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☆ Dry clean your clothes in this climate startup's vending machine
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Diana Olick | In Dianaolick | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Dry cleaning is not only costly for consumers, it's costly to the environment as well. While some industrial dry cleaners are opting for greener chemicals, others are looking to change the whole business model. Presso is an Atlanta-based startup that invented what looks like a vending machine for dry cleaning, but its process is a little different. The process, however, takes only a few minutes and can cost up to 80% less than traditional dry cleaning, depending on the garment. None of the process of even doing logistics inside a dry cleaning facility, none of that exists anymore," said Jain.

☆ Mob storms Pakistani police station, lynches man accused of blasphemy
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Mubasher Bukhari | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LAHORE, Pakistan, Feb 11 (Reuters) - A mob in eastern Pakistan stormed a police station on Saturday and lynched a man under custody and accused of blasphemy, police said, in the latest incident of religion-linked violence in the Islamic republic. However, the mob stormed the station, located in the city of Nankana Sahib, took Waris out of the premises, beat him to death and attempted to set his body on fire, Waqas added. Blasphemy is also a crime under Pakistani law, which can carry the death sentence. A number of police officials have been suspended because of their inability to stop the mob, a statement from the police said. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken notice of the incident and ordered an inquiry, the government said.

☆ Zelenskyy wore his signature olive-green sweater to meet King Charles during his surprise visit to the UK. Here's why he is rarely seen without it
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met King Charles III in Buckingham Palace on Wednesday. The Ukrainian leader wore his casual, olive-green crewneck during the meeting. Zelenskyy previously said he only plans on changing his signature look if Ukraine wins the war. Zelenskyy and King Charles met in the 1844 room of Buckingham Palace, where the king has previously had an audience with British prime ministers. In an interview with the Financial Times in December, the Ukrainian president said he plans to keep wearing his new outfit until after the war is over.

☆ Marjorie Taylor Greene wore a $495 alpaca wool coat to the State of the Union to 'highlight' the Chinese spy balloon
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia wore an ostentatious wool coat at the State of the Union. The far-right congresswoman wore the coat to "highlight" the Chinese spy balloon, her office says. The garment sells for $495 on Overland.com and "supports Peruvian artisans in earning fair wages." According to her office, it was an effort to draw attention to a Chinese spy balloon that flew over the continental United States last week. Greene, a self-described "Christian nationalist," also supported Peruvian artisans with her purchase.

☆ I've been renting all my clothes for over a year. Here's what I love about it — and what everyone should know before trying it.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Avery Hartmans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

I've been renting all my clothes since late 2021 through Nuuly, an online-rental marketplace. It's helped me cut back on shopping, stop buying fast fashion, and focus on quality over quantity. As for me, I'm still hooked on renting over a year later, and I would recommend it to anyone who's thinking about trying it. But I've also uncovered some downsides that have made me rethink everything I thought I knew about clothes. Pro: Renting has made me more thoughtful about qualityPerhaps the biggest endorsement for renting all my clothes is the effect it's had on my mindset.

☆ Want Big-Skirt Energy? How to Master the Statement Look
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Fiorella Valdesolo | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

A drenching is always amusing, but it’s her tutu that makes that scene indelible. The show’s costume designer, Patricia Field, was insistent on the garment, saying in an interview, “Whatever she’s wearing has to be completely original to last in time.”That iconic look embodies “big-skirt energy,” a mood dominating the resort and spring 2023 collections. A skirt needn’t literally be big to possess BSE. But whether maxi or midi, spangled or satin, printed or plain, it must project outsize attitude. And women are gravitating to that, reports Marc Rofsky, a buying director at e-commerce site Moda Operandi, who’s seen year-over-year, double-digit growth in skirts between October and January 2023.

☆ What’s Next In Menswear? 6 Standout Trends From the Latest Runway Shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Jamie Waters | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

TRYING TO SPOT casual clothes at the recent menswear shows was a bit like playing “Where’s Waldo?” Sober, dressier items so outnumbered once-dominant streetwear staples on the catwalks that if you spied a hoodie, jeans or flashy sneakers, you felt like you’d won a game. This season belonged to investment pieces: sharp-shouldered suits, chunky polished-leather shoes, heirloom-quality coats. Guys bored of schlubby sweats and wary of splashing out money on overly loud, quick-to-date clothes when the cost of living is wincingly high. Less clear: How they will fare in the real world, when they hang off average-size mortals, not long-limbed models. One stylist friend announced, half-seriously, that he feared these coats would make his shorter clients look like kids who’d raided their dads’ closets.

☆ Fed up with facial recognition cameras monitoring your every move? Italian fashion may have the answer
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Elliott Gotkine | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Facial recognition software immediately identifies the man as … a giraffe? While there, she read about how tenants in Brooklyn had fought back against their landlord’s plans to install a facial recognition entry system for their building. “This was the first time I heard about facial recognition,” she says. Whichever route they took, they had to test the images on a well-known object detection system called YOLO, one of the most commonly-used algorithms in facial recognition software. At the recent World Cup in Qatar, creative agency Virtue Worldwide came up with flag-themed face paint for fans seeking to fool the emirate’s legion of facial recognition cameras.

☆ Adidas says Berlin Fashion Week launch and co-CEO announcements are fake
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Several press releases allegedly sent from Adidas about a Berlin Fashion Week launch, its treatment of workers abroad and other topics related to its business structure were fake, according to the company. The groups hope Adidas signs onto the Pay Your Workers labor agreement, which advocates for garment worker pay and the right to organize. Two of the faked press releases claimed Adidas was launching new clothing called REALITYWEAR from celebrities Pharrell Williams, Bad Bunny and Philllllthy. The hoax release announcing the Berlin Fashion Week debut on Jan. 16 claimed it was part of a push for a renewed focus on workers' rights and material sourcing. The Guardian first reported that The Yes Men were behind the campaign.

☆ In tribute to rights leader King, Biden invokes 'battle for the soul of this nation'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Steve Holland | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Marking Monday's national holiday celebrating King, Biden delivered a sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church at the invitation of its pastor, Democratic U.S. King worked for voting rights, Biden said, but "we do well to remember that his mission was even deeper. King was pastor of Ebenezer church from 1960 until his death. "The battle for the soul of this nation is perennial," Biden said in his tribute to King. Many presidents, including Biden, have visited Ebenezer to honor King, usually during events around the time of his birthday.

M&S Schmalberg has been handcrafting custom fabric flowers in Manhattan since 1916. Its flowers have been worn by celebrities like Beyoncé, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Rihanna. But since the 1950s, competition from overseas manufacturers has made it difficult for them to stay afloat. But competition from overseas flower manufacturers has made it difficult to stay afloat. For more information, visit the M&S Schmalberg website or Etsy shop.

☆ To get refunded for online returns ASAP, avoid these 3 mistakes
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Emma Cosgrove | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

In addition to causing headaches for retailers and returns processors, these mistakes can also tie up consumers' refunds. 'Blind returns'One of the most common mistakes consumers make is sending an item to the retailer without actually initiating the return online or sending the order paperwork. These cases are called "blind returns," Borders said. Inmar's team will need to play detective, looking at the return address and any other information on the package to try to figure out whose order it is. And as the total volume of returns continues to increase, retailers are going to be forced to crack down.

The Vintage Gala, as 23-year old founders Prince Quist and James Edem Doe Dartey dubbed it, brought together a movement of young vintage enthusiasts pushing back against the global fast fashion industry by encouraging their peers to shop secondhand. "The idea is just to inspire everybody to thrift vintage, because secondhand goods aren't second class stuff," Dartey added. Ghana receives around 15 million items of used clothing each week from Western countries and China, offloaded in bulk, often at negligible prices and questionable quality. Much of it passes through Accra's Kantamanto, one of the largest garment markets on the continent, where bales of used clothes are sold based on the expected quality of the garments wrapped up inside. "Remove the whole notion that you only wear vintage when you are poor, or you only wear thrifted stuff when you don't have money," said creative Myra Davis outside the Vintage Gala event.

☆ U.S. Bars Imports From Three Companies, Citing Possible Use of Forced Labor
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Richard Vanderford | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has barred imports from three companies, including a supplier to Western apparel companies, that the agency says could be using North Korean forced labor. China and Russia are home to the majority of North Korean people working abroad, according to the U.S. The U.S. is leading a growing movement by Western governments to preventing goods made with forced labor from reaching store shelves. U.S. lawmakers in both parties are putting pressure on Customs to tackle forced labor, Mr. Conklin said. North Korean workers labor in dozens of countries, with Pyongyang taking between 70% and 90% of their earnings in many instances, the U.S. said in a 2018 publication.

☆ Hit by climate change, farmers in Cambodia are risking everything on microfinance loans
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Jenni Reid | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

The loans are also seeing farmers put assets including their land up as collateral, even when the loans are high-interest and have short repayment windows. Taylor Weidman | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesNGOs estimate around 167,000 Cambodians have sold their land to pay microfinance loans over the last five years. A 2016 book published by the World Bank argued microfinance loans had reduced poverty and increased incomes in Bangladesh, and banking giant HSBC still promotes its funding of microfinance in the country. But the World Bank, an early and longstanding advocate of microfinance, has also been warning for years of risks including overindebtedness and the growing commercialization of the industry. In the capital Phnom Penh, she added, she commonly meets people working seven days a week to pay off spiraling MFI loans.

Family members amble through the front door with more gifts, so the kids form a gift-opening assembly line that starts from youngest to oldest. Oh, the gifts, gifts, gifts, gifts! I can’t control what others give my kids, but I can control our understanding of material objects and values. Often, on these boisterous multigenerational family holiday celebrations, the conversation inevitably turns toward nostalgia. “Remember when even buying bones was a special treat for our family?” my mom says with eyes twinkling.

☆ Fast-Fashion Brands Like Zara, Shein Create Mountains of Waste From Holiday Shopping, Returns
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Gad Allon | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

A report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation found that, globally, less than 1% of used clothing is actually recycled into new clothes. Recycling clothes is expensive, and the existing technology isn't adequate to handle the volume needed to make a difference for the planet. While recycling clothing can be expensive, there are some companies that have figured out a way to limit waste by recycling. Time to be honestIn order to fix fast fashion, companies need to start being more transparent about their sustainability practices. It also ensures that the waste companies produce is out in the open.

☆ I paid a stylist $300 to determine which colors look best on me — and I've been oozing with confidence in my work wardrobe ever since
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Jill Schildhouse | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Writer Jill Schildhouse recently did a $300 "color analysis" session to reimagine her work wardrobe. While setting up the appointment, Thurber instructed me to arrive without any makeup, because a fresh face without outside influences interfering is needed to identify your best colors. Next, she went through my entire 'winter' spectrum of 36 colors to see which were most flatteringThese are also known as my "wow" colors. Jill SchildhouseSince my color analysis, I've discovered that building a new wardrobe around my color palette and "wow" colors really simplifies shopping and getting dressed. Family and friends have asked what I'm doing differently or why I'm glowing, and wearing these "wow" colors in my social media posts has even increased engagement.

☆ 23 major brands suspected of illegally sourcing products made by forced labor in China
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

And more ...Mary Meisenzahl/InsiderThese companies have also been suspected of having direct or indirect ties to Chinese forced labor in the aforementioned reports. Bosch"Bosch is committed to ensuring that its products are not produced wholly or in part by forced labor. "Compliance with human rights, labor rights and environmental standards is a top priority at PUMA and has been specified in our Codes of Conduct for over 20 years." As stated in our Business Conduct Guidelines, we reject all forms of oppression, forced labor and participation in human rights violations. We will continue to respect human rights and take a strong stand against forced labor."

☆ Robots set their sights on a new job: sewing blue jeans
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Timothy Aeppel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/5] A robotic arm positions pieces of stiffened fabric for a demonstration of automated sewing at the Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center in Detroit, Michigan, U.S. August 19, 2021. Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center/Handout via REUTERSDec 12 (Reuters) - Will a robot ever make your blue jeans? Finding a way to cut out handwork in China and Bangladesh would allow more clothing manufacturing to move back to Western consumer markets, including the United States. Rather than teach robots how to handle cloth, the startup, Sewbo Inc., stiffens the fabric with chemicals so it can be handled more like a car bumper during production. The first step is getting robots into clothing factories.

☆ You may pay nearly $8 for a McDonald's Big Mac in Massachusetts versus $3 in Oklahoma. Here's why costs can vary — even for locations across the street from one another.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Until that happens, he's taken on the unofficial position of "fast-food data scientist," thanks to his latest side project, the Fast Food Index. Fast Food IndexAccording to the Fast Food Index, the most expensive Chipotle chicken burrito is sold for $11.10 in Manhattan's garment district. Other Fast Food Index findings:At $7.89, a McDonald's in Lee, Massachusetts, is home to the most expensive Big Mac. The most expensive Taco Bell crunchy taco is sold in a small town in California. Chipotle menu prices increased by 4% in August, and the company has raised prices for delivery.

[1/5] Pandemic prevention workers in protective suits walk in a street as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreaks continue in Beijing, December 4, 2022. Daily tallies of new COVID infections have also dropped in some regions as authorities row back on testing. CHANGING MESSAGEAlongside the easing of local curbs, Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, who oversees COVID efforts, said last week the ability of the virus to cause disease was weakening. That change in messaging aligns with the position adopted by many health authorities around the world for more than a year. The eastern province of Zhejiang said it planned to largely end mass testing, while the metropolis of Nanjing dropped COVID tests for use of public transport.

“I was just so thirsty to get a BBL,” Velasco said. 7Q Spa also has positive reviews on Yelp and Google, where it averages a 4.5 star rating. The front door of 7Q Spa is side-by-side with Vitality Medical Center, which, according to California business registration documents, has the same CEO as 7Q Spa. After the surgery, Velasco said she felt great and, at first, she couldn’t feel her stitches at all. The California Medical Board revoked her license as part of the settlement, but stayed the revocation and granted her a 35-month probation.

☆ A 1930s eugenics experiment is the reason women's clothing sizes are so damn frustrating
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Isabella Zavarise | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

A 1930s eugenics experiment is the reason women's clothing sizes are inconsistent, as per Radke. In an email to Insider, Radke said the discovery about women's clothing sizes was one of the biggest surprises to her when researching "Butts, a Backstory." Andrew SemansThe life-sized plaster casts made by Dickinson and Belskie were dubbed Normman and Norma and helped create standardized clothing sizes. During the 1950s, standardized clothing sizes were adopted by clothing brands. "It's just too expensive for garment manufacturers to make enough clothing sizes to accommodate the wide variation of human bodies.

☆ Don't bank on free returns: 60% of retailers roll out stricter policies
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Jessica Dickler | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Roughly 60% of retailers said they're making changes to existing returns policies, with fewer promising free returns, according to a recent survey of retail executives. "These adjustments in return policies are not there to cover costs," Kieboom said. "The more money retailers lose on returns the more they have to make up for that by raising prices," Beitelspacher said. How to avoid return feesStill, shoppers love free returns almost as much as they love free shipping. In fact, 98% of consumers said that free shipping was the most important consideration when shopping online, followed by more than three-quarters who said the same about free returns, according to a recent report by PowerReviews.

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