Are you down with the brown?

As Brown Claw Fever spreads across the globe, Astral is proud to announce a limited edition t-shirt designed by in-house artist Kris Northern featuring a tongue in cheek remix of the famous Hokusai wave but this time reimagined with hundreds of hands throwing “brown claws”

This shirt is printed on 100% organic cotton econscious t-shirts using discharge printing. Discharge printing is a specialty, water based process that deactivates the dyes in natural fabrics, similar to a ‘bleached’ effect. The result is a fully breathable, soft material which will not fade, crack, or peel over time (plus it looks really cool!). Discharge inks do not contain toxic PVCs or Pthalates found in traditional plastisol inks.

Printing was done by our friends over at TeamScum. Design is certified Demshitz(tm) approved.

Available in these color choices, Brown, Brown, Brown and the ever popular Brown.

Click here to pre-order and we will begin shipping the shirts on 8/19.

But wait… WTF is a brown claw?

Perhaps you’ve seen this iconic hand gesture emerging from the frothing rapids, people throwing a claw in random locations or or even the facebook group (notice that they are in a relationship with our personal favorite the Honey Badger). We asked one of the originators of the brownclaw Dave Fusilli to drop a little knowledge on the origins of the brown.

Dave Fusilli rocking a power brown as Nicole Mansfield displays her crouching tiger, hidden brown claw technique.

After much anticipation we are proud to announce the release of the BirdDog -  Astral’s first canine lifevest.

Simon from Watershed, one of our original BirdDogs.

Designed to provide safety, comfort, and style for the canine athlete. The Bird Dog is perfect for active swimmers looking to take on new rapids, also works great for helping newbies learn their doggy paddle in calmer waters.

Features Include:
· Durable Cordura shell for abrasion resistance
· Reflective piping for visibility
· Ergonomic foam distribution supports your
dog in a natural swimming position
· Hinged foam for added mobility and comfort
· Raised grab handle
· Leash loop
· Adjustable neck and chest straps

It comes in two color options, Fire and Ice, as well as five size options (X-Small, Small Medium, Large, X-Large).

Sampson, Astral shop dog, is a great tester for the “non swimmer” category.

Emily Jackson and her BirdDogs. Photo: Nick Troutman

World Freestyle Champ Nick Troutman and his hound.  Photo: Emily Jackson

Spencer Cooke sends this one in of an actual “BirdDog” spotted somewhere near Asheville.

In his own words he claims it is a “stunning creature.” photo: www.effort.tv

Astral Homegrown from 7 Finger media on Vimeo.

video courtesy of Gareth Tate, 7 Finger Media:

PADDLERS;
Bryan Owen, Keith Sprinkle, Gareth Tate, Adriene Levknecht, Chris Baer, Dustin Marquart, Evan Garcia, Adam Bixby, Steven Hughes, Gabriel Latini, Arlyn Agababian, Nik Hasse, Lee Timmons, Keith Sprinkle, Yonton Mehler, Drew Duval, Bishop, Billy Jones.

VIDEO CONTRIBUTORS;
Adam Bixby, Jacub Nemec, Evan Garcia, Gareth Tate, Laura Farrall, Nik Hasse, Taylor Fearrington, Bob Bailey.

*all footage shot within 60 miles of Asheville, NC.

MUSIC;
Glitch Mob – “Starve The Ego, Feed The Soul”

-2010 7 Finger media-

Get your astral t-shirt on sale now at the ASTRAL Factory Store.

Here’s a photo of Phil Curry (Philip’s dad),  proudly modeling the Sydney Design for our readers.

ASTRAL T’s are made with plastisol-free REHANCE dyeing methods on Organic Cotton shirts, printed right here in our home state of North Carolina.

Sydney T: Be recognized as the most stylish boater in your crew with this sophisticated fractal design. Inspired by the renowned architecture of Sydney Australia, this T featured the organic fractal logo on mutts blue.

$22.95 ON SALE:$ 14.95

XL ONLY

Check out the Strangefish, our first long sleeve Organic Cotton T-shirt made using a plastisol free REHANCE dyeing methods. The design was created by our friend and local Asheville artist Ryan Lane.

With freezing cold weather in much of North America we though this would be a great opportunity to offer the strangefish direct on the Factory Store.

We are running a special 35% off on all t-shirts during the winter, including the Strangefish.

Strangefish Short Sleeve on Anvil Organic T – $14.95

Strangefish Long Sleeve on American Apparel Organic T – $19.95

This has been a fun and busy week for the ASTRAL crew. The factory has been finishing up the first of the new Greenjacket LE1′s as well making some dog beds from our scrap raw materials.  Meanwhile, the office team has been working on the design of LE#2. Here’s a sneak peek at what we have been up to this week:

The embroidery machine is one of the most interesting tools here at the factory, it gets a lot of use especially when we make Limited Edition Greenjackets.

Here’s Theresa constructing the front panel on the LE1 with a smile.

Below Tirza works on some LE1 shoulder straps. She is one of our veteran sewing staff and a highly skilled seamstress.

Jesus is filling some dog bed inserts with recycled lifejacket foam.  These dog beds are an alternative to the landfill and give your hound a comfy pad after a long day on the water.

Check out the finished dog beds. We also use scrap fabric for the shell material so no two are exactly the same (kinda like snowflakes… and dogs).

…and last but not least, here is a preview of the Greenjacket LE2 which is due out sometime in January.

Astral LE is “Limited Edition” products made in our mothership factory in Asheville, NC. The purpose of this program is two-fold. One reason is to offer our customers the choice to purchase a domestically made , highest end PFD. The other reason is to allow us to have more fun with design, to express ourselves according to seasonal creative influences.

The LEs are built with the same meticulous details and supreme materials as our regular GreenJackets , but they are made in small batches, each having a unique artistic style. When you purchase one, not only are you going to look damn smart, but your money is helping to keep fellow Americans at work.

THE GREENJACKET LE1

It took us a long time to filter through the wide range of artistic concepts we could use on the 1st batch of LEs. When the familiar red, gold, and green color scheme finally showed up, we knew we had the 1st batch of limited edition Safety vests.

…and of course we had to add a little USA-ness to it. Browse the pictures below and if you feel the vibe, reserve yours here.

MSRP $240

available December 2009

The LE1 is no longer available (while supplies last).

Astral is proud to be an official  sponsor of the US Freestyle Kayak Team, and to show our support we wanted to bring the team something unique from the factory here in Asheville, NC.   Check out these photos of the custom Willis jackets that the team will be wearing.  The artwork on these jackets is simply beautiful and is exclusive to the 2009 US Freestyle Kayak Team.  The back of each jacket has 28 stars representing the 28 spots on the team roster.

We have had a few folks ask, “Where can I get one of those USA jackets?”…well, the answer is that you can check out the Willis at your local dealer and you will be blown away by its unsurpassed fit and comfort.  However, to get one of the USA team jackets you need to grab your playboat and head to the hole immediately. You have a lot of practice to do if you’re going to make the team in 2011.

photos courtesy of Jeremy Laucks: Salida Colorado

Here at the Astral Buoyancy Company one of our primary goals is to reduce our factory’s waste to nil.  We are proud to create handcrafted PFD’s from the most environmentally considerate closed cell buoyant foams available such as Gaia and PE foams, developed as an alternative to toxic PVC found in the lifejackets of yesteryear. The die cutting process, which stamps out the flotation panels from the sheets of these various foams, creates about 80% yield, leaving about 20% of the raw material as excess.   We have been saving this excess scrap material since we started about six years ago in hopes of one day creating byproducts as a usable alternative to the landfill. The first of these by-products is the AstroPad dog bed…

The Astro Pad, our first By-Product

With that said its time to meet Sampson, our shop dog and tester for the AstroPad prototypes.  Sampson has been in the whitewater scene for about six years now, sniffing around venues like Salida, Squamish, Fayetteville, and Banks… pretty much being a full time river dog along the way and now he’s a big time operator in the home office in Asheville, NC.  Ole boy even surfed Skookumchuck in a zodiac raft back in ’06 so you know he’s legit, if you don’t believe me check out his Blog. Anyways, here’s a shot of Sampson at his first week on the job at Astral when he was using a scrap sheet of foam as his pad.

Sampson before the AstroPad (with toy squirrel in background…no, its not a brown)

As time passed and more scrap foam was accumulated it was time to bring the AstroPad concept to fruition.  We developed a process to essentially chip the leftover foam into small bits that when stuffed into the liner create a memory foam like feel.

Foam shavings used as fill for the AstroPad

For the outer shell we used our leftover fabric scraps (also saved since the company’s inception) to create a unique and stylish patchwork design.  We topped it off with adding a Velcro closure for easy washing of the outer shell and added some convenient carrying handles for transport.  The first batch of AstroPads left the warehouse a few weeks ago and since then we have made Sampson and his fellow river dogs quite happy after a long day on the water.  Here’s a few of these happy hounds:

Roscoe, photo courtesy of Chan Jones

Chomski, photo courtesy of Astral’s Tracey Haswell

Philip Curry and Sampson

For complete info on the AstroPad check out our Products Pages and email us at info@astralbuoyancy.com to place an order. Keep in mind that the colors are assorted as they are made from our leftover fabrics (but we try to make them all look sweet cause we know your dog wants to look good too!)

Stay tuned for more Astral By-Products…

If you are a whitewater paddler and own an Ipod or computer then you should really check out the In Between Swims podcast. This installment dubbed “Back to the Core” features an Interview with Astral’s founder and president Philip Curry, where Philip talks about what it was like to sell Lotus to Patagonia, Coast Guard PFD certification, and the future of PFD’s.  Also on this issue Immersion Research’s John Weld swims The Potomac’s Horseshoe and Shane Benedict joins from Zwick’s on the Green River to talk boofing.

Listen to the BACK TO THE CORE MP3

learn more about this podcast at the In Between Swims Homepage

or get the In Between Swims Itunes Download