Welcome to the Alternative Blog, your hub for all things Alternative. Here, you'll get the latest on our community, as well as fashion, music, pop culture, and more!
We get tons of mail each week from customers who want to offer their services as a model for Alternative. If you've ever thought, "Hey, I would look really cute modeling those Alternative clothes!" then we've got something for you: announcing Alternative's Next Ad Model contest! For our first run, we're asking all you hoodie lovers to send in a photo wearing your favorite Alternative hoodie. If your picture is selected, you'll end up in an Alternative ad AND we'll send you a $100 gift card. Sounds good, right?
To enter your photo and/or to get more info on this contest, visit www.alternativeapparel.com/admodelcontest. Get those entries in before October 10, 2010 for your chance to win!
P.S. Don't forget to leave a product review on the hoodie that you're modeling for us - we wanna know what you think!
Late last week, Alternative named The Peach Kings the Grand Prize Winner of its first ever Unsigned Artist Competition. The August 5th event, which took place at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City, featured our four phenomenal finalists, including the Peach Kings, The Lighthouse and the Whaler, Button Willow Locomotive and M.anifest. While the performances were stellar all around, the California-based Peach Kings' immense talent and creativity, along with the support of their fans, has earned them the Grand Prize--which means they walked away with $1500 cash, an Alternative Apparel wardrobe, two Epiphone Hummingbird guitars and a spot in Paste magazine's fall music line-up. The duo will also be featured in an upcoming Alternative Apparel campaign. Thanks to our panel of judges and all who voted--your voices have been heard!
The votes have been tallied and we’re thrilled to announce our top four Unsigned Artist Competition finalists. Congratulations to The Peach Kings, Button Willow Locomotive, The Lighthouse and the Whaler and M.anifest!
Now, these four rising starts will pack their bags and head to New York City to sing their hearts out for the grand prize. On August the finalists will perform in front of a packed house and a panel of judges, including Alternative Apparel founder and Chief Creative Officer Greg Alterman, RJW Collective partner and former Epic Records president Charlie Walk, founding publisher of Paste magazine Nick Purdy, and A&R Manager of Columbia Records Jay Harren.
We're proud to announce the launch of a special contest with The Whigs, a trio of garage rockers from Athens, GA. Now through August 8th, you can enter our contest and submit any and all questions you'd like to ask Parker, Julian and Tim. We'll select 10 questions at random once the entry period is closed; The Whigs will then choose which three they'd like to answer during a special interview recorded at San Francisco Outside Lands, August 14-15. If your question is selected, you'll also win a prize pack including goodies from The Whigs and a $200 gift card for some shop-til-you-drop action at alternativeapparel.com!
The Whigs are touring this fall with Kings of Leon and The Black Keys; for tour dates and venues, visit their official site.
We're also happy to announce that Alternative is the official apparel sponsor for Outside Lands music festival for a third year in a row. Outside Lands, which takes place in San Francisco's gorgeous Golden Gate park every August, hosts performances by today's hottest bands and musicians. In addition, the Outside Lands music festival is dedicated to remaining eco-friendly and is produced every year with zero carbon footprint! For more information on Outside Lands and this year's line-up, visit their official site.
We had so much fun last year with our Show Us Your Summer photo contest that we're bringing it back for 2010 - are you ready to show us what you've got?? It's easy, y'all. Just send us a photo of yourself wearing your favorite Alternative clothing while enjoying the summertime. It could be a photo of you on a paradise vacation in Hawaii, a photo of you hanging by the pool with your friends, or even a photo of you laying around watching TV. The only rules are that it has to be this summer, you have to be wearing your Alternative Apparel and you have to be having fun! Your photo could win you a shopping spree to snag some more Alternative for your fall wardrobe.
Here's what you need to do:
1. Click here to fill out the entry form and attach your photo. Don't forget to fill in your comments to tell us what you're doing in the photo and what Alternative style you're wearing. If you have more than one photo you wanna send, just fill out the form again!
3. When you find your photo in our Facebook photo album, make sure you share it with your friends! The five people who get the most "likes" on their photo will win a $200 fall shopping spree!
The last day for submissions is Sunday, July 25, 2010. We're leaving the photos up for voting through Thursday, July 29, so you'll have a few extra days to get your photos as many "likes" on Facebook as possible!
One of our favorite bands right now is Minus The Bear, and apparently you guys are feeling us because we keeping seeing these guys pop up with rave reviews everywhere! Granted, their latest album Omni was released just last week, but they've been getting cheers and more cheers from critics and audiences alike. They take a prog-rock sound and blend it with some indie pop goodness for a sound that is, simply put, fun. Oh! And danceable. Fun and dancey good times.
You can check out their track "My Time" on our Music Box, available here on our blog as well as our super duper iPhone app. But I'm sure you want more more more than that, so here it is: you've got a chance to win a gift pack with a copy of Omni, an autographed tee (signed on our very own 100% organic cotton crew), a $200 gift card for a wild Alternative Apparel shopping spree, an iTunes gift card, sunglasses and even more goodies.
We'll select one winner from everyone who enters through the official entry form and another winner from all those who download our iPhone app. (Hint: This means that if you have an iPhone, you can enter to win twice!) If you've already downloaded our iPhone app, then you don't need to do it again—you're automatically entered!
No purchase necessary. The deadline to enter via entry form or iPhone is 11:59 PM (Eastern Time) on Sunday, May 23, 2010. We'll announce the two winners on May 26, 2010. To see the official rules, visit http://www.alternativeapparel.com/minusthebear/ContestRules.htm.
As a little bonus, here's some quick footage that the Minus The Bear crew sent over to us describing their new album and such. Love how laid back and chill they are - you can totally picture yourself having beers with these guys one afternoon, n'est-ce pas?
