Creepy Queen

Check out this blog, it's got a bunch of cool items if you like creepy things like I do. The blogger is not the creator behind the products that she posts about, but acting as a curator to let us know about cool products worth looking into within the goth/punk scene. Actually just scrolling down the first page I want to buy like 10 items. And we were mentioned on there too.... Awww.

Blablablas...

Yesterday was thankfully a Quebec holiday, my body is so exhausted from constantly working and going to conventions that Dora had to force me to wake up at 3pm to get my day started. As we prepare to head out to Indonesia in a week we're trying to tie all those loose ends. I have pictures from Toronto, and pictures I took today at work that I need to post. It's just crazy how little time we have these days. It's good though, when I'm working from home there will be more time to do everything, and more of course :)

Another Shirt Gone Forever

So we got back from Toronto on Sunday night. Fun show in the sense that we had a lot of repeat customers from the prior year, and also we saw a bunch of people proud of their purchases wearing their Akumu gear around at the convention. It's always surreal when I see someone wearing one of our shirts, and I'm always impressed with how great it looks on you all.





















Anyways, I won't post pics of the show just yet. We didn't take many photos of the convention itself but what I do want to mention is that we did sell out of our last RockStar tshirt. I'm always happy to see old designs go cuz that forces the progression forward of Akumu's style. We started off with a very generic emo look and have so far pushed into our own world (all within 1.5 years) so I can't even imagine where we'll be in another 1.5 years.

Akumu Inked

First I want to tell everyone thanks for the support on facebook and on here, I really appreciate the comments. I'm glad I made the right decision.

So Jenn is from the USA. She emailed me a while back telling me she wanted to get our "Never Say Die" character tattooed on her arm, so we discussed how we could make this work for both of us. What's really cool is that Jenn is the sister of Jarrod (The Brutal Drifter). It's always surreal for me to see that someone put my art on their skin forever! Oh you Akumu fans are crazy! I'll be creating much more art and characters in the future to cover your bodies wth lol. Thanks so much.

Bring on the Plagues!

I want to thank everyone who's been a part of Akumu Ink since we started over a year ago. Everyone who's fallen in love with our brand, to those of you that just got one shirt once cuz you liked the design. Thank you!

It's because of all of you that today I was able to give my dayjob boss my two weeks notice. I will be working at my dayjob for another 2.5 weeks, and then after Dora and I are off to Indonesia for 2 weeks, but as soon as I land back here I'm going straight to work on building this brand beyond anything I could have realized otherwise. I'm going to make this a label you're going to want to be a part of. I'm looking forward to working on Akumu fulltime.

We also have a ton of other ideas we're looking forward to putting in motion which we had no time for prior. This is a very exciting time and we're happy to share it with all of you. Thanks everyone!

Soon!

I always dislike when blog posts don't have any pictures to encourage me to read the post, but if you are reading this then thank you for caring enough to do so. Days are running out and so are the things that are left to do thankfully. Mostly everything is complete for NIX on Friday. I think all that's left to print are some tote bags and the Starved shirts, and depending if there's time to print up a few sizes of some of the designs that don't sell as much. The joys of doing your own printing, we don't have to be limited or limit you on what products you can purchase from us :)

We're arriving in Toronto the day of the show but we're hoping to have an hour or two to walk around, possibly see Chinatown or the CN tower or something before we work, work, work until it's time to pack up and go back home. Then forcibly pull myself out of bed to go back to my dayjob
...ugh.

Days Are Running Out

As the start of convention season creeps around the corner Dora and I are doing everything except for relaxing (except for last night where had some Captain Morgain Spiced Rum and Cokes, amazing!). We're desperately trying to get things together with the 4 hours a night we have to devote to AI. With 70% of the stock printed and ready we're running out of things we didn't expect to run out of, such as "M" sized labels and red ink :P The good thing about running out of things is that it forces us to use our brains to figure out a way to fix it. Also with the labels running out means I can finally update the label which I've wanted to do from the day we got our first set of labels.

To think next week at this time we'll be setting up our booth in Toronto. This year will be a lot of fun, we've learned from last year and we're ready to take on another year of meeting great people, and old friends. It's just crazy to think with 3 weeks left till we go on vacation everything we hope to get done will get done. I guess the only way to look at is to take one day at a time.

The Stores

So much news about some of the stores we're in.

1- Sin City Tattoo and Piercing :: The first shop to do any kind of wholesale with us has moved from the remote Ile Perrot location to a much smaller downtown area. Our shirts aren't currently up yet but apparently it will be the only clothes sold in their new shop. You can find them on St Denis street in Montreal. Click here for the map.

2- COCOPINK for Lovers :: A pretty high end punk-styled online boutique based in Japan. I'm not 100% sure if they have an actual brick and mortar store, but they have great items from what I've seen on the website. We are really excited to see how we will do within the Japanese market. Here's their website.

3- Cruella :: I've been to this store many times when I was younger. This has always been the ultimate goth store in Montreal. Decorated with coffins and lots of black paint this will be a great place for Akumu to be noticed. Cruella has been around since 1996, and underwent a fire in January but they're coming back stronger than ever. I'll get back to you on the directions, I don't think the location has changed...all I know is that it's on Mount-Royal street. you should know where it is :P

Busy

Crazy, there is now less than 2 weeks until Toronto's NIX tattoo convention! And I have less than half the stock I'm hoping to bring to the show. It's going to be a real accomplishment if we can bring everything we're hoping to bring all while filling the online orders. This will be the first convention where we'll be bringing hoodies. I'm really looking forward to eating Toronto sushi, we found a great place close to the hotel last time and we haven't forgotten about it since.

Our next new design will probably come out mid August, so do not wait to order anything or for a new design any time soon. We're going to be crazy busy for the next few months. But at the same time we're really going to really shake things up with some big news. For all you real AI fans reading this blog, facebook fan, twitter followers, we've got some special news coming. As soon as we get back from Toronto I'll let you know.

2 weeks after that we'll be leaving to Indonesia and shutting down shop for 2 weeks, so if you want anything make sure to order before July 1st so we can print and ship it out to you before we're gone.

The VS Shirts

So the shirts have been printed and sent out! There are 3 designs "Shukketsu", "The Skeleton Key", and "Impaled" printed on the back and the Sa-da-kO vs. Akumu Ink logo on the front. As mentioned previously you'll be able to pick them up at the UK Download Festival 2009, as at upcoming Sa-da-kO concerts.

In other news, Akumu will be coming to Japan and to a huge goth store in Montreal. We're currently in the works figuring out the details but things seem to be going forward!

Lastly, today is Dora's birthday so we're going to get some sushi downtown and check out "UP"! Can't wait to chill a bit :)

NYC Trip

Looking back at the photos I'm happy to see what came out of the trip. I got to drop in at the infamous Kid Robot toy store. Very awesome stuff, makes me look forward to developing our brand to a point where one day kids come to our store in awe of these material objects :P Also found the Bape store, when I saw the shoes rotating in the shop window I very literally had goosebumps on my arms. The store is gorgeous and very much like a dream. Truly happy to have experienced these two stores, it's the fuel I need to turn this flame (passion for Akumu) into a huge bonfire. I hope you enjoy these pics as I enjoyed being there.

Starved

So this is our new design based around a girl being attacked by hungry blood thirsty bats. Simple design and oversized print a must have for any Akumu Ink fan. Usually our red prints are darker and carry a vintage look (Of Horror I and Shukketsu) but this red print is bold and bright. I will make this design available on a hoodie very soon as well as bring in some older designs on hoodies and our selection of coloured shirts. In the meantime if you want something and you can't see it for sale message me and I'll be glad to accomodate you.