart/nutritional facts board. The check out counter-top, an oven.

Bakery themed down to the enclosure that holds the t-shirts. Awesome.

And on to The Hundreds

It would be pretty cool to have an AOI door mat at my apartment one day.

Not as flashy as Johnny Cupcakes inside but it still gets the job done.

More stuff to smash into my carry on suitcase.

No trip to LA is complete without the "Hollywood" sign. Good times.