Hasta La Ideas

Made in California, Shortomatic board shorts update the classic surf style with a host of patterns designed by both renowned and emerging artists like these pictured above by Brandi Milne and William Cawley respectively, or for a fully personalized pair you can customize your own by uploading an original image as shown below using some of my photos from Tokyo, shopable here.

Shortomatic began as many passionate companies do, out of a frustration for lack of options. Feeling that board shorts all boasted the same graphics—usually of Hawaiian flowers or stripes—the team behind Shortomatic decided to challenge the stale market with a collection of bold and artistically driven patterns. Each pair is printed, cut and sewn in Los Angeles and made from a sturdy super suede polyester microfiber.

The shorts can all be designed and purchased online, each pair is $99 with a portion of proceeds benefiting the Global Green organization.

Rome SDS, the Waterbury, Vermont-based snowboard company, recently unveiled next year’s installment of the annual Addictive Collection: a series of three boards designed by a trio of artists. Whereas virtually every other board is a composite of many people’s input, these boards benefit from the complete control of Rome photographer and art director Mike Paddock.

The first of the series (above) is Paddock’s own, the 155 Agent Rocker, is based loosely on an H. L. Mencken quote: “There comes a time when a man must spit on his hands, hoist the black flag and begin slitting throats.” To that particularly macabre end, it opts for a red and black palate and copious blood-like drips. And like the 157 below, it features the new Rocker shape with camber tips and a rocker mid-section for the most all-mountain fun.

The 156 Agent is the brainchild of former Rome employee Al Engleheart, and features a summer’s worth of Polaroids taken of his food. The meat-heavy fare sits on a pink checkered pattern in what they’ve dubbed a “smorgasbord of shred.”

And finally, the 157 Agent Rocker is Mike Forester’s blunt comment on our celebrity-fueled tabloid culture. It’s a dark spin on Da Vinci’s Last Supper with Michael Jackson supplanting JC and surrounded by a flock of celebrities who all passed away in the last year.

Visit the Rome site for more info on the generally hard-to-find Addictive Collection.