Here is the complete hummel Per Invitiation Only FW06 collection, with descriptions in english, for all those of you who couldnt read the exclusive first release post by Joachim over at 7inch.dk

The Per Invititation collection is the premium lifestyle footwear collection for hummel. Offered only to select sneaker and fashion stores, with limited distribution, only about 50 stores world wide.

Drawing inspiration from a variety of current and classic styles in sport and lifestyle, the PIO collection has been built with the concept "Jeg har Karakter" (I have Character) in mind. This concept mixes the unique personality of the hummel brand (chevrons and the bee) with innovative materials and colors designed for the street and the individual.

Click the Read More link below for more text and info.





HENNING

Football inspired lifestyle shoe mixing court and sport styles. Lace to toe style construction and a clean, simple, modern asethetic reflect the Danish design langauge and hummel sport history.

Original outsole with classic football cleat tread and rivets
Chrome pigskin lining
Embroidery asymmetrical hummel Bee logo (only on right foot)
Long vintage-style laces and extra set regular length laces included
Embroidery Bee logo on heel
Leather hummel Bee keychain included with each pair



NIELSEN

Redesign of heritage high cut handball shoe with contemporary, minimal Danish Design aesthetic. In 1848 the Danish sports administrator Holger Nielsen gave permission for a "handball game" to be played in Ortrup secondary school and promptly laid down the corresponding rules for it. One of the first appearances of the modern handball game.

Super soft nappa leather upper
Pig skin tongue lining
Extra set colored laces included with each pair
Classic original handball rubber outsole
Chevron heel webbing



JACOBSEN

Vulcanized high cut style mixing casual urban influence and Danish Modernism. Name inspired by influential Danish Architect/Designer Arne Jacobsen (1902-1971). Arne Jacobsen is well known for his classic, timeless, designs, including the Aarhus City Hall designed in 1938.

Chevron elastic forefoot strap
Chevron heel webbing
Holdsport Siden 1923 rubber heel logo
Laser Etch Bee tongue logo
Extra set colored laces included with each pair
Leather hummel Bee keychain included with each pair
Hummel branded outsole with tread and stitch
Laser etched monogram Bee/Chevron pattern on quarter (on White/Florescent Yellow colorway only)

**Jacobsen Camo uses the ultimate in performance leather. Constructed of Pittards WR Premiership Goat Skin Analine Leather, this material is the same material used by the UK SAS (Special Air Service) and Canadian Army for paratrooper and special forces gloves. This unique leather is completely abrasion resistant, sweat resistant, and water resistant while lightweight and soft to the touch. The Camo pattern, is produced using a patented CIG (Custom Image Generation) process, the ensures durability and performance.

more pics to come!

Back from a crazy weekend in Berlin! As mentioned, I attended the BBB show, where hummel fashion was presenting our latest fashion and sport fashion textile collections and the world premiere of the new lifestyle footwear, Per Invitation Only and Old School.

Lots of pics coming all this week from the show and Berlin.

Check some pics of the hummel stand below. click Read More for additional pics.






Thursday night I arrived in Berlin, and went directly to the show to help set up. Our other sales people, and German country manager were already there and the stand builders had been working on the set all day. Cut to fit the stand, the new hummel booth featured a photo background and custom stainless steel display mounts and shelves.



Seeing the show in this unfinished state was very interesting. 100% Chaos! Once you check the final pics of the very crowded show as I post them later this week, you'll see.



The hummel stand, S31 was located in the Sport and Street hall, by far the busiest, and our location was in a very high traffic area.



Behin our booth was New Balance and PF Flyers, and hummel represented with a stand as large as those two combined. Not bad for a small brand from Denmark.



More pics and info to come soon on the latest product. stand by.

As I'll be off to Berlin tomorrow, and am currently busy packing, I dont have time to post another espisode in the production series. Instead, I've got some great pics from the same asia trip, en route to China while I was in Hong Kong.

Check em out. Great porno+guns T-shirts, mad sneaker shops and HK city pics after the Read More link below.

Update- hummel Fashion will be at Bread and Butter Berlin (BBB) at Stand S31. Check us out there! see you in Berlin.

The always excellent Danish sneaker blog 7inch.dk has the exclusive first pics of the new hummel Per Invitation Only lifestyle footwear collection. 7inch.dk has the first release pics worldwide of this collection, so check his blog for more pics and info (in Danish). Thanks Joachim.

This collection will be premiered at Bread & Butter Berlin tradeshow later this week. Check us out there at the hummel fashion booth if you are attending, or stay tuned for more pics and info coming up next week.

7inch.dk

R

Its that time again! BBB. I'll be off to Berlin this Thursday until Sunday.

hummel fashion will again be showing at BBB, with a special preview of the latest lifetyle footwear collections.

If anyone is planning to attend BBB, and would like to stop by our booth, feel free to drop me an email or leave a comment here, and we can work out a time.

I'll be posting more info regarding our booth location soon.

As well, of course watch out for more great pics of the show, trends, and the latest hummel lifestyle shoes coming up next week.

R

The next step in production is cutting and preparation.

In this stage, the selected materials are taken from the material warehouse, and brought to the cutting room or area. Cutting dies are used, which are metal cookies cutter like dies, used with a large stamping machine that puts puses down the die onto the material.

More info and pics after the Ream More link below




See cutting machine pics above. Depending on the material, these cutting dies and machines can cut through more than layer of material at a time. For materials like collar lining foams, reinforcements, and synthetics, they typically cut 3-5 layers of material at once. For leathers, because they stretch and the materials is very costly if wasted, the operators cut one layer at a time. The boards on the cutting machines are layered in a thick wax block, to keep the dies sharp and ensure good, clean cuts every time.



As mentioned earlier, care is taken throught the cutting process to minimize waste and nest the part layout to maximize material use. In some cases, this layout of how the cut parts should be taken from a piece of material, is planned by a special computer program. Different materials also have different concerns and waste in cutting. For example, because of the nature of the skin and animal, Goat Skin Leather has a much lower loss rate than Kangaroo leather (and the raw skin is also bigger). This not only affects the cost of a material on a boot, but also effects the result of final product.





During cutting, especially of leather, becuase the natural material may vary in grain texture and color, small stickers are put on the cut parts, to ensure that the part for the left and right shoe in one pair come from the same material for best consistency.



After cuttting, parts may be screen printed with stitching guidelines as shown above with special inks that will disappear or be only visible in UV light, to help stitching workers follow the necessary stitching lines on a pattern. This is especially important for decoration stitching that must be in certain pattern like the vamp stitching on the vamp of the 4.2 Concept as shown above.





It is also during this step, that the edges of materials (both leather and synthetic) are made thinner to have a better looking seams and avoid unsightly bulges. This process is called skiving. This is done as shown above with a special machine that will cut the thickness of the leather down using a special spining blade. Skiving may typically reduce leather material thickness from something like 1.2mm to 0.5mm





Materials

Cutting

Printing and HF embossing

Stitching

Lasting

Assembly

final QC and packing

In any shoe, the upper materials are one of the most important (and expensive) components. For football boots, the upper materials are even more important as good materials can make the difference between good and bad touch, comfort, performance, and fit.

More pics and info after the Read More link below.





The new hummel 2006 football boots use a variety of natural and man made materials for ultimate performance and quality. One of the key materials, as used in the 4.2 Concept and 8.2 Concept is Pittards WR Premiership Goat Skin leather.

Since last year, hummel and Pittards have been working very closely together to develop this new, exciting material. As the first brand worldwide to use this material in football, much of the development and specifics of the product was created and tested to specifications set by hummel and Pittards together.



High abrasion resistance
Resists wear and tear

Permanent water resistance
Ensures lightweight comfort in wet conditions

Enhanced Grip
Water resistance enhances grip and touch in all conditions

Optimum softness
Engineered leather remains naturally soft to the touch in use

Excellent sweat resistance
Prevents material breakdown keeping leather soft and supple

Unique breathability
Maximum breathability ensures comfort and performance



Compared to Kangaroo and Bovine (cow) leather, Goat Skin has a unique fiber structure that gives it natural superior abrasion resistance and breathability.

This natural abrasion resistance is further enhanced by a special combination of high performance polymers, silicones and waxes, Pittards eNamelFlex. Applied by process technology this treatment ensures high strength, flex and abrasion properties.



Pittards WR Premiership also uses a special weather reistant application; WR100X. The WR100X tanning process has been specially engineered to offer improved water resistance properties, which keep your hummel footwear protected at all times. Although water uptake is limited, WR100X leather is still breathable and will allow perspiration and air to pass through the fiber structure, keeping the foot cool and comfortable.

Ordinary leathers take over 24 hours to dry and are usually hard and prone to cracking. WR100 leather dries in around 6 hours, and is as soft and supple as on the first wearing.



Before production, the factory will calculate the required material consumption of each part, including "loss" (the small bits left over when the needed shapes are cut out). This requirement is then used byt the factory to order production materials based on production orders placed to the factory.

For one style, a number of different materials and suppliers will need to be used. Leather, mesh, laces, lining, foams, reinforcements, etc, each in the required color and quanitity are purchased individually by a material purchasing department.

Once the materials arrive at factory, they are kept in a material warehouse, tagged for each order, and inspected.

In the case of upper leathers, such as Pittards WR Premiership, which are by the far the most expensive part of a football boot (more than 50% of the total cost of the boot), each individual skin is checked and any faults identified (all natural materials will have some faults), colors inspected (as any natural material may vary slightly), and approved for use.

The raw leather is then layed out and marked by hand for the next step, cutting. In the pics above, you can see the pattern for the vamp area of the 4.2 Concept pattern parts are layed out to maximize material use for the 4.2 Concept FGC.



Materials

Cutting

Printing and HF embossing

Stitching

Lasting

Assembly

final QC and packing