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I began research into this range plan project by picking out key items from my trend report which I would want to build on. I chose sustainability and minimalism to hone in on and therefore began further research on WGSN as pictured below.
This project has been exciting to complete, however I found it hard to bring together all my research, as it was easy to get creative and run with an idea found through WGSN and build it using my own thoughts on my brand.
To build the range, i found around 50 CADS i liked, coloured them and applied print, and built outfits first. This allowed me to cut down my range, knowing I had fully formed concepts and outfits to build in store visually.

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HE Merch calculations exercise sheet - STUDENT-1 (1)

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FRA B+M FRAEL Retail Maths Course SEP 17 (2)

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An article about 3D printing, pros and cons as well as recent garment creations from 3D printing.

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Posted on

3D printing is something that almost everyone seems to be talking about these days. We hear about 3D printed houses, 3D printed food, and even 3D printed human organs. Fashion is another area that is about to be disrupted by 3D printing.

3D printed fashion involves turning movable/flexible material into clothing. 3D printed dresses can potentially be as revolutionary as the sewing machine.

When 3D printing was first used in fashion, the process was quite slow. One of the first attempts at making a 3D printed piece of clothing took 7 whole days with the printer running 24 hours a day. Plus, the 3D printers in those days did not offer flexible printing material.

However, technology has improved. It does not take 7 days anymore and flexible printing material is also available. The flexible material is known as TPU 92A-1 and it can be washed and ironed just like normal cloth. FilaFlex is another flexible material used to make 3D printed clothing.

Most of the 3D printed clothing is printed using the selective laser sintering process. This method of 3D printing offers the ability to make intricate designs and achieve a high level of detailing which is a requirement with fashion and clothing.

Once apparel makers adopt the new technologies, more 3D printed clothing will permeate through to the masses. 3D printed clothing is not always the entire garment structure. Often times, 3D printed material is used as an adornment or a feature like buttons or cuffs.

It is true that 3D printed clothing is still not as smooth and flexible as cotton or Lycra. Hence, most of 3D printed fashion consists of accessories. Items like footwear, jewelry, and eyewear have come through plenty of 3D printed innovations. The early adopters of 3D printed fashion are also moving towards accessories.

The process of adoption for 3D printed clothing could be gradual. It could take three or four years before we start seeing 3D printed clothing becoming more common.

Benefits of 3D printed fashion

Designer clothing is expensive because it is made to fit your body. By definition, that would mean that couture clothes or designer clothes are rare, unique, and somewhat difficult to obtain. However, 3D printing can change all of those equations and make custom-designed clothing a mass-market concept.

What has been the purview of rich elite households can now move into the average person's home.

3D printed clothing can also be environmentally friendly and lead to lesser wastage. In traditional designing, there can be plenty of textile scraps which lead to wastage. Dyes used to color fabrics can also be major sources of water pollution.

Plenty of water is needed for manufacturing textiles and fabrics. Air pollution is also a major concern in textile producing giants like China. 3D printing can address a lot of those issues.

3D printed fashion allows designers to innovate faster. Lead times can get reduced drastically. Wearable clothing can be made with very few geometrical constraints. The digital element of 3D printing removes multiple limitations which designers faced in the physical world.

For large companies too, 3D printing can be transformative in terms of speed to market and supply chain. Garments (and footwear) can be printed within 24 hours. The rate of change of styles has increased over the years while the lifespan of seasonal collections has decreased over the years.

The ability to bring new styles to stores as quickly and efficiently as possible is a prime determinant of any apparel maker's (or footwear company's) success. 3D printing allows the speed and efficiency which is needed to succeed in this evolving industry.

Another transformative effect of 3D printing is small batch sizes. In a traditional setup, an apparel or fashion brand would have to order a 40-feet container of clothing/footwear range from a place like Bangladesh or China. With 3D printing, fashion items can be made on-demand or in small lot sizes. Working capital requirements and budgeting can change significantly with such developments.

Prototyping, or getting a sample made, is also cheap and time-efficient with 3D printing. In fact, prototyping of fashion products with 3D printers is often referred to as rapid prototyping. Compare the rapid pace with conventional methods, which take a much longer time. Besides, the design iterations are also relatively more expensive than iterations done with a 3D printer.

Pitfalls of 3D printing in fashion

No technology or disruption comes without its downsides. 3D printing fashion is no different either. Copyright is one such issue. Similar to music and movie piracy, design file piracy can also affect the fashion industry. Illegal sharing of designs for fashion items can hurt the original creator of the design.

Authenticity is also a potential issue that could affect consumers. How would a person know for sure that the design they are buying is indeed the work of the designer that is advertised?

Loss of manufacturing jobs in the fashion manufacturing industry is also something that could be connected to the rise of 3D printing. With people printing clothes in their homes and companies making small batch sizes for specific collections, the business model of large factories churning out container loads of fashion items could be a thing of the past.

The whole concept of 3D printing is less labor-intensive and more machine-intensive. So, the replacement of cheap human labor with machines could lead to job losses in certain parts of the world.

Quality control can also become an issue if people are going to print their personal items. Big brands normally spend millions of dollars to make sure that the quality of the product, certain important features, and the brand image of the company remain intact and resistant to changes.

However, with each person having access to the design of the fashion item, certain aspects can be tweaked. Controlling the end design could become a challenge for companies. And even if the design isn't changed, there is no way to ensure that the actual 3D printing process is done right. If the seams come off or if the buttons fall off, then whose fault would it be? How would customer returns work out in such a scenario? Brand image and quality control will become a lot more difficult to control in a decentralized world.

Top 3D printed dresses

Gems of the Ocean

One of the world's first full-length 3D printed gowns was created by fashion designers Samuel Canning and Melinda Looi. What was unique about this piece of work was that the entire gown was printed as a single part. The gown also has mermaid-themed accessories which are all 3D printed.

Synapse Dress

Designer Anouk Wipprecht is a well-known personality when it comes to cutting-edge 3D printed clothing. He has created the Synapse Dress which uses Intel's Edison module to capture data and make the dress perform various functions.

For example, one sensor captures the wearer's attention levels. If the wearer is performing a complex task that requires a lot of attention for long spans, then it makes the dress alert other people around the wearer to not disturb the wearer.

Another sensor tracks the proximity of people who come towards the wearer. If a person comes too close to the wearer, as if invading the wearer's personal space, then it will illuminate a portion of the dress very brightly to signal that person to step away.

Ministry of Supply's Seamless Jacket

Imagine a jacket that is so comfortable, that it won't feel like a jacket. Ministry of Supply came out with a 3D printed jacket and priced it at $250. It was sold out in record time.

The reason for the incredible response was the fact that the jacket had no seams. Being 3D printed, there was no need to have seams. The jacket can also be custom made for each individual's body shape and size. About 15-30% of the material also gets saved every time this jacket is made because a 3D robotic knitting machine made these jackets.

Comfort and low cost of production make this jacket a unique one.

The Smoke Dress

Anouk Wipprecht is famous for making his 3D printed designer dresses hi-tech. He has created a dress which releases smoke when someone steps to close to the wearer. The idea is to create a veil of barrier and alert the person that they are within the personal space of the wearer.

The Smoke Dress was created as part of an eight-piece collection for Volkswagen.

Voltage Collection Dress

Iris Van Herpen, a well-known 3D printing fashion designer, collaborated with Julia Koerner, to create an intricately designed dress as part of the Voltage Collection. The dress has a lace-like texture which was created with utmost precision using a process known as Laser Sintering.

Iris Van Herpen and Julia Koerner have beautifully blended technology and fashion for this masterpiece.

The Spider Dress 2.0

Anouk Wipprecht manages to embed sensors and technology into her 3D printed fashion like no one else. She has created the Spider Dress 2.0 which captures the breathing intensity of the wearer.

If the breathing becomes heavy, then the robotic arms on the dress extend out like the legs of a spider to "defend" the wearer.

Other notable 3D printed fashion items

Panerai Watch

Costing a whopping $170,000, this timepiece is pretty exclusive. It is made using metal 3D printing technology. The Lo Scienziato watch by Panerai has a titanium housing which is created using a laser sintering process.

Futurecraft 4D by Adidas

Adidas, the giant footwear maker, has teamed up with a company called Carbon to make its first mass-produced 3D printed midsole. Carbon specializes in resin 3D printing and Adidas has tons of experience making sports and running shoes.

Together, the two have made a 4D midsole for Adidas's new Futurecraft 4D shoes. This show requires a special 4D midsole which would be almost impossible to produce using conventional manufacturing techniques. 3D printing makes it possible to create a midsole which incorporates the years and years of athlete data that Adidas has. A truly milestone product in the sports footwear industry.

The future...

3D printed clothing clearly has plenty of benefits. Fashion designers and architects who plan to use 3D printers to make jewelry, accessories, and clothing will need to invest some time and money into learning modeling software.

Once 3D printing becomes common, there could be a situation where anyone can simply use easily downloadable patterns and print clothes right in their homes. There may not be a need to produce garments and fashion items in low-cost countries. There could also be corner shops and stores where anyone can walk-in and 3D print their fashion items.

Issues regarding piracy and authenticity are discussed above. However, a solution like iTunes and Spotify can tackle such problems in a world where download-and-print will become common.

3D printed clothing could also have sensors and other wearable technology which can make the fashion items and the clothing a lot " smarter " than what they are today. It is quite possible for the clothing and the fashion accessory to "talk" to each other and change colors according to a particular occasion.

Well-known fashion institutes and design schools around the world have 3D printers on their campuses. They are also offering courses in the field of 3D printed fashion. These learning institutions are providing students access to body scanning technologies and wearable technologies. There is a good chance that some of those students, with exposure to new technologies, will end up launching 3D printed fashion products which will accelerate the mainstreaming of this concept.

Whether it is a download-and-print-yourself option or a custom-designed 3D printed dress, the possibilities for the future seem to be quite broad in nature.

Warning; 3D printers should never be left unattended. They can pose a firesafety hazard.

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3D Printing Fashion: Advantages, Disadvantages, and Future

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Posted on 3D printing is something that almost everyone seems to be talking about these days. We hear about 3D printed houses, 3D printed food, and even 3D printed human organs. Fashion is another area that is about to be disrupted by 3D printing. 3D printed fashion involves turning movable/flexible material into clothing.

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Fabric Board assignment

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Fabric board presentation

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After care instructions for suiting

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Don't put your suit in the wardrobe right away after wearing - let it air first for a few hours. This will help moisture to exit.

When you do put it inside the wardrobe leave some space between the hanging garments, it will help the suit continue airing and leave it fresher for the next wear.

Use Cedar hangers as they are a natural way to deter pests. Wool is a natural fiber and like all natural things, moisture & heat do not equal longevity. Add dehumidifying packs inside your wardrobe that will help keep away the moisture that pests love.

Help your suit maintain its form by using hangers with rounded edges and large enough to support the width of the jacket shoulders. It will give the shoulders its natural shape and good drape to the garment that will also get read of the creases.

Don't cover your suit with garment carrier unless travelling or storing it away for when not in use.

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Don't put your suit in the wardrobe right away after wearing - let it air first for a few hours. This will help moisture to exit. When you do put it inside the wardrobe leave some space between the hanging garments, it will help the suit continue airing and leave it fresher for the next wear.

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This website was incredibly useful for properties of all the fabrics, which was the segment I focused on for the presentation.

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What Is Wool Fabric?

Wool is a type of fabric derived from the hairs of various animals. While most people associate the word "wool" with sheep, there are, in fact, a variety of distinct types of wool that producers derive from animals other than sheep.

To make wool, producers harvest the hairs of animals and spin them into yarn. They then weave this yarn into garments or other forms of textiles. Wool is known for its durability and thermally insulating properties; depending on the type of hair that producers use to make wool, this fabric may benefit from the natural insulative effects that keep the animal that produced the hair warm throughout the winter.

Throughout the centuries, wool and cotton have vied for supremacy as the most-used textile in the world. Today, each of these fabrics fills a particular niche, and wool remains prized for its unique attributes. While cotton consists almost entirely of plant cellulose, wool consists of approximately 97 percent protein and 3 percent fat, which makes it uniquely suited for certain applications that cotton isn't suited for.

When it is woven into textiles, wool has a natural waviness called "crimp." This crimp contributes to wool's insulative properties, which exist because the bulkiness of wool naturally traps air. Some types of wool have more crimp than others, and the more crimp there is in a woolen garment, the more insulative it is.

Compared to cotton and other plant-based or synthetic textile materials, wool is highly flame-resistant. It doesn't spread flame, and instead, it chars and self-extinguishes. Therefore, this type of textile is highly useful in applications in which the reduction of flammability is desired.

Prior to domestication, sheep were more hairy than wooly. Their hair, therefore, was not highly useful as a textile material. Once sheep were domesticated around 11,000 years ago, sheep breeders started selecting certain traits in their flocks, and sheep gradually became woolier.

The earliest evidence of garments made from sheep wool is from around 4000 BC, but it's possible that human beings started making woolen garments as long as 8,000 years ago. While there's evidence that wooly sheep were introduced into Europe around 4,000 BC, the first piece of hard evidence of wooly sheep domestication in Europe is a wool textile from around 1500 BC that was preserved in a Danish bog.

Along with linen and leather, wool was an important textile in the Roman empire, and this textile became even more central to European life during the Middle Ages. By around 1200 AD, in fact, wool production had become a major component of the Italian economy.

Famous Italian families, such as the Medici, built their entire fortunes from wool production. By the dawning of the Renaissance, wool production had spread through the rest of Europe, but it wasn't until the Colonial Era that Europeans exported wooly sheep to other continents.

As soon as the British Empire introduced sheep to the Australian continent, the trajectory of the global wool industry changed drastically. With such an immense expanse of ideal grazing land at its disposal, the Australian sheep population exploded within a few decades. Australia remains the wool capital of the world, and New Zealand is another significant wool-producing country.

With the advent of synthetic fibers, the global demand for wool sharply decreased. Even so, wool innovations have continued unabated. Superwool is a kind of wool that you can wash in a washing machine and tumble dry, and a Japanese company even invented a type of wool suit in 2007 that you can wash in the shower and dry within a matter of hours.

Buy high-quality, low-priced wool fabric here. If you are UK based, you can buy it here.

How Is Wool Fabric Made?

The production of wool begins with the shearing of wool-bearing animals. Some animals bear wool once per year, and others bear wool multiple times throughout the year.

Next, the shorn wool is cleaned and sorted into bales. There are a variety of ways to remove the greasy lanolin in raw wool, but most large wool producers use chemical catalysts for this process.

Once the wool fibers are clean and sorted, they are carded, which is the process of making the fibers into long strands. These carded strands are then spun into yarn, and after a final washing, this yarn can be woven into garments and other types of woolen textiles.

Lastly, the finished textiles may be exposed to a variety of post-production processes to develop certain attributes. Fulling, for instance, is the immersion of a wool textile in water to make the fibers interlock, and crabbing is the process of permanently setting this interlock. Lastly, wool producers may decate their products for shrink-proofing purposes, and rarely, they may also dye their finished wool products.

Shop a wide variety of wool fabrics here for US and rest of world here and here if you are UK based.

How Is Wool Fabric Used?

Over the years, human beings have found hundreds of ways to use wool. While wool is primarily used in consumer applications, this substance is also popular in industrial applications for its durability and flame-retardant qualities.

While finer types of wool might be used to make garments that directly contact the skin, it's much more common to find wool used for outerwear or other types of garments that don't make direct bodily contact. For instance, most of the world's formal suits consist of wool fibers, and this textile is also commonly used to make sweaters, hats, gloves, and other types of accessories and apparel.

Where Is Wool Fabric Produced?

According to World Atlas, Australia produces 25 percent of the world's wool, which makes it the most prominent wool-producing country. China, which has one of the world's largest textile markets and textile industries, produces 18 percent of the world's wool. At 17 percent, the United States is the third-largest wool producer, and New Zealand comes in fourth since it produces 11 percent of the world's wool supply.

How Much Does Wool Fabric Cost?

Australian Wool Innovation Limited provides weekly price reports for wool per kilogram. You can use this organization's price reports to gauge the current prices of Australian wool. At present, clean Australian wool is going for about $19.60 per kilogram.

Wool is, therefore, significantly more expensive than cotton, which is its main competitor on the world stage. It is quite a bit more expensive than most synthetic alternatives, but it also offers unique benefits that synthetic fabrics do not.

What Different Types of Wool Fabric Are There?

There are quite a few different types of wool, and not every variety is derived from sheep:

1. Merino Wool

Merino wool is one of the world's most common types of wool. The vast majority of merino sheep are bred in Australia, and wool from merino sheep is used to make all sorts of different kinds of garments and industrial materials.

This type of wool can have a diameter of under 20 microns, which makes it one of the finest types of woolen products in existence. While merino sheep were originally bred in Spain, hardly any merino wool production still occurs in this European country. Since merino wool is relatively greasy before it is processed, it's necessary to remove lanolin from this type of textile before it can be spun into yarn.

2. Cashmere Wool

Cashmere is one of the most expensive and luxurious types of wool. The name "cashmere" comes from the Kashmir region of India, which is the area where the furry goats that supply cashmere wool originated.

With hair diameters as small as 18 microns, cashmere is just as soft and fine as merino wool. The high price of cashmere wool, however, comes from the fact that cashmere goats can only produce around 150 grams of wool per year, which makes this type of wool a highly desired commodity.

3. Mohair Wool

Mohair wool comes from angora goats, which have incredibly thick, wavy wool. While it's possible to gather mohair wool without hurting angora goats, the mohair industry has been mired in controversy for generations over the widespread mistreatment of these wool-bearing animals.

While other types of wool may not be highly crimped, the wavy hair of angora goats naturally leads to high-crimp woolen textiles. During the 1970s and 1980s, mohair was very much in vogue, and trendy urbanites wore mohair sweaters and put mohair carpeting in their homes until the rampant animal abuses in the mohair industry came to light.

4. Alpaca Wool

People in South America have been breeding alpacas for their wool for thousands of years. Younger alpacas can yield hairs as small as 15 microns, but alpaca wool roughens as it ages, which makes the hair fibers of older alpacas unusable for apparel purposes.

There are a few different breeds of alpacas that breeders use for wool, and Suri alpaca wool is among the most prized varieties of this natural textile. While some manufacturers use pure alpaca wool to make garments, most producers mix this type of wool with less expensive wool varieties to take advantage of the draping qualities of alpaca fibers without incurring unreasonable costs.

5. Camel Wool

During the early 20th century, camel hair suits were all the rage. Camel wool is incredibly insulative, but it is also less durable than other types of wool. Since camel hair is relatively rough, it isn't well-suited for any garments that directly touch the skin.

6. Virgin Wool

Also known as lamb's wool, virgin wool is wool made from a lamb's first shearing. This term can also refer to wool that hasn't been recycled.

7. Angora Wool

Angora wool comes from a special breed of rabbit that produces incredibly fine and soft hair. This type of wool is very expensive, and the rabbits that produce it are not commonly kept in humane conditions.

8. Vicuna Wool

The vicuna is a relative of the alpaca that is exclusively native to Peru. Vicuna wool is the most expensive type of wool in existence, which is partially due to the Peruvian government's attempts to protect this endangered species.

9. Llama Wool

Llama wool is generally too rough to be worn next to the skin, but it is suitable for outerwear garments. It's relatively rare to find a breeder that produces llama wool.

10. Qiviut Wool

The qiviut is a type of musk ox native to Alaska. While the fibers produced by this animal are very rough, they are eight times more insulative than sheep wool, which makes qiviut wool ideal for gloves, hats, and other types of cold weather gear.

How Does Wool Fabric Impact the Environment?

Since wool is a natural textile, it is inherently non-impactful on the environment. As long as wool-producing animals are allowed to live free, happy lives and they aren't crowded or subjected to inhumane practices, it's possible to produce wool sustainably.

Just because wool production can be sustainable, however, doesn't mean that it always is. In fact, the vast majority of wool production is either inhumane, environmentally degrading, or both. In search of maximum profits, wool producers everywhere disregard the effects that their industry has on the environment and the animals they depend on, and an inherently sustainable practice that human beings have pursued for thousands of years becomes harmful to both wool animals and their natural surroundings.

For instance, the animal rights advocacy organization PETA has dire things to say about the wool industry. Since PETA is a relatively radical organization, you should take everything it says with a grain of salt. For instance, it's unclear whether "enteric fermentation," (sheep farts) is actually bad for the environment.

It's undeniably true, however, that sheep breeding can cause soil degradation and other types of land damage. Fecal matter from sheep can also pollute waterways, and the toxic chemical "sheep dip," which is used to kill parasites, often overflows into the surrounding environment.

Plus, sheep breeders routinely kill animals like coyotes and kangaroos that they deem to be detrimental to their sheep breeding plans. Wool production can also be harmful to wool animals themselves; the mohair wool industry, for instance, has been locked in a constant state of controversy ever since groups like PETA exposed the horrific conditions that angora goats are subjected to in the production of this textile.

Wool Fabric Certifications Available

A variety of organizations certify wool based on certain criteria. Common certification criteria include the quality of the wool and the sustainability of the breeding and production processes that went into preparing it for consumer use.

The Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) is one of the world's most prominent wool certification groups, and it certifies wool from various animals. Woolmark, which is a major wool producer, offers third-party testing for other wool companies, and the International Wool Textile Organization (IWTO) also offers reputable wool certification services.

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What is Wool Fabric: Properties, How its Made and Where

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Wool is a type of fabric derived from the hairs of various animals. While most people associate the word "wool" with sheep, there are, in fact, a variety of distinct types of wool that producers derive from animals other than sheep.

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The anatomy of a suit jacket

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Suits come in two basic flavors-single and double breasted-but, beyond that, a suit jacket is one of the most complex tailored items out there, made up of numerous component parts that we may not think about that much. However, each aspect of a suit's design adds something to how it looks on you. In this article, we'll review the anatomy of a suit, with an emphasis on the important terminology used to describe its various features.

What is a "Suit"?

Though it may seem obvious, it may be worth mentioning first of all that a suit is comprised of a jacket and pants in matching fabric that forms a set, hence its name in French: complet. As Sven Raphael Schneider has explained elsewhere, the modern English word comes from the French suivre, "to follow," with the pants following the jacket (or vice versa). When I've worn a sport coat and non-matching trousers, I've received compliments on my "suit," which is technically incorrect, though as a gentleman, I accept the compliment without correction. One thing this error does reveal is the primacy of the suit jacket-the pants are mostly an afterthought-and we too will focus our attention on the jacket where most of a suit's defining features are concentrated.

When I first started buying suits as a younger man, I thought they were all essentially the same, and in my mind, I was picturing the typical cut of a suit sold in Macy's-loose fitting yet quite structured, with padded shoulders and a boxy cut. This never really sat well on my body, so I ended up avoiding suits altogether-until I learned to see all the individual elements that go into their design. Just like many working mechanical parts and design features come together to make a Ferrari look and run like a Ferrari and a Toyota look and run like a Toyota, not all suits are alike. I was amazed to see how a change to just one element of a suit's design can affect its overall look and style.

Lapels

A suit's lapels are a major factor in shaping the impression of a suit, as they are a prominent design feature right in the center and close to eye level. Lapels can be defined as flaps of fabric on each side of the suit jacket immediately below the collar and folded back. This "folding back" is best captured in the French name revers, also used in Italian, which emphasizes a turning back of the fabric direction.

Of the two lapel possibilities on a suit (excluding the shawl lapels on dinner jackets), the more common is the notch lapel, where the bottom of the collar meets the lapel at an angle that creates a v-shaped notch (called the cran in French tailoring terminology). The Brits see this as a "stepped lapel" while Italians call it "toothed" ( a dente); you can picture two teeth on a saw or of a shark. Notched lapels only appear on single-breasted suit jackets.

Peak lapels can appear on single-breasted suits too but are de rigueur with a double-breasted. When I first started looking at suit styles some years ago, I found it difficult to distinguish the peak lapel from the notch lapel in some cases because the peak lapel can also form an opening where it joins the collar. This spot-the meeting point of collar and lapel-is called the gorge. The key distinction is that the peak lapel ends in a point that juts out beyond the collar, which the Italians call a lancia or a punta: spear or point. Peak lapels are more formal than notch lapels and project a greater sense of authority, which is why they often featured on power suits as well as on tuxedos and morning coats. For this reason, wearing peak lapels can be a daring workplace move unless one is already in a position of power.

Whether there is a peak or notch lapel, the angle of the gorge and the shape of its opening have been subject to multiple variations, past and present. A higher gorge lapel with peaks angled upward, for example, can create an added sense of height in the wearer, something achieved by Cifonelli suits. However, as a general rule, the gorge should line up with your shoulder if you took a ruler and laid it horizontally from the there to your arm.

Another way to think about this is that the gorge should rest on your collarbone. Still, gorge height can vary. Suits from the early to mid 20th century tend to have a lower gorge, and it has begun to migrate upwards in recent years toward the top of the shoulder, so it is sometimes barely visible from the front. The latter appear especially in Italian tailoring, including Sartoria Rossi and Cesare Attolini. A low gorge can be seen as either dated or classic depending on your perspective while a high gorge can be considered either rakish because it creates the impression of a broader chest and greater height, or a mere whim of fashion.

More important for the appearance of a suit jacket than the gorge placement is the lapel width, which can vary from skinny (in the range of 2 1/2 inches) to rather wide (4 inches or more). Lapels at opposite extremes, being either very thin or very wide, are subject to the vagaries of fashion and can make a suit look strange or unbalanced. J.CREW and Bonobos are a couple of American brands that promote slim lapels (and often skinny ties to go with them) while the recent drive for #menswear has pushed wide lapels as a way to be more rakish or to show contemporary sprezzatura style, especially from Italian makers like Orazio Luciano and Sciamat.

As a rule, notch lapels in the area of 3 1/2 inches (or perhaps 8 to 10 cm) look good on most men, as they balance with the average tie width of 3 to 3 1/2 inches. Peak lapels tend to be wider (4+ inches) or, at least look that way. Wider lapels have the effect of amplifying the appearance of the chest at the expense of the shoulders, while narrower lapels promote the impression of wider shoulders by leaving space between the lapel and the arm; if the lapel fills that space, your shoulders can seem more narrow. Above all, though, it is important to make the choice based on your body type: thin men can look more proportioned with narrower lapels, and big and tall men look better with wider lapels. Narrow lapels on a big man make it seem like he's outgrown his childhood suit while big lapels on a thin man appear like he's wearing something from dad.

Lapels can be either cut as a fairly straight line from top to bottom or with a curved outer edge. The first creates the impression of a "V" on the chest while the other tends toward a light "U" shape. When present, belly curve is most visible on 3-roll-2 jackets (discussed below) and on double-breasted suits. This convex curve creates what is known as the lapel belly, which can appear more casual or relaxed. On the other hand, straight lapels may project more of a serious and authoritative look.

Lapel belly is sometimes confused with lapel roll, which is a folding or "rolling" at the lower part of the lapel that raises the lapel away from the chest, somewhat like the pages of an open book on a table. A strong lapel roll will create in a hollow under it. Lapel roll is often prized as a sign of bespoke tailoring and also for the rakish elegance it conveys.

Suit Buttons

Lastly, there is the matter of lapel length, which directly relates to the second aspect of suit anatomy affecting the appearance of a suit: the buttoning point or button stance. A suit's lapel ends at the point where you button it, so a single-breasted suit with three buttons will have a shorter lapel and a higher buttoning point than one with two buttons. A lower button point elongates the lapels and therefore makes the wearer appear leaner and taller. That's why men who are very tall often choose three-button suits to counterbalance their height. Contemporary suits generally favor higher buttoning points, which creates a broadening of the chest if you are lean. Those who carry more weight will prefer a lower buttoning point because it has a thinning and elongating effect. A lower top button also pleases traditionalists because it presents more of a " business suit " look.

Three-roll-two single-breasted jackets also referred to as having 2.5 buttons, have become quite popular in recent years and are typical of Neapolitan tailoring. In Italian, they are described as "una giacca tre bottoni stirata a due" (a jacket with three buttons pressed to two) because the lapel is gently ironed to incorporate the top button into the fold the lapel. This top third button is never meant to be closed, but the profile of the lapel that results is one that shows an elegant roll.

When we move into the realm of double-breasted suits, things seem considerably more complicated as button possibilities are usually provided in terms of numbers like 6×2, 6×3, 6×1 or 4×2 double-breasted suits. The first number represents the total number of buttons on the front, with the second number indicating how many of those can be fastened. The 6×2 is most common, perhaps followed by the 4×2. Even when there are two functioning buttons, one usually closes only the top one. The more buttons the more formal, with the 6×3 resembling a peacoat or naval uniform and four button versions, often appearing rather laid back. It's fascinating to see how the different permutations affect the look of the suit; you can make a game of looking at photos of double-breasted suits and labeling their button combinations.

Sometimes forgotten are the buttons on the suit sleeves. Usually, there are four, but some summer jackets show three. Kissing buttons, where the sleeve buttons touch one another or overlap slightly, have become particularly popular. Also nowadays, the explosion of interest in refined tailoring has meant that these are more often working buttons on ready-to-wear suit jackets than they used to be. You can open the bottom one or two, either to show off that you have a quality tailored item or to appear rakishly nonchalant, but I don't find this an important feature to have. In fact, functional sleeve buttons make sleeve length adjustments difficult for your tailor. This feature did have a functional purpose at some point when doctors "back in the day" used to unbutton their suit cuffs, roll up their sleeves and do things like amputate limbs or deliver babies. Thus, it is still sometimes described as having surgeon's cuffs.

Finally, we include the lapel buttonhole here, as it originally was designed as a way to fasten your collar under your neck as a remedy against bad weather, that is, until the button on the opposite side disappeared from the design. Now, this function is vestigial, but the hole has become the perfect place for a boutonniere flower for a dash of added style. Hand-sewing of the buttonholes, including the one on the lapel, is often a hallmark of a bespoke or otherwise high-quality suit. The most popular is called the Milanese buttonhole because of its origins among tailors of that city; this involves fine stitching of the gimp -the reinforcing trim threads of the buttonhole-resulting in an added bit of ornamentation.

Shoulder Terminology

Much can be done by a tailor with a suit's shoulders to influence its final appearance. British tailoring traditionally favors a structured shoulder with padding that creates a stronger, masculine look: imagine a pinstripe suit worn by a banker. You will also see this in French power suits and Italian tailoring from Milan and Florence. It is possible to create the illusion of broader shoulders through constructing an extended shoulder, which projects the fabric of the shoulders out a bit further than the arms through the assiduous use of padding.

Another option, with light padding, is the roped shoulder of Neapolitan style, where the sleevehead (top of the sleeve) is attached to the armhole a bit higher than the shoulder, creating a ridge or "roping" detail. In Italian, the name is spalla con rollino ("shoulder with a little roll"). Roping can also be part of a pagoda shoulder, which is slightly concave due to some padding, which results in an elegant sweep down from the collar and back up at the arm, like the roof of a pagoda. In Italian, such a shoulder is actually termed a spalla insellata (saddle), as it curves like a saddle. This creates a very bold and unique look, which is not for everyone!

If we go without any padding, we end up with what is termed a soft shoulder or natural shoulder also most typically seen in Neapolitan tailoring. The result is a more relaxed look that Bloomberg has called "risky trend" if you work in a strict business environment but ideal to raise business casual to a new level or for weekend wear. The absence of padding creates a spalla camicia (shirt shoulder), where the arm of the suit jacket lies like a shirt sleeve, which, of course, is also unpadded.

All soft Neapolitan shoulders, including those with light padding, can also feature additional shirring of the sleevehead (called or "little rag"). These are little puckered pleats that show the tailor's handwork and are evident in most images of spalla camicia suit jackets.

Pockets

Every suit jacket will have at least two kinds of pockets. One, on the upper right side, is the breast pocket, into which you can (and should) place a pocket square. Again, the Neapolitan tailors have done something unique here, creating a breast pocket that is curved like a little boat () for a unique hit of style.

In terms of the larger pockets, there are three possibilities, and which one you have plays a key part in determining how casual or formal a suit is. First, we have patch pockets, which are sewn onto the outside of the suit as visible patches; these immediately signal a suit is more casual, perhaps a summer linen. These may also appear as a breast pocket, which is really informal on a suit. Flap pockets are hidden beneath the surface of the suit jacket except for a flap of cloth covering them. These are the most common or default suit pocket type. Third, you might encounter jetted pockets, which are also beneath the surface of the jacket but have no covering flap. These can appear on suits, as they are highly formal, but are more common on dinner jackets. When you buy a new suit, your pockets will be basted or sewn shut. As the stitching is hidden, some men keep the pockets closed to avoid deforming or warping the pockets by putting things in them, especially patch pockets.

On some flap pocket suits, you will also find a third, slightly smaller, ticket pocket on the left side above the regular flap pocket. This was originally designed to hold train tickets but can be used for various small items.

The Body Panels of a Suit

Given how much is going on related to the shoulders, lapels, buttons and pockets on a suit, it is easy to overlook the body panels themselves, which can also contain variations. A primary consideration is how much fabric there is in the chest area, also known as the drape. A suit jacket with a lot of drape has a fuller cut with more room in the chest. The look differs considerably from the more fitted suits that are in style now but have returned at places like The Armoury and Ring Jacket because suits with drape are seen as more laid back as well as comfortable.

Also on the chest, you are likely to have darts-vertical seams running down each side of the panel, usually ending above the side pockets. They're designed to add some contouring to the shape of the suit jacket and are present in most modern suits unless you have a true American sack suit, which is meant to lie loosely on the torso, like a sack, truly the antithesis of contemporary suiting style.

Moving down the jacket, we have the question of waist suppression. As the name suggests, this is how much the waist area of the suit is tapered in, creating the impression of wider shoulders by slimming the waist. Waist suppression is related to drop, which is a number indicating a difference between the size of your suit jacket and the waist size of your suit pants. For example, if you have a 40 jacket size and a 34 waist size, this is a standard "drop 6" suit. If the suit is cut slimmer, you may see it referred to as a "drop 7" or even "drop 8," the latter being a 40 jacket and a 32 waist. Even though the number includes consideration of the pants size, the jacket itself in a drop 7 or drop 8 suit will be slimmer than one in a drop 6.

At the very bottom of the suit, we have the quarters, the two flaps of the jacket that meet at the waist button. These can be either open or closed, meaning the flaps can lie nearly straight down (closed quarters) or spread apart in a "flyaway" or "cutaway" fashion (open quarters). The effect of open quarters is to make the lower body look wider, so suits with this feature may be ideal to balance out very broad shoulders. On the other hand, closed quarters maintain emphasis on the shoulder because the hip area stays narrow.

Taken together, the quarters form part of the suit skirt, which comprises all of its lower half. On the back of the skirt there would usually be one or more vertical slits, known as vents. These likely originated to enable a jacket to sit well when riding on horseback. Nowadays, they serve the same purpose of keeping the back of your suit from rumpling wherever you sit, and, for all intents and purposes, you'd want to choose a double vent rather than a single center vent or none at all. Besides keeping your suit looking neater when you sit, a double vent keeps your rear end covered if you put your hands in your suit pockets. What's more, a single vent is usually a hallmark of a cheap suit because they are less expensive to make. The only time you should have something other than a double vent is when wearing a dinner jacket or tuxedo, which is usually ventless because this creates a sleek, streamlined silhouette. Of course, you can have the same slimming effect if you buy a ventless suit, but you would have to be willing to sacrifice the advantages of having vents.

The Hidden Bones of a Suit

As with human anatomy, some of the anatomy of a suit lies beneath the surface. First, there is the lining, which should be made from cupro, a natural material, rather than polyester. Bemberg is another name you may hear related to lining; it's just a specific high-quality brand of cupro. The lining adds warmth as well as structure to a suit jacket, helping it hang well on the body, smoothing it out by placing a thin layer between the suit fabric and your shirt. Gents with dandy style may choose linings in colors that contrast that of the suit while adding panache. Since lining does add thickness, summer jackets often contain less lining and are either half lined (top, side panels and sleeves), quarter lined (top and sleeves), or even totally unlined, depending on how much there is on the inside. Usually, regardless of how little overall lining there is, the sleeves of the jacket would remain lined for ease of slipping the jacket on and off.

While you can see the lining of a suit, the canvas is invisible, a layer made of wool and horsehair (for stiffness) that sits between the suit fabric and the lining. The purpose of the canvas is to help the suit hang optimally and conform it more to your form. In fact, you'll often hear it said that canvas actually improves the look of a suit over time as the heat of your body shapes it to fit. The canvas is stitched loosely in between layers so that it moves with you.

Similar to the lining, you can have a suit that is fully canvassed or half canvassed. The former covers both front panels of the suit and the lapels. A half canvas covers just the upper chest and lapels; it doesn't extend down to the quarters. The tailoring work involved with canvassing is intensive and costly, so full canvas will be more expensive. Cheaper suits will have only a fused interlining that is glued in between the suit fabric and lining, which has a tendency to warp and bubble over time due to delamination (unsticking of the glue). Thus, it is crucial to invest in a suit that is at least half-canvassed and avoid fusing.

Conclusion

Once you have knowledge of what makes up a suit and the vocabulary to describe these features, you can choose a suit that suits you-especially in terms of your age and body type. It takes some time to see the elements when you begin the process of wearing tailored clothes, but learning about them is the first step to looking and feeling your best in a suit. It is important to observe that the various choices in the design of a suit not only determine its anatomy but help to enhance yours as well.

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The Anatomy of a Suit Jacket: A Comprehensive Vocabulary - Gentleman's Gazette

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Suits come in two basic flavors-single and double breasted-but, beyond that, a suit jacket is one of the most complex tailored items out there, made up of numerous component parts that we may not think about that much. However, each aspect of a suit's design adds something to how it looks on you.

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Cotton and the affects on the environment

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Cotton's heritage as a textile dates from at least 5,000 BC, with evidence of human use found as far afield as Mexico, Pakistan and Peru. Still widely traded as a global commodity, cotton however no longer dominates the market for use in apparel.

Cotton is a natural fibre that when woven or knitted produces a soft, strong fabric that is breathable, absorbent and washable. Old cotton can also be recycled to make new yarn and garments.

Cotton comes from the fluffy fibres - known as 'bolls' - th...

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Cotton's heritage as a textile dates from at least 5,000 BC. Still widely traded as a global commodity, cotton no longer dominates the market for use in apparel.

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Half canvas vs full canvas suiting- the differences

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By Paul Briden

Buying a new tailor-made suit can be a daunting experience, not least because of the sheer number of options that come with the customisation process - you're presented with choices you simply don't have when buying an off-the-rack suit in a retail store.

On top of that there's the jargon; different features of a suit's design have specific names that aren't always familiar, and before you know it your head can be spinning from the overwhelming onslaught of specialist terminology!

Fear not! We're here to help.

What Is Canvas?

A term many people don't encounter until venturing into the world of made-to-measure and bespoke suiting is "Canvas", so it can be a source of much confusion. More specifically, this refers to what is also known as a "Canvas Interlining".

At Oliver Wicks, all our suits come with a Half Canvas construction as standard, but customers can instead choose a Full Canvas construction if they wish. What's the point of a Canvas Interlining? What's the difference between the two choices? We're glad you asked.

The Canvas Interlining is typically made from horsehair (often blended with cotton) or synthetic material and, as the "Interlining" part suggests, a layer of this material is sandwiched between the cloth you see on the outside, and the lining you see on the inside. The purpose of the Canvas Interlining is to help give the suit jacket support for its shape, a bit like a skeleton - indeed, this internal layer (along with other hidden components, such as shoulder padding) is also often referred to as a suit's "structure".

Canvas helps the jacket sit, hang and fit better on your body - what's known as the "drape" - and allows the suit to ultimately achieve what it's designed for: to accentuate the shape of the masculine physique. What's more, this means a well-made suit with a canvas construction will actually feel and look better with age - think of it like a good single malt!

Half-canvas construction

As you can see from the diagram, the Half Canvas construction quite literally extends from the padded shoulder to about halfway down the jacket body. This allows for a robust and well-shaped shoulder structure - a very important part of a well-fitting jacket - and also ensures the jacket tapers elegantly towards the waist.

Because it requires considerably less work than Full Canvas, Half Canvas is a cheaper option while still providing much-needed structure. It will feel noticeably more robust, comfortable, and will be better-fitting than a suit without canvas, but is also lighter and less structured than a Full Canvas - however, with that said, many customers actually prefer the lighter weight and less-structured feel of Half Canvas.

Full-canvas construction

The Full Canvas option extends further down the jacket's front, adding additional structure and weight, allowing the jacket to mould more accurately to your shape with a superior drape. In short, a Full Canvas suit will fit better than any other option.

Canvas also has the advantage of improving the durability of a jacket by distributing tension from stress points (such as the elbows and shoulders) and helps it cope with the rigours of dry cleaning, and of course this is even more relevant on a Full Canvas suit as there's more canvas to provide the added durability.

The only real downside to a Full Canvas suit is the added cost, as it's a more involved process which takes much longer to complete. However, there is once again an element of personal preference here - Full Canvas does feel heavier and more structured on the body; some customers prefer this, while others favour the more lightweight feel of Half Canvas.

Canvassed & Pad-Stitched Lapels

Both our Half Canvas and Full Canvas construction also extend the canvas into the jacket lapels, which are pad-stitched. This is vital for giving them the correct shape and support, as well as enabling a smooth lapel roll.

What's a lapel roll and why do I want a smooth one? Good question.

If you look at the front of a jacket you'll notice that the lapel is actually a section of the jacket that is turned back on itself - from the collar, down to the buttoning point at the waist. Therefore, the lapel roll refers to this length of turned back - or "rolled" - fabric. On a poorly made suit lacking a proper canvas structure the lapel is quite often pressed flat with a crease, it is lifeless and lacks any of the gently curving and attractive looking "roll" whatsoever.

A Word On "Fused" Suits

The parts of the suit jacket body which are not canvassed (as per the diagram) use what's called a "fused" interlining; this is a composite of various materials which are fused or laminated together via a heat treatment process. This stiffens the cloth slightly, and is quicker and easier to produce than canvas, but does not really provide the same properties as true canvas - therefore, on a good quality suit, the less fused material and more canvas the better.

However, the fusing process has been refined considerably with modern technology and materials - in the past there were sometimes problems with delamination, and you may have heard horror stories of suits "bubbling" over time. Thankfully, this isn't something to worry about so much these days, and using some fusing in a suit's construction is normal, and indeed, in many cases, desirable to reduce costs.

What is common but NOT so desirable though, is suits which are entirely fused, with no Canvas Interlining whatsoever, known as "fully fused". Here at Oliver Wicks we do not offer a fully fused option, and the fusing we do use in our Half Canvas and Full Canvas options is a thin layer of what's called "skin-fusing" which is lighter and very unlikely to delaminate or bubble. On the contrary, skin-fusing often results in a longer lifespan for many lighter-weight suiting fabrics commonly used today.

Many brands (and no, we won't name names!) also offer Half-Canvas suit option which lack the important canvas structure and pad-stitching in the lapels - this can sometimes be referred to as a floating chest piece, the suit may instead have a piece of canvas, possibly with some felt and other materials inside the chest, while the rest of the suit is fused, including the lapels. Again, this lack of support in the lapels makes them flat, thin, floppy and lifeless.

Conclusion

The days when poor quality fusibles bubbled and ruined many jackets are mostly gone, but you should generally stay away from fully-fused garments. Probably other compromises were made in the sourcing of the fabrics, trimmings, and in the construction of the jacket. Go with our default half-canvas construction for an excellent roll of the lapel and a light drape - or upgrade to full-canvas for a more structured feel.

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By Paul Briden Buying a new tailor-made suit can be a daunting experience, not least because of the sheer number of options that come with the customisation process - you're presented with choices you simply don't have when buying an off-the-rack suit in a retail store.

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Topman offering of suits

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Complete excel spreadsheet

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Employability Modules

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Key facts about the amount of people using smartphones to browse and/or shop online.

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Since we're on the topic of mobile marketing and the growing role it will play in 2014, I was grateful for a gem I received today from friend Mary Scott, president of software company Fishbowl, and Tom Rhoton, VP Marketing of social media amplification company EveryoneSocial, who shared the background for this piece through his platform. Disclosure: My company has an agency of record relationship with Fishbowl Inventory, but no relationship with EveryoneSocial, though I have had the pleasure of working with Tom Rhoton before.

On behalf of HubSpot, Author Jamie Turner (co-author with Jeanne Hopkins of the book Go Mobile) compiled a slideshare presentation of 50 Amazing Facts of Mobile Marketing. With credit to him, I'd like to share those facts here as well, along with some 2013 updates and a few additional thoughts of my own. The original SlideShare presentation from Jamie is available

My favorite two facts:

91 percent of adults keep their smartphones within arm's reach. (Source: Morgan Stanley) Guilty as charged.

Even more important to entrepreneurs: 9 out of 10 mobile searches lead to action. More than half lead to sales. (Source: SearchEngineLand) Stunning.

Do I have your attention? Read on:

1. There are 6.8 billion people on the planet at present. 4 billion own mobile phones. (But only 3.5 billion use a toothbrush. Oy!) Source: 60SecondMarketer.com.

2. As noted 91 percent of adults have their smartphones within arm's reach. And that was as of 2007. I would wager the sum is closer to 100 percent now. (Source: Morgan Stanley)

3. Twenty five percent of Americans use only mobile devices to access the Internet. (My 19-year-old son is one of them.) (Source: GoMoNews.com)

4. There are 5x as many cellphones in the world as PCs. (Source: ImpigoMobile)

5. 82 percent of U.S. adults own a cellphone. (Source: Pew Reports 2010)

6. There are 271 million mobile subscribers in the U.S. alone.

7. 51 percent of U.K. mobile subscribers have a smartphone. 49 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers own a smartphone. On this front, at least, the British have the Americans beat. (Source: MobiThinking.com)

8. Brands using SMS successfully reach 95 percent of smartphone and non-smartphone users. (Source: GoMoNews.com)

9. 90 percent of text messages get read within 3 minutes of delivery. (Source: ImpigeMobileStrategy.com, 2011)

10. As earlier noted, 9 out of 10 mobile searches lead to action. More than 50 percent lead to sales. (Source: SearchEngineLand)

11. Here's a golden gem: Mobile perform 4-5x better than online ads for key metrics such as brand favorability, awareness and purchase intent. (Source: Neilson Study, 2012)

12. 37 percent of people who check in with a service like FourSquare do so from Android. 34 percent check in from the iPhone.

13. 70 percent of mobile searches lead to action within one hour. (It takes a full month for the same percentage of desktop users to catch up.) (Source: MobileMarketer.com)

14. 40 percent of mobile users have admitted looking up information about a t.v. program at the same time they were watching the show. (Source: ImpigeMobileStrategy.com, 2011)

15. 74 percent of people use their mobile phone to help them while shopping, with 79 percent making a purchase as a result. (Source: ImpigeMobileStrategy.com, 2011)

16. Neilson reported an 89 percent increase in mobile data usage from 2010 to 2011. Cisco is doing them one better: the company predicts an 18x increase from 2011 to 2016 as reported by FierceWireless.com.

17. Mobile coupons receive 10x higher redemption rates than print coupons. (Source: GoMobileBook.com)

18. The Weather Channel gets 600-700 percent higher click through rates on mobile display ads over desktop banners. (Source: MobileMarketer.com)

19. Total reach of Apple's iOS (including iPhone, iTouch and iPad) exceeds the reach of Android by 59 percent. (Source: Comscore, April 2011)

20. 16.7 million mobile subscribers (including 76 percent of all smartphone users) use local check in. (Source: Comscore)

21. 81 percent of smartphone users have done product research from a smartphone, and 50 percent have made a purchase via their phone. (Source: Prosper Mobile Insights)

22. 33 percent of U.S. mobile users prefer offers via text to mobile Web (21 percent), Apps 11 percent and voice mail (8 percent). (Source: DMA.org, 2011). Because this data surprised me (I personally hate text offers) I also looked up the most current results.

23. According to a February 2013 report by Mobile Marketer, however, a full 42.3 percent of consumers prefer SMS deals versus bar-code scans or push message coupons. Surprised?

24. 50 percent of survey respondents report responding to a text offer. Of that same group, 32 percent have scanned a coupon via a QR code. (Source: Marketingcharts.com)

25. 30 million consumers watch television content via their mobile phone. (Again, including my 19 year old son.) (Source: Nielson)

26. Data from JumpTap STAT reports men are more inclined than women to click on ads. (Who knew?)

27. Apple iOS produces nearly double the click through rate (72 percent) of Android (41 percent). (Source: JumpTap.com)

28. 73 percent of smartphone users say they used the mobile web to make a purchase instead of using an app. (Source: JumpTap.com)

29. In 2011, 43 percent of marketers used mobile technology and 25 perent planned to do so with only 15 percent having no plans to "go mobile" according to Unica.com. More recently in May 2013 a Constant Contact survey reported that a whopping 73 percent of marketers now use mobile. What a difference two years has made.

30. In December 2011, tablet and smartphone users spent 94 minutes with a mobile device, on average, but averaged only 72 minutes on the Web through other methods. (Source: Blog.flurry.com)

31. At that same time, 50 percent of smartphone users had scanned a QR code and 18 percent had purchased afterwards. Is that still true? According to a Mad Mobile News report on October 30, 2013, QR codes lost popularity after their inception but are currently thriving again, with 40 percent of smartphone users currently reporting they'd scanned a code and purchased afterwards, boding well for holiday shopping strategies at the close of 2013.

32. Time spent on mobile devices is largely dominated by online games (49 percent) and social marketing (30 percent), respectively. SpellTower, anyone?

33. In 2013, mobile phones have overtaken PCs as the most common web access devices worldwide. (Source: Gartner.com)

34. "I'm oughta here." 60 percent of mobile users expect a site to load in 3 seconds or less. 74 percent are willing to wait only 5 seconds for a site to load before leaving. (Source: Compuware.com)

35. 95 percent of smartphone users have used their phone to look up local information.

36. After doing so, 61 percent called.

37. And 59 percent visited.

38. When asked why they would scan a QR code, 87 percent of smartphone users said it was to access a coupon, discount or deal.

39. 42 percent of tablet users admit to using their tablet at the same time they're also watching t.v. (Guilty again. Some of them, of course, looking up information about the program they're watching, as covered in item 14.) (Source: Nielson.com)

40. Not surprisingly, the majority of 25-34 year olds and 19-24 year olds (64 percent and 53 percent, respectively) now own smartphones.

41. 87 percent of mobile app downloaders have used Deal-of-the-Day sites like Groupon or LivingSocial. (Source: Nielson.com)

42. Opportunity Alert: Adults spend 10.1 percent of their media time on mobile, but only .9 percent of ad spends are on mobile. (Source: eMarketer.com)

43. The average mobile campaign significantly outpaces online in ad awareness. (Source: DynamicLogic.com)

44. 16 percent of smartphone users have made a purchase because of a marketing message they received on a phone.

45. And half of those who purchased made the purchase from the smartphone itself. (Source: ExactTarget.com)

46. One in 10 Americans have texted a charitable contribution from their phone.

47. 256 percent of teens had doubled their mobile data consumption from 2010 to 2011, according to Nielson. Is that trend changing?

48. Apparently not - an Aug, 1 2013 WSJ report by Drew Fitzgerald reports the average teen 13 to 17 has burned through 1.2 GB of mobile data per month in 2013, which is 65 percent more than the average person, according to Nielsen.

49. In June, 2011, U.S. wireless subscribers outnumbered the entire U.S. population (bear in mind that many people have multiple subscriptions, covering phones, tablets and workplace devices through separate wireless deals).

50. 93 percent of people who reviewed on Amazon gave it a 5 star review. (Go, Jamie Turner. Okay, I'll allow you this plug. And thanks to HubSpot as well.)

Marketers, will these facts influence your decisions during 2014? They should. As for my own focus, I will be paying much more attention to mobile marketing strategies in the coming year. How about you?

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Mobile data consumption will increase 18X between 2011 and 2016, according to Cisco. Since we're on the topic of mobile marketing and the growing role it will play in 2014, I was grateful for a gem I received today from friend Mary Scott, president of software company Fishbowl, and Tom Rhoton, [...]

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WGSN provided trend information for the upcoming season relevant to the slip dress which i was able to link in to sustainability

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News article on the new gender bending Gucci dress for men.

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(Image: Gucci)

Luxury designer brand Gucci is selling an orange tartan dress for men aimed at 'disrupting the toxic stereotypes that mold masculine gender identity'.

The 'Tartan cotton long smock shirt' is priced at £1,700 is said to have been inspired by 'grunge looks from the 90s' and features a satin bow tied around the waist.

The short sleeve item also includes pearl buttons, smock embroidery and a 'contrast' Peter Pan collar.

Gucci states in the online description that it hopes to challenge the widely held ideas associated with masculine gender identity.

The description reads: "Inspired by grunge looks from the '90s and styled over ripped denim pants, this tartan smock in delicate colours reflects the idea of fluidity explored for the Fall Winter 2020 fashion show, disrupting the toxic stereotypes that mold masculine gender identity.

"The contrast Peter Pan collar and smock embroidery on the front add a childhood inspired element, which ties to a recurrent theme of the collection.

"Pieces with versatile ways to wear and style embrace each person who is part of the House's individual spirit."

There's also a similar 'Gucci Liberty floral wool long shirt' at a slightly cheaper price of £1,150.

Gucci's 'grunge vibe' collection also includes a pair of £600 jeans that appear to feature grass-like stains on the knees - which have already caused a stir on social media.

You won't have to be too precious about spills and stains on the pricey pair of trousers, as the eco washed organic denim jeans already look like you've been knee-sliding around in the back garden.

There's also a dungaree version for £850 if that's more up your street.

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Gucci releases tartan dress for men to fight against 'toxic stereotypes'

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Luxury designer brand Gucci is selling an orange tartan dress for men aimed at 'disrupting the toxic stereotypes that mold masculine gender identity'. The 'Tartan cotton long smock shirt' is priced at £1,700 is said to have been inspired by 'grunge looks from the 90s' and features a satin bow tied around the waist.

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Vintage dancer has information regarding the slip dress and other undergarments throughout history and was my main source of online information

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The 1950s were all about glamour, and Hollywood's Golden Age stars were setting trends that every woman in America was after. Think Jane Russell, Lana Turner, and Marilyn Monroe. Big breasts, big hips, and small waists were a must- and if you didn't have them naturally on your own, not to worry- there was some 1950s lingerie for that.

The hourglass silhouette of the 1950s happened thanks to the lingerie of the time. To achieve the desired fit and look of clothes on the outside, it was important to have the correct garments underneath to push up or flatten down areas of the body that needed to be pushed or flattened.

There were many styles of lingerie include bras, panties, slips, petticoats, girdles, stockings, and garters.

1950s Lingerie: Bra

There were many different styles of 1950s lingerie bras to choose from in the '50s. Strapless, longline and bullet bras were among some of the most popular, just to name a few.

The 1950s silhouette demanded bigger busts to balance out the required big hips. Instead of a natural 1940s bra that separated the breasts towards the sides, the 1950s bra pushed the breasts in, up and out to new extremes. Bigger was better.

1950s bras were either made of cotton, nylon or rayon and ranged from about $0.98- $2.50 depending on the fabric and the design. To add some glamour, bras could have taffeta trim, floral prints, lace, elaborate stitching, or accent bows.

Elastic wasn't always as durable and reliable as it is today, so caring for your lingerie was especially important. Hand washing was a must!

Long line bras were especially popular because they were said to "slim the diaphragm, control and uplift." They were usually strapless with uplifting cups and boned support down to the middle waist. With a low back cutout, they also made it possible to wear strapless gowns or halter top dresses.

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They were often paired with girdles or corsets for complete tummy control. Some had corset hooks or girdle tabs that attached to the inside top of the corset to prevent them from separating.

Strapless Bra - One of the more expensive styles was the convertible bra, which is still popular today, that had straps that could be taken off. Many strapless bras had latex on the inside and "stay-up boning" that were supposed to prevent your bra from slipping down.

For extra cleavage, bra cups were reduced to 3/4 or 1/2 cups (eh hem, the push up bra?).

The pointed bra, whirlpool bra, bullet bra, or sweater girl bra remained popular throughout the late '40s and '50s due to the ultra feminine look.

The pointed, pre-formed, conically stitched and padded bra is what gave the breast a false point and enhanced weight. Without the protruding bullet shape, most 1950s dresses, blouses and snug knit sweaters would be ill fitting.

The foam rubber breast falsie complete with pointed nipple were more popular than women would admit to owning. They gave shape and volume to women who lacked it naturally.

Falsies had their downsides, though. Poor quality rubber absorbed odors and disintegrated quickly. Some came covered in satin and lace to make them prettier. The alternative was a padded cone that, unfortunately when worn and bumped into, went flat. There was no dainty way to pulling the point back out again.

The inflatable bra was another option, but was also prone to bursting under pressure. Oh the embarrassment!
1950s Bra Recommendations:
Make your Own Bullet Bra - Step by step tutorial and pattern from VavoomVintage. For any size bust!

Bullet Bras by Secrets in Lace - Satin, lace or sheer up to 44DD

Bullet Bra by What Katie Did - Up to size 38D

Satin Bullet Bra by Secrets in Lace - Up to 42DD

You local lingerie store may have a a bra in the 50s style. Look for "old lady" bras sold in boxes or bags. Some "retro style" bas have the 50 look but may not have the prefect, pointed 50s shape. Look for bras with stitched lines for structure instead of a smooth cup.

1950s Lingerie: Panties

1950s underwear, called panties, were high waist briefs with an elasticized waist and leg bands. Think granny panties, and you are right on target for the '50s.

They were not snug fitting, although a plain pant was needed for tight-fitting pencil dresses whereas ruffled and decorated panties were fine under full skirts.

The open leg tap pant continued to be sold to women but more ladies were enjoying the brief style underwear.

Briefs and panties with the smoothest fit were meant to eliminate the need for a sanitary belt and give you comfortable protection. Panties were available in either white, nude or pastel colors like baby blue, pink, mint green, and yellow. Some youthful panties also featured prints.

Panties were made of cotton knit, rayon or satin. Trimmings were lace, embroidery, and ruffles.

Secrets in Lace panties - Full panties and sexy panty style.

Granny Panties - Any full coverage, high waisted cotton or satin panty is in the style of the '50s.

1950s Lingerie: Corsets

The corset was essential to achieving the perfect '50s figure, but it definitely wasn't built for comfort! There was a wide variety of corsets worn during the decade in combination with a bra, girdle or panties. The steel boning used in the past was gradually replaced with plastic and celluloid, and zippers took over for hook and eyes in the back, making them at least easier to get in to.

The full corset covered the entire torso, and included bra cups and straps. A full corset would either stop at the waist or extend down several inches below. Later in the decade the 2-way stretch corset was introduced, which had to be rolled on. It was combined with a girdle for full-body shaping.

The corselet today was a more modern version of the corset with an attached bra. They nipped in the waist and hips, smoothed the tummy, and raised the bust up with padded 1/2 or 3/4 cups.

The strapless corselet was called the Merry Widow, after a movie of the same name. The name Merry Widow is used instead of corselet today.

The 'waspie' was a popular corset during the '50s. It was about 8 inches wide, and pulled in just the waist. It was very rigid and gave a lot of shaping. This type of corset was the most fashionable and often used underneath designer clothing. It had to be combined with a long-line bra, girdle and hip padding to get the perfect hourglass look.
Corset Recommendations:
Overbust Strapless corset - Full Hip Corset by Violet Vixen or CS-530 by Orchard for waist control.

Underbust corset/ Waist cincher - Orchard #Cs-411 or CS-201.

1950s Lingerie: Girdles

1950s girdles were still a required undergarment for most dress and even pant shapes of the 1950s. They were preferred over corsets by most women.

The slim fitting sheath dress, AKA wiggle dress, would expose a woman's bumps and rolls if it were not for the slimming effect of the mini skirt shape girdle.

The skirt only came down to the mid thigh so that women could still walk and sit freely. In the mid 50s, the sarong style dominated the market. It had a to panels that crossed in the center of the legs making them even easier to walk in.

The most comfortable was the legged girdle, called a panty girdle. Short or long legs both slimmed the hips and thigh. Most modern shapewear is based on the panty girdle style.

The fluffy swing dress of the 1950s didn't need a full girdle, but a short low waist girdle kept the hourglass shape intact.

Even slim cigarette pants and capris benefited from long leg "panty girdles". Girdles almost always had garter snaps, two in the front and two in the back. They often had zippers for an easy on and off and were made of light knit nylon and cotton covered "Lastex."

Girdles for fuller figures often had boning, wires, and stiff fabric reinforcements. Even with all the support, the consumer demanded lighter and more breathable corsets.
"Young or mature, women made their complaints about girdles known, because companies repeatedly trumpeted improvements in comfort. Several firms began to cut the lower front edge in a high upward curve to reduce discomfort in walking. Sarong famously brought out a crisscrossed lower front to move with the wearer's stride. Legs of panties were redesigned for ease in wearing, and both top and bottom of the rear of the girdle were engineered to prevent riding up-a major lament. Removable, even disposable, crotches remedied the panties' laundry problems." - A to Z Fashion, Jane Farrel- Beck
New fishnet mesh fabrics helped with circulation, and improved Nylon fabrics reduced weight. By 1959, DuPont made a 2 ounce girdle, which is about the same weight as a Spandex body shaper today. In extreme summer weather, women simply went without a girdle and wore less confining dresses such as the blouson, empire waist shift or the chemise.

1950s girdles explored new colors for lingerie. No longer just white, basic girdles came in off white, almond, light gray, bold red, purple, and even salmon pink. Floral embroidery, lace and appliques added beauty to the girdle. Prices ranged from $2 to $25 for a top of the line girdle.

How to Put on a Girdle (1950s Advice)

To easily get into your girdle, it is recommended that you dust your body with talcum powder to allow the girdle to slip on more easily- especially in the hotter months. Put on cotton panties first.

For a step-in girdle, fold it over 2 to 3 inches at the waistline and ease into it finishing off with rolling up the fold to meet your waistline.
Girdle Recommendations:
Rago Full Body shapewear - Bust to hip control.

Rago Open Button Girdle - With garter clips.

High waist panties with tummy control panel are my favorite.

1950s Lingerie: Garter Belts

Most corsets, corselets, girdles and panty-girdles came with attached straps to hold up 1950s stockings. For some women who chose not to wear any of these shaping devices, a garter belt was used alone.

It was a simple, short girdle with straps for the stockings. Some were thin and light, while others were wide and elastic so as to provide some shaping support. It was mostly for naturally thin women and teens that chose to wear a garter belt by itself.

Do you wear a garter belt over or under panties? The secret to getting them to not slide down panties is to wear them under panties against the skin. Vintage illustrations could not modestly demonstrate that which is why you see them place over panties.

1950s Lingerie: Slips and Petticoats

Beautiful and luxurious, the slip was firmly woven from quality cotton or rayon crepe or rayon satin with rich lace, fancy eyelet, ruffles, pleats, embroidery, or applique. Slips came in full lengths, down to the knee, or half lengths, from waist to knee.

Half slips were worn with one piece dresses, while two piece suits or separates were worn with a full slip.

A full slip should cover the bra completely and should not show under clothing. 1950s slips usually had thin adjustable straps. Common colors were pink, peach, light blue, navy, yellow, Nile green, black and white. Their beauty rivaled that of 1950s nightgowns.

Camisoles were the top half a slip or a knitted vest (tank top style) that were worn under sheer blouses. They could be paired with a half slip for skirts and dresses or worn alone when paired with shorts and pants. Knit union suits (a romper or long johns) could also be worn as an underlayer for sheer clothing.

Petticoats or crinolines were usually rayon, cotton or taffeta and had a detailed hem with maybe lace, ribbons, bows, or eyelet cutouts. Usually white, petticoats were tea-length or shorter depending on what style dress was going to be worn over it.

The hem is one of the most important parts of the petticoat, mostly because there was a chance it might be seen, so of course it had to be cute. Ruffles, floral designs and bows were often the accents on hems.

Many slips added the petticoat bottom ruffles into one garment. Learn more about and shop for 1950s petticoats.

How to wear a slip: In the 1950s, it was recommended that you put a slip or petticoat on over your head so as to ensure that any straps did not break. A slip should fit over the bust and be long enough to meet the hem of the dress.

If a slip or petticoat can be seen underneath your garment, they should be shortened at the hem. White or light slips work best for most clothing, while a dark slip is needed for dark blue or black clothes.

When buying petticoats don't go cheap. The cheaper the more itchy the material. You can wear a slip under the petticoat or a pair of yoga shorts to stop some of the itching. Otherwise buy a more expensive and softer nylon petticoat. I like Malco Modes.

1950s Winter Lingerie

All of the above lightweight nylon fabrics were ideal lingerie for summer and mild winter climates. However, a significant population lived through very cold winters and needed warmer lingerie.

Most panties (with longer legs) and slips were sold in knitted cotton or wool materials. They were the same styles that women had been wearing for the past 100 years. Not pretty, but very functional.

Union suits later called long johns or thermals were full body one or two peice sets of kitten long underwear. They could have full legs and arms or shorter, knee length legs and strapless arms.

In addition to knitted long underwear, 1950s women wore wool stockings or tall socks, full nylon petticoats (these are very warm), flannel petticoats, long panties (drawers), multiple slips (under and over a petticoat), and camisoles. All of these layers meant wearing dresses in a larger size and longer lengths and topping them with a very warm winter coat. Read Vintage Winter Outfits- Ideas to Keep Warm for more tips.

Shop 1950s Style Lingerie
Buy 1950s Vintage Lingerie, Retro Pin Up Underwear
1950s Crinoline Skirts | Crinoline Slips | 1950s Petticoat s
Vintage Style Bras | Classic Bra, Old Style Bras Seamed Stockings, Nylons, Tights Vintage Lingerie Sewing Patterns Retro Lingerie Brands- Where to Shop Vintage Style Lingerie

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1950s Lingerie History - Bras, Girdles, Slips, Panties, Garters

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1950s lingerie and underwear history. 1950s bras, girdles, slips, panties, garter belts, corsets and camisoles. Plus where to shop 50s style lingerie.

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Summarised events specific to the slip dress. This was concise information i used to cross reference information from Vintage Dancer.

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As last summer approached, a friend and I gave a name to the behavior we'd been indulging in all spring. Responsible hedonism, we called it. Privately I preferred sensible luxury, more for the sound of that low u. Responsible hedonism, or sensible luxury, was good behavior - eating well, staying cool, making time alone with our thoughts - taken to an extreme that felt closer to decadence than to hygiene. Like all states of mind spun into practice, it needed an outfit. It needed a slip dress.

The slip is, in its most elemental form, a functional item with a signature purpose: to remove the friction between a body and an outfit, putting a smooth line of satin or silk or something similar underneath a skirt or a dress. Depending on the time and place, it's either the beginning of getting dressed, or the end of being clothed. It's both practical and superfluous. You don't really need a slip under most skirts or dresses, contemporary ready-to-wear and off-the-rack clothing mostly designed to do away with such additional steps.

The slip dress, on the other hand, is contradictory in a different way: based off a hidden undergarment, but meant to be seen. More so than any other kind of dress, the woman makes the slip. It reveals without exposing. Wearing a slip dress, to the wearer and to the person watching, has come to mean you have nothing to hide.

The moment when the distinction between a slip and a slip dress became clear was 1783, according to Infra-Apparel, the 1993 Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute exhibition about the history and practice of lingerie in fashion. In the catalogue of the same name, curators Richard Harrison Martin and Harold Koda write that a portrait of Marie Antoinette attributed to the painter Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun was the first substantive instance of the slip dress as an item considered both beautiful and respectable enough for public wear. In it, Marie's cheeks are flushed and her lips are painted in the shape of a rosebud. By today's standards, her white dress is elaborately adorned with ruffles and puffed, cinched, bracelet sleeves. This chemise à la reine was, in the words of Martin and Koda, a "gesture of its time," referencing, in practice, Rousseau's theories about naturalism-that the human body should be free, easy, and open-as well as ancient Greco-Roman principles of democracy and fairness.

In Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, the young queen, played with a sweet, graceful combination of innate royalty and brattiness by Kirsten Dunst, requests it from her dressmakers so she can have something "simple, natural...to wear in the garden." The subsequent scenes show her and her toddler daughter wearing their matching chemises in the grass, feeding dandelions to baby lambs and reading Rousseau's work to her friends. The fact that her dress was lingerie stayed the same. The only thing about it that changed was the context the queen gave it.

A closer comparison for today would be the Calvin Klein black slip, which cuts across the torso with two sheer panels just above each hip, forming a diamond pattern made of transparent tulle and lined by lace, or the Stella McCartney Black Ophelia Whistling Nightgown, with a lace bustier bodice in a sheer floral pattern, drawing attention to what it's supposed to hide. It reminds me of the costumes worn in Bertrand Bonello's 2011 film, House of Tolerance, where the women of an elegant turn-of-the-century brothel live, work, and sleep in dark, opulent rooms. The slip dresses they wear are for sleep, or for lounging, or as a precursor to sex; which is to say they are meant to be seen.

The drop-waist dresses of the 1920s owe a debt to slip dresses. Though they have more in common with the Fortuny tea dresses or Delphos gowns of the turn of the century, they were, like Marie Antoinette's desire for looseness inside the rigid rules of palace life, about freedom. The women known as flappers wanted to dance and drink without being held back by tight, constrictive clothing. In the 1930s, Jean Harlow's champagne-colored bias-cut slip dresses were famously adaptations of Vionnet's couture collections.

But slip dresses would spend another few decades most commonly known for their protective elements. Unlike the corset, it didn't force a shape of the body, or a specific occasion, but it did work to subtly suggest both, like the strong curve of the neckline seen on this Kiki de Montparnasse Black Jersey Slip Dress, which would make itself discreetly known under any mid-length dress or skirt that required it.

It reminds me of the iconic slip worn by Elizabeth Taylor in her role as "Maggie the Cat" in the 1958 film adaptation of Tennessee Williams' play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which was defined by the scenes she spent in various states of almost-undress. Her two major costumes in the film-a white short-sleeve blouse and tan pencil skirt cinched with a red belt, and then later, a virginal white party dress-are linked by the white lacy slip she wears underneath. She wears it while arguing with her husband, Brick, played by Paul Newman. Maggie's slip is the perfect costume for her character: she's obsessed with the things that lie beneath the surface, what everyone knows are there but refuse to talk about. Just like the way she pushes her husband to tell the truth about his debilitating depression, her slip dress is not something she wants kept under wraps.

A little over a decade later, in January 1969, Nova magazine published an editorial titled "What Are You Trying To Hide?". In its ten-year run between 1965 and 1975, Nova published essays by Susan Sontag and photos by Helmut Newton, and has been described as "a politically radical, beautifully designed, intellectual women's magazine." They were all about championing the concept of underwear made into fashion, worn overtly with the express purpose of being seen. The photos paired with the text-which argued that you should not "count on your underclothes not showing," but instead, to "choose them so if they do, it doesn't matter"-credited Woolworths for the clothes, to show that, in the right context, a simple item from a practical shop could become sex on spaghetti straps.

There is nothing practical about Elvira Hancock, the role Michelle Pfeiffer played in the 1983 Brian de Palma film Scarface, but that's not to say her character doesn't have her own logic. She says perhaps the best line in a movie filled with excellent ones (at least, it's my favorite) when she tells Al Pacino's Tony Montana never to get high on his own supply. Her coke addiction creates little tremors in her body and voice, so that even in her disaffected boredom she seems to be shimmering. Almost definitely the most beautiful woman in any room she enters, and certainly the best-dressed, yet she's barely wearing anything at all; without a word, Elvira seems to say, I'm over it. Costume designer Patricia Norris made slip dresses Elvira's signature look, and in her first scene she enters in a bright emerald green, with beaded straps and bodice seams perfect for a color named after a precious jewel. The Sies Marjan Pink Kit Dress has that same crystallized shine, in a bright pink perfect for Miami after dark.

At home, Elvira moves between vanity tables in silky camisole sets and robes that match the amber drink in her crystal glass, and I can just see her doing the same in the Fleur du Mal Black Plunge Bias Slip Dress. But Elvira's slip dresses are the complete opposite of Maggie the Cat's: like the way her character eludes Tony completely, so that even after their marriage he never really knows her, her slip dresses are a way of letting people know that she could be practically naked and still give nothing away.

In the 1990s, the promise of slip dresses reached its peak. Referencing all of the significance contained in its extensive past, icons of the decade took the slip dress and gave it a future. Waiting to Exhale, which begins on New Years' Eve in Phoenix, Arizona, uses slip dresses to show hope and loss. Whitney Houston as Savannah wears a long, satiny, dark brown slip dress to a blind date she's approaching with cautious optimism. Her hair is up and her earrings are long, drawing the eye to where the slimmest straps meet her shoulders, but when the man turns out to be another disappointment, she leaves immediately.

Throughout the movie, slip dresses appear as outfits for talking on the phone with the friends you love, or for getting ready to go out, but it is Angela Bassett as Bernadine-"Bernie" to her friends-that gave the film its breakout, indelible image of a slip. She begins the film sitting at her vanity, rollers in her hair and half-heartedly putting on makeup for a party she doesn't want to attend, wearing a slip dress clearly intended to be worn under her outfit for the night. When her husband tells her he's not taking her to the party, but rather, he's taking the woman he plans to leave her for, she's stunned, alternately enraged and devastated. The next morning it seems to take her hours to even make coffee, every movement too slow and deliberate; but suddenly she snaps into focus, and, still wearing the same slip dress from last night, takes everything out of her husband's closet and into his car, douses it in gasoline, and then lights a cigarette before setting the whole wardrobe on fire. Her walking away in last night's slip dress and this morning's robe while the car burns behind her is still one of the most instantly recognizable frames from films of the decade. Her character's costumes exist somewhere between Maggie the Cat, who didn't want the man she loves to keep secrets from her, and Elvira, who has secrets of her own from the husband she hates-Bernie's slip dress is the last thing she wears before she starts life as someone smarter, sadder, and entirely herself.

That same year, Courtney Love attended the Vanity Fair Oscar party in a cream satin slip dress, referencing the old movie glamour of Jean Harlow's similarly liquid look, but it became, in her wearing, emblematic of what grunge signified. Love understood that a slip dress could be just as prim as it was shocking, and she kept elements of both: the babydoll fit accessorized with a tiara, like a child playing dress-up with suggestively smudged red lipstick.

The slip dress had a way of seeming truest to the person wearing it in her time. Drew Barrymore wore hers with a daisy tucked behind her ear, and Winona Ryder walked red carpets in a dress made to look like a night sky, dark purple in a crushed velvet material. Kate Moss wore a sheer slip dress in 1993, her simple black underwear clearly visible through a dress made of, it seemed, of what I can only characterize as transparent silver. Saran Wrap, even.

Gwyneth Paltrow's slip dresses referenced the consuming minimalism of the Calvin Klein and Helmut Lang era, with straight necks and severe, stiletto-esque straps. By the end of the decade, Sarah Michelle Gellar would play Kathryn in Cruel Intentions, the teen adaptation of Dangerous Liaisons, a movie I still can't believe I saw in theaters as an impressionable 13-year-old. As a wealthy brat who makes emotional cruelty and sexual subterfuge her hobby, Kathryn never misses an opportunity to show off the expensive lingerie she's wearing under almost every outfit just because she can. In the neverending resurgence of 1990s-era fashion, slip dresses and the women or characters that wore them are a frequent reference for fashion designers and the fans who populate Tumblr or Instagram accounts dedicated to their archives. In past seasons, Nomia has made simple white slip dresses not unlike Paltrow's, while Priscavera's metallic slip dress with a sheer lining recalls Moss.

The slip dress kept going all the way up the social ladder to Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, who wore one designed by Narciso Rodriguez as her wedding dress. Even higher up than the presumed princesses of New York society, Princess Diana wore a Christian Dior slip dress in an almost too-perfect shade of royal blue, trimmed with black lace, to the 1996 Costume Institute Gala held in Dior's honor. They would have appreciated the wavy lines of the Carven Black Scalloped Dress, with a neckline that rolls up and over the décolletage and a back that travels down deep between the shoulder blades, meeting in the middle with a seam like a kiss, elegant enough for any kind of nobility.

Rihanna - today's incarnation of royalty-has a queen's ransom of slip dresses in her personal outfit archives. She really knows how to dress for a day off or a night out. A wonderful fact about Rihanna, commemorated in a Twitter thread by MTV News' Joshua Edwards, is that she's frequently photographed leaving restaurants with her wine glass still in her hand-once she did just that in a red velvet slip dress, which almost exactly matched the red wine she was taking to go. My favorite is a burnished bronzed-gold slip dress, which she wore with a lightly lined white fur jacket, silver sandals, and a navy baseball cap. It's the kind of outfit the magazines I read as a teen used to refer to as looking like you just "threw it on," as though carelessness or thoughtlessness is the ultimate sign of style, which, paradoxically, if you think about it really hard, it is. Much like a responsible form of hedonism, it is a disaffected series of choices made with such care that it feels closer to decadence.

There's also this photo where Rihanna's wearing a look styled by Mel Ottenberg, and everything is much more cohesive: she's wearing a crinkled silk jacket with a simple, ankle-length slip dress, the only flourish a ruffled hem, with delicate, thin-strapped sandals. Everything is the same shade, I think even-when I squint hard enough-her nail polish, all the color of purified, liquified metal. Rihanna once told Vogue that "If I'm wearing a top, I don't wear a bra. If I'm wearing a bra, I just wear a bra." For her, there's no underwear or outerwear; it's all-or-nothing-wear, always, and I can only aspire to this queenly way of being.

Eventually, the slip dress has become less about its contradictions and more about its complexities: rather than trading one purpose for the other, either a sensible layer or a luxurious look, it can be both to whoever is wearing it.

When I went looking for the dress I knew would be the best outfit for my newly-acquired ethos, I remembered that years ago I bought a black slip dress made of two layers of silk, each one sheer on its own but opaque together. It was intended to appease my lazier tendencies when getting dressed-an item that only required me to raise my arms once in the morning, to take one step out of it at night, a single piece that could be a finished outfit-but perhaps for the same reason I like to overcomplicate something as simple as lazy leisure activities, I became obsessed with making it perfect. It was just a little too long; I had it shortened. After a few wears around the neighborhood, I felt like it was too big around the waist; I had it taken in, the first piece of clothing I had properly tailored for shape rather than length. The straps were made to be adjusted by preference, and I did just that, as though they were a thermometer for my mood: how low could I go? All of these past preparations for a single dress seemed, in retrospect, too perfect. Now that summer's long-over, I realize I wore the slip as often as I could, sometimes two or three or more times a week. It was sensible to do so-no other dress could do so much while requiring so little of me-but it felt, every time, like a luxury.

Haley Mlotek is a writer based in Brooklyn. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, n+1, and The Ringer, among others.

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Hide and Seek: Everything You Could Possibly Ever Want to Know About the Slip Dress

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As last summer approached, a friend and I gave a name to the behavior we'd been indulging in all spring. Responsible hedonism, we called it. Privately I preferred sensible luxury, more for the sound of that low u.

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Who are TM, ethos, customer

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Topman not only drives trends, we've changed the way men shop. We earn our sartorial stripes by creating brilliant, affordable and authoritative men's fashion focused around fit, detail and fabric.

Putting menswear on the fashion map, British brand Topman is a ground-breaking style authority. From everyday style staples to sharp tailoring, Topman has earned its sartorial stripes with an unswerving, energetic approach to producing truly aspirational, affordable men's fashion. In addition to a catalogue of exclusive capsule collections in collaboration with the likes of Charlie Casely-Hayford, Topman boasts several own-label brands - Topman Signature, Premium and CONSIDERED that champion essential wear, elevated materials and fabrication, and reduced environmental impact respectively. BIG and TALL ranges extend Topman's core offering to more sizes; marking the brand's commitment to ensuring its offering is increasingly inclusive.

Since 2011 Topman has been a headline partner to mental health charity the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), supporting the cause through campaigns and product collaborations, notably 'L'eau de Chris' - featuring reality TV star Chris Hughes - as part of the #DontBottleItUp campaign, and an ambassador and influencer endorsed 'Care Sewn In' t-shirt capsule as part of the #LetWhatsInsideOut campaign to coincide with World Mental Health Day 2019.

Driving trends forward while shifting the way men approach shopping, Topman also offers a complimentary Personal Shopping service in select stores globally. Topman's global footprint spans 147 stores and 71 franchises that operate in 24 countries whilst Topman.com launches over 100 new products every week and provides shipping to over 100 countries. Topman can also be found on ASOS, Nordstrom and Zalando.

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Topman not only drives trends, we've changed the way men shop. We earn our sartorial stripes by creating brilliant, affordable and authoritative men's fashion focused around fit, detail and fabric. Putting menswear on the fashion map, British brand Topman is a ground-breaking style authority.

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UK and European Union fashion firms want clarity on tariffs, migration and regulation from the upcoming trade negotiations.

Key takeaways:

The fashion sector in the UK, built on duty-free access to the EU, is facing the risk of export tariffs into its biggest trading partner from 2021 onward.

Some businesses hope for liberalised regulation post-Brexit, but EU firms are pushing back over fears that this could give British manufacturers an unfair advantage.

The UK fashion industry fears a lack of clarity around short-term work visas could limit the ambition of promotional events like London Fashion Week.

On Friday night, Britain will formally, finally, leave the European Union. With that, the focus shifts to upcoming trade talks. The dangers for British fashion have been well documented: the UK Trade Policy Observatory, a research unit, has called it the manufacturing sector most at risk of a significant drop in exports. Meanwhile, continental manufacturers and retailers fear that a UK outside of the EU regulatory sphere will operate at an unfair advantage.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has stated he wants the trade deal completed within the year when a transition period that will see the UK align with single market rules is due to end. But that is a timeframe many consider unrealistic. Even if an accord was to be agreed in less than 12 months, fashion firms fear that negotiators will overlook some of the detailed protections they want, or even miss some of the opportunities of a post-Brexit world.

Vogue Business spoke to representatives of the main lobbying bodies and industry groups on both sides of the channel about what they want their governments to prioritise in the trade talks. We also reached out to over 30 brands across different price points, but most preferred to let trade bodies speak for them. The results of these discussions are outlined below.

Keeping zero-for-zero tariffs

"The absolute number one [priority] has to be tariffs," says Adam Mansell, CEO of the UK Fashion and Textile Association, whose members include Burberry, Asos and Ted Baker. "The EU is by far and away the biggest market for the UK...so, therefore, having tariff-free access to that market is hugely important for us."

The modern UK textiles, apparel and footwear sector was built on the assumption of tax-free access to Europe, so British manufacturers are highly reliant on exporting to the EU. For instance, 80 per cent of UK clothing exports are currently sent to the EU.

UK Brexit minister Stephen Barclay said last week that zero-tariff, zero-quota trade would be one of the British government's aims in the trade talks. But EU negotiators have repeatedly said that they will only countenance that if Britain aligns with the bloc on issues like state aid, environmental rights and taxes.

There will probably be some disruptions post-Brexit even if a free trade agreement covering these issues is reached. Major retailers, for instance, hope that the authorities are prepared for any increased border checks and other holdups caused by increased border regulation. (The UK imports over £14,000,000 worth of apparel and clothing accessories per day.) Last year, for instance, dozens of France-to-UK trains were cancelled as customs officers at Paris Gare du Nord carried out stringent customs checks in a simulation of what tighter border control looks like. The UK Cabinet Office did not comment for this story.

Leaving the customs union means that exporters will likely have to fill in declaration forms, which come with administrative costs - UK mid-market retailer Next estimated a cost of £150,000 per year under a no-deal scenario. This is likely to be a bigger problem for smaller exporters, since major retailers like Next that export more than £250,000 per year into the EU, already have to declare all the goods moved out of the UK. The UK Freight Transport Association has reportedly requested information from the government on how it plans to deal with a perceived shortage in customs experts in the UK.

"We hope the UK Government and the European Commission will adopt a pragmatic approach on the future regulatory relationship, in particular on customs processes," says William Bain, trade policy advisor at the British Retail Consortium. "This could also include sector-specific implementation periods to allow businesses to apply as-yet-unknown changes affecting IT, staffing, taxation and compliance systems."

This is not likely to be existential for larger retailers both mainstream and luxury, although Burberry have warned in the past that higher inventory levels will be needed to mitigate for delayed delivery times in a situation where there are border checks. Small and medium enterprises with lower margins are much more at risk, however.

There is also the side question of what happens to Britain's existing trade deals with other third-party countries. While many nations have agreed to extend the terms to Britain, a deal with Turkey - a significant import market for British fashion - will not be signed for exit day. The Eurasian country, which exports £1.4 billion of clothing to the UK, is in a customs union with the EU and a straight-forward rollover is not possible given the rules of that agreement.

Regulatory alignment

Another area for concern is divergence on regulation and standards, says Dirk Vantyghem, director general of Euratex, which represents European fashion retailers and manufacturers in Brussels. UK Chancellor Sajid Javid has sent mixed messages on this issue, telling the Financial Times to expect the UK to make its own rules before watering down these comments down after a backlash from British businesses.

All goods manufactured in the UK and sold in the EU will need to comply with the regulatory standards of the latter - and vice versa. But Vantyghem worries that the UK, whose government has pledged to be a rule-maker, not a rule-taker post-Brexit, will not put the necessary protections in place to ensure that EU standards are properly matched. However, he adds that the statements of EU representatives thus far gives him confidence that single market rules will be protected.

An even more challenging question may be around "rules-of-origin". The measure determines if enough of a good has been made in a country that it qualifies for preferential tariff rates. With products like clothing, where the supply chain stretches across multiple countries, this can be difficult and expensive to prove. Indeed, suppliers of certain goods from Norway, which is part of the EU single market, but not the customs union, often pay tariffs instead of going through the rigmarole of proving the economic origin of their goods.

The EU is currently part of the Pan-Euromed Convention, along with a number of nearby countries such as Tunisia, Morocco and Turkey. This agreement allows for a textile product to be designated as originating from a country within the zone if two significant manufacturing processes happen there like yarn being turned into fabrics and then cut into a garment.

The UKFT's Mansell has been lobbying the British government to push for more flexibility on these rules in any new free trade agreement with the EU. (Britain's largest textile and clothing supplier is China.) One possible change could be stipulating for single transformation, which would mean just one production process, such as tailoring material into a suit, would be needed. Fashion firms such as H&M, which sources significantly from non-EU countries, are enthusiastic about the potential for a more liberal approach when it comes to trade.

"We encourage the UK to conclude ambitious free trade deals, mirroring EU Free Trade Agreements, preferably with even more flexible trading rules. We certainly also see opportunities arising, with the possibility of the UK concluding trade deals with key players in the textile industry with which the UK/EU has no solid agreement as of today," says a spokesperson for H&M.

Vantyghem, by contrast, is concerned that the EU negotiating different rules of origin with the UK could give it an unfair advantage on textile industries based in other EU countries. Fashion firms that are dependent on European products for their manufacturing processes are also wary of the potential for added tariffs. "UK businesses should not be required to pay duties on raw material and components sourced from within the EU. Without this, we are in no doubt that there would be an impact on the prices we offer our customers," says Mulberry CEO Thierry Andretta.

The luxury industry is also particularly concerned about the prospect of losing some intellectual property protection over their designs. The British government has not announced which elements of the comprehensive EU legislation covering the issue are going to be transposed into UK law. Without these added safeguards, brands may be hesitant to show at London Fashion Week.

Workforce issues

Who gets to work in the UK and the EU is not distinctly a trade issue. But it is a major point of contention for the fashion industry going forward. The British government has pledged to end freedom of movement and introduce a new migration system; British subjects will also lose their right to work and live in the EU freely.

Tamara Cincik, the founder and CEO of lobbying group Fashion Roundtable, says that the fashion manufacturing sector in the UK is currently at capacity due to a shortage of garment workers. A survey of 50 UK manufacturers conducted by the organisation indicated that 80 per cent had unfilled vacancies and more than three quarters doubted there was sufficient domestic skill and interest from UK workers to fill the gap. (Many Brexiters say that EU migrants have depressed wages for British workers, and vacancies will be filled if companies pay higher salaries.)

This has led to industry fears of a skills shortage if the government goes ahead with its desire to impose a new points-based immigration system as soon as the transition period ends. Both Fashion Roundtable and the UKFT have expressed willingness to work with the government on upskilling the domestic workforce, but there are concerns about the readiness of the industry to adapt to the changes in the short-term. For Cincik, not updating the rules to accurately reflect the needs of the sector also risks undermining a potential growth in UK textiles manufacturing post-Brexit. (The government's independent advisory body on migration has recommended that the minimum salary for migrants with a job offer should be lowered from £30,000 to £25,600.)

Mansell also called for clarity on the freedom of movement of goods-not-for-sale like samples. Historically, fashion firms have been able to load up their products into a suitcase and take them on the Eurostar to trade shows. If the UK mirrors the rules of other third-party countries, these will now likely be subject to the ATA Carnet or "passport for goods" system. "How is the government going to make it accessible to show our products?" Mansell says.

This also presents another challenge for London Fashion Week and the British Fashion Council. If models, creatives and extra garments cannot be sourced at short notice, then it becomes a less favourable environment for luxury brands to be a part of. Caroline Rush, CEO of the British Fashion Council says: "We continue to have a dialogue with government, focusing our efforts on issues raised by the businesses we work with such as access to talent, tariffs and intellectual property."

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More on this topic: What fashion retailers know about you Are Middle Eastern shoppers falling out of love with Europe? Prestige beauty battle heats up with L'Oréal-Prada deal

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Brexit is here. What's next for fashion?

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UK and European Union fashion firms want clarity on tariffs, migration and regulation from the upcoming trade negotiations. Key takeaways: The fashion sector in the UK, built on duty-free access to the EU, is facing the risk of export tariffs into its biggest trading partner from 2021 onward.

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Singer Beyoncé Knowles and Sir Philip Green
WireImage

The Arcadia retail group at the heart of billionaire Sir Philip Green's fortune has accepted U.K. "government support" to pay its entire shop staff during the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement from the group's CEO, Ian Grabiner, Arcadia confirmed that all 14,000 store employees have been "furloughed" as part of the government's job retention scheme, which covers 80% of an employee's wage, capped at a maximum of $3,100 (£2,500) a month at no risk or expense to the employer.

Online operations will keep going and head office staff will continue until April 5, 2020, according to the statement. Grabiner has said he will receive no salary or benefits until further notice, adding, "We look forward to opening our store doors again as soon as it is safe to do so and welcoming back our colleagues and customers."

A general view of a Topshop store on June 5, 2019, in London.
Getty Images

Staff, Pensions, Landlords-The End

Arcadia Group, which includes Topshop/Topman, Miss Selfridge, Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans and Wallis chains, is fighting for its survival on three fronts.

The latest battle over staff pay comes against a dispute with landlords over rent and further controversy with the U.K. over missed payments to Arcadia's pension plan, which is currently in deficit.

On March 21, 2020, Sir Philip reportedly asked the landlords of his retail empire for rent cuts of up to 50%. And earlier this week Green and his wife, Tina, were urged by government pension advisor John Ralfe not to use the pandemic as an excuse to reduce pension provision. MP Rachel Reeves told the Guardian that businesses like Arcadia "will need to answer for their decisions during this pandemic and whether they did the right thing by workers and pension holders."

Survival?

However, retail expert Kate Hardcastle MBE tells Forbes that Arcadia was left behind long before the coronavirus pandemic, "Retail has changed, at a pace and speed that we haven't seen before." She adds, "Arcadia has lent on old retail traditions for too long, and the board room has never represented the shopper.

"Now shoppers clearly head online for an outfit delivered straight to the door and often at less than 70% of the price the once paid."

Retail commentator Richard Hyman of Richard Talks Retail recently told Forbes that the coronavirus pandemic is "obviously ruinous" for a lot of businesses, adding that with up to 90% of business now lost, "Very few businesses ... can just leave their costs where they are and accommodate that kind of decline."

Sir Philip Green and Lionel Richie
GC Images

Personal Wealth

With questions still unanswered over the exact size of Arcadia's pension deficit-which one former senior politician claimed was between $660 million (£537 million) and $893 million (£727 million)-it is unlikely that Sir Philip can afford to bail out his empire from his personal cash holdings.

At their peak in 2016, Forbes estimated Philip and Cristina Green's combined wealth to be $5.9 billion.

Today Forbes estimates their net worth to be $2.2 billion.

... Read More

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Billionaire Sir Philip Green Takes U.K. Government Money To Pay 14,000 Staff During Coronavirus Shutdown

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The Arcadia retail group at the heart of billionaire Sir Philip Green's fortune has accepted U.K. "government support" to pay its entire shop staff during the coronavirus pandemic.

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Arcadia Group is the parent company to a number of popular fashion brands such as Topshop, Topman, Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge, Burton, and Wallis. Having made a name for itself as the first UK fashion retailer to launch an online shop, the Topshop brand has been the crown jewel of Arcadia Group's fashion empire. In the meantime, a number of design collaborations, including with Kate Moss, helped solidify Topshop's image as the hip and stylish brand of the British high street.

Arcadia in decline

That being said, Arcadia's financial lookout has not been great in recent years. As seen in the graph, the group's sales went down year after year, with the financial year 2017/18 delivering the lowest results. Moreover, in their most recent annual filing the company reported an operating loss of about 137 million British pounds, which revealed the depth of the financial turmoil they are currently in.

High street closures

Arcadia Group is not the only retailer struggling in the high street. Fast fashion brand New Look recently went through a similar demise, cutting down a considerable number of its UK stores. In 2018, net closures of chain stores in the UK was the highest since 2012.

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Arcadia Group sales 2010-2018 statistic | Statista

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Arcadia Group is the parent company to a number of popular fashion brands such as Topshop, Topman, Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge, Burton, and Wallis. Having made a name for itself as the first UK fashion retailer to launch an online shop, the Topshop brand has been the crown jewel of Arcadia Group's fashion empire.

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topman.com, operated by Top Shop/Top Man, Ltd., is an internationally-focused online store that generates eCommerce net sales primarily in the United Kingdom as well as in the United States and France. With regards to the product range, topman.com specializes in the "Fashion" category, particularly in the area of "Apparel".

Global Net Sales (2019)
First party net sales generated by topman.com after deduction of returns, allowances for damaged or missing goods and any discounts allowed.
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Global Rank (2019)
eCommerce net sales rank of topman.com, compared to all other stores on ecommerceDB.com

Main Country
Country where topman.com generates most of its eCommerce net sales from

United Kingdom

Main Category
Category where topman.com generates most of its eCommerce net sales from

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Digital Market Outlook

by Statista

The Digital Market Outlook presents up-to-date figures on markets of the digital economy in 150 countries.
The comparable key figures are based on extensive analyses of relevant indicators from the areas of society, economy, and technology.
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SEA Budget

Compare online shops' budgets for Search Engine Advertising and find out who spends the most for ads on Google & other search engines.

SEA Data

Benchmark online stores' Search Engine Advertising with relevant indicators like Searchmetrics Visibility Score and Rank as well as Cost per Click.

SEO Data

Performing well on search engines is key for online shops to drive conversion. Analyze performance with detailed data and benchmarks for Search Engine Optimization based on Searchmetrics Visibility Scores.

Payment Options

Information on payment methods provided by the store, i.e. the supported cards, bank transfer, e-wallets, invoice, direct debits, etc.

Shopping Software

The online retailer's choice of infrastructure for completing eCommerce purchases. We provide the type of commerce platform being used by each shop.

Distribution Channels

Identify the distribution channels of market leaders by category and country. Analyze whether a company is active in brick & mortar, Amazon marketplace, eBay marketplace, or other sales channels.

Shipping Service Providers

The shipping service providers chosen by the eCommerce retailer to distribute their products. We provide breakdowns on per country basis for cross-border analysis.

Social Media Activity

Get information on social media statistics of the online retailer by domain. Activity scores are presented to measure how often the company posts and their audience's reaction on each of their social media pages.

Leads for your research

We offer the most relevant contacts to start your lead generation. This includes leads from all relevant departments, including Management, Marketing & Communications and more.

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topman.com, operated by Top Shop/Top Man, Ltd., is an internationally-focused online store that generates eCommerce net sales primarily in the United Kingdom as well as in the United States and France. With regards to the product range, topman.com specializes in the "Fashion" category, particularly in the area of "Apparel".

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Customer profile, men shopping habits

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John Gray's 1992 book " Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus " confirmed what men and women have always known: The two sexes differ in their perspectives, motives, rationales, and actions. Even though the reason for the differences (nature or nurture) continues to be debated, study after study reflects similar results, and sophisticated companies have adapted their customer outreach programs to account for these differences. Everything from advertising style, message, and media, to product design, store layout, sales training, and customer service policies are designed to appeal specifically to both sexes.

The goal of every retailer is to:

Lure shoppers

Make them stay in the store longer

Influence their buying decisions

Turn them into return customers

Failure to address the idiosyncrasies of gender can have real financial consequence for retailers. In a New York Times article published on February 16, 2012, Eric Siegel, a consultant and chairman of the Predictive Analytics World conference, stated, "We're living through a golden age of behavioral research. It's amazing how much we can figure out about how people think now."

The Differences Between Women and Men

Whether (and to what extent) men and women differ has been a controversial subject for years. Many scientists are concerned that perceived differences have led to discrimination and unfair treatment under the assumption that one gender has attributes the other does not. While there are observable differences between the brains of men and women and how they process information, researchers emphasize that the differences do not reflect a superiority of a single gender.

Furthermore, studies indicate that sex-specific characteristics fall along a broad continuum containing substantial overlap between sexes. Trying to accurately stereotype a single individual is difficult, if not impossible. In other words, if you pick one male and one female out of a crowd, they could be very similar or dissimilar depending on each person's unique characteristics. Nevertheless, recognizing the general characteristics of each sex is important to product retailers, especially if their product is designed to appeal predominately to one sex or the other.

Even though both sexes are capable of equivalent intellectual performance, there are numerous physical differences between male and female brains:

Women have a thicker corpus callosum, the bridge of nerve tissue that connects the left and right side of the brain, leading women to use both sides of their brains to solve problems. Men predominately use the left side of their brains for this purpose.

Men have a larger brain size by about 10%, but women have substantially more nerve endings and connections (white matter) than men.

Men and women use different areas of the brain for solving tasks. For example, women use their larger, more organized cerebral cortex to perform tasks, while men rely on the larger proportion of gray matter in the left hemisphere of their brains. As a consequence, women are generally better at identifying and controlling their emotions, while men are more task-focused.

These differences enable researchers to attract particular shoppers by aligning marketing messages, advertising, product features, store layouts and displays (including colors), and customer service with the expectations of the desired customers' gender and shopping characteristics. Being aware of the influence your gender exerts on the products you buy and the price you pay can make you a more discriminating buyer.

The Impact of Purchase Habits

Whether you're a man or a woman, your purchasing decisions are based more on habit than rational decision-making, according to Dr. Neale Martin, professor at Kennesaw State University's Cole College of Business. Tony Ezell, vice president of Eli Lilly and Company agrees, using the example of physicians who, acting with their unconscious brains when making decisions, continue to prescribe medications they are used to, even when they understand that new drugs are better and safer. Once buying habits are established, they're difficult to dislodge because it's human nature to resist change.

Knowing that habit drives most buying decisions and consumer behavior, companies focus on the initial buying decision to gain an advantage before a habit is established, ensuring their products or services are the beneficiaries of eventual habit formation. These efforts are focused on the following:

Initial Stimulation of a Need. Millions of dollars are spent each year to motivate buyers to purchase particular products in the belief that the products will make them healthier, wealthier, safer, or more attractive. This is the logic behind special sales, coupons, and discounts. In fact, individuals going through major life events are especially vulnerable to new appeals since they often don't notice, nor care, that their shopping habits have shifted. But retailers notice, and they care quite a lot. At these unique moments, UCLA Professor Alan Andreasen wrote in a 1980s study, customers - both men and women - are "vulnerable to intervention by marketers." In other words, a precisely timed advertisement, sent to a recent divorcee or new homeowner, can change someone's shopping patterns for years.

Influence of Third Parties. Third-party endorsements by friends, social peers, or authority figures influence our selection of products. Jonah Berger, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and the author of "Contagious: Why things Catch On," says, "People often think that contagious products just get lucky. But it's not luck and it's not random. It's science." Berger claims as many as half of all purchasing decisions are driven by word-of-mouth marketing because it's considered more trustworthy than traditional advertising, even when that's not the case. As a consequence, retailers constantly seek out customer endorsements and enlist celebrities as product spokespeople to help gain an edge.

Personal Evaluation. Your decision to pick one product over another is influenced by a number of factors, including the appeal of the packaging and the method or convenience of payment. These subconscious factors can actually exert more influence over your decision than price or quality. Understanding your motive for purchasing one item over another helps you make better choices.

While it would be impractical (and impossible) to systematically evaluate and objectively determine every purchase, consumers should be aware of the habits that drive their buying decisions. In cases where outcomes are more critical - significant differences in price, quality, durability, convenience, or utility - a more rational purchasing process is usually justified to ensure a successful result.

Male and Female Shopping Stereotypes

Despite near equality in numbers, according to Bloomberg, women make more than 85% of the consumer purchases in the United States, and reputedly influence over 95% of total goods and services purchased. Women as a whole are considered more sophisticated shoppers than men, taking longer to make a buying decision.

Marti Barletta, president of The TrendSight Group and coauthor of " Just Ask a Woman: Cracking the Code of What Women Want and How they Buy," explains that men would rather buy a workable product than continue to shop, while women would rather continue to shop in the hope of finding a perfect solution. In other words, women are more selective and more likely to buy a product that fits all of their requirements.

Female Shoppers

According to a 2007 survey by the AMP Agency, "A woman's approach to shopping is very much part of who she is; it is part of her DNA." The way a woman shops when she is 18 years old is the same way she is going to shop when she is 43 years old. It is a lifelong mindset. This insight was unexpected, as most observers expected women's shopping habits to change as they grew older.

The AMP study claims women fall into four distinct mindsets which dictate their respective shopping patterns:

Social Catalysts. This group represents slightly more than one-third of women. They tend to be planners, organizers, take pride in their friendship status, and consider themselves the expert within their social circle. As a consequence, they tend to be "influencers." Almost 80% of this group think a night on the town is money well spent, but they are likely to seek out bargains to keep up with the latest trends.

Natural Hybrids. This group of stable and poised women represents about one-third of women, slightly less than the social catalyst group. The natural hybrids seem to operate in a continual state of equilibrium. They know there's a time and place for everything - a time to spend, and a time to save. Their approach to shopping falls between safe, practical purchases and splurges. They tend to purchase classic products: long-lasting items that aren't too trendy.

Content Responsibles. About one-fifth of women neither set nor spread trends. This group tends to treat shopping as an errand or chore, rather than a fun experience or an adventure. However, they tend to be lifelong and increasingly loyal customers. 80% do not consider social status an important part of their life. Like most men, these practical, responsible, loyal consumers crave a hassle-free shopping experience.

Cultural Artists. Representing slightly more than 1 in 10, women in this group are considered the "super shoppers," constantly trying different things and starting new trends. They are the group companies actively seek for new products.

Women tend to be more astute consumers than men, simply because they are willing to invest the time and energy necessary to research and compare products. At the same time, their two-sided brain approach to problem solving makes them more susceptible to emotional appeals than a man.

Even though women are considered better shoppers, they would benefit by:

Prioritizing Purchases. Aligning shopping method and source to the cost and use of the product saves time and energy. Not every purchase requires a marathon of store visits or extensive comparison; some products are commodities with little difference in utility or price and do not justify extensive effort in the decision to purchase one item over another.

Using Online Shopping More. Women have lagged behind men in replacing in-store purchases with online shopping - an environment more conducive to product and price comparison. Many e-retailers offer smartphone shopping apps that facilitate comparisons to help consumers select the best product for their objective.

Resisting Impulse Purchases. Retailers are especially adept at triggering emotional purchases with store design, display, and pricing. As a consequence, normal habits of comparison and evaluation are ignored, often to the detriment of the shopper whose impulsively purchased product is inferior in quality, exorbitantly priced, or of little use.

Male Shoppers

An article in Forbes suggests that for most men, shopping for clothes is like "doing your own brain surgery." Another study suggests that male grocery shoppers are "like a dog looking for a lost ball in a field - they cross-hatch frantically until they stumble upon what they are looking for by chance." The same study describes men as "pragmatic shoppers," considering success as "leaving with what you came for, having experienced a logical and efficient shopping process."

In other words, men like to get in, get what they need, and get out fast. Men aren't major comparison shoppers and they're willing to pay a little more to speed up the process than to spend time hunting down bargains. In The Wall Street Journal, Delia Passi, CEO of the research and consumer advocacy group WomenCertified, claims that to men, the worst outcome is to walk out of a store empty-handed.

According to Jim Foster, marketing consultant and retail coach, "Men generally shop alone. Men seldom compare prices. Men don't care if the item is on sale. Men really don't care about the color. Men sometimes compare quality, but usually only when it involves tools." Stores catering to men understand these tendencies and focus marketing on inventory depth, technical features, and efficient payment processes. Men are less likely to hunt for bargains or use coupons. Men are also more likely to accept a less-than-ideal product, preferring to avoid another shopping trip.

Male consumers would benefit by:

Being More Price Conscious and Less Time-Sensitive. When purchasing personal products, men should apply the same techniques they use when making business purchases: understanding how the product is used, who uses it, which features are necessary, and what is offered at different price points. This process takes longer, but results in more effective product purchasing.

Becoming More Discriminating. The growth of e-commerce has stimulated new buying behaviors for men that may eventually transfer to brick-and-mortar shops. According to an iProspect study, 70% of affluent males regularly shop online and employ the shopping methods used successfully by women in the physical world. Paradoxically, a Performics' 2011 Social Shopping study indicates that men are more likely than women to research and compare products online.

Anticipating Future Needs. Unlike women who shop based on future needs (food for next week, a dress for an upcoming anniversary), men tend to purchase when the need is immediate, limiting the ability to compare or take advantage of discounts, deals, or out-of-season sales.

Final Word

Shopping is the driver of the nation's economy. Simon Hoggart, a noted British journalist, claims that shopping, to Americans, is an affirmation of faith in our country. We have a physical, moral, and economic reason to shop - but there are no rules that say we should buy or pay higher prices for products that don't completely fulfill our wants and needs.

What type of shopper are you? How do you make decisions about your purchases?

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Men vs. Women: Differences in Shopping Habits & Buying Decisions

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John Gray's 1992 book " Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus " confirmed what men and women have always known: The two sexes differ in their perspectives, motives, rationales, and actions. Even though the reason for the differences (nature or nurture) continues to be debated, study after study reflects similar results, and sophisticated companies have adapted their customer outreach programs to account for these differences.

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Will TM survive COVID? again legality and ethics surrounding Green

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(Image: AFP/Getty Images)

The fashion empire behind Topshop has been forced to make a U-turn after telling staff they would receive just half of their redundancy pay.

Arcadia Group, which is owned by Sir Philip Green, has issued an apology to workers after wrongly telling them that they would receive furlough pay instead of their contracted redundancy payout.

Arcadia, whose high street brands include Topshop, Topman, and Dorothy Perkins, previously said it was only going to pay some of its employees as little as 50% of their notice pay.

It comes after the business announced 300 head office redundancies in July, amid millions of pounds in losses due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

A company spokesman said that Arcadia is "extremely sorry to all those individuals impacted for the distress that we have caused and apologise unreservedly."

"We recently implemented a policy for those employees who are working their notice on furlough to receive their furlough pay instead of their full pay.

"We got this decision wrong and the Board has today amended this policy to ensure all affected employees will receive their full pay. They will be notified of this decision immediately," the company said in a statement.

The Unite union said it had threatened to take legal action for illegal deduction of earnings on behalf of more than 40 head office staff.

Responding to the U-turn, Unite said it's an "amazing victory" and hailed the promise for full payouts for staff during their notice period as a welcomed U-turn.

Unite regional officer Debbie McSweeney said: "We understand that it is almost without precedent for Arcadia to apologise for such behaviour towards employees - but this situation should have never been allowed to happen in the first place by Green, one of the country's richest men.

"Unite would like to sincerely thank our members for the solidarity and personal courage they have shown in standing up to Arcadia's management and playing their part in righting a flagrant pay injustice. It is an amazing victory."

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Topshop forced to make U-turn after offering staff just 50% of redundancy pay

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The fashion empire behind Topshop has been forced to make a U-turn after telling staff they would receive just half of their redundancy pay. Arcadia Group, which is owned by Sir Philip Green, has issued an apology to workers after wrongly telling them that they would receive furlough pay instead of their contracted redundancy payout.

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Use for PEST/SWOT? reputation and legality and ethics

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referenced attacks in notting hill

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The manic exploits of the Teddy Boys made the whole of Britain fear teens through the '50s.

In 1953, a sweeping trend in fashion took over Britain's teen boys. It was an adaptation of Edwardian romanticism; tailored velvet blazers and button-down shirts coupled with drainpipe jeans or trousers, skinny ties, and chunky leather shoes. Top off the outfit with a quiffed up hairdo, and you have the look of a classic Teddy Boy.

However, the Teddy Boy was much more than just a fashion statement - it was an entire British subculture. Born from post-war gloom in the early 1950s, Teddy Boys (Teds, as they preferred to be called) were Britain's original teen subculture. All others; mods, rockers, and punks, can be traced back to this phenomenon. Indeed, even the Beatles have the Teddy Boy fad to thank for their signature styles.

Origins Of The Teddy Boy

The tabloid newspaper Daily Express coined the term "Teddy Boy" in 1954 by shortening Edwardian to Teddy. These fashion-forward working-class teens had their roots firmly secured in music and dancing. Their style was closely identified with their youth and Teddy Boys built their culture around Jazz and skiffle music. However, when early rock-n-roll entered America's scene with the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Vincent, Elvis, and Buddy Holly, the Teds found their true sound.

In fact, when MGM released the controversial film Blackboard Jungle featuring rebellious youth and its rock-n-roll soundtrack, Teddy Boys threw chairs and danced in the aisles. Bill Haley's film Rock Around The Clock took Britain by storm next in 1956 and over-exuberant Teds slashed theater seats, lit fireworks, and threw bottles.

The frightening scenes of police battling the rioting kids caused Britain to fear the fad. Subsequently, this ignited a moral panic centered around the so-called "feral youth." Indeed, some who identified as Teddy Boys routinely incited violence. This likely caused dismay for the innocents who just wanted to look cool and dance.

Hooligans And Criminals

Certainly, one of the goals of the Teddy Boys was to put a hardcore edge on the Edwardian style, but they also wanted to glorify the style found in early American gangster movies. As much as rock-n-roll was considered a bad influence on teens, imitating the look of mobsters was more in line with their behaviors. Some formed gangs and fought rivals in violent showdowns.

"You weren't here when the Teddy Boys arrived on the scene in the Fifties," a friend of Rolling Stone writer Jerry Hopkins said. "London doesn't remember them with any fondness... Those crepe-soled shoes they wear, they had razor blades sunk in the toes. No, London doesn't remember the Teds with any fondness."

Historically, some Teddy Boys also held racist views and even attacked immigrants - most notably in the Notting Hill riots of 1958. They displayed hostility towards black families which was inflamed by far-right groups such as the White Defence League. The racial unrest and violent acts peaked that summer as judges handed down harsh sentences for these riotous Teds.

The Look

Teddy Boy fashion was often bespoke and quite pricey, but the upper-class teens who popularized it had disposable income. Wardrobe staples included mostly dark-colored drape jackets; reminiscent of American zoot suits from the 1940s like those worn by the Cotton Club's Cab Calloway. Velvet trim adorned high collars and pocket flaps and narrow or western bolo ties completed the upper wardrobe.

High-waisted trousers often exposed socks, and footwear consisted of polished Oxfords or chunky suede leather shoes called "creepers". Hairstyles included a greased back-and-up look with a quiff at the front and the side - molded to form something resembling a duck's behind from the men's hairstyling product, Brylcreem. Another popular hairdo was the "Boston"; greased straight back and cut straight across the nape of the neck.

Where there are Teddy Boys there are also Teddy Girls. Their style also included tailored jackets and they coupled them with pencil skirts, (later, American poodle skirts) rolled-up jeans, and flat shoes or espadrilles. Finishing touches could be straw boater hats or elegant clutch bags.

The Teddy Boy Fashion Influence On The Beatles

At the time, most members of the soon-to-be Beatles dabbled in the fashionable style of the Teds. John Lennon once said he "was always torn between looking like Elvis and James Dean and looking like an artist."

Original Beatles bassist Stuart Sutcliffe embraced the culture's style and likely influenced the rest of the band to as well.

It was in 1961 that John Lennon and Paul McCartney visited friends in France and saw their hair combed flat over their foreheads. They decided to grow their hairstyle into the same mop-top style. Hence, the Beatle-cut was born.

Even if the Beatles adopted some of the Ted style, the fondness didn't go both ways. By the time the Beatles were making radio waves, the Teddy Boy subculture of the 1950s was no more. Not that they would have appreciated it. Longtime Ted and revivalist William Jeffrey Jr. said, "We bloody loathed the Beatles. They absolutely murdered all the originals-Carl Perkins' 'Matchbox,' 'Long Tall Sally,' the rest. We remembered how much better the originals were."

Ted's Dead

As the original 1950s rock musicians faded away or died, so did the Teds.

"By the end of the decade, it was all over. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper had gone down in flames in 1959 ... in 1960 Eddie Cochran wrapped his car around a roadside marker ... Elvis was in the Army, turning into the boy-next-door," Hopkins wrote.

Perhaps the most lasting legacy of the Teddy Boys is becoming the predecessor for so many other British subcultures. What's now known as "Rockabilly" style is still extremely popular - as far as the fashions and music are concerned - and is born right out of Teddy Boy fashion.

Photographer Chris Steele-Perkins has spent extensive time photographing Teddy Boy rock revivalists, especially in the 1970s. He said:

"If you still like early Rock and Roll music for its own sake, why not. It's there to be discovered. It's almost like saying that if you're interested in classical music, you shouldn't be interested in Mozart because it's not new."

After learning about the Teddy Boy subculture, read about the post-war British Mod subculture, and then find out how gangster Frank Rosenthal made millions for the mob in Vegas and inspired a blockbuster film.

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25 Vintage Pictures Of Britain's Real-Life 'Clockwork Orange': The Stylish And Violent Teddy Boys

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Teddy Boys may have looked distinguished, but these 1950s rock-n-roll hooligans ended up giving British teenagers a bad name.

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The post war youth subculture that became the subject of a moral panic reflected the changing economic circumstances and contradictory politics of the period, writes Mitch Mitchell.
In the late 1940s, after the end of WWII, the fashion industry in Britain was in the doldrums. This was partly due to wartime rationing, which made obtaining certain kinds of materials difficult, and partly because many of the people who would have been customers were either serving in the forces abroad, or had been killed.

In an attempt to kick-start the business, the men's tailors of Jermyn Street and the West End devised a style based on the turn of the century, Edwardian clothing. They were hoping to sell to the young officer class who were being demobbed from the various services.

Unfortunately for the tailors, the look didn't catch on with these people and they were stuck with piles of unsold clothing. In order to get something back on their investment, they sold job lots to the menswear shops of East and South London at very cheap prices.

These shops put them on display in their windows and the local working class youth took a liking. Around about 1951, the 'Teddy Boy' look began to emerge. This coincided with young people generally having more disposable income and a desire to not look like cut-down versions of their fathers.

They adapted the look with the addition of bootlace ties, à la Mississippi gamblers, luminous pink or green socks and crepe soled shoes, known as 'Brothel Creepers'. People had seen pictures from America of young men wearing what were known as 'Zoot Suits'. As in those days, everything American was cool, they tried to emulate. The main differences between Teds' outfits and the Zoot suits were that in Britain, the drape jackets were worn with skintight jeans or trousers, known as 'drainpipes', and that many American kids wore large hats.

Also, because rationing was still in force until 1954, the material used whatever the tailor could get hold of. This meant that plain colours were often employed or even Harris Tweed. Very bright drapes were unusual and more common with the second generation of Teds from the '60s. One exception to this was the sky blue jackets worn by the Elephant and Castle gang.

Back then, gangs were identified by the area they lived in. Fights between gangs were fairly common and the Elephant mob would fight with Deptford who in turn would fight with Rotherhithe, and they would take on Bermondsey.

Weapons of choice were bicycle chains, flick knives (outlawed in 1957), cut-throat razors and knuckle dusters. These knuckle dusters were often just coins wrapped in a handkerchief which was the wound around the fist.

In 1953, a highly publicised court case hit the headlines, involving Christopher Craig, aged 16 years old, who had shot a policeman in Croydon. His accomplice, Derek Bentley, was 18, but had a mental age of 8, and was hanged for the offence despite being in police custody when Craig fired. Craig, at 16, was too young to hang.

This led to much hand-wringing by newspapers such as The Daily Mail, The Daily Graphic (later becoming The Sketch), The Daily Express, and others, all calling for 'something to be done to stop this growing menace on our streets'.

Although Teddy Boys are usually associated with rock 'n' roll music, the earlier Teds listened to Frankie Laine, Guy Mitchell and Johnny Ray. The first Ted oriented record to hit the charts was called 'The Creep', which was a jazzy big-band record by Ken MacIntosh and his Orchestra. The title is probably what sold it, because of the brothel creeper shoes.

The first 'Rock 'n' Roll Riot' occurred outside the Astoria cinema in the Old Kent Road (the site is now a discount warehouse, albeit the cinema was long demolished). The audience had been to see the film Blackboard Jungle, starring Glenn Ford and Sidney Poitier. Although having absolutely nothing to do with the story, the record Rock Around The Clock by Bill Haley and His Comets was played over the credits at the beginning and end of the movie.

Inspired by the music, the crowd left the cinema, singing the song and dancing in the Old Kent Road and stopped the traffic - a heinous crime in London. Tabloids of the day like The Mirror and The Sketch (this was before The Sun) got hold of the story and so the 'rock 'n' roll riot' was born. In 1956, a knock-off movie entitled Rock Around The Clock featuring Haley, The Platters, Freddy Bell & the Bellboys and others was released, and the idea of jiving to the music in the cinema caught on around the country.

The following year, the Tory government, aware that a General Election was approaching, took what they deemed tough action against these 'teenage tearaways'. They banned the possession of flick knives and also banned the importation of American 'Horror Comics' such as Tales From The Crypt. These comics had become part of moral panic, and the focus of campaigns by Church leaders and others.

In the 1950s, young men of 18 were required to do at least two years of military service (the 'call up'). This usually involved joining the Army, as the Navy and RAF required new recruits to sign on for longer than two years. In effect, this began to make the original Teds disappear, and younger kids coming up to around 16 were looking for something new.

So, in 1957, Teddy Boys in London began to be seen less and less. The fashion chains tried a new variation which was called 'Viccy Boys', based on Victorian styles, but this never really caught on and by 1958, the sharp Italian suit became a thing. These were often mohair with short, box jackets (known as 'bum freezers') reasonably tight trousers, but not 'drainpipes', and long pointed shoes or boots, nicknamed winkle pickers.

It has to be remembered that, by and large, Teddy Boys were a working class phenomenon. Mostly they came from the council estates, post war prefabs, and the Peabody and Guinness Trust estates.

There was a post war employment boom and most of the teds had jobs. Unemployment was extremely low throughout the '50s and '60s (below 400,000 for most of the period). This meant that young people had a higher disposable income than their parents' generation.

This was also a time of significant immigration to the 'mother country' from various parts of the Empire and Commonwealth, with the largest numbers coming from the Caribbean. Some trade unions were very bad at how they dealt with this. The Transport and General Workers Union, for example, allowed shop stewards to call out bus garages if they employed black workers (usually bus conductors - they weren't thought capable of driving). The old saw 'British Jobs for British Workers', first used regularly by Oswald Mosley pre-war, was frequently trotted out.

Far-right tabloids like The Daily Graphic (later Daily Sketch) and populist broadsheets like the Daily Express and Sunday Express and Daily Mail poured vitriol onto the situation.The only papers in the mainstream to be any way sympathetic to the immigrants were The Manchester Guardian (renamed The Guardian in 1959), News Chronicle and The Observer. Ironically, when Harold MacMillan became Prime Minister in 1957, his Minister for Health who actively recruited in the West Indies, was none other than Enoch 'Rivers of Blood' Powell.

All of this had an effect on the wider population, and of course teenagers (as they had become known) were no exception. Undoubtedly, some of those labelled Teddy Boys were racist and took part in attacks, but equally, many were not. Teds got their worst press in 1958 at the time of the Notting Hill 'race riots'. Lazy journalists used the tag 'Teddy Boy' to describe any young working class person involved in a fracas. In any case, the fashion was already beginning to die out in London by 1958, so, whilst some could genuinely be labelled as such, it was not a Teddy Boy led fight.

A couple of years later, Mosley tried to arrange a tour of the UK to spread his poisonous message and it became a 'thing' to break up his meetings. Many of those involved in breaking his meetings would have been painted as Teds a couple of years earlier. Areas vied with each other to see who could bust Mosley the quickest. As far as I'm aware, Croydon held the record. His meeting at Derby Road Baths in the town lasted all of 90 seconds!

The Teddy Boy look continued outside of London well into the 1960s, especially in Wales. In London, people either wore the Italian suits, or black leather jackets and jeans. They often kept a drape for going out to clubs as many would not let anyone in leathers inside.

In the late '60s, there was a second generation who wore the clothes in bright colours and discovered 'Rockabilly', a term almost never heard of in Britain in the '50s. Then again in the '70s as a reaction to punk, another generation of Teds appeared. They were frequently referred to by the older generation as 'plastics'.

In between times, other youth groups briefly flourished, mods, rockers, hippies, Hell's Angel style bikers, skinheads, etc., but the Teddy Boys could reasonably lay claim to having been the first youth 'cult'.

Teds were no angels, that is true, and the gang fighting could be nasty at times, but they certainly were not as bad as the media painted them and many went through that period of their development without any scars!

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The post war youth subculture that became the subject of a moral panic reflected the changing economic circumstances and contradictory politics of the period, writes Mitch Mitchell.

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touches on social culture of the teds at the time

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Let's play a little game. Start with any British teenage subculture, trace back its lineage and you'll arrive at the same place: the Teddy Boys.

Long before the Ravers fought with police at illegal parties in the '90s, the Punks were fighting with the Thatcher government in the '80s, and the Mods and Rockers clashed violently with each other on Brighton Beach in the 1960s, the Teddy Boys set the fires to the very first first teenage riot.

When the Bill Haley film Rock Around the Clock arrived in the UK in 1956, eager Teds (as they were also known) erupted: cinema seats were slashed; fireworks and bottles thrown; shop windows smashed; and police battled with throngs of jiving, singing teenagers. Nothing of the sort had been seen before. It caused Britain to wake up in shock to the existence of the teenager, kicking off a moral panic that swept through the media and the middle-aged over 'feral youth' and 'the teen menace'.

Emerging from the post-war gloom in the 1950s, the Teddy Boys or Teds were Britain's original teen subculture and set the template for all young tribes that would follow in their footsteps: the Mods, Rockers, Punks, New Romantics and beyond. Inspired by American Rock and Roll and the Edwardian Dandies, the Teds' style was sharp and bold: Brylcreemed quiffs, drainpipe trousers and beetle-crushers.

Magnum photographer Chris Steele-Perkins witnessed the emergence of the Teddy Boys in the 1950s as a child, but when they appeared once again in a third-wave revival in the 1970s, he set out to document this maligned and misunderstood subculture.

From 1976 to 1979, Chris photographed the new wave 'plastics' alongside the 1950s 'veterans', and found the 'plastics' were much more than shallow copycats, but took the movement forward until it was superseded by the Punks and others who followed.

Shooting the Teds in striking black and white and capturing the fashion of the movement and the dance halls, pubs and seaside promenades that nurtured the scene, Chris' series has become a classic of British social documentary photography.

What drew you to document the Teds' revival in the 1970s?
The Teds started as an assignment for a small magazine called New Society, with a friend of mine who was a writer. It was a two-day assignment on this weird and interesting Teddy Boy revival, which eventually developed into a two-year project. I started in the pubs they were hanging out in and went on to document more and more aspects of the culture.

I suppose the '70s were a revival, but the Teds were really the seminal moment when teenage rebellion became something that was universally understood. The Teds were really first manifestation of that. It was a post-war working class culture, where youth had disposable income and all the elements of a culture: they had their own music, dances, clothes and slang, to some extent, they had their places to hang out. It was multifaceted.

Do you have any memories to the first wave in the 1950s?
I remember doing my hair in a quiff in front of my bedroom mirror and I actually bought a pair of winkle-picker shoes, which my father threw on the fire. So it's in the back of my memory but I was too young to take part, had I ever wanted to be part of it. As a young kid, it was pretty glamorous.

How did you see the culture change between the first wave and the 'plastics' in the 1970s?
Some of the people who had been around in the '50s were still around in the '70s. It was fascinating how they had become keepers of the faith and the orthodoxy. The rebels became the reactionary element, almost. Saying things like, 'drapes can only be black' and 'they can only be finger-length', there were sartorial rules that they felt had to be maintained.

Clearly they were copycats at the beginning but they went on to modify the dress code. These are small things but they're quite amusing. Hairspray had come into existence, so you could do a quiff that sat like a trumpet, greasy Brylcreem wouldn't hold it. But with hairspray you could achieve a whole new level of quiff. They were colouring the velvet colours and the velvet sleeves of the Edwardian drape with bright luminous colours, as opposed to the traditional black, sombre, dark colours.

More importantly, there were black Teds. In the first generation, the Ted culture was known for being racist. It's not as if racism didn't exist in the '70s, of course it did, but black Teds were accepted, although there weren't many of them. Also, the music. People were going back to some of the black music rather than the white music that had inspired a lot of the early Rock and Roll music. It was evolving, to a degree.

What has been the most important cultural legacy of the Teds?
In the continuity of all these different youth subcultures that followed. There were the Teds, then there were the Mods and the Rockers, then the revival generation of the Teds got replaced by the Punks, then there were the New Romantics and then you got the Northern Soul-ers. This whole, massively fertile range of youth culture that evolved mainly out of Britain was, I think, part of the legacy of the Teds. It reverberated down through the history of youth culture.

Today people are very critical of the obsession with retro and suggest that looking back is a sign of conservatism and a lack of imagination or new ideas. Do you think that's a fair point to make, and is it relevant to what you saw in the Teds revival?
Well, I think it's a bit condescending. We constantly reference the past, reinterpret it, regurgitate it and the re-live it. It's the cycle of being alive, almost.

If you still like early Rock and Roll music for its own sake, why not. It's there to be discovered. It's almost like saying that if you're interested in classical music, you shouldn't be interested in Mozart because it's not new.

I believe that each of the waves of the youth cultures that developed in Britain were influenced by the ideas of earlier generations, even if it was to deliberately reject them. Part of the motorbike 'Greaser' idea gave rise to the Mods, whose idea was to be clean, tidy, neat and cool, rather than loud, greasy, dirty and violent - although they were both quite happy to go and have punch-ups with each other.

It's a continual feedback loop. You look back and you pick up this. Even the Teds were very creative, they were taking the Edwardian dinner jacket from the upper classes and restyling that to say, 'No, this is us mate'. They adopted bits from American youth culture too and mixed it all up, which was fantastic.
Chris Steele-Perkins' series The Teds goes on display for the first time in nearly 40 years at Magnum Print Room, London, 21 September - 28 October 2016. A redesigned version of The Teds book, first published in 1979, is released by Dewi Lewis.

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The Teddy Boys: Britain's original teenage rebels

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Let's play a little game. Start with any British teenage subculture, trace back its lineage and you'll arrive at the same place: the Teddy Boys.

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Used catwalk images as well as fabrics, trend concepts and patterns from HomeSpun

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importance of sustainability

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Sustainability is a broad discipline, giving students and graduates insights into most aspects of the human world from business to technology to environment and the social sciences. The core skills with which a graduates leaves college or university are highly sought after, especially in a modern world looking to drastically reduce carbon emissions and discover and develop the technologies of the future. Sustainability draws on politics, economics and, philosophy and other social sciences as well as the hard sciences. Sustainability skills and environmental awareness is a priority in many corporate jobs at graduate level and over as businesses seek to adhere to new legislation. Therefore, Sustainability graduates will go into many fields but most commonly civic planning, environmental consultancy (built and natural environment), agriculture, not for profit, corporate strategies, health assessment and planning, and even into law and decision making. Entry-level jobs are growing and over the coming years, bachelors graduates can expect more and more options and opportunities.

Sustainability is one the newest degree subjects that attempts to bridge social science with civic engineering and environmental science with the technology of the future. When we hear the word "sustainability" we tend to think of renewable fuel sources, reducing carbon emissions, protecting environments and a way of keeping the delicate ecosystems of our planet in balance. In short, sustainability looks to protect our natural environment, human and ecological health, while driving innovation and not compromising our way of life. Because of this growing requirement, a master's will not necessarily be required for most jobs as bachelor's programs (and in some cases lower than this) prepares people for a career in sustainability. Read more about the various sustainability degrees and education.

What is Sustainability?

The definition of "sustainability" is the study of how natural systems function, remain diverse and produce everything it needs for the ecology to remain in balance. It also acknowledges that human civilisation takes resources to sustain our modern way of life (1). There are countless examples throughout human history where a civilisation has damaged its own environment and seriously affected its own survival chances (some of which Jared Diamond explores in his book Collapse: How Complex Societies Choose to Fail or Survive (10)). Sustainability takes into account how we might live in harmony with the natural world around us, protecting it from damage and destruction.

We now live in a modern, consumerist and largely urban existence throughout the developed world and we consume a lot of natural resources every day. In our urban centres, we consume more power than those who live in rural settings (2, p3-4) and urban centres use a lot more power than average, keeping our streets and civic buildings lit, to power our appliances, our heating and other public and household power requirements. That's not to say that sustainable living should only focus on people who live in urban centres though, there are improvements to be made everywhere - it is estimated that we use about 40% more resources every year than we can put back and that needs to change (3, p2). Sustainability and sustainable development focuses on balancing that fine line between competing needs - our need to move forward technologically and economically, and the needs to protect the environments in which we and others live. Sustainability is not just about the environment (4), it's also about our health as a society in ensuring that no people or areas of life suffer as a result of environmental legislation, and it's also about examining the longer term effects of the actions humanity takes and asking questions about how it may be improved (2).

The Three Pillars of Sustainability

In 2005, the World Summit on Social Development identified three core areas that contribute to the philosophy and social science of sustainable development. These "pillars" in many national standards and certification schemes, form the backbone of tackling the core areas that the world now faces. The Brundtland Commission described it as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (6). We must consider the future then, in making our decisions about the present.

Economic Development

This is the issue that proves the most problematic as most people disagree on political ideology what is and is not economically sound, and how it will affect businesses and by extension, jobs and employability (2, p4). It is also about providing incentives for businesses and other organisations to adhere to sustainability guidelines beyond their normal legislative requirements. Also, to encourage and foster incentives for the average person to do their bit where and when they can; one person can rarely achieve much, but taken as a group, effects in some areas are cumulative. The supply and demand market is consumerist in nature and modern life requires a lot of resources every single day (6); for the sake of the environment, getting what we consume under control is the paramount issue. Economic development is about giving people what they want without compromising quality of life, especially in the developing world, and reducing the financial burden and "red tape" of doing the right thing.

Social Development

There are many facets to this pillar. Most importantly is awareness of and legislation protection of the health of people from pollution and other harmful activities of business and other organisations (6). In North America, Europe and the rest of the developed world, there are strong checks and programmes of legislation in place to ensure that people's health and wellness is strongly protected. It is also about maintaining access to basic resources without compromising the quality of life. The biggest hot topic for many people right now is sustainable housing and how we can better build the homes we live in from sustainable material. The final element is education - encouraging people to participate in environmental sustainability and teaching them about the effects of environmental protection as well as warning of the dangers if we cannot achieve our goals (7, p7-12).

Environmental Protection

We all know what we need to do to protect the environment, whether that is recycling, reducing our power consumption by switching electronic devices off rather than using standby, by walking short journeys instead of taking the bus. Businesses are regulated to prevent pollution and to keep their own carbon emissions low. There are incentives to installing renewable power sources in our homes and businesses. Environmental protection is the third pillar and to many, the primary concern of the future of humanity. It defines how we should study and protect ecosystems, air quality, integrity and sustainability of our resources and focusing on the elements that place stress on the environment (6). It also concerns how technology will drive our greener future; the EPA recognized that developing technology and biotechnology is key to this sustainability, and protecting the environment of the future from potential damage that technological advances could potentially bring (1).

What are the Primary Goals of Sustainability?

The sustainable development professional network thinks, acts and works globally. In 2012, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development met to discuss and develop a set of goals to work towards; they grew out of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) that claimed success in reducing global poverty while acknowledging there was still much more to do. The SDG eventually came up with a list of 17 items (8) which included amongst other things:

The end of poverty and hunger

Better standards of education and healthcare - particularly as it pertains to water quality and better sanitation

To achieve gender equality

Sustainable economic growth while promoting jobs and stronger economies

All of the above and more while tackling the effects of climate change, pollution and other environmental factors that can harm and do harm people's health, livelihoods and lives.

Sustainability to include health of the land, air and sea

Finally, it acknowledged the concept of nature having certain rights - that people have stewardship of the world and the importance of putting people at the forefront of solving the above global issues (9) through management of the environment and of consumption (for example, reducing packaging and discouraging food waste as well as promoting the use of recyclable materials).

History of Sustainability

Humans have, since the Neolithic Agricultural Revolution and maybe even before then, been a consumer rather than a replenisher of environmental resources. From hunter-gatherer societies that moved into an area to use up its resources in a season before setting up camp or moving on, only to return the following year to do the same, the development of a surplus economy saw permanent settlements. Slash and burn farming replaced natural wilderness often with uniform crop plantation (11, p2483) and camps gave way to settlements, then eventually villages, towns and cities which would put pressure on the environment.

Sometimes, the environmental pressures forced people into making these changes in the first place (growing human population being one of those pressures) and often eventually they had to move on to somewhere new where the environmental could better sustain them and their practices, or make further changes to their existing environment. There was no real concept of sustainable living, even if the people of the distant past understood that soil had a maximum fertility that could be exhausted and replenished with livestock.

It is widely acknowledged that many societies collapsed due to an inability to adapt to the conditions brought on by these unsustainable practices (10). Whether that was introducing alien species that upset the balance of the ecosystem, cutting down too many trees at once or even a failure to adapt to natural fluctuations in the climate, we are far more aware in the modern world about the potential damage caused by human action. Cultural change often led to survival of those societies beyond what might have been expected under the circumstances (11, p2485).

Though some Renaissance and Enlightenment philosophers would express concern about resources and over-population and whether these were sustainable in the long term, these people were not taken seriously at the time other than as a hypothetical question. It would take until the 20 th century before we would understand the impact that we could have on our environment. Environmental damage, pollution, destabilising soils by cutting down trees, fossil fuels and other environmental issues led to a growing concern about the environment and whether we were or could damage our own ecosystem. The United Nations was founded after World War II and in 1945, UNESCO was established to promote the importance of human culture and of science (14). Today, their remit is "to contribute to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture, communication and information" (15).

By the late 20 th century, the science of climate change was firmly established. We knew by the 1980s about the problems of the greenhouse effect and the destruction of the ozone layer (12) and coming very late in the century, an awareness of the notion that some of our resources - particularly fossil fuels - were finite and that we should make efforts to move to renewable methods of power. It was then that we saw the the social, economic and scientific birth of the environmental movement.

A Sustainable Future

It is not yet clear what our sustainable future will look like but with emerging technologies and the improvement of older cleaner fuel sources, many people now look to a post fossil fuel world - including businesses. Since the 1950s, we have experienced unprecedented growth including intensive farming, a technological revolution and a massive increase in our power needs (13, p2) putting even greater pressure and strain on the planet's resources. We are also far more aware of the plight of the developing world and that facing our planet as we now observe both natural and human-caused disasters and the effects that these can have on the ecosystems and on human population. It's vital that we develop new, cleaner technologies to cope with our energy demands but sustainability is not just about the environment.

The biggest social activism movement related to the social development side of sustainability, has been programs such as Fair Trade and the Rainforest Alliance in encouraging good farming practices while ensuring farmers who produce luxury goods such as coffee and cocoa receive a decent living wage (14). Activist and sustainability professionals hope to remove trade barriers in future so that they may benefit everyone, contributing to the economic and social development core of sustainability while promoting good environmental practice (16).
Sources

1. http://www.epa.gov/sustainability/basicinfo.htm

2. https://www.academia.edu/9294719/Urban_Sustainability_in_Theory_and_Practice_Circles_of_Sustainability_2015_

3. http://degrowth.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Lorek_Sustainable-consumption.pdf

4. http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/pages/what-is-sustainable-development.html

5. http://epa.gov/ncer/rfa/forms/sustainability_primer_v7.pdf

6. https://www.iucn.org/resources/publication/future-sustainability-have-your-say

7. https://www.sustainabilityconsortium.org/2011/03/new-white-paper-social-sustainability-assessment/

8. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/4538pressowg13.pdf

9. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/focussdgs.html

10. Diamond, J. 2005: Collapse: How Complex Societies Choose to Fail or Survive. New York: Penguin (http://cpor.org/ce/Diamond%282005%29Collapse-HowSocietiesChooseFailureSuccess.pdf)

11. http://www.pnas.org/content/106/8/2483.full.pdf+html

12. http://assets.panda.org/downloads/living_planet_report_2008.pdf

13. http://www.histecon.magd.cam.ac.uk/history-sust/files/Big_Here_and_Long_Now-presentation.pdf

14. http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/work/agriculture

15. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/about-us/who-we-are/introducing-unesco/

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What Is Sustainability and Why Is It Important?

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Want to know what sustainability is and why it is so very important in today's world? Look no further.

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I chose HomeSpun to focus on the impact of sustainability and how Topman will follow this ethos to please consumers.

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Eco-friendly, ethical and sustainable fashion is finally on the industry's agenda - and for many brands and designers this has been a year of awakening. But, as Tamsin Blanchard argues, we all have our part to play in making fashion truly circular.

Fashion is finally waking up to sustainability - but the lexicon surrounding eco-friendly and ethical fashion is fraught with inaccuracies. In 'Get Your Greens', an ongoing series launched to coincide with Earth Day 2019, Vogue explores how the industry is advancing towards a greener future.
Business as usual costs the earth." That was the slogan hand-painted across one of the many colourful banners carried by the Extinction Rebellion protestors gathering at Marble Arch on Monday morning last week. A few days earlier, XR had staged a fashion show at Oxford Circus, while my local branch of Traid changed its window display, dressing the mannequins as XR protestors. Fashion is a mirror of our times. And no - right now on Planet Fashion, it's really not business as usual.

As the world contemplates Earth Day 2019, and many in the industry prepare to ask #WhoMadeMyClothes in remembrance of the 1,138 garment workers who were killed when the Rana Plaza factory collapsed on 24 April 2013, this is a week in which to reflect on how the fashion industry is dealing with the undeniably negative impact it has on both people and planet - and to work together to find solutions.

"What we need to do is make it clear how fair and decent work and environmental protection are intrinsically interconnected," says Carry Somers, founder of Fashion Revolution, the global campaign for a more transparent fashion industry. "At the moment, human rights abuses, gender inequality and environmental degradation all remain rife within the fashion industry, and positive change is more urgently needed than ever to tackle climate change and create a more equitable future for everybody working within the fashion supply chains."
Read more: 5 Years On From The Rana Plaza Collapse, How Much Has Actually Changed?
The challenges can seem insurmountable. Global textile production emits 1.2 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases annually, more than international flights and maritime shipping combined.

Read more: Climate Change Activist Greta Thunberg Is Nominated For The Nobel Peace Prize Aged 16
But a lot has changed over the last twelve months. The Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg has become a spokesperson of a generation who are impatient for change and will not compromise on their ethics - whether that means going vegan or swapping their clothes rather than buying them new. In December, while Thunberg was telling the world's leaders at COP24 in Poland that "you are never too small to make a difference", Stella McCartney was launching the UN Sustainable Fashion Industry Charter for Climate.

To mark Earth Day, Fashion Revolution announced that it too is declaring a climate emergency and has signed the charter. Other signatories include Burberry, Gap, H&M, Kering, Levi's and Inditex, all of whom have pledged to a series of industry-wide commitments, including a target of 30 per cent greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2030.
Read more: 5 Changes To Make This Fashion Revolution Week

For many brands and designers as well as consumers, this has been a year of awakening. The V&A's "Fashioned From Nature" exhibition opened the eyes of its visitors to some of the stark realities of the fashion industry, from how thirsty cotton is, to the hidden horrors of microfibres. It also highlighted some of the most innovative solutions, from spider silk and leather made from discarded grape skins to fabrics grown from bacteria. H&M's current Conscious Collection has a leather jacket and cowboy shoes made using Piñatex, a leather-like material that is made from the leaves that are normally discarded in the production of pineapples.

Other positive fashion initiatives over the past twelve months have included Mother of Pearl's No Frills collection, Allbirds's shoes made from eucalyptus plants, the ongoing success of Veja's Fairtrade trainers (the look of which is being copied by the high street - which, of course, totally misses the point that they are made in a way that is fair and transparent), and niche start-ups like OAR Basics, set up by the designer Kim Trager, who is on a mission to make a perfectly crafted white T-shirt from organic cotton using renewable energy, fairly-paid labour and a transparent supply chain. Meanwhile the Wellthread x Outerknown collection at Levi's is piloting products which use 40 per cent 'cottonised' hemp, which means it's been engineered to be softer to the touch, and includes jackets with detachable hardware to make them more easily recyclable.

Read more: How Mother Of Pearl Is Redefining Sustainability With Its New No Frills Line
"The plan is simple," says designer Phoebe English. "We must now look at design as a solution-based, problem-solving strategy." English has been incorporating waste materials from previous collections into her new work, and offers her clothes for rental with Higher Studio.

Last July, Burberry admitted to burning £28m worth of luxury product, but it soon became clear that the practice was commonplace among the industry. While brands need to look at their own issues around over production, there are solutions in the pipeline to help deal with pre-consumer waste. Burberry is working with Elvis & Kresse, which rescues some of the nine tonnes of leather waste the brand is producing each month to make leather accessories using a modular patchwork system that means they are endlessly repairable and recyclable.

"Circular design" has become the big buzzword. It means the entire lifecycle of the product must be thought about at the design and sourcing stage. "The problem is that the brands all need to understand how to make recyclable goods, and whilst this is not impossible, the massive lack of technical infrastructure means that the circles have big breaks in them," says Rebecca Earley, Professor of Sustainable Fashion Textile Design at University of the Arts London.

But help is at hand. In April, Earley was in Stockholm to moderate a summit for the 2019 Global Change Award, an annual prize worth €1m donated by the H&M Foundation to promote innovation in the fashion industry. The winner of the top €300,000 award was The Loop Scoop, a digital tool by the Berlin-based start-up circular.fashion aimed at providing designers with everything they need to create closed-loop, circular fashion.

All good stuff - but it can sound a little too theoretical. When summer is coming, sustainability is often not top of most people's priorities when they're thinking about new season shopping lists. To help spread the word, luxury resale website Vestiaire Collective has produced 'Buy, Sell, Share, Care', a practical guide to circular fashion, with tips on how to make better use of the clothes we have by the models and sustainability advocates Arizona Muse and Margherita Missoni.

"Circularity means not putting an end to the things you use," says Missoni. "In the last few years fashion has woken up, we've become aware of how aggressive the industry is and the impact our actions have, both individually and as institutions. But there is a lot more to do."

*Tamsin Blanchard is the special events curator at Fashion Revolution and the editor of Hole & Corner magazine. *

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Is 2019 The Year Fashion Finally Takes Sustainability Seriously?

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Eco-friendly, ethical and sustainable fashion is finally on the industry's agenda - and for many brands and designers this has been a year of awakening. But, as Tamsin Blanchard argues, we all have our part to play in making fashion truly circular.

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I looked into how new look compare to H&M as a competitor on the high street. This includes information on their customer base, ranges they stock as well as brand ethos.

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It's not just about that new outfit.

It's about that upcoming party, the catch up with friends and all the excitement that comes with it. We put our customers at the heart of everything we do; this helps us to understand how they feel when searching for products and ultimately, making sure they feel great when wearing them, whatever the occasion.

By reacting quickly to the latest trends and interpreting them in a way that's wearable for our customers, we can help them find a look that fits their personal style. So whether they're looking for the latest trends, or simply that perfect party dress, we've got it covered.

We love all things new and get as much of a buzz out of constantly updating our products as our customers do buying them. And with 800 new products uploaded online every week, we make sure that each time our customers visit newlook.com there's something new to excite them.

We're passionate about what we do and most importantly, we have fun doing it. Sharing this positivity with our customers is important to us. By weaving our brand through everything we do, from our people and store environments, to marketing and social media, we make sure our customers not only look good but feel great too.

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It's not just about that new outfit. It's about that upcoming party, the catch up with friends and all the excitement that comes with it. We put our customers at the heart of everything we do; this helps us to understand how they feel when searching for products and ultimately, making sure they feel great when wearing them, whatever the occasion.

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Explores the rating of New Look's sustainability efforts which shows there isn't as much progress as you would expect in this age.

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Our editors curate highly rated brands that are first assessed by our rigorous ratings system. Buying through our links may earn us a commission-supporting the work we do. Let's take a look at this British brand's impact on people, the planet, and animals and ask that burning question: how ethical is New Look? NOTE: This brand's rating is under review and subject to change. The article will be updated soon to reflect any changes in scoring. Learn more.
How ethical is New Look?

New Look is one of the fast fashion giants. Opened in 1969 in the UK, initially as a single fashion store, the brand rapidly grew to become the global chain we know today, boasting 6 million social media followers, 800 stores worldwide, and shipping to 70 countries.

In 2018, the brand experienced some financial troubles and announced it would be cutting down its prices even more. But as we all know: "Fast fashion isn't free. Someone, somewhere is paying." So, who or what is paying for New Look's low-cost strategy? Today we take a look at this British brand's impact on people, the planet, and animals and ask that burning question: how ethical is New Look?

Environmental impact

New Look's environment rating is "Not Good Enough". It has fast fashion traits such as on-trend styles and regular new arrivals, and uses few eco-friendly materials. It has a policy approved by CanopyStyle to prevent deforestation of ancient and endangered forests in its supply chain, which is one positive. Still, there is no evidence it reduces carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions in its supply chain. All in all, New Look has a long way to go to prioritise the planet.

Labour conditions

New Look's labour rating is also "Not Good Enough". It received a score of 31-40% in the Fashion Transparency Index, a drop since the last report. Disappointingly, none of its supply chain is certified by labour standards which ensure worker health and safety, living wages, or other labour rights. While it publishes some information about suppliers, there is no evidence it is on track to pay a living wage, nor did it disclose policies or safeguards to protect suppliers and workers in its supply chain from the impacts of COVID-19. Do better for your people, New Look.

Animal welfare

The British brand uses wool from non-mulesed sheep and doesn't use fur, angora, or exotic animal skin, but it still uses leather, down, and exotic animal hair. It has a formal animal welfare policy aligned with Five Freedoms and has committed to reducing the use of animal products, which is why its animal rating is "It's A Start".

Overall rating: Not good enough

Based on information from our research, we rated New Look "Not Good Enough" overall. The brand needs to reduce its environmental impact by producing less, eliminating hazardous chemicals, and setting water usage reduction targets. It also needs to implement its project to improve living wages, be more transparent with its customers about its practices, and source alternative eco and animal-friendly fabrics for its production line. Note that Good On You ratings consider 100s of issues, and it is not possible to list every relevant issue in a summary of the brand's performance. For more information, see our page and our .

Luckily, the Good On You team racked their brains and found some ethical alternatives to New Look. Have a look below.

Good swaps

Ethical alternatives to New Look

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Let's take a look at this British brand's impact on people, the planet, and animals and ask that burning question: how ethical is New Look?

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Topshop's rating for ethical shopping is not good, it seems as though they are using the considered range to greenwash them,

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With over 500 stores across the globe, UK fast fashion giant Topshop doesn't look like it intends to slow down anytime soon. But how does the brand treat people, the planet, and animals? How ethical is Topshop?

Over the past decade, Topshop has enjoyed global success and collaborations with a number of artists and celebrities. But its owner the Arcadia Group has been no stranger to controversy, having made headlines over the past decade due to allegations of labour abuses, including unfair wages paid to garment workers and poor working conditions. Topshop itself has also faced allegations, like when it was claimed Topshop x Beyonce's Ivy Park collection 's mostly female garment workers were toiling under unfair conditions despite the range supposedly promoting female empowerment.

So after running a gauntlet of bad headlines and controversy, has Topshop since picked up its ethical game? Read on to find out.

Environmental Impact

Topshop has made some effort to improve its impact on the planet, but it still has a long way to go before it can become truly sustainable.

Despite the release of its CONSIDERED collection, as well as a vegan shoe collection in 2019 in an attempt to lower its environmental impact by using eco-friendly and recycled materials, the impact of the fast fashion giant on the planet is considerable, as it still relies on the mass production of brand new clothing.

What's more, there is no evidence that it has taken any meaningful action to reduce or eliminate hazardous chemicals, or that it implements water reduction initiatives. There is also no evidence it has set a greenhouse gas emissions reduction target.

But even if Topshop does incorporate more sustainable materials, as one of the world's biggest fast fashion chains, Topshop's business model is inherently unsustainable. By emphasising fleeting trends over timeless designs and producing huge amounts of poorly-made clothes, it's hard to see how Topshop can become a truly ethical brand without ditching a fast fashion model. For all these reasons, its environmental impact is 'Not Good Enough'.

Labour Conditions

We gave Topshop a labour rating of 'Not Good Enough'. It received a score of 31-40% in the Fashion Transparency Index.

Some of Topshop's supply chain is certified by Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit - SMETA Best Practice Guidance including all of the final stage of production, which is a promising move. The brand likely publishes information about its supplier policies, audits, and remediation processes, as well as a list of suppliers in the final stage of production (but not the second stage). Topshop may also be publishing limited information about forced labour, gender equality, or freedom of association.

Concerningly, we found no evidence Topshop ensure the payment of a living wage in its supply chain, and it does not disclose any policies or safeguards to protect suppliers and workers in its supply chain from the impacts of COVID-19.

Topshop needs to improve its transparency surrounding its labour practices, and make sure its workers are paid a living wage and protected amid COVID-19 disruption.

Animal Welfare

Topshop received a score of 'It's a Start' for animal welfare. Although Topshop has banned the use of angora, down, exotic animal skin and fur in its products, it still uses leather, mohair, and wool in its products without providing any information about where they are sourced from. It has a general statement about minimising animal suffering but not a formal animal welfare policy. The welfare of both animals and workers cannot be guaranteed when the source of these materials is unknown. Topshop could improve its score in this area by being more transparent about where it gets its leather and wool from, or even better, by not using animal products in its clothes at all!

Overall Rating

We've given Topshop a rating of 'Not Good Enough' based on information from our own research.

Topshop needs to do much more to improve its practices in all areas. While Topshop appears to be putting some measures in place to shrink its carbon footprint, none of them apply to the resource-intensive garment manufacturing process, which is the most important thing that the brand needs to address if it hopes to become more sustainable.

And in facing a number of allegations of labour abuse over the years, Topshop has shown time and time again that it's willing to put profit over people. The brand needs to ensure that workers are being paid a living wage!

See the rating.

So next time you need to fill up a gap in your wardrobe, why not give Topshop a miss and choose one of these ethical brands rated 'Good' or 'Great'?

Good Swaps

Ethical Alternatives to Topshop

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With over 500 stores across the globe, UK fast fashion giant Topshop doesn't look like it intends to slow down anytime soon. But how does the brand treat people, the planet, and animals? How ethical is Topshop? Over the past decade, Topshop has enjoyed global success and collaborations with a number of artists and celebrities.

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Topshop's brand ethos, customer base and approach to high street fashion

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I was delegated the task of giving a brand overview of both Topshop and New Look, including elements such as product offering and sustainability.

Edited was very helpful when considering a brands product offering as it allowed me to filter down to overall offering, specific categories and colour mix. I included the break down of categories in my report and reflected on why the largest categories were as big as they were.

I used both Topshop and New Look’s ‘about us’ section to determine their ethos as well as an overview of the marketing strategy. I also used the brand websites to research their views on sustainability and cross referenced this with  ‘Good On You’. This website offers insight to brands and how they compare in sustainability, ethics and use of animals, giving an overall score from bad to good. I also took into consideration any specific collections or marketing to promote sustainability.

I then researched the companies online presence by following all their social media and calculating the total followers for each and how often they post.

Over all I found this project contained a lot of information and it was sometimes hard to keep it trimmed and neat with all the information I found. It was very interesting to research and found the brand report assignment helped me in this by understanding how to research marketing strategies.

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After speaking with Teresa, i amended my CV and achieved 100% through CV360. This has been helpful to understand the areas i needed to work on in my CV and since updating it, i have received two job interviews

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Emotional Intelligence = 44
Good working relationships with work or study colleagues.

Motivation = 25
Allow personal doubts and fears to keep me from succeeding.
Need to improve confidence.

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New warehouse operating for Topman product. Speeds up process as it is brand specific and therefore more time efficient and trained specialists.

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As fashion and retail giant Arcadia continues to work on its turnaround plan, and speculation around its intentions towards its various brands continues, the company has opened a warehouse specifically for Topshop and Topman products, intensifying chatter around those two brands.

The Sunday Times reported that the new automated facility in Daventry, Northamptonshire is currently processing Topman orders with Topshop also joining it early

next year. Such orders had previously been handled from the company's warehouse in Milton Keynes.

It's a further step in the direction of separating out previously shared functionality within the group, a process that is being overseen by Arcadia chief Ian Grabiner.

Of course, this could be part of the normal run of business as Topshop is the company's star label, after all. And Arcadia continues to maintain that it has no plans to dispose of any of its brands, saying that this latest move had been in the planning stage for three years. The company said the move supports the firm's strategy for Topshop that sees it functioning as a wholesale band as well as a retail one. Topshop has become much more widely available through other retailers in recent periods, including Asos, But industry watchers are well aware that what the warehouse

Shop Direct, Zalando and Next.

could potentially mean is that Topshop and Topman would be easier to sell as a separate operation, although should Arcadia ever decide to sell any of its labels, it would also make it easier to sell off the other brands. They include Miss Selfridge, Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans and Wallis.

For now though, we can only go on what Arcadia is saying, and to be honest, that is in itself interesting. Topshop's fall from grace may have seen it exiting a number of overseas markets as well as reporting challenges on the sales and profits front. But it remains an important label in fashion retail and its transformation into a wholesale brand highlights how in-demand it remains, with the other retailers that are stocking it shouting loudly about the fact and making it quite prominent on their websites.

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Topshop logistics ops now separate from Arcadia's as new warehouse opens

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As fashion and retail giant Arcadia continues to work on its turnaround plan, and speculation around its intentions towards its various brands continues, the company has opened a warehouse specifically for Topshop and Topman products, intensifying chatter around those two brands.

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Holidays and Festivals important in India which could effect production. Diwali is big over a five day period mid November and so i added on time for delays.

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2020 Indian Calendar for Indian Festivals and Indian Holidays

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List of Indian Festivals and Holidays in the year 2020, which includes Government and National Holidays, Buddhist Holidays, Jain Holidays, Sikh Holidays and Christian Holidays in India.

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Indian economy going into recession due to COVID, however manufacturing sector is growing.

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NEW DELHI: India's economy contracted for the second successive quarter but the pace of decline narrowed sharply in the three month period ending September as the farm sector held strong while manufacturing returned to the positive zone. However, the crucial services segments fell for the second quarter in a row.
Data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Friday confirmed that the economy plunged into recession with two successive quarters of contraction. This is the first time that the economy posted two successive contractions since the government started publishing quarterly GDP data in 1996.
Experts said the worst may be over for the economy, although risks persisted, and cautioned about the impact of the fresh wave of Covid-19 infections and localised lockdowns on demand and growth in the months ahead. For the 2020-21 fiscal year, the economy is estimated to still post a contraction, possibly in double digits, and rebound next year as economic activity gathers momentum and the impact of the string of government measures to help revive growth kicks in.

The NSO data showed the economy contracted by 7.5% in the July-September quarter, the second quarter of the country's 2020-21 fiscal year, narrower than the record 23.9% decline posted in the April-June quarter. India's economy still remains in the league of large economies which have contracted the most in the second quarter, with only the UK, which declined 9.6% in the September quarter, faring worse. China is the only large economy that posted growth in the September quarter (4.9%).
The government's chief economic adviser KV Subramanian said the data for the second quarter was better than expected and there was a potential for an upside, but urged caution given that fresh wave of infections.
The numbers showed that the narrowing of contraction was led by the manufacturing sector, electricity, construction and agriculture. The construction sector, which had slumped to a decline of 50.3% in the June quarter, displayed some recovery declining by 8.3%. Since the government announced the lifting of the strictest lockdown imposed to prevent the spread of the pandemic in June, several indicators have pointed to a recovery and significant narrowing.

"Expectedly, the worst for the economy is over. That said, the economy is still not out of the woods and the improvement in activity from here onward would likely be laboured," said Kunal Kundu, India economist at French investment Bank Societe Generale.
"But with signs of emerging fatigue in recent demand uptick and the second wave of infections already impacting economic activity, we would retain our view of FY21 real GDP contracting by 8.6%, given the likelihood of a much weaker third quarter activity," said Kundu.
The manufacturing sector posted a paltry growth of 0.6% in the September quarter compared to the 0.6% contraction in the second quarter of FY20 and experts attributed it to lifting of lockdown restrictions. The trade, hotel and transport segments registered the highest contraction amongst the sectors during July-September period declining by an annual 15.6%. The services sector, which accounts for nearly 60% of gross domestic product, contracted for the second successive month by 11.4%, narrower than the 20.6% in the previous quarter. The sector has borne the brunt of the pandemic as hotels, restaurants, cinemas had been shuttered for the longest time and people stayed away due to the fear of infections.

Private consumption, a key driver of the economy, contracted 11.3% from an expansion of 6.4% in the year-ago period while government consumption showed sharp decline in growth 22.2% in the September quarter compared to 16.4% growth in the June quarter. Investment growth continued to contract with gross capital formation or investments was 7.5% lower in Q2 FY21 from an year ago, according to an analysis by Care Ratings. Some experts expressed doubt about some of the sectoral numbers.
"It is understandable to feel better at lower contraction at 7.5% in Q2. Numbers, however, don't add up. Low gross fixed capital formation contraction at only 7.3% despite down new projects, ongoing projects on hold, govt capex down is inexplicable. So is manufacturing growth despite demand slowdown," former finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said on micro-blogging site Twitter.
Some economists said they expect growth to improve in the remaining two quarters of 2020-21 as economic activity improves across sectors.
"The economy however continues to face downward pressure, from the sustained spread of the pandemic in the country and the re-imposition of restrictions in various regions. Consumption demand and investments which are necessary to propel the economy would continue to be tepid and is unlikely to see a noteworthy improvement during the course of the year. We expect the country's GDP to contract by -7.7% to -7.9% in FY21," said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at Care Ratings.
Watch GDP contracts 7.5% in July-September, India enters recession

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India GDP Growth Rate: India's economy contracts 7.5% in Sept quarter, enters recession | India Business News - Times of India

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NEW DELHI: India's economy contracted for the second successive quarter but the pace of decline narrowed sharply in the three month period ending September as the farm sector held strong while manufacturing returned to the positive zone. However, the crucial services segments fell for the second quarter in a row.

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New goods and services tax on goods produced in India.

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New innovative tech in India. "Many apps have collaborated with Artificial Intelligence (AI) & integrated trending tech in their interface, developers have been able to stack up applications enabling a realistic augmented reality to use apps recognize & visualize things through the phone’s camera. "

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India has always been considered the hub of Information Technology developments and has shown and diligently followed some notable tech trends within the country. With the introduction of AI, machine learning, IoT, and blockchain, India has adopted some of the significant-tech trends being observed worldwide.

The art of tech engineering never fails and is in a continuous learning process, building higher & better technology for the nation.

In this article, we'll be talking about various latest technology trends in India under Information Technology (IT), Blockchain Technology, Food Technology, Web Technology, & the upcoming 5G Technology.

A. Information Technology (IT) Trends

1. Mobile Apps

Progressive Web Apps: Ever noticed how some web apps deliver the same accuracy as the mobile apps on your web browser, without really installing the app. Such web apps are called Progressive web apps, that neither require to be installed on your phone nor requires any significant amount of storage space to function smoothly. The PWAs function efficiently even on a low-speed network & also run without the internet once installed on the home screen of the browser. Many e-commerce giants like Flipkart & Amazon have mastered and blended this unique PWA style on their websites.

Progressive Web Apps are usually adopted by companies offering to view their products & services online, majorly e-commerce firms. In the same way, Android Instant Apps are adopted by usually by the gaming companies that allow their users to experience a gist of their app by providing them with an instant demo version of their mobile game. The users could then choose to download the app according to his/her requirements. A great example of how good the graphics and tech became lately are Android Instant Apps: online casinos. Some of them run directly on your browser, others give you the choice to download an app, while the quality is not affected in either case.
They became realistic and they run faster than ever, giving you the same experience you would have playing on your desktop.

2. Virtual Reality (VR) & Augmented Reality (AR)

Virtual reality and augmented reality are already turning heads with its innovative and interactive technology. Many apps have collaborated with Artificial Intelligence (AI) & integrated trending tech in their interface, developers have been able to stack up applications enabling a realistic augmented reality to use apps recognize & visualize things through the phone's camera.

Example: Many apps like Snapchat use AR tech to detect facial features and apply almost any filter on the person's face in the Snapchat's picture.

B. Gaming

If you're an avid gamer, you must've noticed the shifting paradigms in the production & reception of the newly released games over the last couple of years. The gaming industry has been revolutionizing its user experience by introducing and integrating the latest and trending technology, guaranteeing an undefined, realistic, and immersive gaming experience.

The augmented reality, virtual reality & AI has enabled gaming companies to introduce games with 100% player interaction via hand gestures and body movements. The hyper-realistic graphics & directional sound interacts with the player, making him the center of the sport.

Note: Minecraft is one such game that uses VR tech & 3D sounds that have been created to raise, explore, and battle mobs from a first-person perspective. Famous YouTuber Vanossgaming has followed the game, aka Evan Fong, for a long time, having a stronghold YouTube following of around 25 million.

C. Blockchain Technology

Here's a bunch of latest blockchain trends & news:

1. Blockchain Acceptance

India has been preparing itself to become the powerhouse of blockchain operations. With significant problems faced by organizations like middlemen intervention, data breaches, corruption, and tampering of financial ledgers, the country has realized the potential in the power of blockchain.

Here's the latest information about the current blockchain trends in India:

The Indian Defence Minister expressed his support towards the power of blockchain & AI tech is transforming warfare

SEBI chief Ajay Tyagi believes in blockchain tech's ability to transform trading

Reliance Industries Limited plans introduce blockchain to digitalize goods transportation

2. Bitcoin Non-Acceptance

3. Cryptocurrency (Ethereum, Tron, Litecoin)

With the high price index of Bitcoin, people have been trying to get there by making , which is a lower denomination than Bitcoin, but at the same time an excellent investment, and examining to buy altcoins like Ethereum, Tron & Litecoin. You can also Ethereum price prediction buy with PayPal like Ripple and other cryptos. According to recent altcoin Tron news , the crypto coin plans to partner with stable coins chief Tether.

Blockchain News

D. Food Technology

Zomato is one of the first food ordering app ever launched in India back in 2008 and has changed the food industry in several ways. Today it serves food across 24 countries, including Australia, Canada & Brazil. Swiggy, on the other hand, was launched back in 2014 & has made significant progress while having an established marketplace from its competition Zomato.

However, with speeding tech advancements, such food startup has been able to capture their consumer base by using AI to mine & track the data for food trends, and consumers ' eating habits through which they extract information and use it to develop new products or develop current items.

E. Web Technology

According to a survey conducted in 2018, over 71% of professional developers use JavaScript as their programming language. Nowadays, the latest Vue.js is being adopted more than ever, including being adopted my giants like Alibaba, despite it being relatively new. Vue.js is an ideal option if you are seeking to build lightweight and easy-to-fix apps. Vue.js is not very hard to conquer, unlike SQL which comes to a few blocks above it in difficulty level that often leads individuals to investigate & inquire on SQL interview questions to land them a job as a Structured Query Language developer.

Conclusion

The art of tech engineering never fails and is in a continuous learning process, building higher & better technology for the nation. The emerging & constantly changing technologies might both seem evasive & transitory at times, but the rock-solid truth is, that it forms an integral part of the business & IT strategies & would always be the spine of any firm. What more does the future offer to us in the tech field, well, that's for us to see.

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What are the latest Technology Trends in India? - TechStory

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India has always been considered the hub of Information Technology developments and has shown and diligently followed some notable tech trends within the country. With the introduction of AI, machine learning, IoT, and blockchain, India has adopted some of the significant-tech trends being observed worldwide.

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Politics in India and relationship with the UK.

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A PESTLE analysis of India. I used this for inspiration and research, specifically for Social.

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This detailed PESTEL analysis of India aims to address some of the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal issues that shape India today. India is the second largest country in the world by population. It plays a very important role in global trade and politics.
Political environment of India

India is one of the most powerful countries in the world. New Delhi is the capital of India. India neighbours two powerful countries i.e. China and Pakistan. Other neighbouring countries are Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan, & Sri Lanka.

India is the largest democracy in the world and enjoys a relatively stable political environment. However, its dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir has been an issue of grave political uncertainty. Likewise, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 has led to mass protests and violence in many states of the country.

Democratic will of the people reflected in the local and national elections is mostly respected and accepted by the political parties and people in general. This political culture of tolerance contributes immensely to maintain a stable political climate which is in fact a very important factor to attract foreign direct investment (FDI).

A major area of concern in India is corruption. It badly affects the country's business and political environment, posing a challenge to the country's economic growth. Corruption increases the cost of business operations and often affects foreign direct investment. However, a growing public awareness and government initiatives are combating the challenges of corruption.
Economic environment of India

India is one of largest economies in the world in terms of nominal GDP. Its GDP in 2018 was worth around $2.72 trillion (Plecher, 2019). However, the consumer demand has weakened recently. Consequently, the economy is slowing down causing people a lot of concern.

The corporate tax rate in India is among the lowest in the world. In September 2019, the country reduced the tax rates to 22% from 30% for existing companies and to 15% from 25% for new manufacturing companies. It is worth noting that the country witnessed frequent corporate tax rate changes over the years. For example, the tax rate in 2010 was 33.99%, while it reached an all time high of 38.95% in 2001 (Trading Economics, 2020).

India is one of the top countries in many industries. For example, it is the 7 th largest coffee producing countries in the world (International Coffee Organisation, 2017). It is also one of the top agriculture producing countries in the world.

India's key exports are petroleum products, jewellery, pharmaceutical products, transport equipment, machinery and readymade garments to name but a few. On the other hand, India imports crude petroleum, gold and silver, electronic good, pearls and precious stones and many other things. Some of the top trading partners of India are China, UAE, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, USA, and Qatar (Guardian News and Media Limited, 2016).
Social environment of India

India has a gigantic consumer market with a total population of approximately 1.2 billion. Such a huge market is a great opportunity for multinational companies. No wonder why so many multinationals are operating in India! India offers cheap labour and the labour force is expected to reach 160-170 million by 2020 (IBEF, 2019). Accessible and affordable labour force has encouraged many multinational companies to outsource some of their business operations to India.

India is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, and multi-religious country. Communal harmony is a great strength; however, the country sometimes witnesses tensions in ethnic lines. India has a world-renowned film industry. It is also world renowned for some of the sports e.g. Cricket and Hockey. IPL (Indian Premier League) attracts cricket legends and talents to India.

India is one of the most attractive markets in the world in many sectors. Standard of living is gradually improving and the country has a growing middle class with good disposable income. However, it is worth noting that India still suffers from poverty and according to the World Bank, 1 in 5 people in India are still poor.
Technological environment of India
India is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. In fact, according to some sources, it is the 3 rd most technologically advanced country in the world. No wonder why more and more tech giants including but not limited to Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple are investing in the country! India is a key destination for outsourcing work in IT. With an advanced IT infrastructure and highly skilled IT work force, India offer enormous opportunities for entrepreneurs to embark upon technological projects such as software development and upgrades, e-commerce, mobile apps, business solutions, and many more.
Environmental issues of India

While India has made a lot of progress over the years, the country still faces a number of environmental challenges e.g. air pollution, water pollution, floods, resource depletion such as water and forest, loss of biodiversity, and diversion of consumer waste into rivers. Expatriates may sometimes find it difficult to live under some of these environmental challenges.
Legal environment of India

The last element to address in the PESTEL analysis of India is the legal landscape. As mentioned above, India is a famous destination for foreign direct investment. Depending on the scope and the business needs, foreign investors can set up a company, branch, or a limited liability partnership in India. Indian companies are governed by the Companies Act, 2013. There are a number of labour laws that regulate employment relations in India e.g. Employees' State Insurance Act 1948 (ESI Act), Industrial Disputes Act 1947 (ID Act), Maternity Benefit Act 1961 (MBA) and the Payment of Bonus Act 1965 (PBA).

We hope the article has helped you explore PESTEL analysis of India. You may also like reading . Other relevant articles for you are as follows:

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Last update: 03 January 2020
Further reading/references
Guardian News and Media Limited (2016) India's trade: full list of exports, imports and partner countries, available at: https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/feb/22/cameron-india-trade-exports-imports-partners (Accessed 10 February 2018)

IBEF (2019) About Indian Economy Growth Rate & Statistics, available at: https://www.ibef.org/economy/indian-economy-overview (Accessed 01 January 2019)

International Coffee Organisation (2017) Monthly Coffee Market Report - December 2017, available at: http://www.ico.org/documents/cy2017-18/cmr-1217-e.pdf (Accessed 01 January 2018)

Plecher, H. (2019) India: Gross domestic product (GDP) in current prices from 1984 to 2024, available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/263771/gross-domestic-product-gdp-in-india/ (accessed 01 January 2020)

The World Bank Group (2018) India at a glance, available at: http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/india/overview (Accessed 10 February 2018)

Trading Economics (2020) India Corporate Tax Rate, available at: https://tradingeconomics.com/india/corporate-tax-rate (Accessed 01 January 2020)

Photo credit: Pixabay

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howandwhat.net welcome to the world of easy-to-use information!

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This detailed PESTEL analysis of India aims to address some of the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal issues that shape India today. India is the second largest country in the world by population. It plays a very important role in global trade and politics.

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Video Interview Analysis

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I was delegated the task of giving a brand overview of both Topshop and New Look, including elements such as product offering and sustainability.

Edited was very helpful when considering a brands product offering as it allowed me to filter down to overall offering, specific categories and colour mix. I included the break down of categories in my report and reflected on why the largest categories were as big as they were.

I used both Topshop and New Look’s ‘about us’ section to determine their ethos as well as an overview of the marketing strategy. I also used the brand websites to research their views on sustainability and cross referenced this with  ‘Good On You’. This website offers insight to brands and how they compare in sustainability, ethics and use of animals, giving an overall score from bad to good. I also took into consideration any specific collections or marketing to promote sustainability.

I then researched the companies online presence by following all their social media and calculating the total followers for each and how often they post.

Over all I found this project contained a lot of information and it was sometimes hard to keep it trimmed and neat with all the information I found. It was very interesting to research and found the brand report assignment helped me in this by understanding how to research marketing strategies.

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