About

I create and manage brand-building ideas to make brands stronger and
more profitable.

If there is no brand yet, I can invent one.

I run my own brand alkr® and I am co-owner of Swipe®.

In the past years I worked for different brands and agencies. It all started
in a small agency in cologne. In early 1997 I moved to Hamburg and took over
the marketing of Eastpak. Almost three years later, in summer 1999, I switched
over to the agency side and became account director for the BMW account and
later on for the worldwide Mini account at Jung von Matt.

In 2002, I started working as a freelance consultant. For different brands
and agencies. From 2008 til summer 2011 I was responsible for the Dickies
brand in Europe, including product development, design and marketing.

Now I work as a brandmaker.

Elephino

This is the third video of the alkr® work sessions series; this time, we visited Elephino in East London.

Eliphino is an East London based producer and DJ specialising in the post-dubstep sound that is shaking the UK music underground. Cutting edge and contemporary, ‘Taking the DNA of jungle, soul and jazz, Eliphino has a timeless production style that balances emotional electronica with an innovative approach to production.’

Eliphino makes music “for your mind, your body and your soul” and we simply can’t get enough of it.

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Collabs + PR + Web

alkr.com Website Design

Some time in January 2011 I realized I had to update alkr.com. The first site we launched end of 2009 was very basic; it was just a sales website with no real content.

I needed to find a way to combine content and sales. The result is a mixture of a magento store and a wordpress blog. But they don´t sit next to each other, both are woven into each other.

Just give it a look at alkr.com

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Design + Web

Nomad Art Compound

In the alkr® work session series, we feature remarkable and passionate people who tell us about their work and what they love to do. In this video, we talked to Shawn McKinney in LA.

Shawn McKinney is a street artist living in Los Angeles, California. He specializes in fabrication and sign painting, but also rebuilds motorcycles and works as an art director. Currently, he is an artist in residence at the Nomad Collective Art Compound.

The Nomad Collective Art Compound is a 6,000 square foot art lab in Los Angeles. Shawn shows us the Nomad Art Compound and talks about his work and his art. Take a look at the video!

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Collabs + PR + Web

Love Your Work – iPad App

Love Your Work gives a great reading experience on paper, but how do we transform something as great as a print publication into an app for the iPad? I collaborated with Udox and Swipe to develop an innovative concept for the iPad: a terrific magazine app that provides a lot of features that print could never deliver. The app is available as a download here, or you can check out the video.

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iPad App

Swipe Logo Design

How do you name a company dedicated to the development of iPad, iPhone an Adroid Apps? I developed the name and designed the Swipe® logo.

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Design

Hand painted iPhone 4 cases

For alkr®, I worked with UK-based artist Nic Tual, who painted 30 iPhone cases for us to give away through fusshop, a UK-based retailer, on Facebook.

We drove a lot of traffic to alkr.com, and also to fusshop.co.uk, by placing it on hypebeast and other blogs:
hypbeast.com

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Collabs + Product Development

Passionate People – Giorgio Oehlers

There are so many passionate people who do what they love and love what they do. I designed a series for alkr®, called “Passionate People”. We will randomly portrait interesting people such as musicians, painters, screen printers, illustrators, photographers and designers and shoot them in their personal spaces. The first person featured is Giorgio Oehlers from Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Please introduce yourself.

My name is Giorgio Oehlers. I’m a 20 year old inline skater/producer/filmmaker from Rotterdam, Netherlands.

What is your passion? 

I have a passion for three things: skating, making beats, and film/video editing.

How did this passion of yours start to develop/grow?

I started skating when I was 8 or 9, and I fell in love the first time. I was very young, so you could say that skating contributed to the development of the person I am today. Then, one day I was relaxing at a friend’s place, and his brother was making a beat. I was completely mesmerized. It was so cool, so I got my hands on FL Studio (formerly Fruityloops) and started making beats.

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PR + Web

Macbook Sleeves Development

The MacBook sleeves were the first products I developed for alkr®; they have high-quality zippers and neoprene fabric in a lot of different color combinations.

To keep the line fresh I designed two new color schemes: “Blue Marlin”, a fresh blue neoprene, with white zippers and a light green contrast, and “Neon Stealth”, black neoprene with neon red contrast.

Both are available on alkr.com

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Product Development

Fixed Gear London

This is the first issue of the alkr® work sessions series, which features remarkable, passionate people who tell us about their work and what they love to do. The first interview is with Andy Ellis of Fixed Gear London, a group of riders who are enthusiastic about their bikes and the way they ride them.

Andy Ellis is one of the original founders of the Fixed Gear London collective, and he is also the editor of Fixed Magazine.

When Andy isn’t riding the streets of London, taking photographs or writing and editing Fixed Magazine, you can find him designing and developing interesting new products.

We asked him how it all started, what he’s doing now, and what he’s passionate about. Check out the video!
More about Fixed Gear London here:

alkr.com

fixedgearlondon.com

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Collabs + PR + Web

Visiting the REBEL8 HQ

On a visit to San Francisco in April of 2010 I had the chance to work with Joshy and Mike from Rebel8; we had met each other for the first time more than two years earlier in Los Angeles.

In 2009 they visited me in Hamburg, and now it was my turn to travel again. We discussed the final details on the Rebel8 X Dickies project, which came out in 2010 and was available in just a handful stores globally.

Here are some pictures of the Rebel8 HQ and the great evening we had together; if you ever make it to SF, check out Weird Fish! The food and the people were great and, guys, thanks for the amazing experience.

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Collabs + Trips

Starter Collaboration

Starter is one of the brands that I adored most growing up; I had several jackets (LA Raiders, Milwaukee Bucks, SF Giants, etc.) and a lot of their caps.

In 2010 I had the chance to be one of the few to work with them, and I designed this simple cap for alkr®, which was produced by starter. The fit is as great as I remember!

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Collabs

Dickies x Stussy

In early 2008 I meet Michael Kopelman for the first time to discuss a possible Dickies X Stussy collaboration. Stussy utilizes work wear apparel references, so it was a natural fit for them to work with one of the biggest work wear companies in the world.

The result, after almost three years in development, is a line of shirts, a pant and a hoodie. There was an incredible amount of dedication invested to get this right, and the launch was highly anticipated by blogs and retailers all over the world.

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Collabs + Product Development Tags:

Feature on Selectism

On December 31st, 2010, selectism.com published a feature about me and my work; the interview can be found below or on selectism.com



We recently caught up with the head of European Dickies, Juergen Alker, at Dickies Hamburg HQ for an interview about the brands heritage, their collaborations, projects and why they didn’t have an archive until two years ago.



So what happens to heritage now? It’s been a busy year for the word, nearly every blog post, magazine article and press release mentions the H word at least once. The New York Times put it into it’s most overused fashion words list which, seeing as NYT aren’t usually first on the fashion pulse, is really saying something. So, the question remains, where do we go from here?
That’s not a question Dickies ask themselves.

They see themselves as a workwear brand and always have. And, more importantly, they see workwear as it is – light years away from fashion or lifestyle brands. Up until a few years ago, they didn’t even have an archive. “Their archive was a cellar in a school building they owned” says Juergen Alker, who runs the streetwear wing of Dickies. “Down there was almost nothing, just a few items. It was just like a normal old cellar – pretty spooky actually.

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PR

Me talking about Garage Brands

Brands have always been my passion and, since I am running my own brand, alkr®, I have learned a lot of lessons. In November of 2010, the Art Directors Club held a conference about a new brand concept, calling them “Garage Brands”.

I was invited to talk about my own little brand, alkr®, failure, what one can learn from mistakes and how one can develop a brand these days. However, my main point was that the most important aspect to any idea is that people have to stop talking and start doing, which is also the most difficult part.

You can view my full speech after the jump.

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Talk

iPhone 4 Case Development

After the launch of the iPhone 4, I started developing a hard case for it. Apple provided me with the exact measurements of the phone so we were able to rebuild it in 3D and design a case around it.

A few weeks later, the mold was ready and production started on cases in five different colors, available on alkr.com

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Product Development

Love Your Work – Exhibition

While I was working with Udox on the Love Your Work book, we realized it needed something special for the launch. We rented Maverick Gallery in East London and invited everyone who participated in the project. The venue was crowded, the mood was positive and we got a lot of good feedback.

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Design + Exhibition + Interior + PR

Interview with Michael Kopelman & Andrew Bunney

For the launch of the Dickies X Hideout line, I asked hypebeast.com to do an interview with the two guys behind the project, Michael Kopelman and Andrew Bunney. The full interview can be read here.

Interview by Edward Chiu:
Without any conscious effort, Dickies has made itself a mainstay of streetwear for many generations. Given its rugged construction and timeless aesthetics, its popularity doesn’t come as much of a surprise. However, without a directed effort until recently, the Dickies brand has seen itself ripe for a new angle from a contemporary fashion standpoint. Two of Britain’s most formidable members of the so-called streetwear community, The Hideout’s Michael Kopelman and current Dr. Martens creative director Andrew Bunney undertook the task of creating a new capsule for Dickies with the goal of re-inventing classic Dickies-wear from a modern angle while maintaining the essence of Dickies. We took the opportunity to delve deeper and touch upon what exactly has become of the collaboration, what The Hideout for Dickies collection entails and the importance of Dickies’ Americana roots.

Hello Michael and Andrew, nice meeting you guys. First off, how did you end up in your respective professions and how long have you been in this industry?

Michael: Before The Hideout, I was really into DJing with a fond love for Stussy. Eventually through Shawn Stussy I got involved in the industry. It was amazing when I met Andrew because I would see him in different cities around the world… Tokyo and in New York just by coincidence. Also, the staff at my shop would groan about him as he would ask about products that weren’t out and had more knowledge regarding them as well. So that’s when I asked Andrew to consider working for me. I couldn’t believe that someone could be so well informed without working in the industry.

Andrew: I started as a buyer for skateboard shops, which is how I met Michael. Then I moved into vintage clothing and went on to study fashion and production. After that, I started working with Michael again and that’s how it got started.

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Collabs + PR

Love Your Work – The Book

”Love your work“ is a book for Dickies I created with Udox in London in 2010.


Dickies has always been fascinated with work. After all, it´s their business – has been since 1922.
Over the years they have witnessed an attitude-shift when it comes to peoples relationship to their job, their gig, their 9-5.


Recently they observed a new attitude towards work developing: even though there´s no longer the guarantee of a job for life, for many people the lines between what they do and who they are have become increasingly blurred.


We invited a selection of people who obviously love their work to share some of that passion and give some insight to why. What they all have in common, apart from Dickies clothing of course, is a commitment to their work which makes it mean much more to them than
a 9-5.


All this is bundled in the “Love your work” Bookzine. 180 pages of great content. Contributors are e.g. Paul Mittleman (Stussy), Mike Giant, Joshy D, Frith Street Tattoo, Michael Kopelman, Andrew Bunney, David Biene, Fixed Gear London, Lev from PWBC, Tyron Lebon and a few others…

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Books

Dickies X Hideout

Working with Michael Kopelman on a small line of products for his iconic store, “The Hideout”, was a special experience. Together with Andrew Bunney, we designed a small line available at “The Hideout”.

We spent a long time on getting everything right: the cut, the fabrics, the branding, etc. Comprised of classic Dickies staples, but in a slimmer cut, the collection blends the brand’s past efforts with a contemporary twist.

A bit more information regarding the collection can be found on the hypebeast feature.

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Product Development

Bag development

After the success of the laptop sleeves I decided to launch a line of bags for alkr®. The goal was to deliver a good shape that offered a lot of functionality at a reasonable price.

The results are three bags: a messenger bag and two briefcases.

Availble on alkr.com

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Product Development

Hanging out in SF

In April 2010 I visited San Francisco; this city is truly amazing. The weather was great and I had good meetings, and some fun in the evenings, with the guys from Deluxe Skateboarding and Rebel8.

I took a few photos; check them out below and in this Flickr set.

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Trips

Japanese Selvedge Denim

Japanese Denim Makers are the best worldwide; to pay tribute to the manufacturing background of Dickies, I developed a salvage denim called “California”.

Regardless of fashion, the California Selvedge Jean is designed to be worn and no detail has been overlooked in the delivery of this product to the most discerning denim enthusiast. To make this Jean we use fine African cotton and expert Japanese construction to develop what we believe to be not only the most authentic denim product currently available but also the most reasonably priced.

Here is the process by which the California Selvedge Jean was created:

Zimbabwean Cotton
The quality of the cotton used to make the California Selvedge Jean is an extremely important factor in creating the best denim and also determine the value of our Jean. With this in mind, we searched the world trying to source the finest organic cotton.Zimbabwe is renowned globally amongst denim aficionados’ as the prime source of organic cotton. Zimbabwe has the ideal climate for growing strong, pure cotton and it is no coincidence we chose to use it for the production of the California Selvedge Jean.

The Selvedge Denim
After our cotton is harvested in Africa, it is shipped to Japan and woven into denim cloth. Our Selvedge denim is woven on vintage shuttle looms that are unlike the mass projectile looms commonly used around the world today. Our denim is woven in small batches with a red selvedge – the clean, bound red edge on the fabric. This process is much slower and deliberate, produces less material and more waste but the end result is that the denim is far superior in durability, texture and touch.

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Product Development

alkr® Logo Design

I designed a simple and clean logo for alkr®.

More pictures after the jump. More »

Design

874 Store

In 2009 I totally overhauled the 874® Store in Munich. Check out the remodel.

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Interior + Store

Alife x Dickies

The first true collaboration I did for Dickies was with the guys behind Alife, who have been Dickies fans for years. The “Alife Workwear by Dickies Collection” features very clean and simple takes on the classic Eisenhower jacket, short sleeved work shirt, work shorts and of course, the 874 work pant.

The collection was released in early 2009 and sold in selected Alife stores in New York, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Tokyo, Colette in Paris and at Dover Street Market in London.

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Collabs + Product Development

Mark Mahoney – Shamrock Social Club

In 2009 we shot at Mark Mahoney’s’ Tattoo studio on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

Mark Mahoney is one of the leading tattoo artists of our time. He is currently the proprietor and premier artist of Shamrock Social Club located in the heart of Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard. His career spans over three decades and with each wave of influence that tattoo culture has had on mainstream America, Mark has been there.

From the underground punk scene of the 1970′s to the black and grey movement of East L.A. in the 1980′s to the mainstream popularity of tattoo art in the Hollywood scene of the present. Mark has been a pivotal influence. The theme of Mark’s shop has always been “where the elite and the underground meet.”

I worked with Heath & Dave of Lowbrowfilms and they spent an evening at the Shamrock Social Club with Mark Mahoney and his infamous friends. Mark reveals fascinating stories from his past when tattooing was actually banned in some states, participating in a shootout against rival tattoo artists and times spent with Sid & Nancy.

This is a rare document from one of the most talked about and respected tattoo parlors to date. Period.

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Collabs

Working in L.A. – POS Material

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More pictures after the jump. More »

POS Material

LA Shooting – Second Part

Exactly one year after we visited LA for the first time and shot a great campaign for Dickies, we came back and shot the second part of “Working in LA”.

This time, Steven Perilloux shot amazing pictures of real people from LA and SF such as Mark Mahoney, the guys from JDA, Duane Peters and the members of Hawleywoods Barbershop.

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Shooting

NY Legends

In 2008 I met Dr. Revolt, a graffiti legend, and well-known photographer Ricky Powell, who helped me with my first small collaboration for Dickies, called “NY Legends”. Ricky, known around the world as “the fourth Beastie Boy”, has photographed some of the most well-known rap and hip-hop artists of all time. I was pleased to work with Ricky and three other living legends from New York on four t-shirt designs.

The four prints are based on pictures by Ricky and three are reworked by New York’s famous graffiti artists Quik, Dr. Revolt and Zephyr.

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Collabs + Product Development

Visting the ALIFE HQ in NY

On a visit to Los Angeles in May 2008, I realized that the staff in the Alife Store on Fairfax was wearing Dickies shorts. I started a chat with them and the idea for the ALIFE X DICKIES collaboration was born.

When I was back home, I contacted the guys at Alife HQ in New York, and they liked the idea of doing something nice together. So we met in the September 2008 in their office. Check out some impressions of the office. More »

Collabs + Product Development + Trips

Working in L.A. – The Book

In 2008, B+ (aka Brian Cross) shot a lot of great people in LA for the new Dickies campaign. More than just a campaign, it was part of the European re-launch of the brand and we showed what Dickies is all about: work.

We wanted to show real people who wear Dickies at work and tell their stories. This book is dedicated to the real workers in Los Angeles.

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Books

Trip to Seoul

In the summer of 2008, I had the opportunity to visit Seoul. What a great city: amazing people, interesting places to spend time and good food. Please see a few more of my impressions after the jump.

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Trips