Archive for January, 2008
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is getting ready to launch an attack on what is called ‘ambush marketing’ before and during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The crack down is designed to protect the billion-dollar investment of sponsors and partners in the games, who pay millions to market their own logos alongside the Olympic one on clothing, billboards and around the sports arenas. The IOC head of marketing says they are taking the issue very seriously, because the concept of marketing and advertising in this way is brand new to Chinese companies and while some of them use the logo with good intentions others are exploiting the opportunity. He added that most Chinese companies don’t yet know the rules prohibiting marketing linked to the Games logo, symbols and slogans for companies that are not official partners or sponsors.
To help them prevent illegal use of the logo, they have brought on board Peter Bratschi, who is the former Nike sports marketing head for Asia Pacific to strengthen their team. Key concerns for the IOC are unauthorised Olympic T-shirts, which are not only on sale inside China, but turning up in export markets, and what are described as ‘non-authorized beverages’ bearing the logo, which will be banned from the Olympic venues. Official Olympic T-shirts can become collectables, but unofficial ones are liable to stringent penalties and people caught selling them inside
China may find themselves facing long prison sentences.
Beijing Olympic logo by Gene Zhang
January 29th, 2008
Harold Tillman has been named as the new boss of the British Fashion Council, taking over from Stuart Rose, Chairman of Marks & Spencer, who is stepping down after holding the position for four years. Tillman will take over when London Fashion Week ends, next month. He has been head of Jaeger and has driven forward the brand to a position as a market leader in the UK fashion world and he has a very clear picture of the future of British fashion.
‘London is internationally recognised as the most creative and exciting fashion capital. We have the best design colleges in the world which each year create a strong pool of talented designers wishing to start their own label business. Through the BFC and London Fashion Week we will offer support to these fledgling businesses, helping them to develop a market and attain sustainable growth.’ Stuart Rose is confident that he will succeed in his aims. ‘I know that Harold will provide strong leadership to the BFC as it embarks on the next stage of developing London Fashion Week and its role of identifying talent and providing business support for designers,’ he said.
London Fashion Week by Carolitas
January 25th, 2008
Well ladies, it’s a safe bet that by autumn, the fashion conscious and those whose menfolk are into buying them lingerie will be wearing a Wonderbra by Dita von Teese!
Yup, the star of burlesque, famous for the ‘person-sized’ martini glass which features in her striptease show, is creating three bras in her famous Forties-influenced burlesque style. The collection launches in September. ‘I’ve been passionate about beautiful lingerie my entire life, so to team up with Wonderbra is a great privilege for me and I am immensely proud of my collection,’ Von Teese said. ‘I really hope that with this new range I can share my passion for sensual, wearable lingerie that will add a touch of glamour to people’s lives.’ This is good news for women, because those, like von Teese, whose professions require them to look good but also be incredibly physically active, usually design clothing that is comfortable first, then gorgeous, not stunning to look at - but almost impossible to wear. One thing is quite certain, men will be inspired to buy them!
Dita von Teese by michephotos
January 22nd, 2008
Suggestive children’s T-shirts withdrawn from sale in New Zealand
Family First New Zealand, a pressure group, called for a boycott on shops carrying a suggestive line of T-shirts targeting children and teens. Retailer Jay Jays was selling the Little Losers line of shirts in Australia and New Zealand, with T-shirts carrying slogans such as Miss Bitch, Miss Floozy and Mr Well-Hung. Family First national director, Bob McCoskrie said the slogans sent the wrong message to impressionable adolescents. He said the sexualisation of teenagers and young children was a serious issue and was an example of profits being put before the safety and wellbeing of children and families. Justin Murray, the MD of Just Group, which includes Jay Jays, said the international brand was popular in a number of countries. The messages were light-hearted and did not poke fun or send offensive messages about other people, he claimed. But after New Zealand parental groups expressed their dismay at the marketing of the range, the clothing chain bowed to pressure and withdrew its Little Losers T-shirt line.
Seeing Red over T-shirts
In one American town, a T-shirt row has divided the firefighting community. Red T-shirts were supposed to kick off a local campaign by firefighters as part of national support for American troops stationed overseas. So on 11 January firefighters from Local 1032 joined thousands of fire departments nationwide for Red T-shirt Friday, which encourages the wearing of red in support of soldiers not only in Iraq and Afghanistan, but worldwide. Union members pulled on their red, long-sleeved T-shirts only to be told to take them off by their fire chief! He wanted them to wear a red polo shirt, with a collar, similar to their uniform with Medford Fire on the back in white block letters and ‘Support our Troops’ on the sleeve. In Medford, firefighters are not allowed to wear T-shirts, just long or short sleeved work shirts, collared polo shirts and sweatshirts.
red T-shirt by sometimesdee
January 18th, 2008
Handspun cotton, known as Khadi, is of special significance to Indians because Mahatma Gandhi made this fragile thread of cotton into a symbol of strength and self-sufficiency, by hand-spinning Khadi himself, and using the cloth to make his own dhoti. Khadi provided employment for the millions during India’s freedom struggle, and that symbolism of wearing Indian cloth made by human hands has continued till this day. Handspun cotton is now a luxury item, carried by only a few couture lines, and found only rarely in T-shirts.
Since 2002, an annual exhibition of Khadi designer clothing has been held in Delhi, to promote wholly hand spun, hand woven and hand patterned fabric, as a unique luxury product. While the idea behind the exhibition is to preserve and promote an indigenous craft, the exhibition has upset traditional Gandhian followers who say promoting Khadi as a commodity for the rich goes against Gandhi’s philosophy of austerity. The outfits, for both men and women and both traditional style and modern Western, are designed by many leading Indian designers, including Ritu Kumar, Abu Jani, Sandeep Khosla and David Abraham – many of whom also design for top brand lines and dress the famous and beautiful of Hollywood. The designers say it is important to popularise the fabric, in order to preserve an Indian heritage which is on the verge of disappearing. According to a rough estimate, nearly five million small craftsmen depend on Khadi for a living.
hand spinning by heybales
January 15th, 2008
Vogue, the bible for the fashionista, predicts that there will be a softer, lighter feeling to spring clothing. Sheer silk dresses, bright floral prints and patterns, and shades of lilac and violet and other sugared-almond shades are highlighted colours. Denim turns soft, both in lighter shades, and this year’s wispier hems which are also tuning up on the vertical as fringed and frayed seams.
In T-shirt terms, what’s new? Hand-painted fabrics or designs that look hand-painted are a big deal this year and along with the flags which are everywhere on male clothing this season, the big emblem is stars, although supersized spots (think ping pong ball, not polka dot) are also heavily featured. It terms of cut, harking back to the eighties, the one-shouldered cut is spring’s important neckline. The all-in-one romper suit appeared on catwalks, but nobody is betting it will be a high street hit. Another key article is the rugby-shirt dress which is proving catwalk popular. Or just buy a long rugby shirt and belt it over leggings.
all-in-one catwalk fashion by withmedia
January 11th, 2008
High risk - Raed Jarrar, an American citizen, was removed from an internal flight between New York and California – owing to a T-shirt. The offending t-shirt had Arabic and English wording on it that said – in both languages: We will not be silent. He was confronted by security officials who told him that other people in the airport waiting area had expressed concern about the Arabic wording, especially as they didn’t know what it said. In fact the phrase was used by the White Rose dissident group who opposed Nazi rule inside Germany. Airport staff then purchased a new shirt from an airport boutique and asked him to replace the mysterious T-shirt with the new one to board his flight. While the young man stated that he was entitled to freedom of speech, he agreed to don the new shirt.
High geek - the Apple Timeline T-shirt is only available in the USA and will set you back around £9 plus shipping costs, but if you are an Apple lover, or know one, this is the baby for you – the timeline across the front of the shirt travels back to 1976 and the launch of Apple I - and features just about every major Apple launch in the intervening years. If your man is an ubergeek, this could be the Valentine’s present he’s longing for.
Apple logo by mrbill
