A simple analysis

You know, my girlfriend has been working out and a few days ago she came to me and said: I need a new pair of sneakers to go jogging. Immediately I said: I can get you a nice pair of FILA but then she replied: I'd rather do it myself because I need to try them before getting then we left to the Mobilia Shopping here in Malmö (www.mobilia.se). There we found out that the Intersports shop had great discounts in shoes/sneakers and I asked one guy there about FILA and you know what was his reaction? "FILA? Which year are you in?"
I won't transcribe the entire conversation because it's not important. The important thing is that some people think that FILA is dead and gone and I started wondering about it. Isn't Sweden a good market to them? Isn't it worth it investing to face the "big ones" here? What makes a guy who works in a sports shop think like that? Lack of interest or lack of information about the brand?
Anyway... My girlfriend decided to get a pair of Nike because she said they looked cool and this also made me wonder even more. I know there will be many more like me who love the design of the FILA sneakers but most of them are kindda too "retro" and some people think that "retro" is not cool because it goes against the "design evolution".
I know that if we get those two models FILA came up for the FILA Ducati sneakers it will give a lesson of design but was that all? Shouldn't they come up with more "rash" designs like they do with the inline skates? And what about the impact protection? I mean, I own myself some pairs which are very comfortable but they don't really show the "magic" as a big propaganda like other brands do and the propaganda (as we would say in Brazil) is the secret for the good business.

Precision x Style? FILA = both

Since I started this FILA collection I get more and more surprised everyday. And it couldn't be different due to the diversity of products that they produce and as the idea of this blog is to show that, in this post I will introduce one of the few FILA watches I have gotten.

This one was bought, as most of the times, at eBay.co.uk because though there is a www.fila-watches.com website, right now they're "under renovation" and here in Sweden it seems to be just impossible to find this kind of stuff so eBay has been helping me increase my collection.
The good impression started with the nice box with a surprising design and that makes the watch very well packed. About the watch itself, I can say that it's very light and though some might say that light watches have no quality I can assure that this one has and even goes beyond. The precision is also impressive and the distribution of the colors is just something making the FILA watch something that anyone with good taste will feel like grabbing one like those too. Besides all those good looking features, it also has chronograph and it's water resistant. The one negative spot is the lack of calendar but in general, the pros totally overcome the cons turning this fine piece of steel into a "must have".

Going back in time

No, unfortunately I didn't get a time machine but I want to refer to one previous post because I finally got those awesome FILA inline skates:

As you can see, the care FILA has with the products begins with the box and when you open it you get even more quality.

They came straight from Germany and as I said before, they're bought at www.eBay.de (though there is also a www.filaskates.com) but you know, I have never tried inlines before so paying over 100 euros to try something and maybe pass them ahead would be something silly. Even if we're talking about my favorite brand.

And as you can see, they're just perfect. I know I sound repetitive every time I talk about the quality but it's something that's so impressive that I can't avoid mentioning and yeah, I tried them and I could at least stand though moving turned out to be more difficult than I though but let's wait until I'm back from Greece (I don't wanna travel with a broken arm) to see how it's really gonna be.

Summer, Fila, Summer but... FILA!

Just like I mentioned in the post bellow, summer has arrived (OK, I know it's still spring) and we're soon off to the Mediterranean. With that though in mind, I ordered a few shorts and bermudas (3/4 trousers). Bellow are two of them purchased at eBay, one white and one blue which are size M:

Each one costed 9 pounds (around 100:-kr) what is a joke if I compare with the prices for regular shorts here in Sweden (I couldn't get not even one with the price of those two) which alone is already a good reason to buy, plus they're FILA and this is the biggest reason for me.
Besides thinking that they look great, another thing that I though when I got them from the mail was that they looked a little "fragile" and the tag says 100% polyester but you know, it's FILA and I own maybe a hundred FILA branded products and so far I didn't have any quality related issue so I can assure you that this is not gonna be the first time.
Overall I have no complaints and the only thing that would improve them would be a back pocket which is, IMO, very useful. Specially for wallets but since I'm gonna also carry a FILA backpack, I can have wallet, keys and everything else inside it. ;-)

New Arrival

No, no. It's not a new FILA product but the mailman who just dropped here something I purchased a few days ago:

Brand new, purchased at www.eBay.co.uk for £9. What a bargain!?!?! These, that I call shorts but my girlfriend call 3/4 trousers are about same size as two other pairs I got a few months ago. You know, summer is here and we're going to Greece to enjoy the Mediterranean so they're gonna be very useful plus they look very nice and only the embroidered FILA logotype pays off. What else do I need to say? Not much because if one image says more that a thousand words, one nice image with FILA shorts on it says more than one entire dictionary.

Beanie or Skull Cap?

I'm not really sure if it's the same thing with two different names. All I know is that I hear people using both names for the same thing but what really matters to me is the brand: FILA.

I had never used this kind of thing before but when I found at Tradera (Swedish version of eBay: www.tradera.com) I thought with myself: I MUST have it and believe me, it's one of the best deals I've ever done because though the winter is now just a cold memory, I still use it everyday and it's become almost like my trademark.
Made in wool blue colored, the imponent embroidered logotype in white and red shows right away who produced it: FILA, leaving no more questions about quality and durability, after all, they're both synonyms for FILA.

FILA in Sweden/Sverige

Once I found one Forum online where one of the users wondered what had happened to FILA in Sweden. I don't really know how big it was before because I've been living here for only 14 months but for those who wish to find FILA stuff here, I have a tip:

http://www.topstreetwear.com

It's a nice shop with an even nicer website where you can find all sorts of clothing stuff and, of course, FILA branded clothes and accessories too at a very reasonable price. It's really worth looking.

Parenthesis for an excuse

Yeah, this topic is more such as an excuse but I'll explain why... Though I had plenty of spring jackets (it's spring now), I didn't have any "sportish" so I thought with myself: Maybe I can find a nice jacket at a fair price for this year's spring and at my birthday I found something that looked more valuable than gold to my eyes:

The only problem is that the jacket seemed to be a "copy" and not original. I mean, it costed a few pounds (purchased at www.ebay.co.uk) but the add said it was 100% original but when I got it, I couldn't really find the FILA tags which made me suspicious though the very high quality and everything else shows I might be mistaken. Anyway... It's the kind of stuff that can't really make you regretful because it's so perfectly made, the leather is just awesome (thick enough to protect you from the cold in the end of the winter), it has inner pads to protect the body in case you fall from the motorcycle and the main and valuable thing: it's FILA, synonym of quality that get's only better when you put it together with Ducati. I wish the partnership would comeback because they produced some killer stuff which I was able to get a few and will review in other posts.

Running Warmer

Right now, with the summer around the corner, I'm around 85kg but in the beginning of the winter I was still close to 100kg when I decided to start running again to burn the extra fat I had gathered during the previous year so I went to the Stadium shop here in Malmö. The one at the Triangeln here in Malmö. There I found an interesting jogging outfit at a somehow fair price so I got it but (did I mention there is always a but when I don't go straight to FILA?) though the outfit is aerodynamically projected for running and stuff, it's not meant to be used during the winter so I was freezing to death the first time I used it.
That day I almost gave up running but I didn't really gibe up because I came back home running (faster that I intended to around Pildammsparken). With my fingers still freezing I started looking online for a better solution and guess what? I found out about FILA Tech.

Very comfortable, warm and "jävla snygg", that's the fleece jumper completely gray with the traditional FILA embroidered in red and blue, followed by the "tech" that gives a special touch to the jumper making it even more attractive. I don't remember how much it costed but it was another bargain for my growing FILA collection.

Nice Mistake

When me and my girlfriend decided thatwe would move from Brazil to Sweden (she's swedish) one of the first things I thought was: I'm gonna need gloves!
But this simple task is not that easy in a tropical country like Brazil so, once again, I went to the internet. It was a while ago (almost two years now) and back then I had no idea FILA had an online shop so I ended up at the eBay website (as most of the times). There I found one auction which looked interesting (by the images used) but didn't really say a lot. besides saying FILA Gloves. They actually looked awesome so I decided to bid and finally the auction ended up in something around $15 USD but (there is always a but) what wasn't the surprise when I got the gloves:

They really give a lot of protection, not only against the cold but I would say they're almost bullet proof. Made in kevlar, they're simple HUGE and very good looking with the FILA logo embroidered in red and white but later on I found out they're meant to be used for snowboarding. Maybe that's why people were looking at me in a weird way when I was using them here in Malmö and though I agree it might be funny walking around with snowboarding gloves as regular gloves, I'd say it was a very nice mistake because they're very comfortable, warm and work as a shield to your hands.

Sporty in Inline FILA skates

You know, though eBay is almost a neverending source for FILA lovers, it's not everyday you can find good stuff with a fair price. Maybe the real problem is that people are always "hungry" for FILA products and then they look all the time turning it into a hard task but which really pays off.
Anyway... One of these days I was looking for two different pairs of sneakers (FILA Ducati) which turned out to be impossible to find. I looked at the regular US eBay site. Nothing was found. eBay.co.uk and once again no results. eBay.it, eBay.es... And suddenly I got to www.eBay.de, the deutsch version and voilà. But I'm gonna leave it for another post because this post is about something else that I also found there:

I remember when I was a tiny kid... It was the only time I tried skates in my entire life but hey, I'm a sporty guy again so I decided it would be worth giving it another try, plus they look just awesome.
I'm not gonna be surprise if I succeed in this new attempt because comparing to those old skates with four wheels, these look more solid and stable. Besides, they're FILA and this means "high standards". BTW, since they're purchased in Germany, I didn't get them yet but as soon as I do I'll post a review of how it went.
Yeah, I almost forgot. There is a www.filaskates.com/ website but I think the prices there were a little too high for someone who just wanted to try and before I forget, I paid less than 30 euros for the skates + shipping but if you're looking for a nice bargain in skates you can look it up at www.eBay.de because there are other models starting at 1 euro.

Hoodie

Summer was about to come but it was still too cold to wear only a t-shirt. I had plenty of sweaters and jumpers but only one boring hoody (perfect excuse to get a FILA one?).
This time I went straight to the internet and found this world wonder:

The seller was from England but this is very interesting. He lived in Sweden many years ago because he wanted to learn the language (Brazilian buys korean/italian article from England. Did anyone mention globalization?). Anyway... The hoodie or hoody wasn't brand new but it's in a great condition. According to the seller it was only used a few times and he decided to sell because he needed money and, of course, I got another bargain for something which is almost a second skin to me now. Some friends even say that if I remove it and leave in the middle of the way home it will get here alone because it already "learned" the way of so many times I've been using. I can't help it! The way FILA uses the colors looks just perfect.

Wristbands

I was never fond of wristbands but once my girlfriend came to me and said: I need a pair... She's been working out and it seems to be a "must have" for whoever goes to the gym.
Once again I went looking here in Malmö at a few shops but I know her so well and I knew any of the ones I saw would make her pleased so I went back home to eBuy it. It took a few minutes to find one pair that would make her happy but THEN, I found something that would also make me happy:

As I said in the beginning, I was never into wristbands and to be honest, I hadn't been working out either but those FILA wristbands were something I had to have so I got it. $4 + shipping and in a bargain I got something that not only made me glad but it also gave me strength to start exercising again so now I go to the gym with my "snygg" wristband.

Needless to talk about the very good quality present in all FILA branded material so if you already workout, I highly recommend. If you don't, I recommend anyway and maybe you're gonna get motivated to start a more active and healthy life just like a did.

More Than A Passion

I remember when I was a kid in Brazil... FILA was a very popular brand back then and Nike was just something that someone had heard about once. Adidas and some brazilian brands which no longer exist were somehow huge too but to my eyes, nothing could be compared to the magic F.
Years have passed and I've left Brazil too. First to England and then to Sweden in Malmö, where I live today and as was forced to change my dressing style to a more proper due to professional reasons, unfortunately I sort of forgot about FILA's existence till on a beautiful day I came across that beautiful logo again. Red/white/blue and I realized what I missed during all those years and that's when the quest had started again. I used the word QUEST because it turned out to be very hard to find FILA stuff (at least here in Sweden) but I wouldn't give up.
I tried to look at sports shops here and online so Stadium and Intersports were my first choices but it seems that Adidas and Nike have taken over Sverige. But one day, when I had almost lost all my hope, I decided to look at eBay and voilà... Loads of stuff waiting to be bought.
After a while I got to know that they also had one online shop but this is weird because they always have only a few items while at eBay there is a huge variety of almost everything.
Since then I started collecting all sorts of stuff made by FILA and I intend to use this space to expose the itens and maybe discuss with other FILA fans.