THREAD Show Recap Spring 2010

Held inside the abandoned department store at Horton Plaza the space was huge, but nonetheless JAM-packed with anxious shoppers inside, and outside in lines, ready to get down to business. Although personally I am still smitten to THREAD’s previous venue, at Wonderhaus, I have to say THREAD obviously worked hard to ensure they made up for the venue’s lack of “indie/anti commercial authenticity” by adding more local vendors, a distinctive live art wall, and a furniture display. And in our opinion, they succeeded:


Sezio found a sweet little corner to produce hand-screened painted tees, and to offer a sneak peak of their new “Community Shirts” line — which will be debuted at BASIC urban kitchen & bar on Tuesday April 13th, during the Community Party – hosted by Holiday Matinee & Sezio. The shirts looked RAD and the small stock they had flew off the racks right away!

This year at THREAD there was a lot more to offer in term’s of men’s tees. However, to quote a few people who I talked to that day: the Men’s stuff was “so poorly curated”, looked very “Ed Hardy and Affliction-ed out” and “felt like one couldn’t remember whether they were at THREAD or at a Hot Topic” when they came across them.


Straight up abysmal. If you ended up buying one of these horrific displays of bad taste, you’d probably love one of these too.

However, there was one brand that stood out to me that didn’t fall into the glitter skull mold: LOVE NAIL TREE. I had never heard of the company before but let me just say – they were definitely far and away the best among the Men’s clothing offerings. Their line represented truly what THREAD is (or should be) about:

Clever mixed media imagery combined with witty, somewhat racy, and politically-sensitive commentary printed on natural 100% cotton shirts that were not only uniquely awesome but also inspired thoughtful discourse. Check out the site for a look at some of their killer designs and also their collection of vintage brass jewelry.

As part of THREAD’s first year inviting furniture design vendors to showcase at the event, the Nest Vintage Furniture display was pretty nice; but what won our hearts over was the gorgeous art that they featured — by one of TheMixster’s favorite local artists Jocelyn Duke.

However the best part about THREAD this year was the Live Art wall - sponsored by Art Kills Artists – featuring live Wheatpasting.  Exist 1981 went to work on the wall, while J Feather stood close to oversee the whole production.

Overall, the venue out of Horton Plaza was much better than we were expecting. The live art was our favorite part, and our least favorite aspect of THREAD were the majority of the men’s offerings…
The whole event was well organized, very fun, and demonstrated that San Diego had a lot to offer in not only its local designers, but also with the blossoming of our urban art scene and the collaborations between artists and the vendors, and vice-versa. Good times.