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Today’s earthquake in New Zealand reminds us that bad things can happen quickly and unexpectedly. Cyclones in Southeast Asia, unrest in Egypt, and volcanic eruptions in Iceland have all made news over the past year as have automobile recalls, embargoes of rare earth minerals, and flaws in microchip manufacturing. What these events have in common is that each of them affects the supply chain in one way or another. As a result, there have been a number of articles about the importance of having a business continuity/disaster recovery (BC/DR) plan and system in place. Curt Barry, president of F. Curtis Barry & Co., a multichannel operations and fulfillment consultancy, claims that many businesses believe they have a BC/DR plan in place, “but it’s often not the case.” [“Develop a master disaster plan,” Multichannel Merchant, 1 February 2011]. He writes:
“Natural or man-made, disruptions and disasters that could pose threats to the well-being of our employees, physical plants and business viability are more common than we think — and it’s human nature to be overconfident about our preparedness. … Concerns about costs, as well as the ‘it can’t happen to us’ mindset, prevent many companies from addressing these crucial issues.”
Barry is correct that overconfidence and denial can prove disastrous for a company. This past year should have convinced most companies that “it can happen here.” Julian Evans writes:
“In a world where almost every company relies on global supply chains and an international network of outsourced activities, a freak event many thousands of miles away can have a potentially devastating impact on business at home. In this environment, it is critical that companies have a firm strategy in place to deal with the unexpected and a thorough knowledge of the insurance industry. Never was this shown to be more important than in 2010 – the so-called year of the catastrophe. It had everything: Devastating earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, China and Iran, severe flooding in Pakistan, forest fires and suffocating smog in Russia, a major oil spill off the coast of the U.S., an extremely cold winter that caused travel chaos, and even a volcanic eruption that left the skies empty of planes. Not to mention the banking system.” [“Weathering the Storm,” Wall Street Journal, 7 February 2011].
There are a number of things that must be considered when one thinks about supply chain risk management (see my post entitled Defining Supply Chain Risk). Evans reports that the consequences of natural disasters last year were devastating, both financially and emotionally. He writes:
“The insurance company Swiss Re estimates that worldwide economic losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters reached $222 billion last year – more than triple the losses in 2009. Moreover, the number of deaths due to catastrophe reached 260,000 in 2010, which is the highest figure since 1976, and more than the total killed through terrorism over the last 40 years.”
Supply chain professionals look at natural disasters in terms of the disruptions they are likely to cause. Evans notes that “the impact [of natural disasters on the supply chain] is exacerbated by the interdependence of global society.” He continues:
“Globalization has … exposed companies to greater catastrophe or crisis risk, because their supply chains are now stretched across the world, and they may have outsourced many parts of their business to suppliers or service companies thousands of miles away. If one link in the supply chain goes wrong, it can have a huge impact. Look, for example, at Toyota, the world’s biggest car company, which outsourced the manufacture of many of its parts, only to see its profit and reputation take a huge hit this year when it had to recall over 10 million vehicles for safety reasons. David Noble, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, says: ‘There’s certainly a risk that comes with outsourcing. We hear from CEOs of major multinationals that analysts are increasingly quizzing them about how well they’re managing their supply risk.'”
Evans then rhetorically asks, “So what can businesses do to expect the unexpected and control the uncontrollable?” His answer: “They can, at least, put together a business continuity plan.” That leads us back to Barry’s assertion that many companies overrate the plans they have in place. Evans continues:
“Vincent West, head of UK business continuity practice at risk manager Aon, says: ‘If companies create a business continuity plan, then they have a framework for response to catastrophes. They have identified in advance those activities that are absolutely essential to the running of the business – the people, the premises, the infrastructure – then they can plan how to protect these parts of the business if, for example, 40% of the workforce falls ill with swine flu. They can learn how to deploy resources to keep the core business up and running.'”
Enterra Solutions® uses its proprietary Enterprise Resilience Management Methodology® to help companies identify its core assets and processes. ERMM™ offers a strategic approach to analyzing an organization’s core infrastructure and assessing enterprise risk. It helps clients understand the connections between tactical decisions and enterprise strategy, with regards to critical practices, processes, and rules governing the enterprise. Of course, identifying core assets and processes is only the beginning of creating and implementing a BC/DR plan. Evans continues:
“Companies also need to address which parts of their supply chain are essential, and which parts are particularly vulnerable. ‘Companies are keen to ensure their supply chain is secure,’ says Mr. West, ‘because if they don’t, there’s a danger they will import disaster.’ An important part of any company’s response to freak conditions is their communication strategy. [James Crask, senior manager in consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers’ risk and business continuity team] says: ‘A company needs to bear in mind how they’ll be perceived. If you lose the confidence of your customers during a crisis, it can be very hard to win back.’ Take the reputation of BAA, the operator of the U.K.’s Heathrow Airport, which was widely criticized for closing two runways for three days in the run-up to Christmas, after one day of snow, which made thousands of travelers unable to reach their destinations for Christmas. BAA made a bad situation worse by giving stranded passengers hardly any information about why it was taking so long to clear the snow or when the situation might improve.”
Evans concludes his article by noting that companies can always cover losses by buying catastrophe insurance; but such insurance doesn’t buy back lost good will from customers. The editorial staff at Supply Chain Digest agrees with Barry that there is some denial being experienced among businesses. It writes that there is a big difference between how important companies say risk management is versus what they are really doing about it. [“Key Drivers of Successful Supplier Risk Management,” 18 August 2010]. The article continues:
“The global recession proved perhaps the most challenging period ever, or at least since the Great Depression, in terms of managing supplier risk, as companies had to find new ways to both assess that risk and enact mitigation strategies as suppliers struggled to stay solvent. While the worst may be over, in these dynamic times supplier risk management will stay high on the procurement priority list, and companies need a formal process for managing that process. Research shows that on average large companies encounter a major supply chain disruption every 4-5 years. Just this year, for example, network equipment and other high tech companies have battled shortages on very basic electronic components, leading such as Ericsson, Nokia, Alcatel-Lucent and other firms to report pretty significant hits to revenue in Q2 and falling stock prices because they simply couldn’t deliver the goods to customers.”
The article notes that the Boston Consulting Group (BGC) “defines supplier risk management as ‘the use of processes and procedures to offset any risk factors that could interrupt a supplier’s ability to provide an organization with needed raw materials, components, or other inputs or services.” The article continues:
“[Boston Consulting] says typical risk factors include: financial risks that could affect a supplier’s solvency; operational risks that could affect quality, logistics or pricing; market risks related to regulatory and geopolitical events, or changes in commodity prices; major catastrophes and natural disasters; and anything that would compromise a company’s brand, intellectual property or proprietary processes.”
For an even more extensive list of risk factors, click on the link to my post mentioned above. BGC consultants Robert Tevelson, Petros Paranikas, and Byron Paul claim that “the majority of companies that do have [supplier risk management] practices tend to focus only on direct, supplier-driven risks, ignoring those related to market changes, geopolitical issues and other potentially disruptive, external events.” In other words, the focus of most BC/DR plans is too narrow. In a globalized world that is not a good thing. The Supply Chain Digest articles concludes with “Five Levers for Supplier Risk Management Success” identified by BCG. The first “lever” starts at the top:
“Engage Top-level Management: This means both that senior procurement leaders must actively show their support for SRM within their organizations, and then also communicate that need to the CEO and executive peers. Yet, BGC’s research showed only 45% of respondents discuss SRM with the organization’s executive team on a quarterly basis; 20% never discuss SRM with senior management. Best-in-class companies, BGC says, set up regular SRM reviews that follow a standard format and offer clear escalation procedures when potential problems are flagged. The authors make the strong point that SRM cannot be only the province of the procurement group – the trade-offs and level of risk tolerance must be approached cross-functionally.”
It is hard to imagine that events that could “compromise a company’s brand, intellectual property or proprietary processes” would not be routine topics discussed at the highest levels of corporate management. The second “lever” identified by Boston Consulting is segmenting suppliers.
“Segment Suppliers Based on Relative Risk: No company can manage detailed risk assessment and mitigation strategies across thousands or even hundreds of suppliers. So, procurement organizations must pick the most important suppliers to focus on, but too often this is done by ‘gut feel’ rather than a formal categorization process. ‘Best-in-class companies take a more formal approach, dividing suppliers into different risk categories based on predetermined criteria such as financial health, supply of critical components, supplier value-add, supplier power, time to switch and industry outlook,’ BGC says. ‘These risk assessments are refreshed at least annually, and, in some instances, every quarter. High-risk suppliers are reviewed more often, so that issues are identified early and quick action can be taken.’ Not surprisingly, the authors say, more frequent risk assessment is linked to more successful risk identification.”
More and more companies are beginning to score their suppliers so that they have a better understanding of which ones perform best. I believe this is a trend that will continue to grow. The third BCG lever involves measuring and managing.
“Rigorously Measure and Manage Risk: Even though it has become well understood that companies need to assess both the probability of a supply disruption and the level of financial impact the disruption might cause, BGC’s research found only 40% of respondents were satisfied that their companies could effectively quantify the likelihood and impact of key risks. BGC says companies need to add more ‘rigor’ to the risk assessment process, and do a better job collecting cross-functional data that might help identify an emerging supplier problem earlier (for example, are key personnel leaving the supplier?).”
Obviously, some important data (like departing personnel) may be difficult to obtain in timely manner. I agree that collecting “cross-functional data” is important, but collecting data and understanding it are two different challenges. That is why I like systems that sense, think, and respond. The fourth “lever” deals with collaboration.
“Collaborate with Key Suppliers: Complex, global supply chains require higher levels of collaboration. So do very ‘lean’ supply chains (and who doesn’t have one of those these days?), where disruptions can quickly lead to operational and financial problems. The key point: ‘Companies such as these must understand the risks of the entire supply chain, not just of individual suppliers. Yet few can single-handedly take on the substantial cost of managing risk across the board. Collaboration is critical,’ the BGC consultants say. The research found few companies say that their companies actively collaborate with suppliers to manage risk.”
Long-time readers of this post (or posts like those written by supply chain analyst Lora Cecere) understand that collaboration is going to play an increasingly important role in supply chain management. Collaboration is important for more effective functioning of supply chain during normal operations as well as preparing for disruptions. Look for a future post on this subject. The final “lever” identified by BCG involves giving supply chain personnel the right tools and training to help them be successful.
“Give Category Managers Tools and Training: As with many things, most companies agree that supplier risk management is essential, yet the survey showed few companies effectively educate their senior leaders and category managers on how to do it well. The research showed two-thirds of respondents reported that their companies failed to provide even one full day of risk management training, and most expressed dissatisfaction with current programs company training programs on the subject. Technology support tools are equally lacking, though BGC says a few companies have complex tools that can track the potential impact of a single event in one location — such as a tornado in Kansas — on all aspects of the supply chain. ‘SRM is challenging and requires a proactive, customized approach to get it right,’ the BGC authors conclude. ‘Understanding your company’s model, based on your source of competitive advantage and degree of supply chain complexity, reveals critical best practices. These, combined with the five levers for success, can help your company stay ahead of potential supplier problems.'”
We will continue this discussion in Parts 2 through 4 of this series. Part 2 discusses some recommended approaches to supply chain risk management. Part 3 discusses establishing and testing risk management plans. Finally, Part 4 discusses hedging strategies.


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Huawei could possibly launch the Huawei Mate 40 series in October if everything goes under control. But before the launch, a piece of new news has appeared about its (108-megapixel) main camera.
According to the news from Huawei’s staff, the company is currently working on a new 108-megapixel lens whose optical performance has been greatly improved and it could be available in Huawei Mate 40 and Mate 40 Pro. it is also expected to use a 9P lens in this smartphone series.
The ability to process the image is also improved because of the manufacturing method of the lens. Compared with other standard lenses with 108-megapixel sensors present on the market, it has better image clarity improvement.
Apart from that, the Huawei Mate 40 series is also gonna be the first device that is equipped with a Kirin 1020 processor.

domain: news


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Your customer clicks on the link your service advisor just texted. The updated repair order at the end of the link confirms her worst fear: Your technician’s repair recommendations cost more than what’s in her bank account and all but eliminates whatever’s left on her high-balance credit card. That’s when she spots a button in the upper-right corner of the repair order that reads: “Pay Later: Payments as Low as $XX.XX / Month with Consumer Financing. Click to Apply.”
The button takes the customer to a consumer finance portal, where she begins a quick prequalification process designed to match her with the right offer from one of four finance sources available in this digital hub. Back at the shop, your service writer is preparing to send his third repair order update with that same financing button when the alert arrives: The customer qualifies for an amount that covers the cost of the recommended repairs.
Missing from that scenario are the payment schedules and compliance disclosures that never made repair financing worth the hassle. This example also has repair financing presented the way it should have been all along, and that’s as a payment option and not a product your young counter guy was never going to be able to sell in the first place. More importantly, that scenario places Repair-Now, Pay-Later financing where it’s never been before: at the point of decision.
That’s the promise of the landmark partnership announced in March between 360 Payment and Shop Boss, which became the first shop management software to plug into 360 Payments’ new Consumer Finance Portal. Dubbed 360 CFP, it gives the repair industry the same shopping cart experience that made Buy-Here, Pay-Now financing the fastest-growing payment method in 2021 and helped retailers capture $97 billion of the $4.6 trillion in global e-commerce transactions in 2020.
And it’s a shopping cart experience that began to take shape through COVID-19 when repair shops were forced to turn to digital vehicle inspections and Text-to-Pay solutions like BOSS Pay to limit contact with pandemic-weary consumers. And it’s one your customers still want today.
Since 2018, BOSS pay transactions have grown from about $280,000 to more than $27 million in 2021. That’s more than a 9,600% increase in just three years. Also, consider that BOSS Pay had already processed more than $10 million Text-to-Pay transactions through the second full week of April.
“We’re at the intersection of two big trends: The realization by consumers that today there are better options for how they can borrow, and the adoption of buy-now, pay-later in e-commerce … showing how big the need is by consumers,” Wisetack CEO Bobby Tzekin told PYMNTS.com in December, just before the BNPL provider announced it would be one of the first finance sources to make itself available to repair shops through 360 CFP.
Here’s why: According to data released in May 2019 by the Federal Reserve, nearly 40% of Americans could not cover a surprise $400 expense. Additionally, results from a July 2020 LendingTree survey revealed that nearly six in 10 of the 1,071 vehicle owners polled skipped a necessary car repair because they couldn’t afford it, 71% of whom were millennials.
Millennials, by the way, account for the largest portion of BNPL users, according to PYMNTS.com. These consumers, ages 26 to 41, lived through the Great Recession and learned the hard lessons of high credit card balances, making them prime candidates for 360 CFP.
Also, consider that inflation grew faster in 2021 than in the previous 40 years. The result is consumers who spent $100 a month on gasoline in 2020 paid $150 in 2021. That’s one of the reasons credit card balances, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, rose by $17 billion in both the second and third quarters of last year.
But if there’s one thing we learned through recent economic challenges, it’s that Americans value personal transportation. Serious auto delinquency rates, which reached their highest levels since 2012 in the lead up to the pandemic, remained near or below pre-pandemic levels in 2021. Also keep in mind that during the Great Recession, auto loans were one of the best-performing asset classes through the Great Recession. Why? Because consumers need their vehicles.
Shop Boss’ integration with 360 CFP and finance sources like Wisetack means your shop now has a way to keep customers on the road during trying times and a solution for closing more recommended repairs during good times. Welcome to the New Normal.
If you are interested in learning more about the seamlessly integrated consumer financing option for your shop, click here.
Shop Boss is the leading automotive repair software for independent auto shops and is designed for maximum efficiency and profitability. Created by a former shop owner, Shop Boss allows users to efficiently manage shop operations from anywhere through an intuitive cloud-based interface. With an array of cutting-edge features and integrations, Shop Boss lets shops of all sizes go paperless and deliver a safe-distance auto repair experience.


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Age-old bakeries, Michelin-star bars, sessions on the harvesting of durians… here’s how this year, the fest is reaching out to global tourists in their homes instead of drawing visitors in
Even those who know nothing about the durian, know about its smell. The fruit, an inherent part of many Southeast Asian cuisines, is synonymous with a strong pungency that has notoriously been mistaken for gas leaks and caused evacuation of buildings. So how do you conduct a masterclass about the famous fruit over the Internet, where its signature scent would be missing? For Chef Chung Deming’s online masterclass this past weekend, it was barely an issue — he had much more to share with the audience.
“They can be sweet, bitter or bittersweet. Their meat comes in different colours: it can be red, yellow-ish or very white-ish. There are many characteristics you can tell from their colour — something on the orange side tends to be sweeter, something white tends to be more bitter. Over the long and complex cycle in which they are harvested, different flavour profiles are also developed. You get stronger flavours the longer the fruit stays after harvest; some varietals can also be slightly alcoholic, and others can have a milky texture.” All this weighs into how the fruit can be eaten and — more interestingly — what wine to pair it with. “Dry whites like a Riesling go best. Avoid the reds; anything with tannins will not go well with a durian,” says the chef.
Chef Deming’s online masterclass, which covered the intriguing fruit’s journey from farm to plate “and everything people might not have known while shipping the fruit to their part of the world”, was one of dozens of sessions focussing on the food of Singapore over two consecutive weekends. The festival also includes — and will include in the coming weekend — virtual food tours of streetfood hubs and uspcale dining destinations, sessions with bartenders and pastry chefs from many of Singapore’s Michelin star restaurants like Burnt Ends and the speakeasy bar Nutmeg & Clove, and a deep look at Singapore’s many, long-lasting culinary influences, including Indian expatriate food cultures and the rich natural ingredients of the Straits.
Says Lim Si Ting, area director of Singapore Tourism Board India, “This remains the only food festival in Singapore that focusses on local cuisine. Being on ground was an important part of the festival, with visitors trying out the different cusines and interacting with experts. But the virtual edition has given us the opportunity to reach out to people we would otherwise not have access to; like working adults around the world who do not travel overseas very often.”
Imagine, for instance, virtually following a guide into Tan Hock Seng, an 89-year-old iconic bakery known for its Hokkien pastries. Or strolling through Chinatown and its typical cultural blend, taking in the sights and sounds (if not the smell), without having to pay for a plane ticket. Chip Guan Heng, one of Singapore’s oldest ice cream distributors, also features in one of the tours, as do quaint old restaurants harking back to the 1960s. There are sessions that focus on the Indian spice route; on bite-sized, brightly coloured desserts called kuehs; comfort foods of the Peranakan ethnic group …
The scope for culinary discoveries is not just restricted to curious minds abroad. “We tend to focus on international tourists, to showcase Singapore as a culinary destination. Now we are focussing on local visitors, too. Internal travel will pick up before international, and there is a lot for Singaporeans to explore about their own land and food,” adds Lim Si Ting.
There is no denying that the festival is a key push for tourism, even in a year when actual, physical visits are dificult. “It is a part of our Singaporediscover campaign, under which we have categorised our visitors based on their interests. This festival, of course, caters to the foodie category,” says Lim Si Ting, adding, “The schedule is much more packed this year than before. We are excited.”
The final sessions are spread over August 28, 29 and 30. For details, visit singaporefoodfestival.sg
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PC owners will finally get their hands on the first round of downloadable content for Treyarch's Call of Duty: Black Ops
, with Activision confirming the DLC would arrive for the desktop platform on the 25th of March on Steam.
Obviously there's much contention over the DLC delivery platform in the PC space given such content updates used to be free, or were part of a greater "expansion", but for those interested in expanding
their gameplay with five new multiplayer maps, the new content is going to come in at USD $13.49 thanks to a 10% discount on Valve's part, otherwise it'll normally set you back USD $14.99.
Call Of Duty: Black Ops "First Strike" DLC Trailer


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If you ever needed more evidence of how China is becoming an increasingly connected country, aided not least by the growth of mobile Internet access, you just got it.
China ended last year with 618 million Internet users and 500 million mobile Internet users, according to a report published by state-affiliated research organization China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), spotted first by Tech in Asia.
This means the country tacked on 54 million new Internet users from 2012, while mobile Internet users increased year-on-year by 80 million people. The Internet penetration rate in China also climbed to 45.8 percent at the end of last year from 42.1 percent in 2012.
In particular, out of the number of new Internet users in China, the proportion of those who came online via mobile hit 73.3 percent — higher than any other mode of Internet access, which led to CNNIC describing mobile as the “main driving force for the growth of Internet users in China.”
The percentage of Chinese users accessing the Internet via mobile grew to 81 percent in 2013 from 74.5 percent in 2012.
In the meantime though, there was bad news for desktop computer and laptop usage. Both fell in 2013 — the former by 0.8 of a percentage point to 69.7 percent, and the latter by 1.8 percentage points to 44.1 percent.
Rise of messaging apps and mobile videos
The CNNIC report noted that the continued growth of smartphone users has prompted more development in mobile.
A particularly interesting statistic is that as of end-2013, the number of microblogging users actually fell by 27.8 million users, while usage declined by 9.2 percentage points. Comparatively, microblogging users had jumped in 2012 to reach 309 million at the end of the year, up 58.73 million from 2011.
Meanwhile, the number of instant messaging users rose to 532 million by the end of 2013, marking a year-on-year increase of 64.4 million users, while the usage rate hit a high of 86.2 percent.
Basically, these figures bode well for messaging services such as Tencent-owned WeChat (users in China get a version known as Weixin), but represent bad news for Twitter-like microblogging platform Sina Weibo.
Meanwhile, more people are watching online videos on their mobile devices — 247 million people did so in 2013, an increase of 83.8 percent from the 112 million people in 2012, while the usage rate increased to 69.3 percent from 65.9 percent.
As for games, the trend of Chinese users moving to mobile away from PC was also clearly seen in 2013. There was an overall slowdown in the growth of online game subscribers, with the country’s Internet gaming population only adding on 2.34 million people. However, on the contrary, there was a 54.5 percent growth in the number of users playing mobile games, up 75.9 million from the end of 2012 to reach 215 million.
The appetite for shopping continued posting strong growth in 2013 though. China’s online shopping population grew to 302 million, up 24.7 percent or 59.9 million from last year, while the usage rate rose to 48.9 percent from 42.1 percent.
As for payments, the number of users transacting over the Internet grew to 260 million in 2013, up by 39.5 million — while the usage rate displayed whopping growth, rising to 42.1 percent from 17.9 percent. This comes as more mobile platforms are adding payment services, while offline merchants are starting to integrate deeper with online payment options, CNNIC explains.
In 2013, Chinese mobile Internet users actually made changes to their behavior, as in the trends noted so far — and this will probably ignite a race between China’s tech giants, which have to work at tailoring their products accordingly this year.
Headline image via Shutterstock


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Where would we be without polyester? Fibers created from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are ubiquitous in our apparel, home furnishings, automotive, filtration and personal care industries. In 2021, they represented 57.57% of the global fiber market, according to Fibre2Fashion’s market insight tool TexPro.
Yet the need for more-sustainable textiles, combined with a volatile supply chain for petroleum-based materials, may threaten polyester’s dominance. Fibre2Fashion estimates polyester’s market share will decline to 56.36% by 2025, amid “a sweeping change in share and size” for the global textile market.
A growing demand for rPET
Recycled polyester (rPET) fiber, created primarily from postconsumer PET beverage bottles, has emerged as the so-called “sustainable” choice for much of the textile industry, and rPET fibers are estimated to comprise 14% of the polyester fiber market. The 2025 Recycled Polyester Challenge, created in 2021 by the Textile Exchange and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, calls on manufacturers and brands to commit to raising their level of recycled polyester to 45% or higher by 2025, requiring some 17.1 metric tons (37,699 pounds) of rPET.
However, rPET is also in demand for making new bottles and food containers, setting up a potential battle between the beverage industry and textile manufacturing. Beverage companies are targeting 25% rPET content in their bottles by 2025.
According to Alasdair Carmichael, program director for the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR), there will not be enough rPET from bottles to meet both targets. “The only way to achieve 17.1 metric tons of rPET for fibers is to develop a much more effective textile recycling process, and this has to start with collection and separation—and then the development of either mechanical or chemical recycling processes.”
Give us our bottles back
Separating and recycling textile waste to use as feedstock, as opposed to relying solely on the recycling of PET bottles, would help meet market demand. The EU has already legislated the separate collection of waste textiles, beginning in 2025.
“I think that the textile industry has to figure out how to do closed-loop recycling, since bottle companies will demand their bottles back,” says Laura Murphy, research director, fibers, for Wood Mackenzie Chemicals. “These bottle wars will not end well for fiber companies.”
Unifi Inc., a global manufacturer of synthetic and recycled performance fibers, has transformed more than 35 billion plastic bottles into rPET for textiles through its REPREVE® technology. The company recently announced a major expansion of its Textile Takeback™ program, which collects and recycles polyester-based fabric waste, including both pre- and postconsumer fabrics, and turns it into REPREVE fiber, creating a closed-loop circular system.
“While postconsumer packaging-based rPET is of undeniable importance, fiber-to-fiber circularity is a key element in the future of sustainable textiles,” says Meredith Boyd, senior vice president of sustainability, technology, and innovation at Unifi.
“Postconsumer-based rPET to rPET recycling is an accessible operation for the industry given present infrastructure,” Boyd says. “However, we look forward to seeing the progress of fiber-to-fiber developments, including attention at all points of the value chain for designing for recyclability. Additionally, we anticipate the advancement and scaling of new polymers and materials that are compatible with current and future recycling technologies to ensure that we are always designing for circularity.”
What will replace polyester fibers?
With the packaging industry gobbling up the rPET supply and fiber-to-fiber circular manufacturing still in its infancy, there’s a need for alternative polymers that are bio-based, recyclable and/or biodegradable.
Sorona®, a textile fiber also known as Triexta or PTT (polytrimethylene terephthalate), was developed by DuPont more than 20 years ago. Partially bio-based, the polymer is made from 37% 1,3-propanediol (PDO) created from plant sugars via fermentation. In June 2022, DuPont Biomaterials was acquired by the Huafon Group and is now known as CovationBio™. Sorona is one of the commercial brands that transitioned to the new organization. The top uses for Sorona fiber are carpeting and apparel, and Sorona can be mechanically recycled as part of the PET recycling stream, according to Mike Saltzberg, CEO for CovationBio.
“When designers are choosing materials or fibers, they look carefully at the technical performance as well as the sustainability profiles of each product. Sorona fibers offer vastly different technical performance than fibers made from PET, either virgin or rPET. Sorona is softer, can be used to create durable stretch or shape memory fabrics, and is more inherently stain resistant than PET,” says Saltzberg.
“As brands look for solutions to bring out more sustainable offerings, we think both rPET and Sorona can play a significant role, sometimes in the same fabric,” he adds. “One of the most exciting applications of Sorona that has been developed is a bicomponent stretch fiber made from a combination of Sorona and rPET. This recyclable fiber provides excellent stretch and recovery and can be used to replace non-recyclable spandex in many stretch fabrics.”
Fully bio-based. The development of fully bio-based polyethylene furanoate (PEF), a fiber that offers comparable properties to PET, is being led by Avantium, a Dutch technology company working in renewable chemistry. The company’s YXY® plant-to-plastics technology catalytically converts plant-based sugars into furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), the key building block for PEF. These yarns can be produced on existing spinning and texturing lines. It is also medium-term degradable and can be recycled in existing PET waste streams.
Along with five global textile companies and brands, Avantium has formed the PEF Textile Community, which is currently developing textiles for a number of applications. The company recently signed an offtake agreement with Danish textile maker Kvadrat to create PEF-based textiles for both commercial and residential interiors. A commercial plant for PEF is under construction in the Netherlands, with large-scale production planned for 2024.
Food versus fiber. Another type of bio-based and compostable plastic, polybutylene succinate (PBS), is being developed by Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Kintra Fibers Inc. using monomers created from the fermentation of sugars derived from wheat, corn and the like. The company has produced yarn for apparel brand Pangaia and has pilot programs with other brand partners.
PBS is tunable and can be spun on the same equipment used for PET. While it performs similarly to polyester and nylon, it biodegrades in industrial composting environments.
“This year will be focused on developing fabric,” says co-founder and CEO Billy McCall. “We are making formulation tweaks aimed at efficiency—yarn properties such as strength, dyeability, stretch.”
McCall is aware of the food versus fiber criticism, countering, “We have a feedstock strategy. There is no perfect feedstock. We are rooted in performance first. The biggest issue is the switch from petrochemical fossil fuels.”
The end of polyester?
While change is in the air, it will take collaboration and innovation to bring an end to fossil fuel-based polyester in our lifetime. “We believe that it will take a multitude of technological solutions to make textiles more sustainable in the future; no one technology will be a ‘silver bullet,’” says Saltzberg.
Biopolymers may serve as polyester alternatives, but they won’t come cheap. In transition, legislation that establishes bottle recycling as a revenue stream and requires separation of textile waste for closed-loop textile-to-textile recycling would go a long way toward increasing the supply of recycled polyester fiber.
Debra Cobb is a freelance writer with expertise in the textiles industry. She is based in North Carolina.
SIDEBAR: Can a cellulosic substitute render polyester obsolete?
HeiQ AeoniQ™ is a cellulosic filament yarn made from renewable sources such as cigarette butts, coffee grounds, banana peels and other non-valorized waste or from recycled natural fibers like Circulose® from Renewcell. The innovative Swiss company HeiQ uses a gentle, pH-neutral chemistry that homogenizes the cellulose, allowing it to be spun as a continuous filament with the elongation and tenacity of polyester. The first commercial HeiQ AeoniQ garment, a seamless high-performance polo shirt, was launched by the German brand Hugo Boss in January.
Carmen Danner, director of business development for HeiQ AeoniQ, calls the fiber “the revolutionary solution to one of the textile industry’s biggest problems. Our main objective is to render polyester obsolete and eliminate any investments in fossil fuel-based fibers by 2035. We wholeheartedly believe that HeiQ AeoniQ is the only viable solution to achieve this objective.”


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We are surrounded by small businesses in Downtown Phoenix, and we know much of Downtown’s success rests on the shoulders of these business owners. As we survey the current economic climate, it is critical to understand the impact a national retailer can have on the health of our local economy. Kimber Lanning, founder and executive director of Local First Arizona, provides insight on the ramifications of the current sales tax impasse between the State of Arizona and Amazon.
Last week at the Arizona State Senate subcommittee hearing Don Isaacson, the lead attorney for Amazon, took the podium to make the case that economies change over time. “We all remember the days of mom and pops,” he said, “and then there were the days of the big box retailers….” I surmise this to be a very honest glimpse into the world vision Amazon holds, but what does it mean for Arizona?
For the moment, let’s forget the fact that there are over 40,000 independent businesses operating in Arizona today, with a payroll of around 21 billion per year, and let’s focus on our state’s economy and what would be left of it if Amazon’s vision becomes reality.
“For every book store or hardware store that closes, one more accountant loses a job, one more web developer loses a client, one more graphic designer loses a project.”
Let’s say Amazon is successful in eliminating 20% of the independent businesses in Arizona. Most people understand the immediate job loss and can easily process the thought of, say, 5,000 people losing their jobs because businesses closed. “Amazon is hiring,” some people will say, and that’s true. So let’s be fair and say Amazon will create 1,000 more jobs over the next couple of years, leaving a net job loss of 4,000. But now, let’s move on to calculate the secondary jobs that were supported by the 20% of now defunct independent businesses. For every book store or hardware store that closes, one more accountant loses a job, one more web developer loses a client, one more graphic designer loses a project. Soon these supporting businesses will close down, because, well, Amazon isn’t hiring them for their services.
Now let’s measure the impact on real estate. How could we put a number or real value on the blight caused by over 8,000 closed up businesses littering our state? With no new start ups looking to rent commercial space, how many building owners would be forced into bankruptcy? What exactly would the world look like if we all decided to buy everything from Amazon? Where would we all work and how would we earn enough money to keep shopping on Amazon?
“With no new start ups looking to rent commercial space, how many building owners would be forced into bankruptcy?”
Given this bleak picture of the world, which may or may not come true, it’s unfathomable that Amazon has convinced so many people that they should not have to collect sales taxes as every other business has in the history of this country. Sales taxes, or transaction taxes, are collected to pay for services we all enjoy like police and fire protection, libraries, neighborhood services, parks, transportation, and additionally, a small percent of sales taxes are dedicated to education. Anyone interested in improving education in Arizona should be screaming for consistent sales tax collection.
The word TAX has become such a political lightening rod that people are not thinking clearly about which tax we are talking about. This is not a corporate tax that causes companies to have to reach into their profits to pay, nor is this a NEW tax. This is the tax that consumers have always paid on their purchases in order to be able to enjoy the services I outlined above. We could revisit our founding fathers’ logic and decide that we all want to opt out of fire protection or any other services provided by the city, county, or state, but it’s a safe bet that most people are not ready to fight their own house fires with garden hoses.
“Anyone interested in improving education in Arizona should be screaming for consistent sales tax collection.”
Recently the Arizona Department of Revenue handed Amazon a bill for $53 million to cover part of the taxes they failed to collect between 2006 and 2010, and there was some public outcry about this being “unfair” to Amazon. Think of this bill as a simple fine for breaking the law. With four distribution centers located here in Arizona totaling over 4 million square feet of space, Amazon is and has been refusing to collect transaction taxes on sales conducted to the people of Arizona.
Every other retailer operating in this state collects these taxes, whether they are on-line or bricks-and-mortar businesses. Order from Walmart on-line and you will pay AZ transaction taxes. Order from Land’s End and you will pay the same taxes because their parent company, Sears, has stores here in Arizona, even though Land’s End does not. They are law-abiding companies doing business here and enjoying a comfortable profit.
I have heard many Amazon defenders claiming that forcing their company to collect sales tax flies in the face of free markets. In reality, allowing one company to be exempt from a law requiring all transactions to include a tax for municipal services is absolutely anti-free markets. I don’t know a single independent business that wants a government hand-out. In fact, most are happy to compete as long as the playing field is level.
“Amazon is and has been refusing to collect transaction taxes on sales conducted to the people of Arizona. Every other retailer operating in this state collects these taxes, whether they are on-line or bricks-and-mortar businesses.”
Amazon will most definitely take Arizona to court over their $53 million bill, not because they feel they have a case, but just to drag the battle on longer. Meanwhile they continue to ignore the tax, which gives them a 9.3% advantage over all other businesses. They may offer the Arizona Department of Revenue a bargain and agree to collect the taxes starting in 2014, which is what they did in California, but in the duration how many other Arizona businesses will be lost?
Arizonan’s are currently the 7th LEAST taxed people in the union. If we fail to pay sales taxes our services will decay rapidly. Already it is estimated that Amazon has failed to collect upwards of $750 million in sales taxes, so let’s not be surprised when we get our next property tax bill and it’s double what we expected. The taxes have to come from somewhere. It’s in our best interest to stick to the agreement we have and pay our sales taxes and to require businesses operating here to collect the exact same taxes.
Senate Bill 1338 is currently moving through our legislature and will close Amazon’s last loophole by specifically requiring businesses with warehouse space OR retail space to collect the same amount of sales tax. This initiative, which supports the very fundamentals that makes capitalism work in this country, is nothing short of the only solution to save jobs in Arizona.
About the author
Kimber Lanning is an entrepreneur, economic specialist, and community activist who works to cultivate vibrant, sustainable communities and inspire a higher quality of life throughout Arizona. Lanning is actively involved in fostering cultural diversity, economic self-reliance, regional planning, and responsible growth in the greater Phoenix area. She is the founder and Executive Director of Local First Arizona, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising public awareness of the positive economic and environmental impacts of supporting locally owned businesses.
Located just off the light rail tracks, nestled beneath Midtown’s skyscrapers and surrounded by the bustle of the city is a neighborhood where the residents know each other’s names and still get together for holiday block parties.
The Willo neighborhood is Phoenix’s largest historic district, made up of more than 900 houses built from the 1920s through the 1940s in various styles such as Tudor, Spanish Revival, Bungalow and Ranch.
About 24 years ago, a group of residents decided to showcase their unique homes to the public. They created the Willo Home Tour, which has become an annual event featuring about a dozen historic homes.
It attracts around 3,000 people each year and has had visitors from places outside of the Valley such as Tucson and California, says Andrea Katsenes, Volunteer Publicity Committee Chair and seven-year Willo resident.
The funds raised by the tour help support some of the neighborhood’s programs and events, and also contribute to its maintenance efforts. By using the tour’s proceeds to install speed bumps and tend to parks, the Willo district helps save money for the city of Phoenix.
The self-guided tour, which is run by residents on a volunteer basis, is also about bringing the neighborhood together and sharing it with the community, Katsenes says.
“We feel like we own a kind of treasure in Phoenix, a little bit of history,” she says.
This year’s tour will include homes that have not been showcased the previous 23 years. To keep the line-up fresh, residents may only display their home once every few years unless they have made significant changes to it.
The only building that is featured every year is the district’s historic fire station, and it is also the only non-residential building included on the tour.
Katsenes says the longstanding traditions and signature projects such as the home tour are part of what make Willo unique.
“It’s just a real neighborhood feel that you don’t get in a lot of neighborhoods anymore,” she says. “We’re a very close group.”
The tour also includes a street fair each year with live music and local vendors selling food, jewelry, antiques, arts and crafts, and other items.
If you go
Where: Willo Historic District, which is between Thomas and McDowell roads and First and Seventh avenues
Date: Sunday, February 12, 2012
Time: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Tickets: Can be purchased online for $15 or at Walton Park at Third Avenue and Holly Street the day of the event for $18
Business Real Estate Weekly of Arizona is reporting a loan on Park Central is currently in default, and the property is scheduled for a trustee’s sale on April 19. Read the full story here.
Park Central has played a key role in this community’s development and the potential change of ownership of this prime Midtown property could set the stage for a renewed interest in the Central Corridor.
Upon hearing the news, DPJ asked its colleagues what they thought the potential change might mean.
“In residential terms, the Park Central site is one of the strongest potential development plays in Midtown,” David Newcombe, realtor for Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty, who represented the nearby One Lexington condominiums. “With the right mixed-use elements included it could be game-changer for the Central Corridor.”
“You can’t talk about Park Central development without mentioning METRO Light Rail, and how it has changed people’s view of Central Avenue in recent years,” said Don Keuth, Phoenix Community Alliance President. “Will there be an opportunity to capitalize on that asset by developing a dense, multi-use project more appropriate for an urban setting? We’ll have to see how it shakes out.”
Park Central was billed as Phoenix’s first “modern” shopping mall and has been more recently viewed as the impetus of Phoenix’s propensity for sprawling development. As mentioned by Phoenix residents J. Seth Anderson, Suad Mahmuljin, and Jim McPherson in their recently published book, Downtown Phoenix, (Arcadia Publishing, 2012):
“In 1957, Phoenix’s first shopping mall, Park Central Shopping Center, opened along North Central Avenue between Thomas and Osborn Roads, enticing downtown retail fixtures to move – Goldwater’s, then Diamond’s, then J.C. Penny’s.
In the 1960s, all of the major department stores fled downtown and empty storefronts replaced bustling activity. Where the action (and corporate investment) took place was midtown and uptown Phoenix in the first wave of high-rise development, exemplified by the construction of the Phoenix Corporate Tower in 1960 (replacing the Westward Ho as the city’s tallest building), the Executive Towers Condominiums in 1963, and 4000 North Central Avenue in 1964.” (Downtown Phoenix, page 95.)
[Note: Phoenix Community Alliance partners with Urban Affair, publisher of Downtown Phoenix Journal. David Newcombe partnered in the development of DPJ's Live Here section. J. Seth Anderson writes for DPJ. Jim McPherson is a sponsor of DPJ's Engage Page. All are knowledgeable and trusted voices of Downtown Phoenix.]
From the Wire | Phoenix Receives $2.9 Million Grant from HUD to Promote Transit-Oriented Development
(From the Wire includes press releases received from reliable sources that help tell the story of the many happenings in Greater Downtown Phoenix. Yep, they are ripped from our inbox.)
This morning, Ophelia Basgal, regional administrator for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), announced a $2.9 million Sustainable Communities Grant to the city’s Planning and Development Department to fund a program to promote transit-oriented development along the light rail line.
Congressman Ed Pastor, Mayor Phil Gordon, Mayor-Elect Greg Stanton and City Manager David Cavazos joined Administrator Basgal, community members, business partners and other stakeholders for the morning announcement at the light rail station at 24th and Washington streets.
“We chose the City of Phoenix’s proposal because the city not only had a great plan – but the right community partnerships and a vision for success,” said Administrator Basgal. “It is with partners like Mayor Gordon and Congressman Pastor that we’ve proven that small investments can yield big results for our economy – and that this debate isn’t about government that’s big or small. It’s about government that’s smart.”
The Reinvent Phoenix: Cultivating Equity, Engagement, Economic Development and Design Excellence with Transit Oriented Development Program includes area research, short- and-long-range planning, community engagement and development incentives to set the foundation that will encourage commercial and housing development along the light rail.
“Thank you to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for continuing its legacy of investing in the residents of Phoenix,” said Mayor Gordon. “This grant will continue Phoenix’s rise on the national and world stage – to become a model for innovation, sustainability and quality of life for all.”
The city of Phoenix received the fourth-largest grant amount during this funding cycle. HUD received more than $500 million in funding requests from communities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico for the $96 million in available funding.
During the next three years, the Reinvent Phoenix Program will promote, encourage and provide incentives for transit-oriented development along the light rail line to provide all residents with safe, convenient access to quality, affordable housing, well-paying jobs, education and training programs, fresh food and healthcare services.
Core partners include: Arizona State University, St. Joseph’s Hospital, St. Luke’s Health Initiative, Mountain Park Health Center, METRO, Discovery Triangle Development Corp., Urban Land Institute, American Institute of Architects, American Society of Landscape Architects, Southwest Autism Research Center, Arizona Bridge to Independent Living, Phoenix Union High School District, Maricopa County Community Colleges, Art Link, Local First Arizona, Native American Connections, Gorman and Co., Inc., Cloudbreak Phoenix LLC, Bethel Development Inc., NRP Group, Desco Inc.
It has been a year since DPJ Magazine’s debut and we’re celebrating the anniversary by sharing some amazing Downtown stories:
Creating Downtown | Downtown resident and artist Susan Copeland examines the creative community’s contribution to the development of Downtown Phoenix.
Roundtable Q&A | An exclusive inside look at the future plans of Downtown, featuring a conversation with Deputy City Manager David Kreitor, Phoenix Community Alliance Board Chair Marty Shultz and President Don Keuth, Downtown Phoenix Partnership Executive Director David Roderique, and RED Development Managing Partner Mike Ebert.
One-on-One Interview | Guest editor David Leibowitz talks with Arizona State University President Michael Crow about the ASU campus, Downtown community and Phoenix’s competitive advantage.
Development Roundup | The latest in Downtown development news from City of Phoenix Community and Economic Development Deputy Director Jason Harris.
Shop Local PHX | Get shopping this season at Downtown Phoenix galleries and retailers.
The District Beat and Buzz | The calendar is jammed packed with happenings that make Downtown come alive every day.
NEW Fashion Section! | Editor Corbin Chamberlin brings the “Seamless” fashion world of Greater Downtown Phoenix into focus, with interviews with Phoenix Art Museum’s Dennita Sewell, and boutique owners Rachel Malloy and Misty Guerriero.
Photography | Photography director Jason Garcia captures the action of the new Crescent Ballroom for our cover and Jack London shares rare views of our Downtown Phoenix skyline.
Pick up a copy at one of 300+ locations in and around the Greater Downtown area or check it out right here!


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According to a former designer of Sony, “the difference of power” between PS5 and Xbox Series X “rather stunning”.
Chris Grannell, who worked on Killzone 2 and WipeOut, and he claimed to have spoken with multiple developers, and these discussions have confirmed that the platform of Microsoft will be more powerful than the PlayStation of the new generation.
“I’ve talked with some developers and they have confirmed that the power difference is quite staggering,” said Grannell on Twitter.
“However, it does not mean that you can make good games on the PS5,” he added. “These fanboys obviously don’t care about, and are greatly upset.”
Xbox Series X will feature approximately two teraflops compared to PS5, in spite of this, reports have stated that the PlayStation 5 has an optimization better overall, and a faster SSD, which would make it the best choice for developers.
The?’ve chatted to a few devs and they have confirmed the power difference is quite incident. However they have said it doesn?t mean you can?t make good games on the PS5. These fanboys clearly don?t care about that and are massively rattled.
— Chris Grannell (@CJGrannell) March 22, 2020
The journalist of Kotaku, Jason Schreier, has reported that several development sources have confirmed PS5 as the console is “superior” in “many different ways” outside of the simple count of teraflops.
According to the well-known journalist, however, the developers would be disappointed as Sony has sent the message PlayStation 5, since the general perception is that the Xbox Series X is better overall.
The former marketing director of Xbox, Albert Penello did not focus on the specific in his most recent comment, arguing that, with this amount of power, if PS5 were to cost around $ 399, it would still be a big deal.
Considering this gap in terms of pure power, there is the possibility that Sony could point to a console that is more accessible to a wider audience.
In related news, another developer believes that the SSD PS5 will make the difference more graphics power.
What do you think?


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The latest report suggests that the next iPhone could come in at least six colour variants - giving fans a tough choice to make.
Ming-Chi Kuo, a reputable leaker from China, previously suggested that Apple will release the next iPhone in gold, orange, red, blue, white and grey colour options.
But a new report by Macotakara suggests that this might not be the case.
Instead, the report indicates that the iPhone will come in white, black, flash yellow, electric blue, bright orange and taupe.
Mirror Online has contacted Apple for comment.
Meanwhile, other rumours suggest that Apple could launch as many as three new iPhone models at their annual event in September.
This includes a ‘budget’ iPhone SE, an iPhone 9, and an iPhone X Plus.


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Shringar has in principle agreed to acquire a stake in the digital movie distribution company, said Adlabs Films managing director Manmohan Shetty.
When contacted, Mukta Arts chief executive officer Pankaj Sethi said that, Discussions are under way with Shringar. They have shown a keen interest in joining on as an equity partner.
The MoU (memorandum of understanding) is yet to be signed. Shringar Cinemas director Shravan Shroff declined to comment on the issue.
The project cost for retrofitting 400 B class theatres across India will be around Rs 65 crore. The company, which is called Mukta Adlabs Digital Exhibition Ltd, will make an initial investment of Rs 25 crore to retrofit 100 theatres in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bengal and Bihar in the first phase.
We will study the project after the first phase and decide on the model of funding. Though, the upgrading of the targeted theatres will involve an additional cost of around Rs 40 crore, the funding model will depend on an assessment of the results in the first phase, said Mr Sethi.
The conversion of movies into a digital format is aimed at saving distribution costs, besides providing better picture quality in terms of imaging and colour. It will also help in controlling piracy, thus benefiting film distributors and cinema owners.
Retrofitting of a theatre involves installing a digital film server and a digital projector in the hall. The feature film, which will be stored in a high-capacity disk drive, will be digitally encrypted and capable of being distributed to various theatres. The digital projection device through a server will avoid the use of film prints which cost between Rs 50,000 and 60,000 to the distributor and will enable audiences of B and C class centres to watch latest films on the first day of its worldwide release.
We are not fostering fibre optic or satellite modes at the moment. But the server has a capability of catering to multiple platforms of delivery, said Mr Sethi.
The company has already signed up with ten theatres in UP. We have 3-5 year contracts with the theatre owners. We plan to cover 100 theatres in the next three months. Our plan is to reach 400 theatres across India within one year, said Mr Sethi.
The company has partnered with Singapore technology firm GDC for the new digital projectors. The business concept involves digital film encoding, encryption, storage, delivery and exhibition.


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Digital Entertainment Asset (DEA), operator of the PlayMining GameFi entertainment platform, has entered a strategic partnership with Yield Guild Games Southeast Asia (YGG SEA), a subsidiary of the world's largest P2E gaming guild, Yield Guild Games (YGG).
Web3 entertainment company Digital Entertainment Asset (DEA) has launched Lucky Farmer, a new NFT game on the PlayMining gaming platform.
Identity Management Institute (IMI) has launched a Metaverse Security Centre, to spread awareness of metaverse risk and web3 best practices.
A professor at Morehouse College in Atlanta is to guide students through a course in which Black history is taught entirely through the metaverse.
Game7 has launched a $100 million grant program to accelerate developers who are making Web3 games.
Million Dollar is a Real Estate Company in the Metaverse with a concept of NFT Collection, such as male brokers, female brokers, plotlands, and other properties.
Altered State Machine has partnered with FIFA to launch AI LEAGUE: FIFA WORLD CUP QATAR 2022 EDITION, a "smart football" game experience that begins with a prediction challenge that will be playable during the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Reltime has launched its one-stop-shop solution to fast-track embedded finance, especially designed for telecom operators, financial service providers focusing on specific target groups, neobanks, gaming and virtual sports metaverse companies, supermarket chains, shopping malls, e-commerce firms and others
Swiss luxury watchmaker Hublot has entered the metaverse with the unveiling of the 'Hublot Loves Football Metaverse Stadium'.
Metaverse World has launched a new 5v5 real-time 'Meta Football' game, where gamers around the globe (except for China) can download this new title on Google Play, App Store as well as its own developed PC platform, The CUBE.


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Unity announced partnership with Microsoft
Today at Microsoft’s annual Build conference, Unity announced a partnership between them in Microsoft. They will work alongside the hardware and software giant to develop tools for the Xbox One entertainment system, including support for enhanced Kinect gestures and recognition, multiplayer matchmaking, SmartGlass and cloud gaming.
For any developers out there, the tools developed by Unity will be free or charge for both Xbox 360 and Xbox One. We’d love to see how this partnership will affect the gaming quality that Microsoft promises to bring gamers with the new Xbox One.


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JAPAN: Toyota could knock GM off top perch in 2006
The Toyota group may become the biggest automaker in the world in 2006, ahead of General Motors, thanks to brisk overseas sales, Kyodo News reported, citing industry data.
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- TFG Brands London signs landmark agreement with the International Transport Workers’ Federation.
- TFG, owner of brands including Hobbs and Whistles, is the first fashion company to institute a raft of measures to protect transport workers’ rights.
LONDON — The fashion group which owns brands including Hobbs and Whistles, has signed a first-of-its-kind agreement with the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), to co-operate on preventing, mitigating and addressing human rights risks for transport workers in its supply chain.
TFG is an online and retail fashion group comprising Hobbs, Whistles, Phase Eight and Inside Story. It is the first fashion retailer to partner with ITF, to cooperate on attempts to eradicate labour rights abuses from its entire supply chain – including shipping, freight, and warehouse workers.
Many fashion companies are making sustainability commitments, but labour violations and worker exploitation in the supply chain are often facilitated by subcontractors that fly under the radar of typical corporate due diligence structures. According to a recent investigation, freight subcontractors in Europe exploited a lack of checks and controls during the pandemic, resulting in many drivers being paid as little as €100-600 per month for weeks full of 48-hour non-stop shifts.
Negligence in accurately assessing a supply chain for human rights due diligence leaves companies vulnerable to financial and reputational damage, as a commitment to ethical working practices is the third most important suitability factor to consumers.
The memorandum of understanding (MOU) between TFG and ITF will see both parties work together to examine labour rights risks across all directly operated and subcontracted transportation operations by TFG, and respond in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles Concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and ITF’s Supply Chain Principles.
TFG has also committed to meaningfully engage with the union throughout the entire transport-related human rights due diligence process, and the MOU establishes a technical working group with ITF.
The impact assessment done by ITF as part of the MOU provides TFG with a more accurate picture of its supply chain, and especially its transport workers’ working conditions. ITF conducts quantitative on-the-ground analysis, speaking to workers across the supply chain about their lived experiences.
Governments are increasing their scrutiny of exploitation in the supply chain. In 2021, Germany passed the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act and Norway, the Netherlands, and France also have similar laws. The EU is deliberating over an even more robust Supply Chain Law, that was introduced in February 2022.
TFG has already implemented heightened standards for working conditions across its supply chain. Throughout Covid-19, TFG ensured that seafarers aboard vessels that moved their goods were able to crew change safely in line with their contracts. TFG led in this approach, at a time when some crews found themselves trapped on board vessels for over 24 months, as much as 15 months over contract.
Steve Cotton, General Secretary of ITF commented:
“Everything we own is carried to our doorstep or to our local store by a transportation worker. But the exploitation which occurs on a daily basis along the supply chain is unconscionable, especially by brands who market themselves as ‘sustainable.’ Unchecked, these practices will have huge financial and reputational consequences for sustainable-first fashion brands.
”TFG London has taken the bold and necessary steps to address the human rights issues that occur from factory to customer. We commend their leadership and encourage all brands to work with unions to expose the unseen human and labour rights abuses in their supply chains.”
Justin Hampshire, Chief Executive, TFG Brands London commented:
“ITF has been an invaluable partner of TFG London since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, initially collaborating to address the seafarers’ humanitarian crisis and helping to shine a light on an area of our supply chain where we had limited visibility.
“TFG London is very pleased to sign this joint MOU, setting out a cooperation framework focusing on identifying, mitigating, and addressing transport-related risks in our supply chains. We also hope that our support for ITF will in a small way, contribute to improving global working conditions and encourage other industry peers to engage further.”
About TFG: TFG London is part of The Foschini Group Limited (TFG), a leading South African retail business. TFG entered the UK market in 2015 with the acquisition of Phase Eight, Whistles, Hobbs and the addition of Inside Story to our impressive portfolio of the most successful, premium womenswear and homeware brands in the UK.
About the ITF: The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) is a democratic, affiliate-led federation of transport workers’ unions recognised as the world’s leading transport authority. We fight passionately to improve working lives, connecting trade unions and workers’ networks from 147 countries to secure rights, equality and justice for their members. We are the voice of the almost-20 million women and men who move the world.


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During pandemic lockdowns many of us took the opportunity to learn new skills. Some took to dusting off old jigsaw puzzles, or putting together model cars, or planting new gardens.
One area where a lot of people all over the world became much more proficient was online shopping. Suddenly we discovered how easily we could shop on the internet.
Depending where you were living, you could buy a new hat online on Wednesday and be wearing it on your lockdown-approved walk by the weekend.
It’s a habit a lot of us are finding hard to shake. We boast about the new shoes we picked up for a song on the net – and Canberra retailers are paying the price.
The Black Friday sales have become something of a global phenomenon. Billions of dollars are spent, mostly at the click of a button, as shoppers sniff out bargains. And having Black Friday sales a month before Christmas is proving incredibly enticing.
Add in the cost of living pressures many Canberrans have been struggling with, and the likelihood more pain is to come, it comes as no surprise the release of the pressure valve, even just for a four-day shopping bonanza, is too much for most to ignore.
I’ve only ever bought one item during Black Friday sales. I bought a pair of headphones, in an electronics shop, not because I really needed them, but because I thought the price was too good to ignore.
Don’t get me wrong, my lack of Black Friday activity is no reflection of a lack of desire, more a lack of being organised. Because for a long time, even before the pandemic, I’ve tried to avoid shopping online, especially with the big global behemoths who certainly don’t need my money.
But that means if I need or want something, like a new book, or clothes, I have to get out and get down to the shops. That’s where my lack of organisational ability lets me down.
Canberra Business Chamber CEO Graham Catt sounded cautiously optimistic ahead of these latest sales. The stars were aligning in terms of timing, but there was still the mindset among many that the best bargains could be found online.
This in many situations is the case. But you have to ask yourself, are you happy to save a few dollars shopping with a global online megastore with few overhead costs, rather than support a neighbourhood business which employs locally and reinvests the money back into your community?
Yes, it can be a bit of a hassle, getting up off the couch, grabbing the keys or the bike, and heading into the shops. And for many people, mingling with other shoppers when COVID-19 is still sneaking around the community fills them with dread.
But next time you head down to the local shops, spend some time looking at the storefronts that have been boarded up, with the “for lease” signs in the window, and spend a moment contemplating what happened to the people who used to work there.
And if you still are able to go home, pull out the laptop and try and snap up a bargain, then who am I to judge?


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Your daily dose of chic intel has arrived! Read on for our roster of must-read tidbits…
Gwyneth Paltrow Launches Natural Beauty Line [Racked]
Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow’s first au natural 78-piece cosmetics collection with Juice Beauty launches today. She announced the news last February when she said she’d take a step back from her other endorsements to focus on the project.
For Tom Ford, the Red Carpet Is His Runway [Bloomberg Business]
According to the fashion calendar, Tom Ford wasn’t supposed to be onstage at the Golden Globes. He was scheduled to present a runway collection in London, today. Bloomberg explores how the designer has turned the awards show step-and-repeat into his runway.
Kate Hudson Wears $1.3M In Diamonds to Golden Globes [Page Six]
Kate Hudson sparkled at last night’s Golden Globes…literally. The actress wore $1.3 million worth of Forevermark diamond baubles.
Pressure Builds on Gucci’s Michele to Translate Buzz Into Sales [Business of Fashion]
Gucci’s decision to put Alessandro Michele in charge of its creative turnaround has won praise from the catwalk and industry at large, but BOF explores why investors are still waiting to see the benefit.
The Fashion Crowd Considers J.W. Anderson’s Grindr Debut [The New York Times]
Reactions to news that Jonathan Anderson would live-stream his fall men’s show exclusively on Grindr


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In a bid to promote the solar industry to the masses, SMA Solar UK has launched its first end-user campaign.
The solar inverter manufacturer, which has seen success worldwide, will aim to penetrate the consumer end of the market with its series of cross-media initiatives. SMA hopes to not only raise awareness of solar power, but also to educate the public that there is more to a solar installation than the panels.
SMA also hopes to dispel the myths surrounding solar energy and the feed-in tariff, as many consumers currently feel that they have missed the boat.
The inverter manufacturer’s Life Shines Brighter campaign (image on the right) will build on raising this awareness by displaying how, by utilising efficient products, householders generate more energy and therefore maximise the benefits of solar power.
Paul Boylin, Marketing Manager, SMA Solar UK, said: “We are delighted with the creative for Life Shines Brighter and are hugely grateful to our agency, Robots on the Run, who worked tirelessly to design a campaign that will influence householders to consider PV in an engaging, emotional and thought provoking way.”
“The strategic positioning of Life shines Brighter enables SMA to better support our distribution partners and our loyal installers by creating confidence and security amongst the end-user community by raising their understanding of investing in PV as a lifestyle choice and the impact that choosing the right inverter has on their return on investment”, said Henry Dziuba, Managing Director, SMA Solar UK.
“Whilst Life Shines Brighter is still very much in its infancy, the launch into end-user communication marks another milestone in SMA’s commitment to maintaining and improving our support to customers from across the spectrum of PV to optimise the return on their investment.”


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The Indian government’s anticipated battery swapping policy has reportedly been delayed as discussions over standards continue.
India’s Financial Express reported the Ministry of Consumer Affairs had tried to get companies to agree on a battery standard for swapping at a meeting on January 3. This would help accelerate and provide impetus to the electric vehicle (EV) industry.
The policy has been in the works for more than a year, and a decision was anticipated on 3 January. The IS 17896 standard, to be unveiled by the Bureau of Indian Standards, would focus on three aspects – the battery, connectors and battery management systems.
This would allow consumers to access a battery-swapping ecosystem without being tied to one company or network. But industry stakeholders have argued against on the grounds that they invested in the design and infrastructure of their own networks to meet the proposed changes, the report said.
The government wants to expedite the whole process and achieve consensus by end-January.
In May 2021, BEST reported motorcycle makers in India signed a letter of intent to create a Swappable Batteries Consortium for Motorcycles and Light Electric Vehicles belonging to the L-category: mopeds, motorcycles, tricycles and quadricycles.


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National retailer JB Hi-Fi are infamous for their large range of electronic and entertainment products at low prices, some would consider them a steal, while others are taking that sentiment literally.
According to a report from News Ltd, JB Hi-Fi has reported a loss of more than $12 million worth of stock from items plundered from their stores in the past year alone. It’s an enormous leap of 60% to the number of shoplifters the retailer is experiencing in the last twelve months from $7.5 million.
The number one target for thieves are JB’s range of high-end headphones, but music, DVDs, games and electronic equipment are also being boosted from stores, according to the company’s Chief Executive Terry Smart, who credited a decrease in floor staff as a major contributing factor to the high theft turnover.
According to the JB executive, the company’s shoplifting figures were still low compared to their competitors, with stolen items accounting for 0.39% per cent of total sales, “by industry standards we are very low,” said Mr Smart, “but it’s a concern because it has increased.” Namely from 0.26%, which Mr Smart attributed to a experiencing a reduction in casual staff hours and rostering.
“A function of having less coverage on the shop floor makes that opportunistic side for theft a little bit easier,” said Mr Smart. “It jolts you into looking at everything you do and we are really exploring what opportunities there are to help mitigate this issue.”
It’s a well-known tactic amongst retailers that the presence of staff (and obviously, security) can stop the opportunity of theft even arising, but the retailer is reluctant to tweak their merchandising methods.
Richard Marry, JB Hi-Fi’s Finance Director, said taking security measures – like putting valuable items in glass displays – would slow down sales processes and put customers off purchasing; adding: “You’ll never know the cost of those lost sales.”
JB Hi-Fi are now looking into ways to stave off the increasing wave of stock and items being pinched from their stores, enabling the Victoria Legal Aid’s policies on shoplifters with threats of imprisonment, fines, or both depending on the severity of the offence or the offender’s record.
Police could aid in theft also, recommended JB executives, issuing on-the-spot fines or helping detain shoplifters.
News Ltd points to figures from the Australian Retail Association that show that shoplifting costs retailers an average $7.5 billion last year, which equates to 3% of all retail sales, but it’s still an increase on previous years, rising from $6.8 billion in 2010 and $5 billion in 2009.
JB Hi-Fi’s staggering loss of $12 million worth in CDs, DVDs and electronics, comes alongside the retailer’s annual sales report, which shows the their net profit fell 5%, to $104 million, in the last financial year.


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KFC Australia is letting fans of the fried chicken quick-serve restaurant say "I do" in style thanks to the launch of its new KFC Wedding Service. Couples can have their dream wedding with services including "a KFC-themed celebrant, food truck, photo booth, customized chicken buckets for that very unique guest wedding souvenir as well as music."
The surprising business development by KFC was prompted by the numerous social media photos of couples proposing at a KFC restaurant or enjoying some fried chicken from the brand after the special occasion. For couples interested in using the KFC Wedding Service, they must be located in Australia and the service will be available for eight months.
More quick-serve restaurants are releasing hyper-personalized merchandise and services -- like the KFC Wedding Service -- to increase consumer loyalty.


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Online Petition Wants to Sell Montana to Canada For $1 Trillion
So turns out, you could wake up tomorrow and suddenly be a Canadian citizen.
At least, that's if the people behind this Change.org petition get their way: they're collecting online signatures to get the US government to sell the Big Sky state to Canada, to the tune of $1 trillion. The idea is that this would solve the national debt crisis.
Now, ignoring the fact that the US, as far as we know, has no intention of selling Montana; ignoring the fact that Canada has never expressed an interest in spending a trillion dollars to buy Montana; and ignoring the fact that the national debt is actually hovering at around $22 trillion, meaning this sale would be basically pointless - the question is, would you sign the petition?
A couple of people from Montana in the comments section actually seem in favor of the petition, which states its reasoning simply by saying: "We have too much debt and Montana is useless. Just tell them it has beavers or something."
As of this writing, the petition has over a thousand signatures and the number is climbing. So, who's ready to start adding poutine to their diet?


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Naturepedic, a GOTS-certified organic mattress manufacturer, is helping make a difference in children's lives this holiday season by donating $50,000 worth of kids mattresses to Humble Design Cleveland, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting families' transition out of homeless shelters by providing furnishings and design services.
The Contemporary Design Group announced the winner of the 2022 Edward Haimsohn Design Award at their Annual Conference in Sarasota, Florida. This year there was a tie for top prize, going to Copeland Furniture for the Lisse Chair and Miniforms for the Soda Occasional Table.
Natuzzi S.p.A. producer and distributor of design and luxury furniture announces that Carlo Silvestri is the Chief Financial Officer of the Group, directly reporting to the CEO, Antonio Achille.
Following the appointment of Sean O’Connor as president of Universal Furniture, the company names Neil MacKenzie and Shannon Lookabill to its Senior Leadership Team. The appointments will take effect Jan. 1.
The upcoming Dallas Total Home & Gift Market, Jan. 4-10, will offer home furnishings retailers and interior designers products and inspiration for the new year.
Lightovation, the largest residential lighting trade event in North America, has announced details for its winter 2023 edition, which will run Jan. 10 – 13, overlapping with the end of the winter Total Home & Gift Market (Jan. 4-10) and featuring a Preview Day on Jan. 9.
Owner and creative director of venerable Western design house Kibler & Kirch in Billings, Montana, Jeremiah Young has thought a lot about chairs. Whether curating them for client interiors or designing them in collaboration with the Indiana-based rustic icon Old Hickory Furniture Company.


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Tumblr is trying to restart its ad sales team after Yahoo’s micro-management strategy failed last year. The parent company, run by Marissa Mayer, has given Tumblr back its independence to pitch Madison Avenue, and Arnie Gullov-Singh, the former COO of Polyvore, is in charge of the newly reconstituted Tumblr sales team.
There are still many question surrounding the future of Tumblr, and where it would fit in a potential sale of Yahoo, which is entertaining offers. For instance, if Verizon bought Yahoo — and Tumblr — there might not be a need for an independent ad sales team, at all.
Last year, Tumblr missed its $100 million revenue projections, after Yahoo took over ad sales. There also have been reports that much of Tumblr’s ad inventory sits unsold. Now, Gullov-Singh said he has a strategy to win over advertisers with better services, and Tumblr also started plugging into third parties like Facebook to sell any excess inventory.
Here’s what he had to say, lightly edited for clarity, in his first interview since taking over earlier this year. Gullov-Singh declined to disclose the new revenue forecast, but opened up on selling through Facebook and plans to make Tumblr more accessible to brands.
What was your first order of business as head of monetization?
When I joined the team at the end of last year, we went through a goal-setting exercise. We saw that the audience was growing, more than 500 million visitors a month with 80 percent on mobile, and now we just have to make it easier for brands to see more success.
How do you make it easier for brands?
We make it easier for them to tap into the communities. We rolled out 50 communities that advertisers can target against: Gamers, horror movie fans, fans of TV shows, moms, athletes. And we are coming into sales meetings with value that brands didn’t see from us in the past, with insights tailored to clients, which is something that’s easier to do with a dedicated sales team.
Why are you also selling part of your ad inventory through Facebook, then?
In places that Tumblr and Yahoo don’t have offices, like Italy and Spain — where we don’t have sales teams — we are working with multiple ad networks on a non-exclusive basis. So, we work with companies that have native ad solutions like Facebook, Twitter and Google, because we want to sell our inventory in a way that’s consistent with how we monetize our own product. [Tumblr started showing Facebook Audience Network ads last week, and is still in talks with other networks, which would be able to bid on and buy ad space, too.]
What are some other challenges for advertisers?
In the past, the barrier to entry had been quite high, advertisers had to create a blog before they could promote it. We’re making it easier now with a new product called “blogless posts,” where you could promote your content — your videos, your assets from other platforms — to our audience without having to create a blog. That’s something advertisers have been asking for.
Where do you have your own salesforce, and how is it organized?
The team is back up to 75 people, half are salespeople and half are in support roles like account management and creative services. We’re in most of the major markets New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, London, Munich and Sydney; so we’ve got pretty good coverage and we were able to scale up quickly. Polyvore, which Yahoo bought last year, already had a sales team that was experienced selling social, Tumblr had a pretty good team, and there have been new hires.
What brands are you working with?
We’ve got over 400 brands with active blogs (not all paying advertisers), and we’ve seen success lately with Toyota, Totinos, IBM, Apple, Samsung, Axe, Walgreen and Netflix. Every brand has a presence because the community is creating content every day, and there’s content about every brand, whether they participate or not. Once we show that to brands, that they have a presence, then they say, “OK what do we do with this?” That’s the opportunity.
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Social Media news
Facebook-owned Instagram will soon allow its users to download a copy of all the content they have uploaded on the photo-sharing platform
The Facebook scandal involving the harvesting of data from tens of millions of users has raised a lot of questions about social media and search engines
This is the first full time hire for WhatsApp in India where the app has more than 200 million monthly active users
Users will get a link to see what apps they use and what information they share. If they want, they can shut off apps individually or turn off third-party access to their apps
In its latest transparency report, Twitter said it suspended 274,460 accounts between July and December 2017 "for violations related to the promotion of terrorism"
BE speaks with a bunch of CXOs and communication specialists on Facebook's handling of the crisis and the most significant marketing outcomes of the data breach
Experts say that lax rules on permissions which do not require them to seek explicit permissions from users, larger share of Android users and unique social media habits put Indians at greater risk
Once restricted to small online chatrooms for early bitcoin backers, cryptocurrencies have since exploded in popularity and the industry has grown rapidly
Twitter followed the lead of Google and Facecook, which earlier this year cracked down on digital currency ads to protect users from being duped
The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal, which cost FB $30 billion in stock value, raises questions on the credibility of its subsidiaries, like Instagram, as well.
FMCG companies like ITC, Nestle that spend big on digital advertising seek steps to protect consumer data
YouTube has 225 million monthly active users on its platform and has hundreds and hundreds of hours of content uploaded every minute
Facebook said on Friday it was suspending consulting firm Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) and its political data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica after it found they had violated its policies
Facebook is rolling out the stripped down version of its social media platform, Facebook Lite, to more countries including developed ones
The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) on Wednesday urged all citizens of the country to be "vigilant and alert" and be the "leader of change by flagging misleading advertisements
The main events in a political campaign used to happen in the open, when a debate or major TV ad got attention
The Origin's survey has revealed that over 50 per cent of users between the ages of 18 and 24 had been "seeking relief from social media"
From the newsroom of The Economic Times
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Nissan has issued a recall that applies to about 5,500 units of the Sentra from the 2020 model year. The sedans included in the campaign are fitted with an LED headlight that's improperly aimed, meaning it might not light up the road ahead as well as it's supposed to.
Documents published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) explain that 5,520 examples of the Sentra built from November 26, 2019, to March 24, 2020, are affected by this problem. Nissan adds that only cars equipped with LED headlights are included in the recall campaign, and that only the passenger-side headlight isn't correctly aimed; no issues were found with the driver-side unit.
"In affected lamps, the supplier did not apply the correct aiming logic when setting the headlamp aim parameter," the Japanese firm wrote.
Nissan will begin notifying owners of affected cars on June 3, 2022. While adjusting a headlight might sound relatively simple, this isn't an old-school car where anyone with a screwdriver can set the aim. The company will need to replace the entire headlight assembly.
This isn't the first time Nissan has recalled the Sentra due to a light-related problem. In March 2021, the carmaker announced a recall that included 854,000 cars in the United States and Canada from 2016 to 2019 due to an issue that prevented the brake lights from coming on.
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Join the Wheaton Bike Commission for its annual family-friendly event, the Bike Wheaton Festival, from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Aug. 11, 2018 in downtown Wheaton. The event will be in Memorial Park, 208 W Union Avenue.
- Decorated bike parade through downtown Wheaton at 10 a.m.
- Festival in the park, including exhibits, healthy lifestyle and biking information
- Bike Rodeo with the Wheaton Police Department, where young riders can test their skills
- Bike donation collection for Working Bikes, a nonprofit organization distributing bikes to people in need
- Join the Bike Commission for a 10-mile group bike ride following the event, ending with ice cream downtown
Kids and adults alike can decorate their bikes and join the parade, no registration necessary. Prizes will be awarded for decorated bikes in different age categories.
You can bring used bikes to donate to Working Bikes, a nonprofit organization that distributes bikes to people in need of transportation. Working Bikes will accept bikes of any size, bike parts and accessories, and all donations are tax-deductible.


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Sweden Just Rolled Out the World’s First Electric Highway
Sweden just opened the world’s first electric highway as part of a two-year trial funded by Siemens and Scania. If it works, it could save money, produce fewer emissions, and completely revolutionize the trucking industry. That is, if you’re cool with driving a truck constantly connected to long, electric cables the whole time as you zip down the highway. (Pretty safe guess that most truck drivers won’t love that.) See it for yourself in the video above.


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Telecoms equipment provider Ericsson has agreed a £30 million contract with Cable & Wireless to supply the company with GSM mobile network base stations.
Using equipment supplied by Ericsson, Cable & Wireless plans to supply fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) services to corporate customers.
FMC allows calls made from a mobile phone handset to switch between a cellular network and a VoIP (voice over internet protocol) network.
When FMC users are inside or nearby their work building, mobile phone calls are routed through a small, low-power GSM base-station that transfers the calls to a low-cost VoIP service.
Away from work, calls are routed through standard national GSM networks.
Earlier this year Cable & Wireless announced that Tesco would be its first FMC customer.
The supermarket chain store is paying £100 million for Cable & Wireless to completely overhaul its telecoms network.
Cable & Wireless bought a GSM license for FMC services in 2006, costing the company £50,000.