This news item will be one that shakes up the blogging community. "The Federal Trade Commission has told women’s retailer Ann Taylor that it will not take action for incidents related to blogger coverage of an event hosted by its LOFT brand in January."- makemash.com

Whenever I think of visiting a tailor, I think of the Seinfeld episode where a conversation with Jerry, George, and Kramer discuss the way his tailor moves aside "his boys" to measure his inseam. Fits.me, an Estonian robotics company has developed a solution.

As I walked into the offices of a domestic apparel manufacturer/producer (a dwindling bunch), I heard the intercom blare “Samantha can you please close the excel spreadsheet…?”. I thought nothing much of it, meeting up with my friend (who worked there), but the intercom jumped to life every few minutes with “Rita please close the spreadsheet” or some variation thereof.
Yet another fashion company unable to shake off their excel dependency, I concluded. According to my friend the company had implemented custom-built software, but the employees simply did not want to use the new system, such was the stranglehold of Excel. Now I have nothing against Excel and if it works for you, great! However, it was painfully obvious in this case that it was causing sufficient loss in productivity.

The fashion industry is starting to adopt social networking marketing strategies to drive online and retail sales. They are, in increasing numbers, using  Facebook, Twitter and Youtube to develop brand and customer loyalty.

The industry has been ‘fashionably late’, at least by geek standards, to the social media party. They did not recognize the ability of social media netizens, to rapidly relay the power of a strong emotional attachment to a particular brand, to friends and peers.

wtfJeans – Now THIS is a pair of jeans after my own heart!

As both a denim manufacturer and techno-geek, the story behind this three month old concept is riveting. Using a classic blend of ingenuity, tech savvy and smart marketing wtfJeans is pushing all the right buttons.

The lights dimmed center stage in at the Center for Performing Arts in San Francisco on Jan 27th, 2010. A hush fell over the crowd in anticipation of iconic Steve Jobs' keynote address.
"We want to kick off 2010 by introducing a truly magical and revolutionary product" Apple CEO Steve Jobs proclaimed in front of a throng of people and IT luminaries. "Everybody uses a laptop and a smartphone. A question has arisen: Is there room for a third device between a laptop and a smartphone?" Jobs asked. "We've got something that is. It's called the iPad"
With those few words, Apple announced to the world that the game has changed. The social media scene lit up with unheralded speed. Everyone had something to say, to blog, to tweet; some positive, some negative, but regardless of opinion the technological world was riveted.