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http://www.chipsnotdeadyet.com

Update: lululemon founder Chip Wilson and Cowie and Fox heated up the pavement once again with the fun and engaging Chip’s Not Dead Yet Memorial Mile. The event last weekend showcased C&F’s playful creative amongst numerous superheros, rockstars, scantly clad runners, street performers and a bustling beer garden. Approximately $100,000 was raised for BC Children’s Hospital Foundation and Chip is going to match that. It was a great success and one heck of a party!

Not that there is anything wrong with statues, monuments, buildings or roads that are built to commemorate somebody’s life, but the one unfortunate feature of this kind of commemoration is that they almost always depend on that somebody being dead. It’s nice to be remembered, but certainly nicer while you’re still alive. That’s why Lululemon founder, Chip Wilson, decided to forge his own legacy instead of waiting to die and have someone name a cul-de-sac in his memory.

Chip decided that part of this legacy would be a yearly charity run. Unlike most charity runs, Chip’s run is pretty short, just one mile to be exact. The brevity of the run was specifically set so that anyone could join in. The soul purpose of the event is to get as many people together to do something good, and to have fun while doing it. In order to find a way of capturing and sharing this spirit, Chip enlisted his long time agency, Cowie and Fox, to see what it could do about making this the largest and ‘funnest’ one mile race in the world. (more…)

http://www.bootlegger.com

When you hear Bootlegger, you probably think ‘jeans’ – if you’re thinking ‘hillbilly moonshine in a darkened Chicago alley’ that’s a different bootlegger all together. Seriously though, with 98 stores across the country, Bootlegger has placed itself as Canada’s jean expert. Finding the right pair of jeans isn’t as easy as it sounds. Different brands fit differently, different denim hugs differently, different cuts will make you look different. One size doesn’t fit all. That’s why at Bootlegger, they offer a lot more than just a good jean selection. Sure they carry the brands that you want, but more importantly they can help guide you into the right pair of jeans. They won’t just sell you the brand because it sounds cool because that’s not nice, and the people are at Bootlegger are very nice, knowledgeable people. That’s why they’re called Jean-e-ologists – they’re experts that care, basically loveable scientists of denim.

So if you’re a company that prides itself on being Jean-e-ologists, your website had better live up to expectations. Cowie and Fox has designed and built the Bootlegger brand website for years, and has made sure that the experience was always a reflection of the ideals that the brand lives by. (more…)

http://www.lijastyle.com

Athletic apparel is some of the most comfortable clothing you can wear, yet, it is also some of the most unfashionable clothing you can wear. At some point long, long ago, style and function were decreed incompatible. Somehow, the world has gone on without questioning this for centuries – why do you think the first Olympians raced naked? You just couldn’t wear your running toga in the agora or you’d be laughed at. It was better to run around naked, and then slip on your market-wear when you went into town.

Things didn’t get better over the centuries, especially not for women. You only have to look at a few photos from the birth of the WPGA, and you’ll agree. A man’s argyle sweater-vest thrown in for six hot rinse cycles and a pair of balloon pants isn’t really what you’d call haute couture. Try just thinking back as far as high school, remember girls who played sports? Pretty or not, they weren’t allowed to look good. It was always men’s XL T-shirts and sweatpants with varsity soccer or volleyball plastered across the bum. This is just the way things have always been. Believe it or not, though, fashion and athletics are not as mutually exclusive as we’ve been led to believe. (more…)

http://www.kokomontreal.com

If you’re looking for a taste of European styled decadence and abandonment, Montreal is definitely the place to be this side of the pond. Amidst the beautiful architecture of past centuries and the rich cultural heritage, throbs the lively heart of Montreal that is very much grounded in the present. The fertile cultural soils have cultivated an arts scene that is one of the most important and unique in North America. With all that Montreal has to offer that feeds the mind, it definitely has no shortage in substance that feeds the body. Montreal has one of the best food scenes in the country. And as you can imagine, with this kind of competition, it isn’t easy to grab the attention of the market.

Despite their great reputation, Opus faced a daunting task when opening their newest property, Koko, right in the heart of Montreal. The 600 seat restaurant and bar needed to make sure that when it opened its doors, everyone knew that it was the place to be. Cowie and Fox’s long working relationship with Opus meant that there were no reservations about entrusting C&F with the responsibility of fully branding their swank new outlet. (more…)

First things first, I’m not the kind of guy to brag about my work. I hope not anyway. BUT this is a real phenomenon and I’ve never really spoken publicly about it. By now anyone living in a medium to large city in Canada is familiar with that red, reusable lululemon bag. It is absolutely everywhere. A day does not go by here in Vancouver where I don’t I see at least one (usually more) walk by me on the arm of someone out and about in the city. I attribute this to a few key factors; its slogans are inspiring to the target market, it is associated with a cool, hip brand in that market and, well, it’s a cool design. Design wise I don’t consider it my Magnum Opus, but it is the one thing I’ve done in my career that everyone immediately recognizes.

The thing is it was never actually designed to be what it became. Long before it was on posters, bags, tech tops and water bottles around the world, it was originally created around 2004 as a way to creatively display Chip’s wordy manifesto on the back cover of a printed lululemon magazine we were working on here at Cowie and Fox. (I’ve still got a few copies actually if anyone is interested.)

In the last few months, it has been hard for me to ignore the plethora of, dare I say “knockoffs” of the design. I’ve included one here from a the window of a clothing store in Yaletown I saw the other day. I see it even features some very similar wording to the original one…

-dtm