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Fri, 23 Jun 2023 | ADMINISTRATION
Clothing brand Joules which fell into administration last year, reportedly still owes over £100 million.
According to reports, the retailer is yet to pay back its suppliers, landlords and the holders of gift cards after its collapsed which was due to being unable to repay a bank loan and faced huge increases in shipping and other costs.
Joules was bought out of administration by Next, saving 100 of its stores and Next then teamed up with Joules’ founder, Tom Joule, they respectively own 74 per cent and 26 per cent of the business. The takeover saw Next and Joule acquire the “majority of assets of Joules” through a newly formed company for £34 million at the start of December last year.
According to a progress report from the administrators, unsecured creditors - companies without collateral against the debt owed to them, are still owed a £112 million. Clothing and fabric suppliers are also owed another £38.6 million, associated property companies are owed £3.8 million, and gift card holders are owed £1.3 million.
Before the administration, founder Tom Joule acknowledged that the business had become overly complicated and struggled to cope with increasing costs. He attempted to secure equity investment however, the necessary bridging finance to repay a £5 million loan from Barclays at the end of November couldn’t be secured and the retailer was nearly £114 million in debt.
According to Joules’ ‘statement of affairs’, during its administration, the company owed a software company £345,000, £300,000 to a Deloitte branch in Hong Kong, a number of property companies and landlords were owed hundreds of thousands of pounds and £3.86 million to HMRC.
Joules had assets of approximately £22 million available to pay preferential creditors when administrators were drafted in.
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Ontario residents are reeling from skyrocketing hydro rates and delivery charges as are business operators. Hydro is the second highest operating cost, next to payroll for many business operators. A report released by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce predicts that 1 in 20 businesses may be forced to close their doors permanently over the next 5 years due to high electricity rates.
Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Michael Mantha will be meeting with Loggy Dinelle, owner of Dinelle’s Country Market in Echo Bay and Macdonald, Meredith & Aberdeen Mayor Lynn Watson to discuss the impact hydro rates and delivery charges are having on businesses in communities across Northern Ontario. They will be discussing the devastating impact hydro rates and charges are having on this long time local family grocery store and what this will mean to communities in the area.
The meeting will take place at Dinelle’s Country Market, Hwy 17B in Echo Bay on Saturday October 15th at 1:00 p.m.

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On June 8, Hyperplay, a native Web3 game launcher, announced that it had closed its Series A funding round after raising $12 million from investors including co-leaders Griffin Gaming Partners and Bitcraft Ventures.
Other investors include ConsenSys, the parent company of MetaMask, Ethereal Ventures, Delphi, Game7, Mirana Ventures and Monoceros Ventures.
Hyperplay, created in November 2022 by Metamask and Game7 DAO, claims its platform addresses the challenge of Web3 game interoperability “head-on”, providing interoperability for Web3 games and allowing developers to work without being tied to centralized entities. allows for. Like Apple, Google and Steam.
The platform says it aims to enable interoperability across all Web3 games through a wallet overlay on top of the game that allows players to bring their MetaMask wallet inside native or browser-based games. According to the company, HyperPlay’s game store currently offers more than 33 Web3 titles.
“Since we announced HyperPlay last November, we have focused on building a platform that allows developers and users alike to easily navigate the world of Web3 games,” said JacobC.eth, founder of HyperPlay. allows.”
The platform markets itself as a service for both developers and users, stating that its “developer loyal” approach means that it “does not tax in-game economies, but rather on-ramping or Monetizes optional features like token exchange”.
For users, Hyperplay says it is compatible with all Ethereum Virtual Machine supported chains, allowing players to bring their wallets, tokens and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) into all native or browser games. HyperPlay’s launcher integrates a wallet overlay into the game, so users don’t need to exit the game and use a separate website for NFT transactions, the company said.
Web3 games, or blockchain games, use distributed ledger technology To provide greater transparency, security, democratization and user control over game assets.
According to a report by DappRadar, Web3 gaming will account for nearly half of all blockchain transactions in 2022. This places gaming as the fastest growing sector in the blockchain space, far ahead of decentralized finance (DeFi) and NFTs.
According to another report from DappRadar, this momentum is set to continue into 2023, with the sector seeing steady growth in the first quarter of 2023. Blockchain Games and Metaverse projects received $739 million in funding during this period.
Disclaimer: The information and/or opinions expressed in this article do not represent the views or editorial line of Cointelegraph. The information presented here should not be construed as financial advice or investment recommendation. All investments and commercial dealings involve risk and it is the responsibility of each individual to conduct appropriate research before making any investment decision.


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Targeting Somali business hub in city fuels firm’s growth
According to Abdulgani Ali, the managing director of Sagal Travel and Tours, the firm was established in 2000 to tap the growing business opportunities in Eastleigh.
Before then, the business community in Eastleigh faced challenges getting a travel services that would cater their needs, either in business, leisure or religious.
“We started by targeting the business community in this area who sought to travel to destinations like Dubai or Somalia,” Mr Ali said in an interview, adding: “But, we now serve a much wider clientele including government officials, corporates like banks, and holiday makers”.
Thirteen years later, it has outgrown its niche and is now a global brand, which last year generated about Sh700 million in turnover.
Its 27-year-old boss, Mr Ali, who also started out as an employee at the firm is now one of the main shareholders, holding a 15 per cent stake.
The company, which is now owned by four shareholders, was established with Sh150,000 start-up capital, says Mr Ali, who joined the venture five years later as a travel consultant after completing an International Air Transport Association course in travel consultancy.
In 2007, by virtue of his experience and his value to the company, the two founder directors opted to give him a five per cent stake in the investment as a strategy to retain his services given that he was, by then, considering joining a major airline as an employee with a better pay package.
“I never made any financial contribution to become a shareholder in the company. By the time I wanted to leave, the two shareholders gave me five per cent stake, which they kept increasing gradually to the current 15 per cent,” Mr Ali said.
However, competition has now intensified with about 30 different travel agencies operating in Eastleigh.
So, how has the firm managed to be successful to an extent of winning major awards from leading global airlines?
Visitors to Mecca
Besides serving the business community well, the agency has also been doing Islamic Pilgrimage (Islamic tourism) targeting Muslims visiting Mecca, Saudi Arabia, says Mr Ali.
The company also initiated chartered flights to Northern Kenya in 2009 to cater for politicians, government officials and potential investors in the area, with a frequency of one charter flight that carries about 30 people to and from Mandera each week. This has increased the number of tickets sold four fold in the last five years.
“We used to sell about 5,000 tickets a year in 2008, but we now sell over 20,000 as of last year,” he noted.
The firm has been nominated for the world travel awards that will take place in Nairobi in October this year and will battle it out for the top honours with nine other nominees.
On expansion, the firm says it will tighten its grip on travel and tourism sector, which has high growth potential especially given the growing trade globally.
“We’ve also capitalised on the return of peace in Somalia, where we have two offices in Mogadishu and Hargeysa, Somaliland,” Mr Ali said. Now, the company has four offices in Kenya, Uganda, Somalia and Somaliland but has plans to open more in the region.
Although the industry has a lot of potential, there are still many challenges, which include the restrictions of travel on the African continent which has in turn hindered business growth and trade expansion.
Pricing is also a major issue, especially with rising competition from both the local and international travel companies, with some players undercutting others in a bid to remain in business.
“The challenge of pricing in this industry is very big in Kenya. Many players are keen on undercutting each other rather than offering quality, service” he said.


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Two years ago, Bradley Price was driving his red 1983 Alfa Romeo GTV6 2.5 when inspiration struck.
“There are so many wonderful gauge designs from the 1960s and ’70s that I love,” Mr. Price, a 31-year-old product designer from Brooklyn, said in an interview this week, specifically mentioning Alfa Romeo and Ferrari racecars from the early ’70s. “I did some research and saw that no one was doing that for watches.”
When he returned home, he fired up Photoshop and began rendering watch faces loosely inspired by the gauges he loved.
“I abstracted them and reduced them,” he said.
Ultimately, he cycled through five versions before completing five designs — the stainless steel watch case also went through several versions — and released the watches under the brand Autodromo last month.
The watches, which house Swiss-made quartz movements, are sleek rather than gaudy or overtly automotive, with a signed crown and leather band.


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Trade Ministry assists 56 coys in production of sanitisers, ventilators
The Federal Government said it assisted over 56 companies to boost the production of hand sanitizers and ventilators to meet the need of the nation throughout the COVID-19 lockdown, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment has said.
It also said the Committee on Sustainable Production and Delivery of Essential Commodities, resolved about 121 complaints during the period of the ban on inter-state travels, out of which 76 per cent were related to the movement of manufacturing and pharmaceutical products.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Richard Adeniyi Adebayo, disclosed this yesterday, in Abuja, at the award ceremony for members of the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) of the Committee on Sustainable Production and Delivery of Essential Commodities during COVID-19 lockdown.
He said the EOC was responsible for the monitoring of the transportation and delivery of essential goods across the country during the interstate travel ban, which enabled the government to reduce the difficulties faced by manufacturers, transporters, and distributors of essential commodities.
Adebayo assured that the government has put up quality policies to further support the manufacturing and other key sectors of the economy, to increase productivity for Nigeria’s rapid economic growth.
The Minister used the occasion to commend members of the committee for effective discharge of their mandate, adding that based on feedback received during the exercise, it is now imperative that Nigeria develops the capacity to produce some of the products it needed.
He stated, “For the first time in our nation, we all have to come together to tackle the vulnerability that the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed. The spread of the virus resulted in a number of casualties across the board, as jobs were lost, and supply was disrupted, which led to a shortfall in movement of goods and services.”
But our manufacturing sector continues to be our key focus, as our economy continues to grow. From the market intelligence findings, more than ever before, we need to boost local production of key commodities required.”
He added that, “Our efforts as a response team at the Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment have been recognized, and we have been mandated to lead the Presidential Task Force responsible to deliver increased capacity in local manufacturing.”
Also speaking, the Minister of State for Industry Trade and Investment, Mrs Mariam Katagum, said the pandemic had created a consciousness among Nigerians on the need for stakeholders to look inward in solving the economic challenges.
Katagun said, ‘’From what has happened during the pandemic, everyone was either producing a facemask or sanitizers, so what stops us after the pandemic to produce anything that we want to produce that we have the talent to do? This COVID period has shown that we can achieve whatever we set out to do as a nation.”
Also, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, said the government would do all it can to ensure that the impact of the pandemic does not cripple the economy, as it is more committed to producing and manufacturing home made products in a sustainable manner.
In his response, the Chairman of the EOC, Tijani Inuwa, on behalf of others, commended the Ministry for the support given to the team during the assignment.
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Why is Seiko Exiting Baselworld?By Sumit Nag
The reality of it is that as Seiko departs from Baselworld the casualty count is not one, but two. Seiko’s exit from Baselworld 2020 means that Seiko itself and Grand Seiko as well are no longer going to be part of the Switzerland-based watch fair.
As word of the development spread last weekend, a spokesperson representing both brands shared with Revolution saying, “The timing of Baselworld 2020 is considerably later than in previous years. The new date is too late for the launch of our Seiko collection and is particularly challenging for Grand Seiko for which we have a special program in celebration of the 60th anniversary of its creation. As a result, we have decided that our two brands will not be present at Baselworld in 2020.”
Seiko and Grand Seiko’s exit from Baselworld comes in the wake of the already departed Swatch Group, Raymond Weil, Corum and, most recently, Breitling who have said that they are only out for 2020.
The Swatch Group has already taken on their own show, called Time to Move, which saw retailers earlier in the year in Geneva over the course of the days of Baselworld 2019. Following which they had a press and media showing in May for six of their larger brands.
Corum has taken to doing their own regional summits; Breitling, of course, has been holding their Breitling Summit regionally for a while now.
In like fashion, Seiko will be showcasing the year’s novelties on their own terms moving forward. Speaking on behalf of the two brands, the above spokesperson shared: “We will hold regional and national events of our own for both Grand Seiko and Seiko at the earliest opportunity so that media representatives and our retail partners can see our new collections and experience the latest developments in the Seiko and Grand Seiko worlds.”
The other Japanese brands who showcase at Baselworld, namely, Casio and Citizen have made no remark on how much longer they will be a part of the Swiss fair for now.


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Blackberry Priv goes up on pre-order (updated)
Despite the fuss that has been generated by the Blackberry Priv device, speculations on specifications and interesting news of the Android from Blackberry coming to light every time, Blackberry itself has sought to put a lid over the constant noise in the media by just opening up shop fort the pre-order of its new flagship device, eliminating all other forms of publicity such as hosting a media event and the likes.
The Blackberry Priv is set to make its entrance into the smartphone market on the 16th of November and according to sources, this device is not compatible with the Sprint, Verizon and U.S Cellular carriers. The starting price for the sale of the Blackberry Priv (via pre-order) is $749.
The final and confirmed spec sheet of the devices sees it stand in line with other 5.4″ dual curved screen which has been made of the Corning Gorilla Glass 4 technology. A Snapdragon 808 chipset is present on board with some 3GB of RAM to run on. The GPU is also of Adreno 418 build, not forgetting that its CPU is hexa-core.
After the 16MP camera on the back for rear photo shooting is the 2MP on the front of the device for your selfies and personal video recording. It packs a battery of 3140mAh that is promised would last some 22.5 hours with fair mixed usage.
You can now hurry to Blackberry’s website to pre-order the device now.
The webpage has been taken down. Seems like a mistake after all.
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- BlackBerry Priv To Receive Marshmallow update


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Capturing Love in Cancun with Destination Wedding Photographer Citlalli Rico
By James Broadbent
Founders Fund led the seed round investment in the New Zealand-based startup, comprised of former Uber and Google employees and founded by an internationally-renowned photographer
We are pleased to announce our USD$2.58 million seed raise to scale our artificial intelligence-powered photo selection tool to millions of photographers worldwide. The round was led by Founders Fund with Icehouse Ventures contributing.
Our first photo-blogging service, Publish, scaled organically via word-of-mouth to wedding photographers around the world. Today, tens of thousands of portrait, lifestyle, wedding, and influencer photographers have used Narrative Publish to improve their photography blogs’ aesthetic and SEO - the lifeblood of marketing efforts for freelance photographers. Photographers pay an annual subscription to use Publish.
Our newest product, Narrative Select, uses machine learning to label the desirability of a photo, initially focusing on attributes of human subjects and focus of the image. Photo subjects with partially-closed eyes are flagged by the technology as desirable or undesirable in a matter of seconds. The product’s machine learning models are able to detect image attributes, like closed eyes or an unfocused picture, with 98% accuracy. Typically, Select will apply warning labels to the worst images — usually around 30% of any given batch of photos — dramatically speeding up the editing process for photographers who would otherwise have to sift through thousands of poor-quality images.
The need Select fills is particularly exciting for the professional photographer. For every day a photographer spends behind a camera shooting, they spend up to four days behind the computer. For photographers who are not as technologically adept, that translates into far more time stuck behind their computer screens using complicated products, while not making money for that time at the computer. Narrative Select’s intuitive and easy to master UX with quick-key shortcuts enables a photographer to not only flag and remove bad photos, but sift through photos quickly and efficiently.
Our goal, at the heart of all our products, is to reduce the workload outside of the photoshoot, helping a market of 5+ million professional and freelance photographers increase their efficiency, freeing up more of their time to grow their book of business. The current version of Select focuses specifically on photography of human subjects. This will expand into fashion, commercial, and lifestyle photography in the coming months.
“Over the last year, we have seen a groundswell of organic demand for Narrative’s software among thousands of professional and freelance photographers worldwide,” said James Broadbent, Co-Founder and CEO of Narrative. “We’re excited to broaden our suite of services to include a lightning-speed, comprehensive photo-culling tool that leverages machine-learning to instantly label poor images while taking into account a photo’s nuance, a photographer’s patterns, and a client’s preferred style. It’s especially exciting to have assembled a world-class team from companies like Google and Uber to take our product and growth to the next level.”
“Narrative’s products have dramatically changed my workload as a photographer by saving days if not weeks of time on editing photos and marketing my business,” said Nicole Ashley.


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PHILADELPHIA, PA – As millions of Americans are forced to stay home, online sales are starting to indicate that many may have turned to barbecue as one of their choices for food preparation.
Starting in March, online sales for the popular barbecue spice rub and seasoning called WannaRub saw a major increase. WannaRub, which officially launched just under a year ago has already sold more than 12,000 bottles of their signature spice blend. As those stay-at-home orders started to be put in place, their website saw a major uptick.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence,” said Eric Strohl, RubMaster and Founder of WannaRub. “With all of our upcoming events being canceled, and our partner retail locations being harder to get to, people have turned to ordering their favorite blend online.”
In the last 30 days, online orders have increased by 32 percent along with a 50% bump in average order size. As a result, the company has decided to run a special promotion for all of those who are currently on what seems like house arrest.
“To help people get through these difficult times, we’re offering a discount on our Two and Five-Pack Combo’s in addition to offering free priority two-day shipping on orders over $28” said Strohl. “And, they can be rest assured that our product is made entirely here in the USA.”
According to the company’s website, WannaRub, The Perfect Condiment For All Your Food, can be used as a dry rub for beef, chicken, pork and fish, or also as a seasoning on pasta, potatoes, veggies, or any side dish. WannaRub contains no additives, preservatives, MSG, GMO’s and is gluten-free. The proprietary blend features cane sugar, smoked Spanish paprika, pink Himalayan salt, fresh ground pepper, granulated garlic, granulated onion, dried chiles, and other herbs and spices.
WannaRub, headquartered in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, is a spice rub and seasoning company, which was founded in 2018 by Eric Strohl, a former Navy rescue swimmer, who served in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm and in Somalia during Operation Restore Hope. While on a family vacation in 2008, Strohl’s mother Anne concocted the initial recipe of WannaRub, which the entire family and many friends since have enjoyed. After eight more years of experimentation, WannaRub – The Original Blend was perfected and developed. For more information or to place an order visit WannaRub.com.


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EA announced today (22) the production of two new Battlefield games. One of them will be a mobile game, developed by Industrial Toys and supervised by DICE. The game arrives in 2022 and will have versions for Android and iOS.
According to DICE general manager Oskar Gabrielson, the game will be a spin-off of the franchise and will bring “open warfare” to smartphones and tablets. Also according to the executive, the game has spent years in development and is in the final stages of testing.
“Battlefield mobile is going to be a completely different game than what we're doing for PC and consoles, it's designed specifically for mobile platforms,” said Gabrielson. The game is currently undergoing internal testing.
We can certainly expect an online game that will only contain the "core" of Battlefield's online multiplayer.
It's not the first time Battlefield has appeared on mobile. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 was released for iOS in 2010. In 2012, Battlefield 3 Aftershock was also released for iOS. The series was never really a hit on mobile, but apparently, EA wants to move after seeing the success of PUBG and COD Mobile.
See a Windows 10 tablet running Battlefield 4
The Last Survivor: Android game updates “Battlefield 4” mode


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Amazon has extended the services of Amazon Transportation Services Private Limited (ATSL) to deliver products from sellers who transact on Amazon directly to customers in India, reports ET Tech. ATSL will now be available to merchants as one of their logistics partners for Amazon’s Indian marketplace.
Note that Amazon had expanded its Easy Ship delivery service in December last year and had started a pilot on product returns, as part of a move to make it a complete end-to-end logistics service for sellers using its e-commerce platform. The company claims that this platform serves 12,000 out of its 20,000 sellers.
By launching ATSL in India, Amazon will be at par with Flipkart and Snapdeal which offer their own logistics services in eKart and GoJavas respectively. Amazon, which currently operates nine fulfilment centres in eight Indian states, said it will continue to work with other partners including India Post and courier companies like Gati, Blue Dart and DHL.
Previously, Amazon had launched a pilot project to test India Post’s cash on delivery model through which, India Post will collect payment from its customers. It had also launched its third-party logistics service in India starting with a pilot in Delhi-NCR region that lasted till February.
Joining the bandwagon
Most e-commerce companies in India currently offer logistics support for merchants listed on their website. Flipkart launched its own fulfillment service for third party merchants called ‘Flipkart Advantage’ in September last year, which made products eligible for faster delivery options like Flipkart’s same day delivery and next-day delivery. This was after the company had opened its logistics arm eKart Logistics to other operators in February the same year.
In May last year, Snapdeal stated that it had opened over 40 fulfillment centers across 15 cities that would take care of warehousing, logistics and liaison with courier companies. Following this, it had extended its same day delivery service ‘Snapdeal Plus’ to sellers in 15 cities across India. Just earlier this month,the company picked up a minority stake in logistics firm GoJavas, with a goal to enable four hour deliveries. It is also interesting to note that Snapdeal had launched a fulfillment service for sellers listing their products on its platform called SafeShip, in June 2013.
There’s also Infibeam which launched a SaaS-based logistics services aggregation platform called ShipDroid, which will help merchants deliver packages throughout the country and JustDial, which announced integrating logistics services that would offer its merchants the ability to deliver products purchased via its marketplace.
Rocket Internet-backed online furniture retailer FabFurnish also launched a shipping solutions provider called FabOne earlier this month, with an intention to invest $15 million in the service over the next 6-9 months to expand it. Kartrocket had also opened up its stand alone delivery service Shiprocket to all operators. Courier company DTDC Couriers & Cargo had launched a new specialized e-commerce logistics initiative called DotZot in March 2013. In December 2012, Rocket Internet-backed Jabong had launched third-party logistics service called JaVAS (Jabong Value Added Services). It later on sold it to Gurgaon-based QuickDel Logistics.
Other startups include Delhivery, which raised $35 million in Series C round of funding led by Multiples Alternate Asset Management in September last year and Holisol Logistics which received $1.5 million investment from the oil and gas professional Sundeep Bhandari in August the same year. Note that Delhivery had previously acquired the offline cash collection network of Gharpay and the Gharpay brand for an undisclosed amount in June 2013.


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Kim Kardashian Slams Fast Fashion Brands for Knocking Off Her Looks: 'It's Devastating to See'
Kim Kardashian has a lot of feelings about fast fashion companies ripping off her outfits
People often say imitation is the best form of flattery, but Kim Kardashian West isn’t here for the copycats.
The Keeping Up with the Kardashians star has become known for wearing one-of-a-kind custom designs and vintage pieces straight from high fashion labels’ archives. But with Kardashian West’s more than 127 million Instagram followers jumping at the chance to channel their inner KKW, fast fashion brands — which produce inexpensive clothing for the mass-market in response to trends — started copying her looks and selling them almost immediately after she steps out wearing them.
Though she jokingly called out fast fashion companies on her Instagram before, after Kardashian West’s vintage 1998 Thierry Mugler got ripped off by Fashion Nova less than 24 hours after she wore it to the Hollywood Beauty Awards, she had enough. And she let out all her feelings in a lengthy Twitter rant on Tuesday.
“It’s devastating to see these fashion companies rip off designs that have taken the blood, sweat and tears of true designers who have put their all into their own original ideas,” Kardashian West said in a lengthy thread on Twitter.
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“I’ve watched these companies profit off my husband’s work for years and now that it’s also affecting designers who have been so generous to give me access to their beautiful works, I can no longer sit silent,” the reality star said.
She continued, “Only two days ago, I was privileged enough to wear a one-of-a-kind vintage Mugler dress and in less than 24 hours it was knocked off and thrown up on a site – but it’s not for sale. You have to sign up for a waitlist because the dress hasn’t even been made to sell yet.”
Kardashian West then shut down the internet rumors circulating that have accused the star of working in cahoots with fast fashion brands and tipping them off to what she plans on wearing.“This is a way to get people to sign up for their mailing list and make people believe there is some kind of relationship between me and this fashion site. There is not,” the reality star said.
“My relationships with designers are very important to me. It’s taken me over a decade to build them and I have a huge amount of respect for the amount of work that they put into bringing their ideas to life,” Kardashian West continued.
She added, “I often plan for weeks, sometimes months, and even a year in advance, and I’m grateful for every fashion moment those designers and their dresses have helped me create.”
Kardashian West ended her fast fashion shutdown by giving her fans a piece of advice: “So, as always, don’t believe everything you read and see online. I don’t have any relationships with these sites. I’m not leaking my looks to anyone, and I don’t support what these companies are doing.”
The $49.99 “Winning Beauty Cutout Gown” sold out within minutes on the Fashion Nova website.
Fashion Nova maintains that while they have not collaborate with Kardashian West on any of the look-a-like dresses, they will continue to seek fashion inspiration from the star’s wardrobe.
“Fashion Nova is an ultra-fast fashion brand that is capable of executing design within hours and believes in fairness in pricing. We strive to offer our customers affordable leading trends,” a rep for the brand shared in a statement with PEOPLE, adding, “We respect the fashion community and work with a variety of vendors, designers, influencers and celebrities to keep our style offering fresh and relevant. Kim Kardashian West is one of the top fashion icons in the world that our customers draw inspiration from. However, we have not worked with Kim Kardashian West directly on any of her projects but have been driven by her influential style.”
Earlier this month, Kardashian West posted this pic of a metallic gold gown Kanye made for her, which she ultimately chose not to wear (yet!), the star begged fast fashion brands not to knock it off. “P.S. fast fashion brands, can you please wait until I wear this in real life before you knock it off? ,” she jokingly wrote on Instagram.


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Costs to be Amongst the Top 25 Mobile Apps Around the World
By Dean Takahashi for VentureBeat
It can cost $200,000 in advertising expenses to push an app into the top 25 ranks in the U.S., according to data from mobile marketing firm Fiksu.
Fiksu analyzed what it costs to reach the top ranks in the iOS app store around the world. While the U.S. is the most expensive, it costs only $15,000 to hit the top 25 ranks in Canada.
Meanwhile, it costs $65,000 for Germany; $45,000 for the United Kingdom, $30,000 for France; $10,000 for Thailand; and $35,000 for Brazil.
Tom Cummings, director, account management at Fiksu, said in a statement, “Visibility in the iOS App Store is a great way to get more organic downloads — but climbing the ranks can be hard. Paid app promotion to generate downloads can help propel you to the top of the charts – but cracking the top 25 overall free apps in the U.S. is an expensive proposition. While the U.S. App Store remains the most lucrative, marketers with the option of promoting in other countries should at least consider app marketing that takes advantage of much lower costs to get top 25 visibility or better.”


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Fashion says it gives a shit, we geddit. The greenwashing chorus has reached epic proportions with the majority of brands saying how much they care about the *insert - environment/climatechange/sustainability/recycling/ethical/everything - here*.
The latest round of men’s fashion weeks and trade shows were full of it, but it all feels like tinkering. Fashion brands and companies have done most of the easy and cosmetic cost-saving measures. The difficult and expensive bits will be ignored or pushed onto the back burner unless they are forced to, and this is why legislation is so important. It creates a minimum and also a level playing field for all. It also means, as a consumer, you can be assured that these things should and would be adhered to and what the law is when it comes to these topics. It is a bit Nanny State, but unfortunately it’s the only way to make everybody change and conform. Just look at the tax on plastic bags and also the minimum alcohol pricing in Scotland, it changes behaviours, for the better. Taxes and laws force change and post-Brexit legislation needs to be green focused.
In June 2019, The Environmental Audit Committee published the Government Response to the ‘Fixing Fashion Report: Clothing Consumption and Sustainability’. The report published in February 2019 called on the Government to end the era of throwaway fashion through wide-ranging recommendations covering environmental and labour market practices. All of which were rejected.
Environmental Audit Committee Chair Mary Creagh MP - she has since lost her Labour Wakefield seat to Conservative candidate Imran Khan - said at the time: “Fashion producers should be forced to clear up the mountains of waste they create. The Government has rejected our call, demonstrating that it is content to tolerate practices that trash the environment and exploit workers despite having just committed to net zero emission targets.
“The Government is out of step with the public who are shocked by the fact that we are sending 300,000 tonnes of clothes a year to incineration or landfill. Ministers have failed to recognise that urgent action must be taken to change the fast fashion business model which produces cheap clothes that cost the earth.”
On workers’ rights Mary Creagh said: “We presented the Government with the evidence that it has failed to stop garment workers in this country being criminally underpaid, despite its claim that the number of national minimum wage inspectors has increased.
“The public has a right to know that the clothes they buy are not produced by children or forced labour, however the Government hasn’t accepted our recommendations on the Modern Slavery Act to force fashion retailers to increase transparency in their supply chains.”
The report recommended a new ‘Extended Producer Responsibility’ (EPR) scheme to reduce textile waste with a one penny charge per garment on producers. No detail on when EPR scheme for textiles will be introduced; consultation could run as late as 2025. Ban on incinerating or landfilling unsold stock that can be reused or recycled. Rejected. Government considers positive approaches are required to find outlets for waste textiles rather than simply imposing a landfill ban. Mandatory environmental targets for fashion retailers with a turnover above £36 million. Not accepted. Government points to environmental savings made by a voluntary industry-led programme but fails to address evidence from WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) that the impact of increased volumes of clothing being sold outweighs efficiency savings made on carbon and water.
The fashion industry must come together to set out their blueprint for a net zero emissions world, reducing their carbon consumption back to 1990 levels. Not accepted. Government points to support for the voluntary Sustainable Clothing Action Plan (SCAP), co-ordinated by WRAP with the industry working towards targets to reduce carbon emissions, water and waste. The scheme should reward fashion companies that design products with lower environmental impacts and penalise those that do not. Not accepted. Govt will focus on tax on single-use plastic in packaging, not clothing. The report called on the Government to use the tax system to shift the balance of incentives in favour of reuse, repair and recycling to support responsible fashion companies. Not accepted.
The rejections go on. The report made 18 recommendations covering environmental and labour practices. Many are these are common sense and could be the catalyst for big changes. Relying on voluntary actions is slower and is harder to measure.
Somebody needs to pick up the mantle from Creagh and force this through a post-Brexit parliament. If the government won’t even accept even one penny on each item sold to make the producer more responsible for the end of life of a garment then it feels like they are deaf to all suggestions until we all start to shout. Creagh MP, told The Industry’s inaugural ‘Fashion Futures Forum’ in Nov. 2018. “Fashion is the third biggest industry in the world after cars and electronics. If it carries on the way it’s growing we just won’t have enough planetary resources.”
It’s Copenhagen Fashion Week, this week, and they are trying to make it the go-to destination for sustainable fashion. “Highly ambitious goals are required to leverage the influence and impact of Copenhagen Fashion Week” said CEO, Cecilie Thorsmark. It has launched an action plan requiring participating brands to meet minimum sustainability requirements by 2023. If the brands don’t make the environmental cut then they won’t be eligible to show. There is a list of 17 standards to meet. Some examples are pledging not to destroy unsold clothes, using at least 50% certified, organic, up-cycled or recycled textiles in all collections, using only sustainable packaging and zero-waste set designs for shows.
“All industry players – including fashion weeks – have to be accountable for their actions and be willing to change the way business is done. The timeframe for averting the devastating effects of climate change on the planet and people is less than a decade, and we’re already witnessing its catastrophic impacts today. Put simply, there can be no status quo,” said Thorsmark.
The ‘Sustainability Action Plan 2020-2022’ presents how the event will transition to becoming more sustainable, for example by reducing its climate impact by 50% and rethinking waste systems in all aspects of event production, with zero waste as the goal by 2022. Copenhagen is looking at every little detail, they say they will always 'prioritise' selecting sustainable options for supplies, including organic, vegetarian and preferably locally sourced food and snacks, sustainable beverages, no single-use plastic cutlery, straws or tableware, the most environmentally friendly buses available and electric cars. They have stopped using goodie bags and stopped producing new seasonal staff uniforms.
Copenhagen Fashion Week’s own operations have been climate compensated and they support two Verified Carbon Standard and Climate Community and Biodiversity Alliance Gold Level projects through Rensti, respectively tree planting (Tist) and forest conservation (Kariba). They have offset the flights and hotel accommodation of Copenhagen Fashion Week’s invited international guests, their official opening dinner, the press busses (including the organic food and beverages served on the buses), logo stickers for cars and they run a climate-neutral website.
The Scandinavians are leaders here, but other fashion weeks will quickly follow suit. As for fashion businesses, no business wants to be wasteful, it’s a cost saving to be more efficient, but the easy stuff has been done. It’s time to get hardcore and only governments will have the power. The law is the law. When standards are defined in law then there is a understandable definite. Consumers won’t trust anything else.
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A large bulk of the fashion industry is feeling pretty smug with itself. The just-gone G7 summit in Biarritz, France, a meeting of the world’s largest economies, saw French President Emmanuel Macron, accompanied by Economy and Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire, Minister of Labour, Muriel Pénicaud, and Deputy Minister of Ecological and Solidary Transition, Brune Poirson, launch the ‘Fashion Pact’. An initiative to minimise the environmental impact of the fashion industry, the Fashion Pact, signed by various fashion companies and brands, made numerous commitments regarding sustainability, renewable energy and biodiversity.
Left - Tall glass of Pinault?! The 'Fashion Pact' launch at the recent G7 summit
Making plenty of noise, and, while anything in the right direction, particularly while the Amazon rainforest is burning, is welcome, it’s worth looking at some of the detail.
Thirty two companies representing around 150 brands and roughly 30% of the fashion industry committed to:
“100% renewable energy across own operations with the ambition to incentivise implementation of renewables in all high impact manufacturing processes along the entire supply chain by 2030.”
“Protect the oceans: by reducing the fashion industry’s negative impact on the world’s oceans through practical initiatives, such as gradually removing the usage of single-use plastics.”
“Restore biodiversity: by achieving objectives that use Science-Based Targets to restore natural ecosystems and protect species.”
“Stop global warming: by creating and deploying an action plan for achieving the objective of zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, in order to keep global warming below a 1.5°C pathway between now and 2100.”
These all feel like the least they can do. Words like ‘gradually’ and ‘ambition’ make most of this wishful thinking. But, waiting until 2050 to achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions is laughable. Most of the signatories will be dead by then. It’s 31 years away!!! Who’s to say any of these companies will still be in business?
We live in a very stressful and confusing time. Environmental paralysis is understandable amongst consumers not sure exactly what they can do to combat climate change. But, waiting until 2050 to ‘possibly’ make that new handbag zero carbon emissions ain’t one of them. Green lip service is becoming increasingly frustrating and brands are going to have to give definite and distinct decisions while updating consumers on progress and fact based information much faster than this. People want to see something.
The brands involved include adidas, Bestseller, Burberry, Capri Holding Limited, Carrefour, Chanel, Ermenegildo Zegna, Everybody & Everyone, Fashion3, Fung Group, Galeries Lafayette, Gap Inc, Giorgio Armani, H&M Group, Hermès, Inditex, Karl Lagerfeld, Kering, La Redoute, matchesfashion.com, Moncler, Nike, Nordstrom, Prada Group, Puma, PVH Corp., Ralph Lauren, Ruyi, Salvatore Ferragamo, Selfridges Group, Stella McCartney and Tapestry.
In April 2019, ahead of the G7 meeting, Emmanuel Macron gave François-Henri Pinault, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Kering, a mission to bring together the leading players in fashion and textile, with the aim of setting practical objectives for reducing the environmental impact of their industry. And the Fashion Pact was born.
This goes someway to explain the most noticable luxury absentee from the list, the LVMH group. LVMH, Kering's main luxury competition, announced in May that it was partnering with Unesco on a five-year deal, allowing the fashion houses in the group access to “a network of experts at the regional level and in different disciplines to drive the development and success of their initiatives to protect biodiversity” and secure transparent supply chains. They’ve also recently cemented a tie-up with British designer Stella McCartney to lead their charge in sustainable luxury.
The majority of these brands don’t know what the eco-future looks like, but they know they need to start making the right noises yet want to continue to generate billions of dollars in yearly turnovers. Signing up to things like the ‘Fashion Pact’ focuses minds, but the time frame makes it a case of we’ll start tomorrow, which goes against the current urgent 'Climate Emergency' feeling felt within the wider population.
Kering issued a statement saying, “Private companies, working alongside nation states, have an essential role to play in protecting the planet. With the Fashion Pact, some leading players in the fashion and textile sector are joining forces for the first time to launch an unprecedented movement. A collective endeavour by its nature, the Fashion Pact is open to any company that wants to help to fundamentally transform the practices of the fashion and textile industry, and to meet the environmental challenges of our century.”
If these luxury companies worked as quickly as they did when chucking money at Notre-Dame, after its fire, then we’d really be getting somewhere. Pinault found €100m (£90m) down the back of the sofa and the Arnault family stumped up €200m within hours of the flames being put out.
Governments will need to bring in legislation much sooner to force these companies to do more. We’re going to look back at this period of history and wonder how we got through it sanely, but what we know is, we have to start today.
Founded by footballers, Mathieu Flamini and Mesut Özil, UNITY, is a new men’s grooming brand that has been “designed to put people’s health and our planet on the right path to a sustainable future".
The range is comprised of 11 vegan friendly products that feature the highest grade of up to 100% natural origin formulations free from SLS & SLES, parabens, PEGS, mineral oil, silicones, synthetic colours and artificial fragrance for maximum results and performance.
In a bid to reduce the use of virgin plastic, the brand sought out a bio-plastic alternative made from sugar cane that is 100% recyclable, thus minimising the carbon footprint of the brand. Alongside the product, UNITY strives to keep sustainability at its core throughout the business, with customer deliveries arriving in fully recycled craft boxes with bio-degradable and non-toxic starch chips as packing fill.
The brand also believes in the importance of giving back, with 1% of all company revenues going towards causes that seek to make a true difference to people and planet
Left - UNITY - Hair Boost – Shampoo, £10.95, Body Boost – Shower Wash, £8.95, Skin Defence – Face Moisturiser, £11.90, Skin Detox – Face Wash, £10.95
TheChicGeek says, “In our post Blue Planet world, plastic is vilified as the devil of all packaging. If only solving our plastics problem resolved the whole of our environmental issues… But, we have to start somewhere and these guys seem passionate about this subject.
Surely the most environmentally packaged grooming product ever is the humble bar of soap? Used for millennia, is it not the reason Lush made all their products solid? The problem with trying to care for the environment is - and, let’s be honest, anything in the right direction is a good thing - you put yourself out there to be ripped apart. Anything packaged and part of consumerism can be lambasted for simply existing. I think it’s important to say you care, but you also have to acknowledge you’re part of the problem. People will still need to wash and clean themselves and how a brand facilitates this can be minimised. Ernest Supplies’ pouches spring to mind.
Launching with 11 products isn’t really saying "minimal" to me, especially when there’s a shower wash for the morning and and separate one for the evening. (British people only shower twice a day on holiday, FYI).
The main parts of the tubes are made from sugar cane, - Bulldog is another brand I know who is using this too - but the tops are a 25% mix and there’s a beard oil in a glass jar. This goes back to the main problem we have of mixed recycling issues.
The branding is pretty nondescript - it feels a bit 10 years ago - and the packaging is a bit anonymous and generic. There’s no indication of the main ingredients on each product, leaving you to guess the main scent, and saying ’99% Natural Origin’ just makes you think what’s in the other 1% then?
As for the products, they’re not bad and I think they offer value. I tried 4 out of the 11. I sampled the face wash, shampoo, body wash and moisturiser. It feels natural, hence the looseness of some of the consistencies, and the smells are light and not overpowering.
I like the smell of the face wash and moisturiser. The former is a mineral clay in a light toffee colour and the latter is coconut. There’s no lingering smell from the body wash.
This feels like a reliable range, I just wished they’d tried to be more dynamic with the branding and packaging to reflect the passion they have and also to standout in a crowded market. Whispering your green credentials won't change anything”.
Below - UNITY Founders Mathieu Flamini and Mesut Özil
It was while at the Copenhagen fashion trade show, CIFF, previewing the forthcoming SS19 collections, when I noticed Phipps International. It was a print featuring extinct animals and the quirky and current twist on Americana and the great outdoors that made me stop and take note.
Left - Phipps International - Cotton-terry track top- £620 from Matchesfashion.com
I soon discovered that the previous collection, AW18, had been bought by matchesfashion.com and is available now.
Phipps International was established in 2017 by Spencer Phipps. Born and raised in San Francisco, he studied at Parsons School of Design in New York City graduating in 2008 with a nomination as “designer of the year” for his final year collection - an initial exploration of sustainable fashion.
He started his career at Marc Jacobs as part of the menswear design team and after, relocated to Antwerp to work with Dries Van Noten.
Currently based in Paris, Phipps, was founded on the principles of respect and curiosity for the natural world.
“We are exploring the concept of sustainability and environmental responsibility in the realm of style. Our goal is to change the way we as a culture consume by creating products that are made with respect for the environment, that can educate and enhance lives. We are always striving to improve our practice as we move forward and, as a modern fashion company, we are simply trying to do the right thing,” says Phipps.
Right - Phipps International SS19 - The extinct species print shirt that caught me eye at CIFF
What started as a small T-shirt project between friends has rapidly grown to become a modern, globally conscious fashion brand focused on building a like-minded community with the goal of re-connecting consumers to nature and the world around them.
The products are said to be made with integrity and are created with consideration for the environment using sustainable manufacturing practices and eco-friendly materials. Many of its producers are certified by GOTS or other environmental certification organisations which help to ensure that our products are made ethically.
In addition, most of their garments are made in Portugal which, as a country, is a global leader in the development of sustainable practices. All of their manufacturers there are required by law to recycle their waste appropriately, re-use treatable water, use alternative energy as much as possible, and follow fair trade labour practices.
Left - One of the jackets of the season SS19
While the dust continues to settle on the hoo-ha regarding Burberry burning product - who have, miraculously, stopped burning product, BTW - the whole thing is a reminder of how brands deal with waste and what they should do with it.
Brands don’t want waste. Waste costs money. It also takes time and energy to get rid of it. Waste is a sign of over ordering, and being left with a mountain of stock to dispose of. This is basically what sales are: the motivation to shift unsold stock, shoving it all out the door hoping to make some form of profit, or, at worst, cover its costs.
In an ideal world, they’d be zero waste. What if brands only made exactly what they needed? No more sales, no more outlets, no more burning. Welcome to the future.
Janice Wang, Founder & CEO of Alvanon, a fashion tech business specialising in helping brands with fit and reducing returns, says, “Our industry is blighted by oversupply. Some 60 percent of the garments we supply are sold at discount, which means we are making too much of the wrong thing.”
Left - The Sewbots are coming
Sales and discounts are hurting retailers. Not only does it negatively affect profits and margins, it also has created an environment where consumers are hooked on discounts and never want to pay full price. It’s a race to the bottom for many retailers and this is putting many out of business. At the beginning of this year, H&M announced it had a $4.3 billion pile of unsold stock. What do you do with it?
“Sales are bad for brands and retailers because they reduce margin and damage a brand's credibility. It makes people question whether products are worth the price they have paid for them.” says Petah Marian, Senior Editor, WGSN INSIGHT.
Fashion retailers are always pushing for efficiencies, but there’s a disconnect, currently, between the speed of ordering and the making to order window which many consumers will not tolerate.
“To become competitive, fashion retailers and brands need to embrace new production strategies and technologies, such as data and intelligence, robotics and digitalisation, to use customer data to provide tailored, on-demand items.” says Wang.
“A responsive supply chain enables brands to react quickly to consumer demands and changing trends. The vision is to reduce lead times from months to weeks to days or hours.” says Wang. “Consumers today live in a constantly changing world. This shapes their behaviour and expectations. They demand newness and immediacy without compromise.” she says.
Marian says, “It means less wastage of resources and also the possibility of personalising items for an individual consumer. Less wastage means a more sustainable supply chain, and people value things more when they have participated in their creation.”
Fashion is currently stuck in the past. Buyers have to guess what people will buy and in which sizes, many months in advance. It’s guesswork, and, while they have got faster and more efficient, there is huge margins for error and then you’re left dealing with your mistakes. On the other hand, you could also not make enough of something popular: missing out on full-price sales and leaving disappointed customers.
Right - The type of robots soon to be making your clothes
“Regional and localised sourcing allows retailers to be more responsive to actual customer buying behaviour.” says Wang. “Styles can even be adapted in-season and delivered to stores while consumers still want to buy them. And, at the end of the day, smaller runs of garments that sell at full-price are better than cheaper cost volume runs of garments that have to be sold at discount.” she says.
How many retailers blame the weather for having the wrong product at the wrong time when publishing their financial results? It’s also really bad for the environment.
“Eventually technology will allow us to go from producing things by the millions to producing them by the ones. Everyone is talking about customisation and there’s no doubt that will eventually happen.” says Wang. “It’s the most efficient and sustainable way of manufacturing.” she says.
“You used to go to the tailor and they would make one item for you.” says Wang. “I can visualise that you will customise one unit to order. Bespoke, customised, perfectly fitting items made just for you and only when you order them – it sounds just like a Savile Row offering, only this time it will be purchased from your smartphone.”
Fashion businesses are looking at making items ‘on-demand’, but to make these cost effective and fast we’re going to need automation. Amazon has just patented an ‘on demand’ system: making the clothes once an order has been placed, not before.
It will be robots or ‘Sewbots’, situated closer to home, which will, eventually, be making our clothes. SoftWear Automation, based in Atlanta, introduced ‘Lowry’ in 2015, a sewing robot that uses machine vision to spot and adjust to distortions in the fabric. Though initially only able to make simple products, such as bath mats, the technology is now advanced enough to make whole T-shirts and much of a pair of jeans. According to the company, it also does it far faster than a human sewing line.
SoftWear Automation’s big selling point is that one of its robotic sewing lines can replace a conventional line of 10 workers and produce about 1,142 T-shirts in an eight-hour period, compared to just 669 for the human sewing line. The robot, working under the guidance of a single human handler, can make as many shirts per hour as about 17 humans.
“Retailers will push for this when it becomes cheaper to manufacture products using robots than using offshore labour.” says Marian.
Retailers, factory owners and brands will make huge savings. It will also mean things can be made closer to home so left time and expense in travel. They’ll be no more sweatshops and the robots can run 24/7.
Currently, brands are starting to explore this new idea, but it’s still quite niche and can be more expensive. Under Armour has its new Lighthouse Project, Nike has a new partnership with Apollo Global Management and Adidas' Speed factory.
Adidas currently has a ‘Speedfactory’ in both Germany and Atlanta. The factory is completely automated, and designed to be able to speedily produce limited runs of customisable product or replenish the hottest product selling quickly during the same season. Adidas said it can get shoes to market three times faster in a Speedfactory than with traditional means and hopes the two factories can produce one million pairs of shoes a year by 2020. Adidas will continue to experiment with the Speedfactories, adding new technology and more automated processes to get to a goal of 50% of shoes made by with 'speedier' methods.
This is the future. The future will be shops as showrooms, where you order the item in your specific size and then an automated robot, closer to home, will be able to manufacturer it within an acceptable window of time. Just imagine, something will never sell out. They’ll always have your size. Your better size even. You’ll be able to order something to fit perfectly.
The brands or shops that will thrive will be those with the best ideas or styles. Consumers will be able to customise, within reason, and brands will no longer have to hold vast inventory which ties up capital and kills cashflow. Sales will be a thing of the past and the waste and environmental pollution will be reduced hugely. Clothes could also become cheaper as the labour costs are reduced.
This fashion automation is part of the forthcoming ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’. It will revolutionise what we buy and how we look. The machines are definitely coming because the industry wants it.
Read more ChicGeek Comment pieces here
We know what our clothes are made from, you only have to look at the label, but do we know which materials are the least and most damaging to the environment? Probably not.
The new fashion exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum, Fashioned From Nature, gets serious about the impact fashion is having on the world. It starts off fairly simply, looking at the raw and natural materials used in clothing and decoration from the 17th century onwards, and quickly charts the growing appetite for the rare and exotic to decorate the wealthy’s clothes.
Left - Historical dress inspired by nature and new discoveries
Right - Fashion protesting against itself
It’s interesting how our love of nature and the beauty we see in it has made people want to wear it and at the same time destroy it. It's very difficult to strike a balance.
This isn’t your standard fluffy fashion exhibition or one dominated by big names, it’s a thought provoking look about what things are, where they come from and their impact on the environment. But, it’s done in a way that isn’t preaching or has a strong agenda.
It’s sponsored by the European Confederation of Flax and Hemp, but I feel they could have done more to highlight the benefits of wearing flax. (I didn't see hemp mentioned at all). Most commonly made into linen, flax is one of the easiest and least damaging forms of materials to grow and is definitely something we should be wearing more of. It would have been nice to see more with regards to how you can use it, different finishes and something more than being the material of a few seasonal summer shirts and suits. There’s a wall you can touch at the very beginning made of flax. It feels like really dry horse hair.
Left - Lace Bark grown from a tree
Right - Toxic Evening Coat, Madame Grès, 1936
Things I learnt from this exhibition: I’d never heard of ‘Vegetable Ivory’ or ‘Lace-Bark’ before. I didn’t know the bones used in corsetry are called ‘Baleen’, after the type of whale.
Upstairs there is a lot going on. Some pieces are simply inspired by nature while others show new materials made from by-products or waste. ‘Vegea’ uses grape waste from the wine industry to form a leather-substitute and their ‘Grape’ gown is on show, as well as a Ferragamo piece made from ‘Orange Fiber’ derived from waste from the Italian citrus industry and an H&M Conscious dress made from recycled shoreline plastic.
I think educating people - cotton uses ridiculous amounts of pesticides and water - about what they are wearing is important and it would have been good to have seen different materials: wool, flax, cotton compared with one another. These are the main choices people have when shopping.
Fashion in its nature is wasteful and destructive. There’s no logic to moving on from perfectly wearable clothes and buying new ones other than to stay ‘fashionable’. But, that’s how it works and it’s also a huge business employing many people.
We need to be realistic, the odd dress made from recycled plastic bottles isn’t even scratching the surface. We need to look at clothing like other recyclables. Take the components and raw materials apart and reuse into new garments. This would require less fresh materials and would also close the loop on the fashion industry.
Left - Vegetable Ivory
Right - The flax wall
I think it’s naive to ask people to buy less. We need to improve environmental practises, push less destructive options and reuse and recycle more.
Fashion is dictated to by money. The minute it becomes more cost effective to do something, then it will happen. Let’s just hope that's sooner rather than later.
Fashioned from Nature - Victoria & Albert Museum - Fashion, Gallery - 21 April 2018 – 27 Jan 2019 #FashionedFromNature - £12
Below - The 'GuppyFriend' which stops micro particles being released from your washing machine into the environment
Bulldog Skincare For Men has added a fragrance-free and gentle face scrub to their ‘Sensitive’ range. The new, skin-smoothing scrub contains sustainably sourced quinoa husk - a by-product of the food industry - sweet almond, baobab and oat oil, and willow herb. It helps to improve skin texture by removing dead skin and leaving a fresh complexion.
Left - Bulldog Skincare For Men - Sensitive Face Scrub - £5
Baobab oil has a high emollient power and is known for its skin smoothing and moisturising properties. Oat oil, grown and harvested in the UK, is known for its effective skin emollience and natural skin softening properties. Canadian willow herb, a unique plant from the Northern Canadian prairies, has developed strong multi-functional phytochemical properties to survive the harsh climate.
TheChicGeek says, “This looks and smells good enough to squirt on your breakfast cereal. The recommended usage is once to twice a week or pre-shave, but I’d say you can use as often as you like.
It’s soft and gentle and being ‘sensitive’, it’s less likely to irritate even the most sensitive of skin. You can feel the ‘beads’, but it’s not coarse at all. If you like your face scrubs like sandpaper then this probably isn't for you.
I also like the fact Bulldog’s new packaging is now made from sugarcane."
News in that Gucci is going “Fur Free” starting from SS18. President and chief executive, Marco Bizzarri, announced the move at a talk at the London College of Fashion, yesterday.
Mr Bizzarri said: “Being socially responsible is one of Gucci’s core values, and we will continue to strive to do better for the environment and animals.” The brand will no longer use any type of animal fur including, coyote, mink, fox, rabbit or karakul - aborted lamb foetuses.
The fashion house’s remaining fur clothing will be sold in an auction with the money donated to the animal rights organisation "Humane Society International” and “LAV”, an organisation that initiates legal actions to assert animal rights.
Left - Gucci Intarsia Mink - £28,340 from Mytheresa
Gucci will also join the Fur-Free alliance. This is a group of international organisations that campaigns for animal welfare and encourages that alternatives to fur are used by the fashion industry.
I respect Gucci’s decision and being the world’s second largest luxury goods company this will make an impact. It will also influence people and other brands. Any company wishing to be more “sustainable” should be encouraged. (Just how sustainable a business selling US$ 4.3 billion (2016) worth of product is debatable BTW).
But, what I never understand is the double standards on animals. You either use animals or you don’t. Gucci will no doubt still be using snakes, alligators, crocodiles, goats, lizards, ostriches, the list goes on, to make accessorises and clothes.
I’ve seen this many times before. I’ve been at Ralph Lauren where they proclaim to be “fur free” yet I’m standing next to a large crocodile “Ricky” bag. If brands really want to minimise their footprint then they should go completely vegan. Department stores stating they don’t sell fur, yet you look into a felt hat and it’s made from rabbit.
The fur industry doesn’t have to be “cruel” in the same way the meat industry doesn’t. Skins such as sable are shot in the wild and don’t live in cruel conditions. Coyotes are shot as pests in North America. You regulate for welfare standards and promote compassion in farming and every animal regardless of the product should be respected and cared for.
The fur industry can be sustainable and faux-fur, usually made from synthetics, is also detrimental to the environment and doesn't negate the desire.
Net-a-Porter group recently announced it was going fur free too. Admittedly, due to the prices, fur is only bought in small quantities and by very wealthy people. It’s interesting that Italian companies - Yoox/Net-a-Porter and Gucci are going “Fur Free” as we know those Italians like their furs, so this is definitely a shift in attitudes.
These things usually go in two ways - fur trims start to sneak in and the thing gets quietly shelved or companies continue to be "environmentally friendly" and really try and do something about the wasteful fashion cycle that currently exists. Banning "fur" isn't really touching on the real environmental impact of the fashion industry.
Read ChicGeek Comment - The Real Reason Brands Are Dropping 'Fur'


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Playing dress up: Conde Nast launch girly mobile phone game
Sick of ultra-violent shoot-’em-up video games? Conde Nast has just launched an antidote to guns and gore with a girly take on mobile gaming — its first for the iPhone.
In Fashion Hazard, your avatar is fresh-faced model Ellie Redburn, who moves from Kansas to New York in the hope of building a fashion career.
We were intrigued — imagine the pitfalls Ellie might face in her race to the top!
Scroll down for demo!
Fashion Hazard: The mobile game where guns and gore are swapped for the catwalk
Will she have to negotiate a tricky obstacle course of lecherous photographers and drunken rock stars?
Sadly not. The game — aimed at the tween market — is a little less gritty and a lot more PG. If I was 13, I’d stick to Angry Birds — and I’m not referring to Naomi Campbell...
VIDEO: Are you a fashion hazard? See the demo here
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Dutch firm KPN Mobile is to introduce a Japanese-style mobile phone service in Holland and Belgium by the spring. The company is currently testing the technology, which is based on NTT DoCoMo's iMode internet phone service.
iMode has more than 20 million subscribers in Japan, and can handle animated web content, email, colour screens and the Japanese alphabet.
KPN said that over 100 content providers will operate the service, and that NEC will supply the handsets.
In November the company signed a deal with NTT DoCoMo to provide the service in Europe until January, 2012.
A KPN spokesman said that the development will spur the popularity of 2.5G, or GPRS, and would speed the emergence of third-generation (3G) services in continental Europe.
NTT DoCoMo was behind Freedom of Mobile Multimedia Access, the world's first commercial 3G service launched in Tokyo last October.
Molybdenum ditelluride is a two-dimensional material that can be easily stacked into multiple layers to create a memory cell
New light-guiding nanoscale device can control and monitor a nanoparticle trapped in a laser beam with high sensitivity
Optical traps are scientific instruments in which a focused laser beam is used to exert an attractive or repulsive force on a microscopic object to hold it in place
Scientists estimate that the exoplanet has already lost up to 35 per cent of its mass over its lifetime
The observations were made using the Atacama Array in the Chilean desert


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- CES 2022 — the sector’s greatest tech industry reveal — might be an in-person match.
- The reveal will occur in Las Vegas, its house over the last 40 years — with the notable exception of this yr when the reveal was once all-virtual.
- Display-runners CTA might be reviewing COVID-19 protection pointers and adapting the reveal to satisfy necessities.
In January 2020, the Client Electronics Display came about with an in-person match in Las Vegas, because it had performed for many years. In fact, just a few months later, the COVID-19 pandemic started, which pressured just about all industry presentations to both be canceled or get become all-virtual affairs.
This yr, CES 2021 went all-virtual for the primary time. Subsequent yr, even though, CES 2022 will return to “commonplace,” with an in-person match in Vegas as standard.
Comparable: CES 2021 Most sensible Choices Awards: The most efficient new merchandise and bulletins
Right here in america, the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines has been operating at a fast tempo. Estimations at this time posit that over 50% of america inhabitants has had a minimum of the primary of 2 vaccination photographs. Theoretically, an in-person CES 2022 turns out love it may in fact be possible.
Then again, it’s no longer simply US voters who attend CES. Other folks come from everywhere the sector, and a few of the ones puts may no longer have had as a success of a vaccine rollout. According to that, CES show-runners will adapt the development to observe COVID-19 protection measures as advisable through the Facilities for Illness Keep watch over and Prevention, along with any native pointers.
CES 2022 will occur beginning January 5, 2022, and run till January 8.


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India's huge consumer base is certainly part of the attraction as well as the fact that these consumers are highly net-savvy individuals who are used to browsing and purchasing online. Among the popular online buying categories are (in this order) fashion apparel, handbags, beauty products, accessories, health foods and watches according to business consultanting firm RNCOS.
India's e-commerce growth is fuelled by small towns
The massive growth of e-commerce in India, which is fuelled by the small towns, is tempting many an international brand with an online-first launch, hoping for an easier entry into the country than with a traditional store. A tie-up with established online portals like Flipkart, Jabong and Myntra makes it even easier for foreign brands as they can take advantage of the online retailers' customer base and their knowledge of the customers and territory.
"E-commerce is creating a lucrative market for brands looking for ways to increase customer engagement," confirmed Michael Adnani, the VP of retail and head of brand alliances at Flipkart. "The market intelligence we provide helps them position and launch their products far more effectively. And that too at a fraction of the cost they would incur on conventional retail," he added.
Reaching consumers in the metros and tier II and III cities is one priority of brands and retailers in India but in view of a growing middle and upper class across the country, reaching fashion conscious and luxury customers regardless of where they live is becoming increasingly important. Thus, e-commerce spaces are viable alternatives because they do not incur heavy costs and their reach is far, becoming attractive even for brands with established brick and mortar stores in the country like Mango and Aldo.
"Through the e-commerce platform, we want to make our brand accessible to a larger audience," confirmed Josie Roscop, marketing director of River Island. The brand just opted for an online-first entry into India through a tie-up with Jabong.com.
For the Indian e-tailers, the arrangement works too as they can woo Indian consumers eager to shop for international brands. Thus, Flipkart and Myntra only recently tied up with e-commerce consultancy firm Ace Turtle to launch a host of global fashion brands like Guess, Desigual and Scotch & Soda.
Indian online portal Fashionandyou.com has even launched a Luxury Lounge where it will offer brands like Tory Burch, Versace, Aston Martin and Coach to attract luxury consumers who do not have access to the brick-and-mortar stores of their favorite brands or prefer the convenience of shopping online. "We cater to those brands that are not in India and have no plans to enter India for the next few years," said Fashionandyou CEO Ashish Mediratta.
Coming back to why online-first is becoming such an attractive option for international brands, real estate is part of the answer too. Premium spaces in shopping malls and high streets are scare and available prime properties quite hard to get and costly to rent. "Real estate is expensive and the number of malls available is very limited. E-commerce can provide the right environmen and pan-Indian reach," stated Arun Chandra Mohan, CEO and co-founder of Jabong.Photos: River Island at Jabong / Emporio Armani at Fashionandyou


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And you thought it was only your carrier that sucked. The Better Business Bureau reports that the cell phone industry was the one most complained about during 2009, with a total of 37,477 complaints, according to the Wall Street Journal–a repeat showing from 2008.
On the bright side, BBB spokesperson Alison Southwick said in the report that cell phone companies have a high resolution rate with customers that file complaints.
Bringing up the number two spot are cable and satellite TV companies, with banks landing in third.
The report said that lately, companies offering free trials for credit scores, teeth whiteners, and weight-loss supplements are also perennial “high scorers.” I have a headache now just from thinking about some of these.


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NEW YORK, Feb. 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Herbies Seeds is a leading cannabis seed store operating worldwide. In business since the early 2000s, the company now has more than 2,000 strains from over 130 seedbanks in its online catalog. In 2021, Herbies Seeds began to create its own strains and is rapidly growing as a seedbank. To build on this success, the company is now launching an express delivery service for its U.S. customers.
Herbies Seeds, an online distributor of high-quality cannabis seeds, is pleased to announce the launch of Herbies USA Express – its own express delivery service in the United States. Orders are already open now.
Herbies USA Express builds on Herbies Seeds’ market-leading experience and capabilities through cooperation with USPS and experienced American breeders. The company is betting on fast and safe delivery across the USA in 2-5 business days without any customs issues.
This store offers an in-house line of dozens of cannabis strains tailored specifically to the needs of U.S. customers. All of them have stable genetics suited for any level of experience and are covered by shipping and germination guarantees.
Here are some of the most potent strains to go on sale:
- Bruce Banner Fast Version, which finishes in just 50-56 days of flowering
- Do-Si-Dos, a compact Indica with up to 30% THC
- OG Kush, a green standard with a modern touch
The store also offers high-yielding strains for better value, including:
- Mimosa Shot, a Sativa hybrid producing up to 2100 g/plant
- Moby Dick, one of the most potent Sativa classics
Meanwhile, growers with a penchant for exquisite flavor profiles will be happy to get their hands on:
- BlackBerry Auto, an Indica hybrid known for her sweet blackberry flavor
- Amnesia Haze Auto, a prizewinner with a blend of sweet and spicy flavors
At Herbies USA Express, customers can choose from 8 different payment methods, including credit card, PayPal, and Bitcoin. The customer support team works around the clock to enable a stress-free shopping and growing experience.
To celebrate this new milestone, Herbies USA Express is running a special offer. Use promo code UE25OFF to get a 25% discount on your first order. For more information, please visit this page.
Herbies sells cannabis seeds as souvenirs for collectible purposes only. The company advises its U.S. customers to check with their local laws before germination, as some states don’t allow recreational marijuana growing. Herbies does not accept responsibility for the illegal use of its products.
About Herbies Seeds. Herbies Seeds started out as a small UK-based cannabis seed distributor in the early 2000s. The company has since expanded its global footprint and today has around 170,000 monthly website visitors. A household name for cannabis breeders, Herbies Seeds offers more than 2,000 strains from over 130 seedbanks.
In 2019, Herbies Seeds started shipping all orders from Spain to better serve their global customer base. They’ve also delved into blogging about cannabis culture and growing. In 2021, the company set up its own seedbank to create an exclusive line of seeds optimized for growers of all skill levels.
Herbies USA Express
Sales and Support: firstname.lastname@example.org


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Amazon is working on a new project to develop its own digital currency. According to recent posts on Amazon Jobs, a platform that advertises job openings, software development engineers and managers are being hired to develop a new payments product. According to the announcements, Amazon
Jaguar, an Indian-owned luxury car brand, will produce only electric vehicles from 2025 and restructure as its non-UK car operations. Jaguar Land Rover states that “it will substantially reduce and rationalize its non-productive infrastructure in the UK”. They not say whether this meant job cuts.
SpaceX will test changes to its starship’s landing system, the Starship, in the next prototype. The objective is to avoid the catastrophic failures that occurred in the two previous tests: both the SN8 and SN9 took off and reached an altitude of 12 km without


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has extended its telematics car insurance product to include a smartphone app to add to its plug-in Insurance Box, which launched last October.
Existing customers, who have proven good driving skills, will be the first offered the new app or may retain their current telematics version at renewal. New customers can buy an Insurance Box product now and the app will be made available to them later this year.
Young drivers and their parents have been the “early adopters” of the product and Frank Peppard, head of customer experience, says the app will broaden the appeal of telematics.
He added: “While most people experience continually higher car insurance costs at renewal, our statistics show Insurance Box customers have saved up to 30% at renewal by simply proving they’re a better driver. On average our customers save 6% at renewal.”
worked on the iPhone and android app for two years.


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A Google representative recently confirmed that Verizon’s Samsung Galaxy Nexus will not ship with support for Google Wallet. “Verizon asked us not to include this functionality in the product,” a Google spokesperson told CNET. We’re not at all surprised by the news. BGR confirmed in November that Verizon is working to include its own solution instead of using Google Wallet. “We’re working to provide expanded services that will provide the best security and user experience in the market around m-commerce,” a Verizon Wireless spokesperson told BGR at the time. “We expect to provide access to an open wallet when those goals are achieved.” Verizon said Tuesday that it is still in talks with Google and that it does not block specific applications. “Google Wallet is different from other widely-available m-commerce services,” Verizon explained. “Google Wallet does not simply access the operating system and basic hardware of our phones like thousands of other applications. Instead, in order to work as architected by Google, Google Wallet needs to be integrated into a new, secure and proprietary hardware element in our phones.” ISIS — a mobile payment initiative created by Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile USA in partnership with VISA, American Express, MasterCard and Discover — will likely power the eWallet solution that finally does make its way to Verizon’s Galaxy Nexus at some point in the future. Unlike Google, however, ISIS has yet to make a NFC solution publicly available. More →
Verizon Wireless will finally launch the Samsung Galaxy Nexus on December 9th according to a new report from Engadget. A leaked internal screenshot suggests that materials supporting the launch will arrive in Verizon stores on the 8th, and the hotly anticipated smartphone will then launch the following day according to the site’s unnamed source. The Motorola DROID 4 will launch one day earlier on December 8th according to the report, and retail locations will supposedly be receiving new white DROID RAZR showcase devices beginning today. Earlier rumors suggested that the Galaxy Nexus and DROID 4 would both launch on December 8th, and Verizon Wireless has yet to make any announcements regarding pricing or a firm launch date. More →
Samsung Galaxy Nexus units may already be arriving in Verizon Wireless stores ahead of a release later this week. A batch of leaked photos suggesting upcoming availability was first published on the xda-developers forums. Verizon Wireless’s 4G LTE branding is clearly visible in one image, although the box looks very plain compared the carrier’s typical boxes. Droid-Life says the device could be available as soon as December 9th, although Verizon Wireless has yet to make any official announcement detailing the phone’s launch date. We recently reviewed the international model of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the world’s first Android 4.0 smartphone, and said it “easily leapfrogs any other competitor’s device.” Additional photos of the purported Verizon Galaxy Nexus follow after the break. More →
Verizon Wireless’s upcoming Samsung Galaxy Nexus handset may launch at Best Buy on December 11th. Engadget has obtained what is purportedly an image of Best Buy’s internal inventory system, which shows the 11th as the in-stock date for Samsung’s new Galaxy Nexus. Recent rumors suggested that Verizon plans to launch the phone on December 8th alongside the Motorola DROID 4, and that still may be the case — Verizon’s retailer partners may have to wait a few extra days for their initial shipments. We reviewed the Galaxy Nexus last month and called it the best Android phone to date. The Verizon Wireless version of the handset is nearly identical to the international version we reviewed, but it is slightly thicker and it includes support for Verizon’s LTE network. More →
Verizon may allow its customers to pre-order its highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the world’s first Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich-powered smartphone, on Tuesday, November 29th. Computerworld has reportedly confirmed with a seemingly reliable unnamed source that customers will be able to order the device on Tuesday, and that it will land on store shelves and in customer hands on December 8th — a date that corroborates with earlier rumors. The phone is expected to cost $199.99 with a new two-year contract, though it is unclear whether or not that price is part of a limited-time promotion. Verizon Wireless declined to comment when contacted by BGR. More →
Many of us wondered why Google’s new flagship Galaxy Nexus doesn’t support Google Wallet, an NFC-based payment service that the company introduced a few months back. Since Google Wallet is only available in the United States at the moment, it makes sense that it isn’t supported on the HSPA+ Galaxy Nexus. Google Wallet also will not be supported on Verizon Wireless’ version of the smartphone, however, which is set to launch early next month. While Verizon wouldn’t comment specifically on the Galaxy Nexus’ lack of support, the carrier did tell BGR that it is working toward some kind of mobile wallet service as Verizon is a member of ISIS along with T-Mobile and AT&T. Hit the break for more. More →
While Verizon Wireless has yet to announce any release details surrounding the latest Nexus smartphone, a series of leaks seemingly paint a complete picture of the carrier’s launch plans. A purported internal document revealed on Wednesday points to a December 8th release for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and now a leaked Verizon Wireless advertisement lists the handset’s on-contract price as $199.99. The Galaxy Nexus had previously been rumored to launch with a price tag closer to $300, so it is unclear if the pricing in the Verizon ad is standard or part of a holiday promotion. Verizon is expected to announce release details for the Galaxy Nexus some time next week. More →
Verizon Wireless may be planning to launch two new high-end Android smartphones early next month, leaving current flagship models like the DROID RAZR and iPhone 4S to lead its lineup during the biggest shopping weekend of the year. Droid Life on Wednesday published what appears to be a screenshot of an internal Verizon Wireless memo. The document indicates that Verizon will launch the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and the Motorola DROID 4, which appears to resemble a DROID RAZR with a slide-out QWERTY keypad, on December 8th just ahead of the holidays. The release date is unconfirmed for the time being, though Verizon is expected to make an official announcement early next week. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus will launch as a Verizon Wireless exclusive in the United States, but it is expected to become available from additional carriers in the near future. A purported screenshot of the internal memo follows below. More →
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus isn’t just another Android phone, this is the standard by which all Ice Cream Sandwich phones will be judged. An example to every Android manufacturer out there, and every Android fan, this is the basic foundation of what you should expect in an Android smartphone. Is that setting the bar too high, though? The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the third addition to Google’s Nexus family, and second built by Samsung. It offers competitive specifications, innovative hardware, and it is the first phone to show off Google’s brand new OS, Android 4.0. Can Google and Samsung make the best Android device in the world together? Is Android 4.0 just another dessert-themed mess? I break it down like Jet Li in Chinatown after the break.
We’ve been playing with a Samsung Galaxy Nexus for the last day, and after shuffling between a Motorola DROID RAZR, an HTC Vivid and an HTC Rezound, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is a welcome change in many ways. It’s obviously the Google reference handset for Ice Cream Sandwich, and in almost all cases, it is the best Android handset we’ve seen far as hardware and software go. Android 4.0 is the most cohesive release from Google yet, and while it’s not that straight forward out of the box, you do eventually get the feeling that this phone has a distinct personality as opposed to many other Android phones, which often seem to blend together. Be sure to check out our hands-on photos in the gallery below, and hit the break for more thoughts.
Google on Monday released the source code for the latest version of its Android operating system, Ice Cream Sandwich. This build of Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0.1) is the same version that will ship on the first ICS device, Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus, and it is of course free for developers to donwload. A number of vendors including Motorola have indicated that they would announce preliminary details regarding Android 4 updated schedules following the official release of the operating system’s source code, so we should see details begin to trickle out soon. The Galaxy Nexus is expected to launch later this month as a Verizon Wireless exclusive in the U.S., and a firm launch date will likely be announced soon now that Ice Cream Sandwich has been released. More →
Verizon Wireless’s highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy Nexus handset, the first Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich device, may not launch until after Black Friday. According to a purported internal marketing document obtained by Droid Life, Verizon Wireless will first introduce the HTC Rezound and DROID RAZR by Motorola leading into Black Friday, and the carrier will then then launch the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and the “Samsung Holiday Portfolio” the following week. The Galaxy Nexus is equipped with a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, a 5-megapixle camera, a 4.65-inch SUPER AMOLED HD display with a 1280 x 720-pixel resolution, 32GB of storage, 1GB of RAM, a 1,750mAh battery and support for near-field communications (NFC). More →
As expected, Verizon Wireless announced on Friday that it will offer the newly unveiled Galaxy Nexus later this year. The Galaxy Nexus is the first phone to run Google’s new Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) operating system. It is is equipped with a 4.65-inch Super AMOLED display, a 1.GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, support for NFC, a 5-megapixel camera capable of recording 1080p HD video, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chats and support for Verizon’s 4G LTE network. Verizon Wireless did not provide pricing details or a concrete release date, it simply confirmed it will offer the phone “later this year.” Read on for the full press release. More →


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FTC, DOJ sue maker of health app over data sharing
On May 17, the DOJ filed a complaint on behalf of the FTC against a health app for violating the Health Breach Notification Rule (HBNR) by allegedly sharing users’ sensitive personal information with third parties, disclosing sensitive health data, and failing to notify users of these unauthorized disclosures. According to the complaint, users were allegedly repeatedly and falsely promised via privacy policies that their health information would not be shared with third parties without the user’s knowledge or consent, and that any collected data was non-identifiable and only used for the defendant’s own analytics or advertising. The FTC charged the defendant with failing to implement reasonable measures to address the privacy and data security risks created by its use of third-party automated tracking tools and for sharing health information used for advertising purposes without obtaining users’ affirmative express consent. Under the HBNR, companies with access to personal health records are required to notify users, the FTC, and media outlets in certain situations, if there has been an unauthorized acquisition of unsecured personal health information. The defendant also allegedly failed to impose limits on how third parties could use the data and failed to adequately encrypt data shared with third parties, thus subjecting the data to potential interception and/or seizure by bad actors.
The proposed court order would require the defendant to pay a $100,000 civil penalty, and would permanently prohibit the company from sharing personal health data with third parties for advertising and from making future misrepresentations about its privacy practices. The defendant would also be required to (i) obtain user consent before sharing personal health data; (ii) limit data retention; (iii) request deletion of data shared with third parties; (iv) provide notices to users explaining the FTC’s allegations and the proposed settlement; and (v) implement comprehensive security and privacy programs to protect consumer data. The defendant has also agreed to pay a total of $100,000 to Connecticut, the District of Columbia, and Oregon (who collaborated with the FTC on the action) for violating state privacy laws with respect to its data sharing and privacy practices.


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As early as 2019, the just-signed EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) will eliminate tariffs that currently range between 2.4 and 10 percent on almonds,walnuts, peanuts, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, and pecans. The terms of the EPA tariff reductions are similar to those outlined in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)—a multilateral trade agreement that, like the EPA, excludes the United States (US).
In 2017, Japan imported $557 million worth of nuts. The US captured $394 million, or 70.7 percent, of that total. The 11 CPTPP members (Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam) made up just 6.6 percent of the Japanese nut import market despite many of them having a proximity advantage over the US. The 28 EU countries in aggregate provided a mere one percent of Japan’s imports. This new trade agreement will almost certainly reduce the global competitiveness of US nut exports into Japan. Subscribers use Gro Intelligence data and analysis to stay up-to-date on bilateral trade agreements and their global impacts.