[Get their Bike Alameda T-shirt and support Alameda Meals on Wheels]

An opportunity to get a t-shirt on someone's back at the right time, for a good reason while supporting some of our folks is what it is all about.

The Cooley family in Alameda have been lots of things to me...

• My friends
• Parents of my friend
• Parents of my brother's friend
• Friends of my parents
• My soccer coach
• My brother's soccer coach
• Volunteers on many organizations I've participated in
• Co-workers at the Alameda Unified School District with my mom
• Supporters of me and anything I ever do
• Landscapers to my parent's home

So many things.  One of my favorite things about growing up in Alameda has always been the people and families of the island.  It's these people, Jack and Terri Cooley, that provided me the opportunities to grow up how I did.  The days of my youth in Alameda were filled with sports and good times thanks to the people.  They were coaches, team moms, team dads, dinner providers,...

FREE CHAMORU COURSE ARCHIVE

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, like many people around the world, I was searching for ways for me to spread a little love and education.  My collection of books on Chamoru history has been growing over the years.  Every time I come across a unique reference or citation of an account of Chamoru history, I track that book down and add it to my collection.

At some point in the summer of 2020, former University of Guam Professor, Michael Lujan Bevacqua, posted something of cultural significance to his Facebook page.  I made a comment like "Can you teach a course on these things?"  Basically asking a professor to teach a course to someone like me who is interested in Chamoru history and culture, in a non-formal educational setting.

Michael said "if you could gather 15 people I'd be happy to teach a course."

Well, on August 27, 2020, we had over 60 people registered for a free 5-week zoom course on five core Chamoru Values.

The...

A couple weeks before the Grammy's, we got a text from our partner Fantastic Negrito, who was nominated for Best Contemporary Blues Album. He wanted a shirt that captured the anticipation. He loved this photo and we jumped into action to turn this into an awesome tee. We used a natural discharge print to keep it soft and to make it felt old schoooool!

We love to eat using our own sauce. Over at the Shop, we are constantly practicing our craft. For this project, we are getting our recent team member @kevinpride up to speed on the creation process. In an effort to practice "speed" for our Quickstrike Program, we watched the Warrior's Klay Thompson bust an NBA record breaking 14 three pointers in just three quarters. Watch below as @kevinpride busts his own threes on his iPad. Pick up a tee here under our in-house brand called Marinade.

Brand Marinade x Dope Era x Beastmode

In 2017, we teamed up with two Oakland legends - Mistah F.A.B. and Marshawn Lynch.  This project went from and idea to concept to customer in three days.  Watch it unfold.

This post is going to be a little trip down memory lane as we revisit some old school as two once "young bucks" sit at a table and Ground Up on a wide variety of topics.

I first met Matt D'Avella back in 2008 when we moved the headquarters of UNDRCRWN to Philadelphia, PA.  Before Philly, UNDRCRWN was literally a worldwide company with me (Jeremy) in Los Angeles, Dustin in New York, Pete in Taiwan.  Ironically, we were brought to Philly because of our group's AND1 Basketball connections.

(The Ben Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia, photo taken at 2am on a little Philly walkabout)

When we arrived in Philly, a whole new era in UNDRCRWN had begun.  My time there was perhaps short lived, but one thing I can say is the time spent in Philly was action packed and filled with lots of amazing people.  Living near and working with Set Free (now of The Compound) was awe inspiring to say the least.   I learned what a true Connector of people, places and...

Brand Marinade is mostly known for printing shirts, building and managing ecommerce sites, designing cool stuff for schools, non-profits, celebrities, family reunions, plus shipping things all over the world and supporting them in the process.

But behind the scenes we do much more than that and one of the special projects we are very excited to work (every weekend) is for The Rugby Channel.

As a long time player, fan, supporter, coach, administrator of Rugby, this is an especially important project to be a part of.  When I was first introduced to the sport back in 1996/1997 while attending Occidental College, it came at the right time for me.  My football career came to an end my Freshman year when an untimely car accident made me rethink my priorities as a college student and I opted to leave the game of football.  I was a little tired of the military-esque feel and pressure Football added to my life.  The regimen, the attitude, the long days throughout the...

 We are constantly amazed at the types of projects, people, organizations, and causes that we work with on a daily basis over here at Brand Marinade.  Each day is filled with a new, fun, and exciting challenge to Make Shirt Happen for someone.

This episode of Shirt Happens was developed and produced for a young woman named Enya (Instagram, YouTube, Twitter), who is affectionately known as En_jaja/Enjajaja/En_jajaja on her various social media channels.  And when we say "affectionately known" we mean, known by hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.

The first project we worked on with Enya came just after she graduated High School earlier in the Summer of this year (2017).   She wanted to use a tshirt, designed by her and her brother, as a way to close a major chapter in her life, aka Chapter 1.

I can remember those days, and for me (Jeremy) that was in June of 1995.  The feeling of past, present, and future all collided into...

Over the last couple years, we've had the pleasure of working on one of the coolest projects we can think of.  Talk about nostalgia - I remember when I was 12 years old and, when summertime hit there were two sets of things that were sure to happen...

1. Baseball, playing in the parks around town, sleeping in til 9am, staying up past midnight.
2. Playing Nintendo whenever we were not outside.

My cousin and I got so good at Super Mario Bros that we spent our time trying to break each others records... how fast could we beat the game, could we beat it in one life, could we find secret worlds and could we literally go bug-eyed in the process.

Then, we found The Legend of Zelda.  You know, the gold cartridge for the old 16-bit Nintendo Entertainment System aka the blow-in-the-console or wedge a cassette tape in to get games to work because you played the damn thing so much video game console?  Yeah that one.

Zelda became something no video game had ever become up until...

We had the pleasure of working with DJ Ammbush the day after the 2017 Academy Awards took place.  You know, the one where LaLa Land won the award for Best Picture but really didn't win?  Yeah, that one!

Well, Ammbush and Best Supporting Actor winner Mahershala Ali go way back.  Back before Ali released an album with the famed Heiroglyphics crew, which was well before he became a big time Oscar winning actor.

So, with that news fresh on our minds, our team gathered around our custom whiteboard tables and had a quick Whiteboard Session with Ammbush to design and create a "congratulations homie" gift he can give his long time friend.

This is the process and outcome of our quick Drums & Ammo collaboration...