Review: Reebok Easytone Trainers

Edit: July 2010: I've been wearing these for about 4 months now and they've actually ruined my feet. Ignore what I've said in the initial review; they are so painful. I don't know whether it's the hot weather or what but the inside backs of the heels in the trainers have completely disintegrated and given me painful blisters - the backs of my feet are in tatters. I've taken to using bandages on the inside as a temporary fix and wearing plasters every day but COME ON - I paid £80 for these and they last 4 months before they shred my feet?? Reebok, sort it out. I am a standard size 5 and I always buy that size in every type of shoe I buy - yet these have either a) shrunk or are sized completely wrong, they are incredibly tight and I get pins and needles across the tops of my feet. They felt fine for the first few months after the initial 'wearing im' period but now they are so painful.


I took to recommending these to everyone I know but now I don't. The opposite in fact. Oh dear Reebok. Sort this out now.

Original post: Now that I work in London but don't yet live there, it's a 45 minute walk every morning from my house to Leighton Buzzard station. At 6.45. It's pretty terrible having to walk that much at that time in the morning, but I was wearing pumps/kitten heels/etc as well; obviously whatever I was going to wear during the day. It wasn't long before I'd destroyed my feet, and a few heels too. I didn't like the thought of wearing trainers (I never do) but figured it would be so much better for me: I'd take my shoes in my bag and change on the train.

I'd heard of Reebok Easytone and even though I was a bit skeptical, I thought if I was buying trainers I may as well pay a bit more for some that are supposed to help tone even more. I've seen Skechers Shape Ups and MBTs all over the place and I hate them: they're just so ugly, no matter how good they're supposed to be for you, they just look like orthopaedic shoes! So I was glad that Easytone look just like normal trainers.

There's a few different styles, in the end I went with the Curve version, which you can see above. I couldn't bring myself to buy white (and wear) white trainers, so had to go for the black ones, at least they sort of go with my clothes a bit. Althought tbh, it's not really about fashion at that time in the morning.

I wanted these ones but I couldn't find them anywhere when I went shopping.

So I ended up paying £80 for my pair. Which literally hurt me: I never thought I'd spend that much on a pair of trainers. So what do I think?

I've had them about a month now, I wanted to wear them in a bit before I reviewed them.

First off, they initially felt extremely comfortable. When I tried them on in the shop they felt great, and really springy and nice. I didn't feel unstable, even though the blurb says:

"The EasyTone Curve, built on Reebok’s patented muscle-toning sole technology, creates a slight instability, much like walking on sand. They encourage toning through increased muscle activation in three key areas of the leg: the gluteus maximus, hamstrings and calves. Up to 28%, in fact. Like we said, sharp curves ahead.

• EasyTone balance pod technology encourages up to 11% more toning in the hamstrings and calves, and up to 28% in the glutes
• Synthetic/mesh upper for comfort, support and breathability
• Dual density medial post provides superior stability, while adjustable heel strap reduces heel slippage
• SmoothFit design ensures minimal rub and ultimate comfort"

They definitely don't make you feel wobbly; just a lot harder to walk in. But not in an uncomfortable way, it is just like walking on sand. You need to put a lot more effort than you normally do to walk at the speed you want, which is where I assume the toning comes in.

Comfort:
At first, like I said, they were really comfortable. The first time I wore them, taking the dog for a short 25 minute walk, I came back and my heels had been rubbed raw and were bleeding. Very painful. I perhaps should have worn pre-emptive plasters, but still, I hadn't imagined they would rub like that. I had to wear plasters for 3 weeks after that to stop the pain, and thick pairs of socks for the first week or so. Not great.
I also realised, after a few days, that they were extremely tight over the bridge of my feet. I have wide feet and a high instep so have trouble with some shoes because of that, but I've never had trainers that have been so narrow. It got to the point that I was desperate to take them off on the train because I was having pins and needles. Luckily, things seem to have stretched a bit and they're not so tight anymore; I loosened the laces a lot as well which helped a bit. They don't make my feet feel numb anymore but they're still slightly tight. Perhaps Reebok should look into this and realise that quite a lot of people have wide feet/high insteps and trainers should accommodate that.

Toning:
Despite them not being very comfortable for the first few weeks, I still wore them everyday because 1) I'd spent a considerable amount of money on them and 2) I could actually feel some effect, which I was surprised about. Even after the first week, my legs were aching more than I usually felt when wearing normal shoes to work.

After a month of using them, my calf muscles are definitely more toned. Not too sure about my thighs but that might come later. My mum commented that my hips looked slimmer so that might be an effect. But they definitely worked my ankle and calf muscles more, and I'm still feeling it when I walk to work, even on friday, on a very fast pace because I was late, I could feel my ankle muscles really working and they ached the next day. Which is a good thing of course.

Overall, they're alright. If they weren't so tight and caused rubbing at the beginning I would have hailed them as pretty damn good, as they do seem to be toning much more than normal walking. The fact that I'd already walked for a month every day to the station in normal shoes, vs using these, and I could tell there was a marked difference.

The other thing I have found is that I am able to walk faster in them, too. The springy base of the shoes is much better at propelling me forward and I can get to the station in 35 minutes now, if I walk really fast. Which means 10 extra minutes in bed/eating breakfast. I like that.

I haven't yet tried them out running; I'm not entirely sure if you're supposed to but I don't see why not. Apparently Reebok are bringing out Runtone and Traintone later.. for running and gym respectively. Slightly skeptical of that; possible money-making scheme saying you need three different trainers for three different types of exercise. I don't do a great deal of running and never go to the gym so I have no use for either. I'll stick with my easytones I think.

My verdict: If you do a lot of walking, and have the spare cash (which I really didn't buy hey ho), then you might as well. If you have wide feet, I wouldn't recommend it. It's taken a month of walking in them every day to wear them down to be comfortable and not tight or rub.

Coveting: Missguided Clothing

I've stumbled on a bit of a gem here. Can't believe I'd never heard of Missguided before but they're clothes are my new favourite love. Think a mix of Motel and New Look, with a very tasty pricetag. The current collection is growing all the time, and they've got some great dresses and some really fashion-forward stuff. Par example:

Deepa Dress, £31.99

Black lace, ruffles and added beaded detailing; you can't really go wrong. It comes in cream and pink as well I think, but the black kind of gives it that gothic twist that I love. Could be a winner.

Hollie Peek-a-Boo Dress In Black & Cream, £27.99

I've got a similar top to this, but without the lace. Panelling and cutaways are big news but I think you need and amazing stomach for this one. Perhaps not. I love the monochrome slashes though, it's a good little find.

 

Heidi Floral Lace Bodycon Dress In Cream, £15.99

Lace and floral are really great friends. They love each other. My current wardrobe is pretty much lace and floral-based. And so this dress kinda ticks both boxes. And it's that lovely cream colour. I don't even have a floral bodycon dress so it's fiiiiine, I definitely need this. Yup.

Jess Contrast Cup Mesh Dress, £31.99

This is great for a subtle go at the Underwear/Outerwear trend, without actually showing any underwear. I love it.

Nadine Dress With Shaped Hemline In Peach, £22.99

Now this is amazing. I'm definitely buying this. The colour is great, perfect for the nude/pastel trend around right now, and the structured hem line is so Lady Gaga. But less mental. I've got an inkling it's going to be quite flattering on my generous thighs, with all the detailing taking away from any unsightly bumps etc. We will have to see! It's sold out in a size 12... size 10 might be too small. Eek.

Bonduca Printed Strapless Velvet Dress, £23.99

This is a little bit different, and not for everyone, but I love the print. Never been massively keen on velvet but this could be quite good. The bubble hem has me a bit worried though, they never look that good on me. I'd have to try it first. It's a great print though, they've only got a 14 in stock right now.

Luisiana Lace Cycling Shorts, £5.99

Can you actually believe it?! My search is over. Ages ago, I posted that I was coveting lace cycling shorts. This was before the high street had jumped on the trend yet so as usual, I was hanging around waiting for them to produce something affordable. And here we are! Tres happy. And can you believe, only £6. I am so there.

Annie Crop Jumper In Grey, £15.99

I really want this, it's the cutest ever. Crop jumpers are great, and this would look really cool with high waisted denim shorts I think. I just love the print! Aw. It's sold out though :(

 

Eunice Floral Blazer, £25.99

I heart blazers. I heart floral. You can see where this is going.

Carlene Nautical Dress In Cream, £23.99

The nautical stuff they've got is great too. I really like this dress.

With all this, I'm trying to find the perfect going out dress; it's a friends birthday this friday and I haven't had a proper night out in so long, my stock of dresses now all look very last year. Which is because they are. Haven't bought a new dress since December! I just need to figure out which sizes I should buy (I hate shopping online, I range from an 8 to a 14 on the high street, does my head in!) and then inevitably there will be some returns. I've gone for the structured peach dress and the Deepa Dress as well, in case the peach one is too small at a 10. I hope it's not :(

So go and check out Missguided anyway, and I'll post pics if the dresses look good.

Coveting: Hush Puppes Shoeperstar winner...

I saw this Hush Puppies Shoeperstar competition when it came out and thought it was a great idea. I didn't take part because... well I can't design shoes. I wasn't entirely sure what the outcome would be, because while Hush Puppies are amazingly comfortable (I bought some while I worked at Schuh, in a plum kind of colour, so nice to walk around in heels that don't kill you) they're not exactly Irregular Choice in the looks department. That's fine for most who need them for work and who can't wear crazy shoes, but I likes crazy shoes. That's why when I saw the winner, I was most excited:

So cute! And so summery. They also come in black too:

Which I like, but not as much as the purple. I like the white heel and the floral strap, and I'm rocking a lot of purple right now thanks to my splurge at H! by Henry Holland (Henry likes purple, it seems...) so they would go with so many outfits. And the best part? They are guaranteed to be comfortable, cos Hush Puppies rock like that.

The only downside is that they are £65... oh if only I still had my Schuh discount! I will have to save up for a summer treat.

They are designed by Laura Berry and you can buy them here.

"Laura is 36, a mum to one year old Bonita and currently teaches textiles part time in Turves Green Girls School, Northfield. When not teaching she spends the rest of her time painting and does portraits, designing women’s clothing and accessories as well as working with local artists in the community to coordinate and implement a programme of arts events for disadvantaged youths.

Laura’s shoe design was inspired by the need for a funky, feminine yet practical shoe that could take a working mum from school run to office to evening drinks – all in relevant comfort. The shoe itself is an all-season style and has vintage influences with a modern twist."

Coveting: Topshop Makeup

I heard about Topshop Makeup a while back but it's getting quite a bit of press now, and some images have been released too. Initially I wasn't majorly excited but now I'm getting a lot more intrigued: firstly the packaging is quite cute:

Monochrome stripes and spots, quite nice. Now I'm assuming it's all cruelty-free, it would be disastrous not to be. I'm hoping the packaging is minimal like this; and that none of it comes in additional cardboard boxes: that really annoys me. Like when nail varnishes come in cardboard tubes. It's made of glass, it's ok, it doesn't need extra cardboard. Foundations and moisturisers do this too: it bugs the hell out of me. I bough L'oreal's new youth code moisturiser (which is great btw, really like it) but it's in a glass tub, and then with a cardboard box. So not needed.

The main thing that got my attention is that the makeup is seasonal; the first being aimed at the festival season. So lots of bright summery colours and crazy glitters to go raving in. Personally, when I go to festivals, I wear nowt but eyeliner. You can't really be doing with anything more than that when all you have to wash yourself for 4 days are babywipes. 4 days of built up mascara and foundation is pretty... gross. But then there are those who do the hotel/VIP thing and who treat festivals like a fashion show, and would go crazy over this stuff, and there are those who like me, wear the same denim shorts all weekend. What I'm more interested in is that this stuff will be great for colourful nights out. I love to experiment with eye makeup, at uni I always had people saying 'you're that girl with the mental eyeshadow/eyelashes' (usually while spilling drinks on me):

And so on. These were all taken on nights out/varying stages of drunkenness so not exactly model shots. Ha. But anyway, I like to do crazy eye stuff, and hopefully this topshop makeup will be good for that, as I can't always afford to buy Illamasqua and Barry M. As the images I'm about to scan from this week's Grazia will show, they've thought about this range in terms of what crazy looks you can pull off. But the main thing I'm excited for is the nailvarnishes, in particular this one:

 This shade is called The Big Easy, £5. It hasn't scanned brilliantly but I LOVE it. I'm suddenly reliving my 14 year old obsession with nail varnish these days and this is an amazing colour. If I just buy one thing from this Topshop Makeup range, this will be it. I just hope it's fairly long-lasting and doesn't chip after the first day: as so often happens with cheap nail varnish that clothes brands bring out. However we are assured that this will be far from tacky, cheap teeny-y stuff:

"Designed by Topshop designer, Lizzie Dawson, whose day job is whipping up to-die-for blouses and lingerie, the range plays on the experimental nature of the Topshop customer, who’ll think nothing of throwing hair up into a grungy bun and sticking a giant flower in it, wearing a belt as a headband, a scarf around a handbag, and so on.

Expect the unexpected, especially when it comes to colour. Shades like The Big Smoke – a putty-coloured nail polish, not dissimilar to Chanel’s sell-out Particuliere, and Thistle – a pretty purple kohl pencil, are inspired by fashion, not makeup trends. And whilst the makeup finish on all products is professional standard, there’s not a huge focus on foundations.  Skin Tint, a second-skin tinted moisturiser and Skin Glow, a face brightener (amazing under Skin Tint) are the only bases in the range. ‘We want girls to look real and their makeup to look lived-in,’ says makeup artist Hannah Murray." From this Grazia article.

I love that look with the feathers, I so want to try that. These pages are both scans from this week's Grazia btw, images belong to them.

The range hits stores in May: I foresee a big rush personally. I'm just going to hunt down that nail varnish. Mine mine mine.

What I wore today: sunshine saturday outfit post!

 

What's wrong with this picture?

It dawned on me today, while on a train into London checking twitter, that something was wrong with the sky - not that it was abnormally blue and cloud free for April in Britain (that alone was ace), but that there were no aeroplane trails. Once you noticed it, it was hard to not notice it. And it was quieter, when I was in the garden later, when this picture was taken, I couldn't hear any planes from Luton airport. Nuffin'. It was so nice. And it got me thinking - I know the airlines are going on about how many millions of £s they're losing because of this Volcano (don't ask me to spell or pronounce it, I'm good but not that good) - but how much CO2 are we saving? It's nice to think about it. I like the notion that Mother Nature could be spewing out her guts so that we stop polluting her... makes sense innit. There are lots of people that have been put out by this, and I can see that it would be so annoying if you were on a holiday or worse, business trip - even the F1 has suffered, many mechanics haven't been able to get out to Shanghai for this weekend. 

From an environmental perspective though, it's ace. And it's given me a crazy thought - we should have 4 fly-free days a year. The airlines would hate it, but just think - 4 days of no aeroplanes in the sky, no pollution, no noise... and you could easily plan your holiday if you knew exactly when those days were. Hmmm. I'll just ring the Big People In Charge of all the Aeroplanes.com and let them know.

So as I said, I went into London today for a fashion illustration workshop at Sketchbook Magazine's Pop Up Shop in Carnaby St. I'll blog about that separately, but it was really nice, and the sunshine made the busyness of Oxford Circus bearable. I've persuaded myself to do more outfit posts: I've been rocking some good outfits lately (if I do say so myself) and so I really should share them, being that I am a hybrid fashion/design/trend blogger person. I can't really define what I blog about. Cool stuff that you should know about. Hmmm.

 

Skirt: New Look, lace vest: Primark, bra: Urban Outfitters, cardigan: New Look.

Every year, nautical comes out, and I'm never massively excited. I don't know why, it's just one trend I'm never really a part of. However this year, it's got a military twist and I'm all about the military: this skirt from New Look is subtle; just navy with gold military style buttons: not an anchor in sight! I also got a white stripey tshirt to go with it - it's made me realise I don't have any navy or white shoes though. Which is weird.

Hope you've all had a lovely sunshine-y saturday, I spent a good hour or so reading Grazia on the hammock in the garden ^.^ good times.

Selfridges: New online shopping and brand identity

Surely, you could buy online. Surely. But no. It seemed the 21st century had slipped Selfridges by... if you wanted their stuff (and there's a lot of it...) you had to get down to Oxford St or the Bullring (or the one in Manchester, but I've never been there) and buy it in person. Or get a minion to do it I suppose.


I think originally, Selfridges didn't want to get into e-shopping because they though it would take away from their in-store experience. After all, they're pretty good at putting on experiential shopping and buying something online, they thought, would dull that experience. Also, there was a thought that luxury shoppers wouldn't want to buy online - if you're going to spend a couple of K on a handbag, you want to do it in person, you want to see it, feel it. Not so. While I was on placement at Open, we undertook some trend and consumer research for Selfridges, particularly into the habits of high-end luxury buyers, and actually, quite a lot of people do want to buy luxury goods online. Maybe they're not the type to splash the cash and show off, maybe they're just too damn busy to navigate selfridges on a busy saturday. In any case, there was a need. And it seems Selfridges listened.

The homepage is nice and clean, with good interactivity and not too much flash-usage.  All those boxes you can fling around with your mouse. I've spent a good while stacking them up neatly. Slightly calming, yet alarming.

The Selfridges blog is just starting up too, called Selfridges Says... (slightly familiar don't you think! I know I'm great, but no need to rip me off ;) haha.)

What I really like though is the identity of the branding. It comes across best in the emails they send out:

It's just really fun and quirky, I like the hand drawn illustrations and the fact that the product shots aren't just cut outs of flats, they are displayed like an exhibition, curated almost. That's a word we threw at Selfridges. Actually that's a word that's being thrown around a lot recently. It's a good 'un.

The Wish Rooms

This is brilliant. It's like Wish Lists 2.0. As you browse the site, you add things to the Wish rooms. Then you can hop on over and create outfits from what you've added, arranging them on the mannequins. You can then send to a friend (ah, sharing, way to go) or just rush and buy them cos you're so rich and NEED that Stella Mccartney jumpsuit. Sharing them is good as your friends get to see them on a mannequin, as an outfit, and can give you advice! I also think it would be good for fashion bloggers who don't like awkward outfit posts (like me...) - you can just stick the stuff on the perfectly formed mannequin and all is good.

I also love the Inspiration trend boards:

I do a lot of trend boards at work and these are so inspiration and amazing. Defo something to aspire to!


Nice one, Selfridges. You made us wait a long time... But I think it's worth it.

Glug Notworking & Noma Bar at The Book Club on 24th March

A few weeks ago I got myself down to The Book Club in Shoreditch, for a Glug Notworking event. I'd heard of these for a while now and finally got my act together and joined, because I need to meet more people in London (don't really know nobody *sniff*) and networking is fun. But mainly, there was alcohol and arty-types, and that's what I wanted. It was on March 24th, btw.

There was live screenprinting, free food(yay!), a couple of talks (including Noma Bar) and a live DJ after I think. In the end I went with my friend Tom off of my Immersion course, because I thought that would be better than going alone and not talking to anyone. I was right; it seemed that everyone there already knew everyone and it was a bit clique-y. That's the way I saw it anyway. Might have just been the Shoreditch effect. (Those crazy kids!)

Overall though, it was worth the £5, and I think if we'd have been more drunk/less shy, we would have talked to some hotties networked for the good of our careers. Maybe.

Having the chance to see a talk by Noma Bar was pretty good - I love his work. For those that aren't familiar with it, here you go:

He is the master of negative space, no doubt about it. What's genius about his work is that it looks deceptively simple; but you just know it takes him hours, days, to hone it to work properly as a visual trick.

He also has a couple of books out, which I will now shamelessly plug through Amazon:



I joined that amazon affiliates thing. Still not entirely sure how it works. It'd be better if it was amazon.co.uk as well - no-one wants to use dollars. Hmmm. Research needed.









All the images are taken from his portfolio site at Dutch Uncle - you can see more there.

The next Notworking event is on 28th April, and I'm definitely going - it's £7.50 and it's being held at Somerset House, during the Pick Me Up exhibition which I really want to see:

Here's some info about it. Need to get my act together and buy my ticket! Will do that in a sec. The line up is immense! Including Jonathon Barnbrook, who I met about a year ago at the Penguin Design Award ceremony. Really nice chap :)

Introducing mflow: It's going to be huge...

The music industry is changing. We know that. What with the digital economy bill being pushed through parliament last week (boo), and a general shift from buying physical music, to buying digital downloads, and now, with spotify, not even owning music anymore, things are moving pretty fast.

The latest music tool to hit t'internet is mflow - billed as 'spotify with twitter', it's a new way of sharing music (yep, sharing music, legally!) and discovering new music in return:

"We believe that music's better shared...

We don't want to be told what we 'might like' by a software program.
We don't want to stare at an empty search bar... "a whole world of music at my fingertips, and I can't think of anything to look for..."
We don't want to have to subscribe to anything.
We don't want adverts.
We just want a way for our mates to send us music they think rocks."

It's quite simple really - you download the software, register, then start following people (as you would in twitter) - they 'flow' songs that they like, and you get to listen to 1 full preview, then after that, (any) 30 seconds of the sog . You can flow songs that you like to your followers, write a little comment about why you like it, and so on. The great thing is that if any of your followers buys a track after you've flowed it to them, you get 20% of the price! Which is nice. The downloaded songs can be moved to your itunes folder and played on any mp3 player and ipod.

They haven't got the extensive library that itunes does yet - but they're getting there. And if you're going to buy a track off itunes - check if it's been flowed to you already, and you may as well buy it off mflow instead - then you give someone 20%! Sharing is caring, folks.

It works best if all your mates/network are on there; I'm always saying 'have you heard this song?' to people and they're like 'eh'... now you can just send it to them. It's great. If you're already someone who uses twitter a lot, then you've got the right frame of mind to use mflow - that desire to share something new and fresh that you've discovered with the world. It's my favourite part of it.

I think the only downfall is that you only get 1 full preview - sometimes you need to listen to a song a few more times than that. Spotify, while it has adverts, obviously lets you listen as many times as you like. I wouldn't mind mflow having adverts if I could have unlimited plays.

Unfortunately, I was lazy and never got round to downloading spotify... now you can only get it through invitation only! And you can only give invites out if you pay for it. Well gutting. So if any of you have an invite, wang one over my way, cos I am silly.

Mflow is currently in beta - which means you can only try it at the moment if you have an invite code. Luckily, I have three left! If you want to try out mflow, the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post get a code off me! Don't say I'm not generous.

When it comes out of beta then anyone will be able to download it I'd imagine. But by then everyone will know about it and you won't be one of the cool trendsetters. You have been warned.

If you already have mflow and want to follow me on there, search People for 'Rachillustrates' - then you can start receiving my awesome taste in music.

Check out mflow's blog.

New Work! Illustrations for Amelia's Magazine - 'Inside The Book Club'

Tres exciting news guys! I've loved Amelia's Magazine for ages, and even though it's not published anymore, the website lives on and also has a plethora of great articles up there.

I was asked to illustrate an article about The Book Club bar in Shoreditch - a really great place that I went to recently at the Glug Notworking event. Here are my illustrations: Higher res will be up on my website later.

I was supplied photos and told to put my stamp on them; I really enjoyed doing these and am so pleased with how they came out - I haven't done line drawings with collage for a lonnng time and they've ended up summing up the place well I think. It's really eclectic and so much creativity goes on in there, but it's also very grungy in feel - low ceilings, warehouse-y, exposed bricks, rooms leading onto others etc, so I wanted to get that across too. I also cheekily put my own artwork in the frames on the walls! Ha. I wish ;) It's a bar primarily, but it also holds club nights, life drawing classes, club nights with live DJs, it's got a table tennis table and pool tables, they serve food (gooood food), it's pretty damn awesome. I'd be in there all the time if I lived anywhere near Shoreditch. Maybe soon. It's on Leonard St, quite tucked away... I've had a hard time finding it tbh before. 

As Amica's article explains really well; there just isn't this kind of place very much in the UK. In New York, I feel right at home there because there are so many venues like this, that go from cafe in the day to nightclub at night, with a healthy dose of alternative culture thrown in. It's great. (And one of the many reasons why I want to move to NY, eventually) but The Book Club is pushing the boundaries over here and I love the concept so much.

Anyway, don't take my word for it, read the article by Amica Lane, then get yourselves down there!

Stylishly Sustainable: Urban Remade Shoes

I'm posting a lot about shoes recently. But then again, I love shoes.

Urban Remade are particularly great though. I discovered them through Fashion-Conscience, and I love the concept:

"The collection exclusively incorporates rare, vintage and ultra rare iconic retro textiles from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's reclaimed from seats on London's Underground tube carriages and buses." Read more here.

Not only that, but the trim is 100% recycled or repurposed leather, the Sole is 33% recycled tyre rubber. All 100% salvaged UK waste. Awesome.

District Line - Such a bad print that it's good, so good. They don't make 'em like this anymore! £66.41

Central Line - I spend 1/3 of my commute (yes there are depressingly 3 parts) on the central line, so this is fitting. A lovely utilitarian print, it says 'I'm going to work, and the central line is generally reliable. At least you're not on the circle line!' £91.96

Another 1/3 of my journey is on the Victoria Line - where this print is from. Vintage! £66.41

They don't have any London Midland fabrics. The other 1/3 of my journey. Unsurprisingly. I'll help them tear a few strips out though.....

The Island Line - 'The line from Ryde St John's Road to Shanklin was originally built as part of the Isle of Wight Railway, which opened on 23 August 1864.' Apparently. Best found print though, check it out. Snazzy. £66.41.

So they're not cheap, but you know exactly where the materials have come from and who made them. And they are of course very rare and basically one of a kind.

Own a bit of British Transport history! Yeah! Go railway!