Geek Woman: Whose idea was J!NX? Did you start with the company?

Samantha Regan: J!NX was started in 1999 by our founders and benevolent overlords, Sean “Jinx” Gailey and Tim Norris.  J!NX began as a t-shirt company, offering irreverent t-shirts inspired by video games and geek culture.  I joined J!NX in 2009 when the company decided to expand into custom cut and sew clothing. With my background in fashion and costume design and my love of gaming and geekery, it was a perfect fit.

The clothes on J!NX are so cool looking, did you design them all?

I design our cut and sew apparel; such as jackets, polos, hoodies, and pants. Each design is custom built from the ground up, with geeky touches like oversized Jedi-inspired hoods and headphone grommets for your phone. We keep the custom apparel subtle to complement our t-shirts, which are designed by a team of talented graphic artists and illustrators here at J!NX.

It seemed like J!NX got lots of name recognition back a few years ago from putting your shirts on Kevin Rose when he was on G4, how did that come about?

We’ve been fortunate to partner with some awesome people in the gaming and geek community.  Everyone from Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht of Diggnation to Felicia Day and the cast of the Guild to IGN’s Jessica Chobot has been seen in J!NX gear.  Each one of them is as passionate about gaming and the geek lifestyle as we are, so much so that we offer special t-shirt collections in our Friends of J!NX section where you can find official designs for The Guild, The Totally Rad Show, design collaborations with Wil Wheaton and more.

When you were a costume designer, what films or theater did you work on?

After graduating from college, I was torn between fashion and costume design. While living in Philadelphia, I had the opportunity to work with some of the theatre companies and schools there, like the University of the Arts, creating costumes for their dance program. One of my favorite experiences was co-designing a production of the Rocky Horror Picture Show at Drexel University.  I had long been a fan of Rocky Horror, so it was a blast to be able to create new costumes inspired by the original.

Many girls are interested in clothing and costume design, what education did you have to do, to get to where you are?

I actually started out as a fine artist, attending Maryland Institute College of Art. I majored in Fiber Art, which is kind of the fine art equivalent of clothing design. There, I was able to study pattern making and garment design; but also figure drawing, sculpture, welding, and even basket weaving!  I loved it, because it really allowed me to be creative, taking what I learned from different mediums and incorporating it into my clothing designs. It’s probably not the traditional path that people think of for fashion designers, but it was the right one for me.

A huge component in your clothing designs is gaming culture, what are you playing right now?

Lately, I’ve been playing Dead Space 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops, and re-playing Dragon Age: Origins in prep for Dragon Age 2 coming out next month.

When you play games how important is it to you to have a playable female avatar?

If there’s a playable female avatar, I’ll almost always choose her, because it just adds an extra layer of relate-ability to the character. I especially love how customizable some games are making their avatars.  Bioware does a great job of this with Mass Effect and Dragon Age. But it’s not something that makes or breaks a game for me. So long as a game’s got good gameplay and an interesting storyline, I’ll play it.

Have you ever felt any inequality as a woman gamer?

Mostly in that people are sometimes surprised to find out I’m a gamer. Growing up I’d get that “Really? But you’re a girl!” reaction to telling people I’m into video games.  But I think that’s becoming less and less now as gaming becomes more a part of everyday life.  Everyone I know plays video games of one kind or another, whether they’re guys or girls, kids or adults.

The Murloc Hoodie is so much fun, it also offers anonymity, is that something that you think we will see more of?

The Murloc Hoodie was a lot of fun to design, and with such a bright playful look, it just made sense to have it zip all the way up to complete the murloc transformation.  It’s a little more costume-like than most of our other designs, but I think you’ll see more fun designs like this from us in the future.

Hoodie culture seems to be expanding more as the cameras that are on all of us keep increasing in number, Is that something that you have thought about for the future at Jinx?

Well, the hoodie has a different connotation in certain areas around the world.  In the UK, for instance, I know hoodies and “hoodie culture” have been the object of some controversy, a symbol of “youth up to no good”.  But in the US, where J!NX is headquartered, and many other countries it doesn’t have that same stigma.  For me, a hoodie is the outerwear equivalent of a t-shirt; comfortable, easy, and goes with everything.  For that reason, hoodies have been a staple of the geek wardrobe for a long time, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

What do you have in the works right now?

Right now we are getting ready to launch our Spring 2011 J!NX collection of apparel and tees.  It should go live on the www.jinx.com in early March, and as always we’re super excited to share the new designs. We’ve also got designs in the works for Fall 2011 and some really exciting licensed pieces in development.

And so began my love affair with Jinx (and with shopping online).

I had the great fortune of being able to sit down with Jinx’s creative director and General of Awesome during PAX this year. Surrounded by loud speakers, Nerf guns, and video games, we sat on a plush, leather couch and chatted about Jinx and its future. After reviewing what is going to be available for Fall/Winter (and, to a lesser extent, Spring/Summer), I noticed that my beloved geeky t-shirts (of which I own many) were taking a backseat to the Identity line.

Jinx was formed out of Sean’s desire for a closet that consisted of more than just black t-shirts and ragged jeans but still paid homage to video games, game culture, and other facets of geekery. “This is what I had planned for all along,” he said, wearing the line’s latest Argyle polo and a rather stylish plaid fedora. “These are the sorts of clothes that I would want to wear on a day-to-day basis. This is my dream wardrobe.”

His great desire was to create a line of clothing for men that would grow with them.

“Not everyone can wear t-shirts and jeans to their day jobs,” Sean said. “With the Fall line-up, we’re giving them the basics with black and white button downs, polos, and chinos. But with the Spring and Summer, we’re going to be able to be more imaginative and creative with our choices.”

It’s not just the guys that are getting the goods for the new line-up; given that the men’s line has more versatility than the women’s. However, the t-shirts are longer, softer, and a few even feature a v-neck neckline (far more flattering than the usual crew neck). In the early days of Jinx, we ladies were often gifted with too-short shirts with no consideration for curves outside of baby doll sleeves.

Until recently, that is.

As I said to Rowena, the adorable PR gal, “Just because I’m a geek doesn’t mean that I’m not a girl.”

Jinx has taken the community’s feedback into consideration. We women-folk were awfully vocal in our distaste for the old t-shirt styles. And in our distaste that there were so few options available in comparison to our male counterparts.

For the Fall/Winter, the ladies shirts are no longer just black shirts with cool writing and graphics. There are now blues, teals, purples, and soft dove greys. Happiness abounded. With a feature upcoming in Cosmopolitan magazine (notoriously mainstream), this label has gone from niche to noticeable to almost mainstream in six years. And I’m proud to say that I’ve been a part of it since (almost) the beginning.

It’s been a long time since we geeks were exiled to the realms of bad fashion without hope of redemption. It’s been in the last decade that we’ve been able to claw our ways out of the basement to find something other than Old Navy $6 t-shirts and $10 cargo shorts to wear. Jinx has reminded us that being a geek, gamer, hacker, nerd, or dork doesn’t mean that we must ignore fashion. In fact, they encourage us to embrace it our geek through fashion.

Jinx gets it. They get us. They are us.

Project Runway’s latest winner, Seth Aaron Henderson is set to put on a fashion show in Portland on October 9th. The show is titled, “Seth Aaron SolarWorld Collection Presented by Portland Fashion Week”.

Henderson will be exploring fashion combined with his passion for a solar solution for energy.

“It’s SolarWorld’s commitment to being a leader in its industry by keeping innovation always in mind that interests me,” says Mr. Henderson, who lives in the Portland area. “There was inspiration from the second I stepped foot in the SolarWorld factory. Innovation and sustainability were overwhelming impressions, and they give me limitless possibilities for a high-concept collection. They’re doing a lot of good things in the world, and together with PFW, I love the statement we’re making from right here in my back yard.”

Project Rooftop is giving another SuperHero a makeover. Since we didn’t get a say with Wonder Woman’s costume, show them what you would do with Captain America.

Here is the blurb from the contest announcement:
“Artists are encouraged to chose your preferred shield-slinger (Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, Isaiah Bradley, etc.), but you must choose someone who has operated under the title in continuity. Regardless of the man in the uniform, Captain America is a symbol as well as a warrior, and should represent America’s best ideals, even when others in power fall short of his moral standards.”

Entries have to be turned in to projectrooftop@gmail.com by August 1, 2010.

Who says fashion and geekdom can never collide? I love that Ashely Eckstein has created Her Universe which is a line of fashionable products for fangirls. Yes, no more t-shirts that don’t fit right, or putting up with lame designs. We demand more style!

“Wanting to give female fans a voice and affirm that they play an important role in the world of Star Wars and science-fiction, we created the Her Universe brand especially for them. We are excited to outfit fangirls of all ages – to give them the confidence to step into the spotlight and express their own fandom,” says Eckstein. “Ever since we announced Her Universe, the outpouring of support from the fans has been incredible. We are also creating a Her Universe community, a place for their voices to finally be heard.”

The new Star Wars line can be found at heruniverse.com. The line will also be available at SDCC and at Star Wars Celebration. What I love is that you can tell from the picture above that these shirts are meant for a variety of women and will fit a variety of women. I’m really excited to see where this goes and hopefully Her Universe will also feature gaming wear in the future.

The cap, which “9 out of 10 Atlus employees already considered a tremendous value,” is an exact replica of the one worn by SEES member Junpei Iori (which makes no sense if you haven’t played the game, I’m sure).

GameStop and EB Games will be using this promotion, as well as Amazon. So you can get your cap both in-store and online!

The singer, who is best known for her group and solo careers, will add some of her own House of Deréon fashions to the title as downloadable add-on outfits. The fashion line was created by Knowles and her mother, Tina, in 2004.

Style Savvy allows players to manage a virtual clothing boutique and put together outfits for virtual customers according to their style and budget. The addition of Knowles’ line will hopefully add more longevity to the title, which enjoyed increased holiday sales.

Knowles has also taped two television spots for the game, both of which will air the week before Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards as well as during the show itself.

Polaroid is coming out with a new image in 2010 and they celebrated at CES by announcing a multi-year partnership with Lady Gaga. She’ll be a creative director for a specialty line of Polaroid Imaging products.

“I am so proud to announce my new partnership with Polaroid as the creative director and inventor of specialty projects,” said Lady Gaga. “The Haus of Gaga has been developing prototypes in the vein of fashion/technology/photography innovation–blending the iconic history of Polaroid and instant film with the digital era–and we are excited to collaborate on these ventures with the Polaroid brand. Lifestyle, music, art, fashion: I am so excited to extend myself behind the scenes as a designer, and to as my father puts it–finally, have a real job.”

A list of new products aren’t listed in the in the press release, but new products that will be coming from this collaboration will be out in retail stores in late 2010.

Here is an interview with Lady Gaga about her work with Polaroid where she talks about what Polaroid as a brand means to her:

We normally expect games and film to push technology forward, but this past year we’ve seen many innovations from the world of fashion. One of the concerns with shopping online is if the outfit will actually look good on you. Up until now, nothing has replaced the action of trying on clothes. Online clothing sites have done a good job with return policies, but that can still turn some users away.

Zugara has created an augmented reality dressing room app, Fashionista, which is being used at online shopper tobi.com. Although when I went on the site, I could not see any way to actually try out the application.

The video below shows how a user can use their webcam to virtually try-on items from the online clothing store. From the video, the application does look pretty simple to use. The user has a marker to place him/her and then can use motion sensor to go through a variety of outfits. Something I found incredibly intriguing was the ability to automatically take a picture and send it to Facebook. This will allow you to get your friends’ opinions on if the outfit works for you and could be very helpful for a big event!

I have sent Tobi.com a message to see if the Fashionista app is still in use. It is interesting to see technology moving forward. Now if they can only make trying on bathing suits not so tortuous.

[source via Creativity-online.com]

If you’ve recently bought The Sims 3 World Adventures, make sure to register your game for free points that you can use towards any of these cool new items. And with the newly added in-game store, it’s even easier to get your Sims a new look.