After years of complaining that the Carhartt streetwear division from Europe was not selling in the US market, we have seen a slow but steady move into the US market over the last year. Licensed by Work In Progress in Europe, it took a different direction from the US division, establishing the Carhartt brand in Europe as a fashionable streetwear line.

The European collection will now finally make a proper move into the US market. Today Carhartt Europe announced the opening of a New York flagship store by the end of October 2011. A location has not been announced yet, but we will keep you posted!

The first episode of the second season of HBO show How To Make It In America debuted last night. Ben (Bryan Greenberg) and Cam (Victor Rasuk) start off in Tokyo this time and aside from several Ambush jewelry appearances, they also visit the Sophnet Harajuku store in Tokyo, right before returning to New York and continue building their brand – Crisp. It is interesting watching the show and seeing it touch our market, which up until now did not get very much mainstream shine, at least not in the western world. Let’s see what impact these kind of appearances will have going forward. We already seem to find lots of inspiration behind the show coming from our market – independent t-shirt/clothing labels, young photographers and artists, young musicians. What is your take on the subject?

Ronnie Fieg has made quite an impact in the New York City footwear scene and probably also beyond. We remember the first time he contacted us about his first collaboration. Working with David Z. in NYC, a mass shoe retailer, nobody really knew where to place him. Working hard and continuously producing strong collaborations with Asics, Converse, Merrell, Clarks, Red Wing, Ralph Lauren, Timberland and many others, his work started speaking for itself very quickly. The lines for his releases got longer and after years of hard work, the designer decided to take another route – to walk his own path. KITH NYC is his new retail concept, which will be opening its doors today in New York, at 11 am in Brooklyn, with a second location planned to Manhattan later in the season.

The Brooklyn location opens its doors today at 11 am at

Kith
233 Flatbush Ave
Brooklyn, Ny, 11217

We talked to Ronnie about his past and most importantly his future with Kith.

Hi Ronnie, you have come a long way these last couple of years. Why dont you give us a little recap?

It has been an interesting journey to say the least. In 2005, I worked on a Timberland collaboration for David Z and that was really all I needed to jump start my passion. Since then I’ve worked on over 100 collaborative footwear pieces. While working with great brands and talented individuals, I’ve learned a ton and managed to have fun with it all.

We still remember you shooting onto the sneaker/footwear scene a few years ago. Good taste and timing were on your side. We would say that you worked your way into this scene and simply convinced people out there with one strong release after the other. Would you agree with that?

To excel in this industry it’s vital to not only cater to the consumer but to actually be a consumer in the same genre. People say timing is everything and I agree with that statement to a certain extent but what I believe in most is producing quality goods and charging a fair price. I believe that is how I have built my following up until now, not over pricing because of how limited the product is or how much attention the collaboration is getting. Giving the people more than what they are paying for, that’s always been my motto. As far as having one strong release after another, that’s really the hardest part of my work. I am constantly trying to get better with each project and it becomes a battle trying to outdo myself every time but what’s life without challenges?

Today A.P.C. has announced that they will open a new store in New York City. The store will be located on Perry Street in the West Village and will be opening its doors December 2011.

After having hosted a pop up retail store in New York, Nicola Formichetti will open an online pop-up selling some of the exclusive items that were before only available at the retail destination. Having teamed up with BOFFO and Gage/Clemenceau Architects for the retail pop-up, the store carries vintage Versace, of course Mugler goods, and also a series of Nicopanda product, including t-shirts and iPad and iPhone cases.

The online store will launch along with the Mugler Women’s fashion show on September 28th, 2011, at 9pm GMT. You can check out the site already here.

For the occasion Formichetti produced a lookbook with Japanese photographer Eisuke Negishi. Check out the rest of it after the jump.

This week shoemaker Christian Louboutin will be officially opening the Christian Louboutin Homme boutique in Paris. Having started with mens shoes only in 2008, his creations have quickly become successful among men, and therefore the opening of this first flagship store, entirely dedicated to his men’s range of footwear certainly seems to make sense.

While the interior is still very Louboutin, meaning to some degree old school chic and over the top, the overall atmosphere is more modern than in his women’s boutiques around the globe. Nice details include studs on the shoe presentation trays, leather walls, beautiful floor tiling and some nice design objects, such as a bill skull and a neon sign. The store is located right next to the Louboutin women’s boutique in the French capital and offers the full range of men’s shoes and sneakers.

Christian Louboutin Homme
Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Galerie Véro-Dodat
Paris

Photography: Highsnobiety

Take a look inside the boutique and its offering after the jump.

Artist Retna was recently commissioned by Chanel to paint their Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, flagship store in Los Angeles. The artist added his iconic graphics to the entrance and interior of the store. We especially like the tonal black paint that was applied to the black entrance wall, setting a nice but subtle accent.

Check out more images from the store and the artist working on it after the jump.

As most of you will be well aware, Supreme London officially opened their doors yesterday to much fanfare from the locals. Rumor has it one fellow even queued overnight and didn’t buy a single thing. That’s dedication. One of our London correspondents rolled through Peter Street, snapping off several flicks of the queue and the folks within it. Some interesting looks…

Supreme London
2/3 Peter Street
London W1F 0AA
United Kingdom

Photography: Highsnobiety

More images follow after the click.

While we have already presented guides for Shibuya and Harajuku, there is a lot happening in between the two areas, which we explore in the next chapter of our Tokyo shopping guide.

You can easily walk from Shibuya to Harajuku, as the two are connected and only one train stop away from each other. Some places are easier to find than others, but there are so many great shopping areas in the city to explore and we would not want to miss a single one of them.

Check out our store checks that we did on the edges of the two shopping districts, featuring some retailers that you have already heard about many times here on Highsnobiety.

The full review after the jump.

Skateboarder and artist Mark Gonzales created a sculpture and painted some walls for the new Supreme London flagship store. In this Ari Marcopoulus directed video you get a behind the scenes look at his work at the store. Enjoy!