News from you 8/31/2007

It’s Friday again and time for another edition of News From You, an eclection of news, the weird, the arcane and the downright useless of interest to F-I infovores. Or at least I think it’s of interest. I don’t really know since this entry doesn’t draw any comments. The blog is usually very quiet on Fridays. No matter, with my son (still) in the hospital, I’ve been out of sorts and distracted, posting light fare mostly.

To have your commercial news posted such as openings, launches, new websites, news and press pieces, I will print those if you’re one of my designers or allied member of the community. All other commercial parties should review submission guidelines. I regret the limitation but if I don’t do that, NFY would be dominated by notices from PR firms, jewelery and handbag designers with no ties to the community looking for free advertising.

I welcome noncommercial submissions be they useful, quirky and offbeat. I credit all sources, be sure to include your web address if you want a link. Lastly, you may remain anonymous but you have to tell me. Send your submissions to News From You.


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A recent survey on reading habits. Apparently the situation isn’t as dire as previously reported. Men and women’s reading habits vary significantly with men reading primarily non-fiction. How many of you read like a man?
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Blogs:

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Dorky home pattern sewing video, vintage. Quite lengthy, I bailed halfway through it.
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Here’s more on why it matters who you hang with, a concept called “product contagion”.

New research shows that products that trigger subconscious feelings of disgust can “contaminate” consumer perceptions of other products. Products like lard, feminine hygiene items, cigarettes, and cat litter trigger a disgust reaction, as do some less obvious items like mayonnaise and shortening. The research, conducted by Gavan Fitzsimons, a professor of marketing and psychology at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, and Andrea Morales, an assistant professor of marketing at Arizona State’s W.P. Carey School of Business, was intended to explore how products like these affected consumer perceptions of other items in their shopping carts.

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One of my favorite publications from my college days, the Weekly World News, is no more.
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If you’re interested in the marriage of technology and apparel, Fashion for the 21st Century is a required destination (it took forever for this site to load). From August 18th, 2007:

Philips hopes that fitting-room fiascos will become a thing of the past if it ever forays into the world of fashion. The consumer electronics giant has come up with a way to change the size, shape and style of clothes by weaving “muscle wires” into the fabric. The wires are made of shape-memory alloys that change length according to the small current passed through them.

Here’s the idea: you try on a special pair of Philips’ trousers, and connect up to a power source that changes the length of the wires in the fabric until the trousers have the correct waist size, inside leg and width. Then simply disconnect to try the trousers in exactly your size. Philips says the technique could also be used to correctly fit shirts, socks and bras, or indeed any other article of clothing.

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Four Lifelong Shopping Mind-Sets (free pdf download). The mindsets are Content Responsibles (20%), Cultural Artists (11%), Natural Hybrids (34%) and Social Catalysts (35%). I’m a Content Responsible, how about you? What the heck, take the poll and tell us all:

Edit 11/23/12
Vizu polls have closed down. Below is a screen capture of the poll results.

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Several people sent in this piece: Atlanta considers banning baggy pants.

Baggy pants that show boxer shorts or thongs would be illegal under a proposed amendment to Atlanta’s indecency laws. The amendment, sponsored by city councilman C.T. Martin, states that sagging pants are an “epidemic” that is becoming a “major concern” around the country.

While I think legislation is extreme, I’ve never liked them. They’re wasteful of materials, water, detergent, and wear and tear on a washing machine. You’re lucky to get two pairs in one load. Apparently, Atlanta isn’t the first, Louisiana was. Here’s more on how this hip hop saggy pant fad started. More interesting than I make it sound.
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Three is the loneliest number.

Only three countries in the world are not using the metric system. Some Americans still think the metric system is a communist plot, heh. Metric is fine but I draw the line at the zip code system used in Canada, the UK, Australia and ?. I can’t memorize theirs like I have ours.
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Eight foods you should eat every day. Kindred won’t be surprised to see that meat is not on the list.
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A very good interview with triathalon apparel manufacturer Emilio DeSoto. I’d excerpt from it but today’s entry will be too long as it is.
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I’ve been keeping my eye on an up and coming designer named Jeanne Feldkamp (615 Project) who was recently interviewed by SSFW. When she was asked for the advice she’d give people trying to break into the fashion industry, I was very flattered that she mentioned my book. Cool.
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JC sends an article from the New Yorker on bespoke tailoring. Said tailor was a tad unkind. He also leaves a link to Planning from the outside.
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Unexpectantly, considering this is a large established supplier, Jay Gagliano sends a cordial email and follow up mail piece on his company National Textile Industries. They produce fabrics, trims (including bias) all made in the USA. Jay mentions they’ve added a new line of poplin and waffle pique fabrics to their line. Small orders are welcome. Mention you heard about them here, maybe they’ll advertise.
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Tracy at Frocked de la Vallière ltd announces an end of season sale with free standard shipping in the UK and free global shipping on orders totalling £250.

In the same vein, Yahzi Rose is having a sale in celebration of their new online store,offering soft, sweatshop-free Tees for the ultra-low price of $15
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I got a promotional piece regarding Lane Bryant’s new denim collection called Right Fit and their new-fangled, handy-dandy sizing system. Targeted at plus sizes, it may be worth a look as LB is known to have sizing integrity. Speaking of, I’ll post scans from the vintage LB catalogs next week. The side to side comparison couldn’t be more quaint.
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Sharon says:

In the September issue of Vogue, there is an article on Nicolas Caito, New York’s Premier Patternmaker is Transforming American Fashion One Stitch at a Time. Its kind of nice to see a patternmaker make good press, or any mainstream press at all. Of course it doesn’t hurt him that he’s fabulously handsome.

I haven’t seen the article but plan to buy this issue. While it’s good to know that any pattern maker is on the map, I wish I knew how to get a feature article written about this blog in the mainstream fashion press but any of the PR outfits I’ve called, only handle products. ~sigh~ I’m just doomed to obscurity. You know what the real rub is? People I’ve helped a lot, and didn’t even charge, getting interviewed and they never mention my name or F-I. They parrot all my advice but never mention me. Being everyone’s best kept secret gets old. I’ll have to die to get any press, if I even get it then. Complain complain complain. You’d think that’s all I do around here.
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René Geneva launched her new Carbon Neutral Luxury Eco Fashion Line at the most recent WWD Magic Show in Las Vegas. Hopefully she’ll give us a trip report and tell us how it all went. The press release she sent was a good read. I really wish she could have these loaded on her site as they go out so I can link to them (second complaint). You can see all her press here. She’s one to watch, highly committed and on the forefront of eco sustainability.
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Katherine sends a link to a story about poorly cut children’s clothes. While the author of the piece wasn’t without criticisms too, really, just what was this company thinking?

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