In case you were wondering: yes, we still have a blog. Sorta. We only crank it up these days for really important things–like charity and short shorts.

This Sunday the Guardsmen is putting on the Presidio 10, starting and finishing at Crissy Field near Sports Basement. Some of us will be running, others will be drinking beers and playing cornhole.

You want to run you say? Signup for either the 5k, 10k or 10 mile and use the code “teammarinelayer” for $5 off your registration: http://presidio10.eventbrite.com/#.

Proceeds go to two great charities. The Guardsmen (http://www.guardsmen.org/) have been around since 1947 and donate all proceeds to at-risk Bay Area Youth. The Ashlyn Dyer Foundation (http://www.ashlyndyer.com/fund.html) supports Neurological Research and Support with a focus on Traumatic Brain Injury. Go here to donate: http://presidio10.eventbrite.com

Come say hi, we’ll be there absurdly early with the van until around noon. And if you can beat Chad and Mike in cornhole we’ll give you a 10% discount code.

For this week’s blog installment, we decided to highlight our awesome store employees. Instead of the usual employee bio, we decided to ask them a few tough questions to better get to know them. If you are in San Francisco, stop by and say hello:

Who is your celebrity doppleganger?
What is your favorite dance move?
What is your all time favorite thing to do in the city?
What’s the most embarrassing thing you’re willing to admit to the Foggy Blog??

These were the responses:

HAYES VALLEY

Allison
1) Beyonce…i get that a lot….haha
**Allison doesn’t dance, seriously.  So she interpreted the next question as “Favorite dance movie”.
2) Cry Baby…does that count? i just like hearing Johnny Depp say “Allison”
3) Hmmm….Mission street dogs. Very bad for you but insanely good
4) I look at ASPCA cat bios in my spare time….makes me wanna cry every time

Mason
1) A fat Renee Zellweger from Bridget Jones’s Diary 2
2) The Bernie. Look it up
3) Go to Marine Layer parties so I can “legally” drink
4) I don’t like Cheez-Its

Ryan
1. Ian Somerhalder (it was a compliment)
2. Cat Daddy
3. Giants Games
4. I didnt learn how to swim until I was about 12

And now for the ladies of Chestnut…..

Amanda
1. Tim Lincecum (when I wear a hat)
2. The snake performed only by Michael Rapetti
3. GIGANTES games!
4. After the first ML corporate outing I woke up wearing a poncho with the world worst hangover

Heather
1. Kristin Cavallari (not sure if most would consider her a celeb…)
2. The Cupid Shuffle – I have a weird place in my heart for poorly choreographed dances that are only acceptable at weddings
3. Drinking beer and people watching at Dolores Park
4. Ask Mason. Over the last couple of years he has witnessed dozens of my awkward and clumsy moments with customers

Ella
1. Christina Ricci
2. The Pepper-mill
3. Brunch!!
4. I watch Real Housewives of every city…

We’ve broken this up into categories so you can shop as efficiently as possible.  This is not the time to dilly-dally (Use of effeminate British colloquialisms is officially sanctioned until the Olympics are over).

Category 1) I’ve got a F*$KTON of Cash and The Olympics Have Inspired Me To Get Something Cool From Great Brittan.

It’s a small category, we know, but the lack of budgetary constraints also makes it a cool one.  Head to www.mrporter.com for a full range of clothes and accessories.  Pronounced ass-ess-or-e if while we’re sticking with the Queen’s English.

You can also head to www.parkandbond.com for some high-styling. I actually don’t think this site is British, but Park and Bond sounds like it is…

Category 2) I’m an average-to-below-average surfer, but at least I surf so I’m gonna wear some vintage beach gear without feeling guilty.

Ok, I kind of made this category up to feel better about myself.  Good surfers and non-surfers are welcome to also hit up www.mollusksurfshop.com

You actually don’t even need to buy anything, just look at the sweet retro surf pics on the home page for a nice break from your cubicle.

Category 3) I need to kill some time while waiting to have brunch at Outerlands.

Ok, I guess this would be a store in SF, but they have a nice website so if you wanted to get that old school sling shot, but passed in store, head here to order, www.shop-generalstore.com

Category 4) I hate all flash deal sites because they are annoying, please help.

Our buddies at www.huckberry.com would get our vote even if we weren’t buddies.  They have a very well curated email that hits once a week and is filled with awesome, well-priced gear.  And I probably read one of their blog postings every few days.  Great content, great stuff.

Category 5) We need one more category to make this feel like a substantial blog entry.

Boom: www.bestmadeco.com I don’t even know what this is a link to, but Meg sent it to me and she has good taste so it’s now an official category.

Everyone always asks me how we make our graphics.  Ok, well it’s usually just my dad, but he asks a lot so here’s a little blog recap of what we did to roll out the new USA tee.

1)   Brainstormin’:  We’ve got a couple surf/sun ideas that have been bouncing around, but those get put on hold when we remember the summer games are coming in a few months.  No one wants to be branded as a communist, so everyone in the office votes to come up with a special edition tee.

2)   Joe – our main graphic designer – comes in to toss around a few ideas and sketch something out.  We all agree that Apollo Ohno is the only person who likes the last ten years of USA unis so we’re going retro with the graphic…simple and patriotic.

3)   We’d love to incorporate the rings into our design, but a quick check of the google machine reveals that they are trademarked.  I wonder if it’s the same people that trademarked Smedium? We just can’t catch a break.

4)   Joe comes up with a couple cool versions that use the colors of the rings without any rings.  Nice, but feels a lil’ too much like a Jamacia/USA hybrid tee.  We play around with a few toned-down versions, but they still seem a little too forced.

5)   We get back to our simple mantra and stick with some thin red, white and blue stripes following our torch dude to Olympic golden glory.

6)   We run a test screen print on the shirts to make sure we can get a soft hand on the thin lines without losing too much detail.

7)   First shirt comes back looking great.  And it’s a size Medium, hmmm, that’s lucky, I just so happen to wear Medium…Guess I’ll just hold onto this one for safe-keeping until the rest of the production batch is done…

We’re fairly new to the fashion-forward family, but some knowledgeable friends recently told us that stripes have held a well-deserved place in fashions that never go out of style, so we’re stickin’ by that… (In form of skirt, or shirt, or scarf).

With that wiki intro out of the way, meet our newest stripe addition: the one and only Black & White Variegated! The biggest rage since our Pink & Blue stripes which found their way to many a closet. Jenna’s favorite B&W stripe is the new Maxi Skirt, what’s yours going to be?

The doors to our second retail location are now open for business in Hayes Valley. After a lot of hard work from the ML team, we officially opened last Saturday May 19th. As you can see from the pictures below, it came a long way from the red wall and purple ceiling of the previous tenant. If you are in the hood, stop by and say hello – Just like the Chestnut St. store, 498 Hayes will be open every day from 10-7.

Putting stickers on bags is hard work.  Plus some people don’t think that our current reactive-dyed styrofoam-polystrene containers are very green.  To which I say, if they were good enough for McDonald’s in the 80s they’re good enough for us.  All kidding aside, it did seem like we were wasting a lot of paper with our old bags so we’re making the switch to re-usable RPET bags, which as you know are made from recycled pets…But enough about science, let’s get to the pretty pictures.  Here’s a peek at the first draft of the front and back of the bags:

After 5 rounds the winner has been decided and like Kentucky this year, the favorite from the start has come out on top.  In a decisive 29 – 18 vote win, Fort Point has proven that it is the greatest t-shirt ever made (by us)!

After a long week of match-ups, two finalists have emerged and just like that other March Madness you may be watching, a couple of favorites have come out on top.  The two #1 seeds wrapped up a dominant final 4 to land in the finals today – Sunset Stripes and Fort Point duke it out:

Final 4 Results:

#1 Sunset Stripes (41 votes) defeated #2 Ski Tahoe (20 votes)
#1 Fort Point (41 votes) defeated #7 Yosemite (18 votes)

The final match-up:

The #1 seeds remain dominate as we move into the Final 4 this week with the #7 seed Yosemite continuing the upset streak…

The Elite 8 Results:

#1 Sunset Stripes (41 votes) defeated #6 Buffalo (4 votes)……ouch!
#2 Ski Tahoe (34 votes) defeated #5 Double Sun (11 votes)
#1 Fort Point (41 votes) defeated #3 Original Logo (4 votes)
#7 Yosemite (28 votes) defeated #4 Ocean Beach (16 votes)

The Final 4 is all set: