Article portfolio Tessa Bosma - M2B

Index

Macro Economics Article 1 Macro economics: Manufacturing the future (notes) Page 2 - 3 Article 2 Eurozone economy Page 4

Social Development Article 3 Green Economy or Green Society? (notes) Page 5 - 6 Article 4 The Best Cities For Women Entrepreneurs Page 7 - 9 Article 5 Hotter, wetter climate slashes labour capacity by 10% Page 10 - 11 Article 6 Having A tattoo and A job Page 12 - 13

Trends Article 7 10 crucial consumer trends for 2013 (notes) Page 14 - 16 Article 8 5 Surprising Marketing Trends for 2013 Page 17 - 18 Article 9 The neo dandies Page 19 - 20

Essay Research Article 10 Technology of fashion Page 20 - 23Article 11 Culture of fashion Page 24 - 25 Article 12 3D Printed Pieces On the Catwalks Page 26 - 27 Article 13 Ethical fashion Page 28 - 30

Conslusion and soucres Page 31

Article 1 - Macro economics: Manufacturing the future NOTES

Manufacturing sector undergone tumultuous decadesevere recession choked off demands. Manufacturing remains critically important to developing and advanced worldprovide a pathway from subsistence agriculture to rising incomes and living standardsvital source of innovation and competitiveness contributing to research development exports and produc-tivity growthnowadays manufacturing brings opportunities and challenges wher the old policy makers cant rely on old responses.

Mckinsy Global Institute nowadays manufacturing companies contribute to the economy shifts, innova-tions, productivity and trade more than employment and growth. Consume more services Manufacturing is entering a dynamic new phase. New global consumering class, innovations spark addi-tional demand. Substantial opportunities in uncertain environment.

wages rise, consumers have more money to spend on service. Employment growth. Waardoor sectors kun-nen groeien. De traditionele kijk op manufactures verdwijt. Het zijn geen 2 aparte dingen meer. Het aanne-men van personeel blijft onder druk te staan door het constante productiviteit verbeteringen, snel groe-iende services en de druk van global competition waardoor economieen gepushed worden te specialiseren met meer ervaring/kennis.

manufacturing companies zijn nooit hetzelfde ze verschillen allemaal van aanbod. Auto;s en pharmacaceu-ticals en chemicals zijn het grootst ze zijn dan ook het meest afhankelijk van innovaties. En het is belangri-jkd at ze dicht op de markt staan. 2e grootste zijn printing en food and beverages. Kleinst is tradables met 7 %

2025 new global consuming class, consumption in developing economies. Create rich new market opportu-nities. In established markets de vraag naar variatie en service word groter. de mogelijkheden stijgen in niet gemakkelijke omgevingen. Low cost labor markets waar lonen snel stijgen. Te kort aan getraind pesoneel (dit alles komt op in een tijd van de rescessie waardoor alles onzeker is.

hierdoor moeten bedrijven goed anticiperen op de markt en weten wat de behoeftes zijn van bestaande klanten. Er zullen stappen gezet moeten worden naar grote kansen wat nieuwe markten kunnen betreffen of andere materialen maar dit is nodig om risico te verminderen.

het moeilijkste is om gezetten wegen opnieuw te betreden op een manier waarop ze alles van verschillende kanten moeten bekijken. Wat kan leiden tot een nieuw soort manufacturing. Beleid zal gemaakt moeten worden op basis van alles omvattende overeenkomsten. Het belangrijkste is om samen te werken met verschillende richtingen en op de hoogte te zijn van veranderingen die in verschillende gebieden kunnen gebeuren en betrekking op jou manufacturing kan hebben. belangrijke elementen van deze economische tijd zijn educatie en ontwikkeling in talent.

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Summary

Manufacturers are in need to take risks in order to survive the harsh economy recession. An upcoming mar-ket will demand service and coping with a high rate of productivity and competition will lead to taking on more professional workers. In 2025 there is expected to have a developed consuming group which will lead to opportunities as wealthy new markets. For the companies its crucial to concentrate on their operational markets and to react on changes quickly. Taking risks in terms of new markets to explore or new raw materials are big steps that need to be taking in willing to survive the economic recession. The main thing is to work together with different sections strengthening your own services. Elements that are crucial in this economy are education and the develop-ment in talent which makes you better in your profession providing better service. (Mckinsy Global Insti-tute)

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Article 2 - Eurozone economy

The region’s economy will shrink by 0.3%, official forecasts showLONDON (CNNMoney)The ailing eurozone economy will shrink further in 2013, making it harder still for governments to reduce borrowing and promising more misery for millions of unemployed.The European Commission said Friday it expected combined gross domestic product across the 17 mem-bers of the eurozone to contract by 0.3% this year, a sharp revision to its forecast last fall for growth of 0.1%.

The region’s economy shrank for a third consecutive quarter in the last three months of 2012, leaving it 0.6% smaller than at the start of the year, and business activity surveys published this week suggest the recession will last at least through March.

Many eurozone states have implemented austerity programs in order to curb borrowing but they are de-pressing domestic demand as households and businesses defer spending and investment. “The ongoing rebalancing of the European economy is continuing to weigh on growth in the short term,” Olli Rehn, European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, said in a statement. “We must stay the course of reform and avoid any loss of momentum, which could undermine the turna-round in confidence that is underway, delaying the needed upswing in growth and job creation.” Related: Gloomy survey rattles European marketsThe second recession in the eurozone since 2009 had its roots in the sovereign debt crisis that forced Ire-land, Portugal and Greece to accept international bailouts and brought Spain and Italy close to doing the same.

A pledge by the European Central Bank in mid 2012 to backstop weaker states, and efforts by governments to cut spending and raise taxes, calmed financial markets, but the slump in activity in southern Europe has begun to depress demand across the wider region. France, the second-largest eurozone economy after Germany, is now forecast to see virtually no growth for a second year running in 2013. Forecasts for the Netherlands have also been slashed -- its economy is expected to contract by 0.6% this year - while the Italian economy is expected to contract at twice the pace previously forecast. The European Commission said it expected activity to accelerate gradually during the course of the year, driven by external demand, with domestic demand forecast to take over as the main engine of recovery in 2014.

Unemployment will hit new record highs this year, with nearly one in eight eurozone workers forecast to be without a job, it said.

Summary

There is still no positive future for the job market caused by the ongoing recession. Beginning 2013 on a bad note with a forecast of decreasing with 0.3% the economic future doesn’t look positive.( LONDON (CNNMoney)The constant reconciliation is holding back on the growth of the economy (Olli Rehn, European Commis-sioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs) . The underemployment rate is higher than ever. The European commission expects a growth in 2014 by international demand but the Eurozone is effected greatly leading to recovery operations. (Mark Thompson)

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Article 3 - Green Economy or Green Society? NOTES

making social concerns more central to the green economy debates. Requires major transformation with widely different interpretations about the nature of this transformation. Social issues worden gezien als res-terende in de economy. Green solution tend to be beleid and discourse( een reden houden). While redis-tributive ( herverdelende) or rights based alternatives remain margins (marges) (binnen de wetten/lijnen)There is a need for social economic and environmental beleid to connect in ways that are more integrated, complemantary and synergistic. Such an approache hangt af van crucial adresseren van politiek bestuur.

power relations, bestuur arragements and participatory processes are central to how green economy (con-ceptually and in policy terms is envisaged (bedacht zijn op) and implemented (uitgevoerd). The paper argues that the transformation must be green and fair leading to a green society not just a green economy. To place the social more central in green economy and sustainable developments. Wanneer en op welk moment the social dimensions are incorporated into problem definitions, analysis and solutions. And if the goals equity (redelijkheid) poverty reduction (armoede afname) and inclusivity are in fact com-patible with the policies and transition paths currently being adopted and considered.

a necessary starting point is a more comprehensive (alles omvattend) definition of framework for the analy-sis of social issues wherin every angle is connected and interdependent (society, economy, environmental and political process)

wide range of social problems and other issues associated with green economy. Reactions and responses on promoting a green and fair economy. Social and other public policies can play a key role in mitigating unfair consequences, influencing behavior and transforming patterns of inequality.

knowledge and values: The social lens, analyses of whose knowledge, worldviews and values frame agen-da’s set discourse and influence policysocial structure : how social institutions and relations affect patterns of exclusion or inclusion social impacts an distributional consequences: how policy initiatives and strategies impact different social groups and relationshipsSocial and public policies: beyond protection of those effected and human capital formation, analysis of policies associated with redistribution and social reproductions and interaction between micro en marco level (social actors and agency organization, mobilization and participation at local national and global levels rec-ognizing competing interest.

empiricism (proef ondervindelijk) research highlights the centrality of the social issues in green economy debates and some of the major challenges confronting policy makers in crafting transition pathways.Addresses inequality’s and power imbalances associated with the organized efforts of disadvantaged groups and civil society actors to influence and control moeten allemaal samen werken om tot een doel te komen.in part 3 volgt decision-making.

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Summary

According to UNRISD the green economy needs to undergo a big change taking in to account the divers meanings about the way this change is going to be. The main reason is to take the social dimension into the green economy. Relaying on different factors including the society, politics and policy’s this isn’t an easy step to take. The change can cause difficulties and those difficulties will be further examined in this article. They will explore different dimensions coming to the conclusion on how to create a green and fair path. An-ticipation on social behavior and wanting to change it that can be challenging successfully completing this goal is a challenge. (Kiah Smith, Peter Utting, Sarah Cook)

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Article 4 - The Best Cities For Women Entrepreneurs By Meghan Casserly Forbes Staff

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the year of the female founder is upon us.No, women won’t out-earn men this year, and in fact continue to trail in all of the measurable stats: rev-enues (just 1.8% of female-led firms have revenues of over $1 million vs. 6.3% of male-led firms); patents (5.65% of female firms seek patent approval versus 13% of men); and job creation (36% of women-led firms create jobs to 44% of male-led firms).All that aside, there are some very real indicators that 2013 will be the year when women entrepreneurs finally gain the traction—and the funding—they need to help the revolution begin. One example? A recent survey found 85% of current female entrepreneurs predict that there will be more entrepreneurial activity among American women in the coming 12 months than was experienced in 2012.

But when we talk American women, it’s no secret that the opportunities for success aren’t stacked evenly from coast to coast. To me, access to capital is critical—and I’ve had the opportunity to comb through lend-ing data to find that one city’s funding boom year is another’s empty pocket. No, when it comes to creating businesses, not all metros are created equal.This week NerdWallet, the online financial resource, took a stab at ranking U.S. cities as hotbeds for female entrepreneurship, applying their own methodology and measurement to just what makes a city “best” for business. First up: proven businesses. NerdWallet assessed the cities’ entrepreneurial climates by the num-ber of businesses per 100,000 residents within city limits. Second: the percentage of those businesses that are currently women owned, which the firm considers a good measure of opportunities for networking or mentorship within the community.

The third success measure is the financial health of the city as measured by median income and unemploy-ment rate to take the temperature of which cities have an economy ripe for new businesses—who’s got money to spend? And lastly, because education levels do correlate with entrepreneurship, the percentage of city residences over 25 who hold a Bachelor’s degree.It’s a nice list, and certainly speaks to opportunity. The trouble is, it falls short in measuring the real experi-ences of the female founders who call these cities home. Like whether female-led companies are growing, whether their revenues are healthy and if the banks are approving the oh-so-critical business loans needed to get an idea off the ground. It’s short on anything more than the promise.NerdWallet’s ranking is missing the big picture. Houston, Texas, for example, which is nowhere to be found on this new list, boasts more than $35 million in loans to women for building businesses each year—cer-tainly an indicator that the environment is not only tolerating, but proactively seeking women-led busi-nesses to invest in.

While New York held court at the top of our list, number one on the NerdWallet ranking is San Francisco. The Bay Area is a notorious entrepreneurial stomping ground, boasting 13.7 businesses for every 100 resi-dents, which means there is plenty of opportunity for collaboration or networking. But founders will agree that it’s often the most established markets that are the toughest to penetrate.I’ve tracked growth in women-led firms in the area I’d add that there are other positive metrics that make San Francisco a great place to build a business as a female founder. The total SBA-approved loans granted last year was more than $23 million, and women-led firms grew by 13% in the past decade to nearly 150,000 at last count, pulling in revenues of $23,371,700.

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Surprisingly far down the list, given Colorado’s thriving startup economy, is Denver. But again, NerdWallet’s metrics aren’t far-reaching enough. Colorado has consistently maintained high rankings for venture capital as a percent of state GDP, public offerings, small biz innovation grants, and entrepreneurial activity over the past five years. It currently sits at No. 5 on the FORBES rankings of best cities for business and at No. 8 on our best cities for female founders. Revenues at women-led firms topped $15 million last year alone.But most notably missing is New York City. Of every major metro in the nation, New York is the easy leader in both the number (143) of and dollar amount ($42,281,500) of small business loans granted to women last year.

Here, by NerdWallet’s ranking, the top 10 cities for women entrepreneurs.

1. San Francisco, CASan Francisco is well-known for its entrepreneurial climate, particularly in the technology industry. With nearby Silicon Valley and a whopping 13.7 businesses per 100 residents, the city has plenty of fellow entre-preneurs for networking and collaboration opportunities. The Bay Area is also home to three of the nation’s most famous businesswomen, Sheryl Sandberg (COO of Facebook), Marissa Mayer (CEO of Yahoo) and Meg Whitman (CEO of Hewlett-Packard).

2. Seattle, WASeattle is one of the most highly educated cities and has a correspondingly high median income and low unemployment rate. With 12.5 businesses per 100 residents, the city is highly entrepreneurial, and women own around 4 of those businesses.

Organizations like CHEW organize events and panels to encourage female entrepreneurs to open their busi-nesses in Seattle. Seattle is also home to one of the world’s most famous and civic-minded businesswomen, Melinda Gates, as well as rising chef and restaurant entrepreneur Renee Erickson.

3. Washington, DCOver one-third of businesses in DC are owned by women, meaning that women in this city can find plenty of female coworkers and mentors. The city provides plenty of resources to women as well, such as the Washington, DC Women’s Business Center. The organization, partially funded by the SBA, offers trainings, classes and one-on-one consultations.

4. Minneapolis, MNMinneapolis has the dual benefits of having a very low unemployment rate and an educated workforce. Ad-ditionally, women own almost a third of businesses in Minneapolis. Minnesotan businesswomen can meet each other and network at quarterly events at Women Entrepreneurs of Minnesota. The National Associa-tion of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) of Minnesota is very active, providing networking and other events, and nearby twin-city Saint Paul-based WomenVenture offers loans and transitional career services.

5. Portland, ORThis laid-back West Coast city has it all: plenty of businesses, a good share of which are owned by women, an educated general populace and a low unemployment rate. Additionally, organizations like Women Entrepreneurs of Oregon hold plenty of events for women. Intel is Oregon’s largest employer, and the company has six Oregon campuses as well as a female Executive Vice President, Renee James.

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6. Atlanta, GAAtlanta has plenty of businesses, a third of which are run by women, and an educated population, making it a great city for female entrepreneurs. Plus, businesswomen can meet at the various networking events and educational programs run by the NAWBO in Atlanta. The Georgia Mentor Protégé Connection assists women in finding mentors, and the state provides plenty of trainings and networking assistance for women business owners.

7. Austin, TXAustin is known for its startups—there are almost 11 businesses for every 100 Austin residents. Austin has a very low unemployment rate of only 6.2%, which is one reason we rated it as the number one city for job seekers. With organizations like Austin Women in Technology, businesswomen in Austin will have little trouble finding a supportive and knowledgeable community.

8. Raleigh, NCRaleigh’s low unemployment rate and high number of businesses per person make it a great city for female entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs can check out organizations like Raleigh Business and Professional Women for resources. In addition, the City of Raleigh has adopted a Small Disadvantaged Minority and Women Owned Business Program, promising to award 15% of the city’s contracts to minority-owned and women-owned businesses.

9. Denver, CODenver is a highly educated city with plenty of businesses, 30% of which are owned by women. The Mile High City also has resources for businesswomen through The Entrepreneur Center at the University of Den-ver, which provides mentorship and networking opportunities. The city even hosts Denver Startup Week, a week of trainings, office hours, parties, mentorship and networking events. The week was so successful in 2012 that the city has announced a second year of the program.

10. San Diego, CAWith an educated population, moderately high median income and entrepreneurial atmosphere, San Diego is a great city for women in business. San Diego female entrepreneurs can access mentors, workshops, networking events and various small business tools through SCORE and the NAWBO. There are also several startup incubators in the city that help foster entrepreneurs and their ideas, including EvoNexus and the newly launched cybersecurity incubator CyberHive.

Summary

2013 will see a rise in American businesswomen starting up in supporting cities . Nerdwallet did research in finding the best city to be active in as a businesswomen given 3 facts to look out for. The amount of already existing company’s is number 1. The amount of these companies that are led by women is number 2 and third the economic statistics of the countries. Colorado, San Francisco and new York have already proven to be supportive of the growth in female led company’s but competition in already built markets will be high so it’s important to be informed on every aspect of the city to start your business. (Meghan Casserly)

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Article 5 - Hotter, wetter climate slashes labour capacity by 10% Work capability losses owing to hot and humid conditions could double by mid-century, US government scientists say

Work capability is already down to 90% during the most hot and humid periods. Photograph: Arif Ali/AFP/Getty ImagesEarth’s increasingly hot, wet climate has cut the amount of work people can do in the worst heat by about 10% in the past six decades, and that loss in labour capacity could double by mid-century, US government scientists reported on Sunday.

Because warmer air can hold more moisture than cooler air, there is more absolute humidity (vochtigheid) in the atmosphere now than there used to be. And as anyone who has sweltered through a hot, muggy summer knows, it’s more stressful to work through hot months when the humidity is high.To calculate the stress of working in hotter, wetter conditions, experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration looked at military and industrial guidelines already in place for heat stress, and set those guidelines against climate projections for how hot and humid it is likely to get over the next century.

Their findings were stark: “We project that heat stress-related labour capacity losses will double globally by 2050 with a warming climate,” said the lead author, John Dunne of NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton.

Work capability is already down to 90% during the most hot and humid periods, Dunne and his co-authors wrote in the journal Nature Climate Change. Using a middle-of-the-road projection of future temperature and humidity, they estimate that could drop to 80% by 2050.

A more extreme scenario of future global warming, which estimated a temperature rise of 6C, would make it difficult to work in the hottest months in many parts of the world, Dunne said.Labour capacity would be all-but eliminated in the lower Mississippi Valley and most of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains would be exposed to heat stress “beyond anything experienced in the world today”, he said.

Under this scenario, heat stress in New York City would exceed that of present-day Bahrain, while in Bah-rain, the heat and humidity could cause hyperthermia – potentially dangerous overheating – even in sleep-ing people who were not working at all.

Humans are endothermic creatures, which means they give off heat. If they can’t get rid of it faster than they create it, they go into hyperthermia. Typically, humans cool off by doing less heat-producing activity, but it may get so hot and humid that even a sleeping person wouldn’t be able to dissipate heat fast enough.

“This planet will start experiencing heat stress that’s unlike anything experienced today,” said Ronald Stouffer, a co-author of the study.

The only way to retain labour capacity, Dunne said, is to limit global warming to less than 3C.

Global average temperature has risen by about 0.7C compared to pre-industrial times. It is likely to rise another 1C by mid-century, Dunne said.

The way some workers already adapt to heat stress – taking a siesta during the hottest hours of the day, working outdoor jobs like construction at night when temperatures drop or ceasing work entirely during periods of peak heat and humidity – could migrate to places where heat stress is increasing.

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The US west coast and northern Europe are likely to be two of the regions that will be affected last by the trend toward more hot and humid climate, the scientists said.

Part of the issue is how well-adapted certain regions are to extreme heat stress, Dunne said.

As an example, he noted that 70,000 people were killed during a disastrous 2003 heatwave in Europe, where heat stress was highly unusual. However, the same kind of stress was normal for a place like India, where a similar heatwave killed 3,000.

“It’s very regionally dependent and highly determined by adaptation,” Dunne said

Summary

Global warming is increasing, which is dangerous and effecting the efficiency of the workforce. Research indicates that the global warming will only go upwards, in 2050 they estimated an rise of 6C but even today there are difficulties working in rising temperatures, causing health and work related problems such as overheating caused by a high moisture degree and workmen aren’t able to work efficiently. It’s important to anticipate on this increasing temperature to prevent dangerous situations in the future. (Reuters)

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Article 6 - Having A tattoo and A job “Now you’re never going to get a job!” Almost everyone in the 14% pool of tattooed Americans has heard something like this from a relative or friend. But as the number of inked Americans grows, is the traditional assumption that tattoos and jobs don’t mix really true in 2013?

Workplace tattoo policies vary among and within industries. But with many contemporary companies stressing commitments to diversity and inclusion, tattoos are becoming increasingly unproblematic across the board. Lax tattoo policies for blue-collar and art-related jobs aren’t shocking, but the increasingly toler-ant outlook of frontrunners in corporate, educational and medical industries are more surprising.

As consulting firm CEO John Challenger explained, most employers today would agree that a person’s ap-pearance is nowhere near as important as his or her professional skills. “Even in this tight job market, most companies aren’t going to view tattoos too harshly. Companies have a vested interest in hiring the most qualified candidate.”

According to Bank of America Spokeswoman Ferris Morrison, Bank of America has no written rules or re-strictions when it comes to inked corporate employees. “We have no formal policy about tattoos because we value our differences and recognize that diversity and inclusion are good for our business and make our company stronger,” she said.

This attitude is not uncommon in contemporary corporate environments. Having large, colorful and highly visible lilac tattoos inked across her upper chest didn’t stop Courtney Pecola from landing a job as vice president of Philadelphia’s ZB Sports, a sporting goods retailer, in 2004. “If I’d passed on her because of her tattoos, I’d be out one phenomenal employee,” Pecola’s hirer commented.

Still, tattoo policies vary from one office to another, the contra argument being that tattoos – like uncon-ventional hairdos or bold garments – can distract coworkers and clients. “Depending on if they are visible or offensive in nature, tattoos can have an impact on professionalism,” Mark Brenner, senior vice president of external affairs at Apollo Group said.

Tattoo policies for positions in academia differ as well, depending on the institution’s mission statement. Bruce Potts, professor at The University of New Mexico, sports a full tribal tattoo on his face. “I haven’t had trouble getting a job because success is all about how one presents him or herself, and doesn’t solely de-pend on appearance,” he explained.

But UNM’s acceptance of Potts’ atypical appearance is not necessarily representative of all employers. Espe-cially when it comes to younger children, institutions and camps are more concerned with the message that a leader’s appearance may be sending. John Beitner, director of L.A.’s Tumbleweed Day Camp, felt pressure from parents to employ more “appropriate looking role models” after his camp saw a 15% increase in tat-tooed counselors over the past decade. Beitner decided to tackle the issue on a case-by-case basis, evaluat-ing levels of offensiveness for individual tattoos. He commented that a no-tattoo policy would mean losing excellent candidates.

In the medical field, having a tattoo does not impede a person’s chance at landing a position, but rules about covering them tend to be more stringent. Most facilities require a certain level of concealment during work hours because demonstrating the utmost external professionalism is key to gaining patients’ trust.

According to the UCLA Health System policy: “Any tattoo that may be considered offensive by patients or visitors must be covered by clothing, a band-aid or make-up.” The Cleveland Clinic has a

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similar policy: “Tattoos must be covered during working hours to ensure a consistent professional appear-ance while working.”

Mayo Clinic Spokesman Bryan Anderson stated, “Mayo Clinic has long recognized the importance of pre-senting a professional image to our patients. Under our policy, employees are asked to cover tattoos or other body art.”

Workplace concealment policies vary, but having a tattoo in 2013 certainly doesn’t ruin one’s chance at having a successful career. Still, a 2011 study by CareerBuilder shows that 31% of surveyed employers ranked “having a visible tattoo” as the top personal attribute that would dissuade them from promoting an employee. So although companies across many fields are increasingly focused on diversity and inclusion, tattoo flaunting is still probably best reserved for post-work hours.

Summary

Looks can be deceiving, having a tattoo can scare off but in the job market for 2013 your expertise will be more valued than appearance. Having a tattoo isn’t going to risk your chances at getting a job but it needs to be covered to come across professional giving the fact that tattoos can distract or be unacceptable. By setting up good rules people with tattoos know where they stand. Acceptance of tattoos in the job market have grown but it’s still important to set a good example for the next generation. (Rachel Hennesse)

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Article 7 - 10 crucial consumer trends for 2013 NOTES

Nowadays some economies will survive the crisis and some of them are on thin ice. But as long as you know what the needs are of the constantly changing consumers are and you anticipate on them you have enough business to make an income. To help you do that there is a sum up for the best 10 consume ring trends.

Trend 1: Presumers & constownersIn the year of 2013 the consumers will be divided in 2 consumption models. On the one hand it will be the presumers and on the other hand the custowners. Now what does the word presumers mean? Before the customers even get it clear for themselves they get active in promoted products and services. And because there is a large stage for the popular and the latest developments in technique that are com-ing up in the mainstream there is a possibility for success.Custowners are making a loop from buying a product to being a part of a brand and to commit to a brand. But then they expect something back from the brands they invest in they have to be close to the feelings of the consumer so that they can feel related. But besides that the custowners want to get something back on the financial market as well.

Trend 2: Emerging²Now a days it’s about give and take. When the weak need something the strong ones give it and the same go’s the other way around. But for the time being now the growing countries give to the growing countries creating an overdose on products and services. Causing appearing markets to grow really fast. Looking at numbers it turns out that emerging markets will rise above the experienced markets to USD 44.1 trillion versus USD 42.7 trillion (Source: IMF, October 2012). It’s wise to know on which market you are operating and to hold a close eye on your competition.

Trend 3: Mobile momentsMobile phone use will only increase from now on. Nowadays society isn’t imaginable without mobile devic-es and the everyday use of it. Every moment will be spent ether by actually doing something or just looking at your mobile device. By the way of using the mobile device every single minute will be well spent, ether by socializing through your mobile device, consuming things or just to fill up time by having fun with it. anticipating on a growth in mobile use in relation to multitasking your time products and services will make you love your mobile device even more. To make this point strong there are some facts:1. 63% of the female phone users and 73% of the male users can’t leave their phone alone for just one hour. (Source: Harris Interactive, June 2012).2. The age group between 18 and 24 sends about 109.5 messages on a weekday. That leaves us with 3,200 messages in one month (Source: Pew Research Centre, September 2012).3. A study on the use of andriod app users shows that the time spent on a mobile device related to apps is almost one hour per day. (Source: DFKI, November 2011)

Trend 4: New life insideThe cravings towards sustainable brands and products are growing although we are coping with the re-cession. A development that caries life within instead of being re-used. These products can physically be planted and nurtured to grow. It is not about making the issues around sustainability vanish, but the mean-ing lies within the emotional value that the consumers adds to it. Giving back to nature.

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Trend 5: appscriptionsConsumers are getting more educated and this time through a mobile app giving advice about medical is-sues. With these apps it is good for the consumer to anticipate in an early stage when they know the symptoms. These apps will decrease costs because the consumer is alert to his or her own health.

Trend 6: Celebration nationGlobalizing your cultural backgrounds. It’s a celebration of cultures and getting them on a stage for con-sumers. Cultures will be up coming and being brought under the attention of the consumers.

Trend 7: Datamyning This trend focusses on the value of customer data to businesses. But flipping it around the consumers are using their data to approach brand that actually use it and consumers will get a guidance on how to ad-vance their ways of life an spending habits. In 2013 even everyday industries will use the information about consumers and use it for meaningful outcomes. A down side to this is that company’s offer consumers good advice but also with aggressive service.

Trend 8: Again made hereBringing the production back to your home country. While the labor costs in China are raising and when you order you always get to deal with long lead times this might be a solution. With recent developments in 3D printing and make on demand. It might turn out to be profitably stating on resources that claim that 76% of the US consumers attention gets drawn to the “Made in the USA” label that makes the step to buying more credible. (Source: Percep-tion Research, July 2012).

Trend 9: Full frontalBrands need to give all their information away building on trust within the consumers. The brands need to be crystal clear and come up with hard facts and results. To give you some facts about this trend:1. Consumers are losing their trust the percentage dropped from 56% in 2011 to 53% in 2012 (Source: Edelman, January 2012).2. The trust of Americans in the green claims of brands is a low 44% (Source: Cone Inc., March 2012).3. 69% of the consumers is more willing to buy from a brand that is publicly about their CSR results. 31% is fine buying from a brand that only talks about CSR mission and goal. (Source: Cone Communications, October 2012).It’s hard to throw yourself out there, but it takes total belief in the products they sell to give themselves away.

Trend 10: demanding brandsBrands changing on fields as sustainability and social responsibility in the future are depending on their customers too. The brands expect that the consumers partake in this mission leading to getting more re-gards of the hard to please consumers. But how to get to this point with your consumers? It is the need to be honest and to lay all your cards on the table.It’s important to keep on making meaningful demands or else the consumer will lose faith in your brand and you will turn out not to be demanding anymore.

So to conclude the trends, you must keep in mind that every person gives another meaning to a trend. If we are talking about consumer trends it is a hard thing to lay a finger on because of the ongoing changes in trends and the time they take. Based on consumer activity’s, technological developments and so on. This article summed up the 10 most important trends for 2013. These trends do not speak for all the consum-ers, every person has its own will. But when you want to use these trends think about which one will suit your company the best. Trend watching gives you the opportunity to use the latest developments and get the best out of it for your own company.

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Summary

According to an article on the website of trendwatching.com these 10 trends are up and coming for the year 2013. Technological trends such as the use of mobile phones and the apps making the consumers more unformatted are growing. Sustainability is a trend for brands and consumers having the emotional value of giving back. Being transparent to your customers to earn their trust is another trend. Instead of outsourcing manufacturers produce their own products. There will also be an overdose on products and services from upcoming countries to already established countries. And for the coming year we will see a cultural influence on the fashion market. Consumers fall for promoted articles or being loyal to brands. Trend watching gives you the opportunity to use the latest developments and get the best out of it for your own company but only use the trends that suit your company the best. (trendwatching.com)

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Article 8 - 5 Surprising Marketing Trends for 2013 5 Surprising Marketing Trends for 2013

It feels like every January we see list after list of business forecasts for the year to come. More often than not these lists feel a bit repetitive and not all that inspiring. Well – and not to give 2013 an overblown ego – we feel fairly confident that this year will see a departure from the usual, predictable trends in small busi-ness marketing in favor of some refreshing, enthusing changes. Here’s a peek at what we see coming down the road in terms of small business marketing:

Smarter social media

The last few years have been all about every business feeling obligated to create a dynamic presence on every social media platform. Now that we’re getting the idea that the set of hot social media sites is never going to be a static group, that there will always be the hot social media outlet du jour, the idea that we should all feel pressed to utilize and engage on every available front is not only unreasonable, it’s a strat-egy that could only lead to depressingly disparate engagement. Instead, we believe 2013 will be the year that small businesses become confident and adept enough at social media integration to pick the specific platforms that make the most sense for their business. The reality is not all social media sources are per-fectly suited to every industry. This year businesses should decide which platforms are the most worthwhile places to reach their audience, thus hopefully seeing greater returns as a result.

Simplicity will reign supreme

Maybe it was “Gangnam Style” that pushed us over the edge of overstimulation, however as we embark upon a new year, the overwhelming feeling among consumers is one of exhaustion. There is a sense that from the hyper-connectivity of our highly-digitized lives to the bright, flashy, complicated sensory input we’re fed everyday, there is no way to continue at this pace. As a result, 2013 is likely to be a year where the most successful marketing strategies will be ones that are not only simple in nature, but promote goods and services that serve to simplify the consumer’s life, or even just their customer experience.

Campaign-based marketing will take a break

As a marketing strategy, campaigns are great…in theory. The problem with focusing on a tactic that in-volves a set group of marketing activities and processes centered around one theme is that it operates on a company-based timeline. Inherently, this neglects to account for the timeline of the customer, which is, at this point, almost entirely real time. Up until now, companies have been progressively integrating social media and real time customer engagement as a supplement to campaign-based marketing. We think that from here on out, real time marketing, through social media and websites, will be the focus. We are excited to see what inspired strategies come about.

Marketing will be more tied to revenue generation

We were fairly surprised to read a recent study by Fournaise Marketing Group that cited 73% of executives do not believe that marketing significantly ties to creating revenue(inkomen). This is not great logic; 2013 will be the year everyone catches up. Instead of just measuring lead generation, marketing’s worth to a company will start being weighed against sales growth. This could entirely change marketing’s key perfor-mance indicators, which, ideally, will lead to a more effective marketing department altogether.

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Mobile will get its due

Last year, more people purchased smartphones than PCs. Seriously. While it feels like we hear the word “mobile” more than our own names these days, global marketers haven’t entirely caught up; 90% of them have a mobile site, but only 20% include mobile strategies as a fully integrated part of their overall market-ing plan. If nothing else on this list comes to fruition, count on “mobile” being a bigger, bolder line item on every major marketer’s strategy this year.

Summary

According to forbes.com these are the 5 marketing trends for 2013. Trend 1 and 2 upcoming businesses are being selective in participating on social media channels and using them to advertise. Trend 3 con-centrates on marketing strategies by simplifying the technology obsessed society by giving them an easy way to consume. Trend 4 will be a balance between the increasing income and the value of the marketing strategy. Trend 5 the mobilized society and marketing strategist making use of it. The way marketing works will have a great impact on the consumers. (forbes.com)

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Article 9 - The neo dandies Bespoke cobblers, tailors and shirtmakers have seen sales soar as smarter men spend £1,000 a month on turning their workaday clothes into a lifestyle statement

More men are looking to the catwalk, and prepared to spend money on clothing and grooming. “I really enjoy shopping for clothes at Matches, Prada and Martin Margiela, plus Uniqlo for basics. Fashion is very much part of my life.”

It could be any affluent urban woman discussing her style strategy, but this is Oliver Woods, 41, hairstylist to the likes of Robbie Williams, Jude Law and Daniel Craig, and prolific, passionate shopper. Typical of a new breed of male consumer, he is discerning and well-informed when it comes to discussing designers, trends, historical influences and the art of dressing.

“Far from being a chore, putting together my look is something I derive great pleasure from, mulling over the fabrics and the fit of things,” says Woods. “I’m not impulsive, but I consider my purchases very carefully. I like a narrow 60s trouser, shirts from Margiela or Spencer Hart, plus benchmade brogues from Tricker’s, or Grenson, or Church’s. I care enormously about how I look: women don’t want to see men who are over-weight, slobbing around in boring, functional clothes. You have to make the effort to look good.”

With a monthly spend of around £1,000, and a wardrobe worth in excess of £50,000, Woods is a 21st-cen-tury dandy – and he’s far from unique in his devotion to matters sartorial.

In 2011, global menswear sales increased by an estimated 9% to £21bn, while men’s clothing and accesso-ries now represent half of the luxury apparel market.

Tomorrow the British Fashion Council hosts the second London Collections: Men event, a two-day catwalk and exhibition launched in June to showcase long-established and fledgling British menswear businesses. More than 60 designers will show on the LC:M catwalk schedule, which aims to replicate the success of London fashion week as a platform for men’s design talent, with young designers riding the shirt tails of international labels such as Alfred Dunhill, Burberry, Hackett and Paul Smith.

Adam Brown, a former photographer who founded the men’s holiday brand Orlebar Brown five years ago, will be showing his latest collection to international press and buyers. “We are style-led rather than fash-ion-led, and we’ve remained focused on the concept of providing a carefully edited, intelligent wardrobe that will take our customers from sunlounger to sundown. Every piece we sell is manufactured in Britain or Portugal from quality fabrics, and everything has to be as relevant in five or ten years’ time as it is now.

“We’re a small business, but we are doubling in size every year and we’re doing the same business in the US as in the UK now: whether it’s a 25-year-old going to Ibiza or a 45-year-old heading to Mauritius, our clients have an evolved sense of style and a willingness to spend on products that have a credible prov-enance.”

Across the board, retailers are reaping the benefits of Generation Y’s profligacy. Selfridges in London has recently opened what it says is the world’s biggest men’s shoe department, with 15,000 square feet of retail space and more than 72,000 pairs from more than 250 brands – with a made-to-order salon selling bespoke footwear that includes £10,000 Tom Ford boots.

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At Harvey Nichols, the designer department store group, menswear is booming, with men spending on average 25% more each visit than their female counterparts. Premium designer brands such as Givenchy, Alexander McQueen, Dries Van Noten and Lanvin have contributed to a 55% growth in menswear sales in the last two years, with forecasts for 2013 suggesting a further 20% increase. In just one week last month, the group reported sales of more than £50,000 on Givenchy T-shirts — selling at between £200 and £315 each. In these straitened times, it’s a clear sign of a buoyant business sector amid a sea of profit warnings and liquidations.

“Men’s shopping habits are changing at a phenomenal rate,” says Darren Skey, menswear buying and mer-chandising manager at Harvey Nichols. “Historically, women shopped for their partners, but high-profile men such as David Beckham have made it acceptable for guys to express themselves through clothes and grooming. They now shop like women do, as a leisure activity, browsing and experimenting with different labels. They come in with pictures from blogs such as Tommy Ton on style.com and The Sartorialist, using those as a reference point to put together looks.

“We’re also seeing customers enjoying a newfound confidence in less established brands such as Oliver Spencer, Christopher Shannon, Norse Projects and Blk Dnm, which are enjoying the benefits of this neo-dandyism.”

Tim Little, the Chelsea cobbler who bought Northampton-based shoe manufacturer Grenson two years ago, has witnessed an enormous shift in British men’s attitude to their appearance. “In France and Italy, it has always been thus, but English men have never wanted to appear vain or as if they care about what they are wearing. The dot.com boom saw a huge shift in dress codes in the workplace, and the traditional profes-sional uniform of a dark suit with a Thomas Pink shirt and a wacky tie broke down. Men have become more engaged with the process of dressing, and have become passionate about brands in the way they’ve previ-ously obsessed about Porsches or Triumph bikes: they can get geeky about the craftsmanship of a bench-made brogue and wax lyrical about the story behind a business like Grenson, which has been going since 1866 and made the shoes for the original The Great Gatsby movie.

“We are seeing 18-year-olds who are buying their first pair of ‘real shoes’ after living in trainers, and they want contemporary, chunky-soled brogues, but equally we sell our traditional styles to trendy twentysome-things and a retired 85-year-old sergeant-major who has worn the same shoe all his life.”

Toby Bateman, buying director at Mr Porter – the younger brother (launched in February 2011) to the suc-cessful online designer womenswear boutique net-a-porter – suggests there is a return to more traditional aesthetic values with modern detailing.

“In my grandfather’s day, a gentleman had a tailor, a shirtmaker and a cobbler, and style was about quality and craftsmanship. I think men are beginning to associate their wardrobe purchases with those attributes again: they want Donegal and Harris tweeds, and if they do buy into big brands they want a lifestyle ele-ment to identify with.”

With such unequivocal evidence in the form of wallets being boldly brandished, it’s clearly a lavish lifestyle that bucks all the prevailing economic and consumer trends.

Summary

Fashion is become more important to men instead of feeling obligated to shop they actually enjoy it. Since 2011 spending’s on menswear increased and in 2012 it took half the share of the clothing market and for 2013 an even bigger growth of 20% is estimated. Men are getting more interested in fashion and feel com-fortable in showing who they are through clothes. This passion for fashion with men will maybe lead to the modern dandy. (Karen Kay)

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Article 10 - Technology of fashion This article marks the seventh in Urban Times’ EcoFashion Series. We hope to shed some light on the eco fashion industry by exploring elements such as the sustainability, culture, ecology, psychology, labour and future of fashion. Our authors explore to what extent eco fashion is on the cusp of becoming the next big trend.

If technology is the new sexy, then ‘smart’ fashion is the new black. Technology has been in a very serious relationship with our social and economic environment, and now they are going steady. Our tech devices drive our lives into high gear and influence our daily decisions and moods; it has become our support sys-tem, our friend even. I spend more time with my laptop on a regular basis then I do with any human being, sad I know, but true.

The marrying of fashion and technology is a phenomenon that has already taken place and is continuing to evolve at a rapid pace.

Have you ever left your house without your smartphone and felt awkwardly naked as you went on with your day? What if you could wear your smartphone instead? You’d wake up and throw on a totally stylish sweater that was embedded with all the information you needed, including GPS, heart monitor, infrared invisibility, and even sounds of a barking dog to keep suffocating crowds away from you as you ran to catch your train. This isn’t just a page out of a Sci-Fi novel, this is where fashion technology is actually hanging out and where it will continue to stay.

The evolution of textiles and fibers spreads over thousands of years, beginning with the Flintstones chic era, aka, wearing the animal skin from the deer you just ate for dinner. Advancements in manufacturing practices in the last 40 years, including improved fabric technology and automated garment construction techniques, have changed the way clothes are made and produced. The Internet paved the way for start-up companies to sell their clothing on e-commerce websites, not only garnering more control on inventory but also allowing for more innovation. Start-up company Acustom was founded last year to make “bespoke” clothing that is tailored to customer measurements using 3D body scanning technology.Globalization and outsourcing were once attached to the evils of sweatshops and waste accumulated by mass production, however public awareness and the power of social media have caused companies to now look for sustainability and safe eco-friendly practices.

Similar to the way cars have become less of a pollutant, with the maturity of engineering and the emer-gence of trendy solar hybrid cars with clean gas emissions, fashion practices are becoming more eco-friendly and supportive of the sustainability movement. At the forefront of this trend is DPOL (Direct Panel on Loom) technology, also called Smart Tailoring. Created by Indian designer Siddhartha Upadhyaya, this way of production increases fabric efficiency by about 15% and reduces the lead-time by about 50% to produce high quality fashion garments. The technology involves a computer attached to a loom in which different data like color, pattern and size related to the garment is entered. The machine weaves out the exact pieces, which just needs to be stitched up, for the person who would wear the garment. Practically “weaving, fabric-cutting and patterning” gets over in a single process. Not only does DPOL minimize im-mense waste of fabric, it also helps in saving energy and water [70%-80%]. It even reduces the amount of dyes and chemicals, harmful to the environment, used in the various steps involved. Siddhartha’s clothing line, August Fashions, is the pioneer in the DPOL movement, also utilizing natural dyes for the clothes and attainable price points.

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It is common to assume that eco-friendly fashion is expensive and only for wealthy individuals who can jump on hipster fads no matter what the price tag. The truth is that like any technological advance, the start-up is bigger, more expensive and less attainable. Expenses from sustainable farming, manufacturing and distribution also come from the fact that they all need to be regulated. However, as we continue to advance in the genre the price points will lower as sustainable fashion take over.Currently, scientists are developing textiles that do not harm people or the environment, with new polymer chemistry that doesn’t depend on non-renewable resources. Manufactured fibers, such as micro fibers, are now ahead of natural fibers in comfort, durability, and suitability to specific needs.

We can now engineer textiles with different specifications and performance characteristics. Smart fabrics describe materials that enhance the features of clothing and adapt to the external environment. Brook-stone Inc., recently introduced a pair of cargo pants with heated carbon fabric panels in the seat and pock-ets that would work to keep you warm when trekking through cold winters. Companies like Wild Planet Toys Inc. offer smart fabric lines like Hoodio that allow you to dance your way to work with their radio jacket. Smart fashion has even inspired trade conferences such as “Smart Fabrics 2012”. Barbara Rojas, Con-ference Director, IntertechPira, said,

“The program for Smart Fabrics 2012 will cover new and emerging wearable technologies,as well as best ractices for integrating them into textiles.” Smart fashion is eco-conscious in many ways including, utilizing renewable resources and manufactured fibers, creating new jobs in better work settings and producing clothing that last longer and performs bet-ter. The other side of the sustainability movement boasts designers who are looking outside of the box of manufactured fibers and smart technology and look to food products and recycled material as wearable commodities.

Suzanne Lee, fashion designer and TED fellow has been creating a kombucha-based material that can be used like fabric or vegetable leather to make clothing. German microbiology student turned designer Anke Domaske has been using milk to create a new fabric called QMilch. Californian high-tech sports apparel company Virus made their Stay Warm line of cold-weather clothing from recycled coffee beans. Virus says that their studies show that wearing this fabric next to the skin can raise surface temperatures by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Other properties include quick-dry and moisture control.

The future of fashion technology is positive and bright, literately. The use of LED lighting in fashion has been both artistic and practical in usage. Pro snowboarder William Hughes wears a full body LED suit for amaz-ingly grand video by filmmaker Jacob Sutton. Designer Angella Mackey has expanded her line of gorgeous illuminated coats to her Vega Collection. Moving beyond jackets, her line now includes smocks, capes, and even illuminated scarves to keep you fashionably safe on the roads.

The possibilities for further advancements are endless. The next decades will see the gradual meeting of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive technologies. Typical results will be materials with different malleability, thermal and optical properties, integration of IT into fabrics, and link-age of our bodies to the network for medical and communication purposes, via clothing or skin-wearables. If I could create my dream fashion design I would opt for a form fitting pliable outfit that smells like my perfume of choice, washes itself, contains embedded in its material my smartphone, laptop, itunes library, anti-aging vitamins and weight management device that keeps me slim and fit. The great, or some could say scary, thing is we actually aren’t far from this being a reality.

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Innovation starts with a question, and continues to blossom with the passion of an idea obsessed leader. As a society we are living in a sonic boom of consciousness where we not only envision a better life for our future generations but we also demand and produce results. Technology is the backbone of sustainability in fashion and it will continue grow to support its development until one day it is simply the norm. Until then we can continue to fantasize about our very own Jetsonian wardrobes complete with all the fixings.

Summary

New technologies provide a more sustainable way to produce clothing. Realisation of today’s society about mass production and the bad consequences attached brings companies to the point to go more sustainable. Technologies providing clothing items to adapt to a person’s life or creating clothing out of eatable sub-stance, in 2013 all this is possible. Seeing all the latest developments in technology the fashion world will be taken over and become more eco- friendly.

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Article 11 - Culture of fashion There is no shortage of eco-brands on the market today. Almost every sector of the economy has incorpo-rated social and environmental causes into their marketing. You can buy biodegradable cleaners, organic clothing, eco-friendly cars, and even houses in certified, environmentally friendly neighbourhoods.The apparent need to change our consumption patterns has driven manufacturers and fashion designers to make clothing out of recycled plastic, bamboo, coconut, volcanic ash, coffee, and even milk. One designer has experimented with clothing moulded out of cellulose produced by a bacteria that grows in a green tea bath.How these products are made is quite interesting, and many companies are happy to tell you about their unique, ethical, and patented processes. Go ahead, search “organic socks,” “sustainable underwear,” or any other bizarre combination of a socially conscious adjective and an article of clothing. Someone somewhere has tried to sell a biodegradable G-string.Okay, maybe not. But rather than asking how these products are made, I want to know what these prod-ucts say about our culture. Why do we make them? How are they sold and why do we buy them? And more importantly, what does Freud have to say about this?You may know Freud as the guy who associated everything from bed-wetting to jacket pockets with sex and mothers, but he also provided us with tools for dissecting our culture and sussing our fears. Eco-fashion and, more specifically, our obsession with FSC paper, sweatshop free clothing, or wind-powered depart-ment stores, represents our desire to make up for, and hopefully cover up, a self-induced social and envi-ronmental apocalypse. I know, it is a big jump from bamboo underwear to the end of the world, but lets look closer at this. I’ll stick with underwear, to keep things simple.

In his analysis of a patient he calls Dora, Freud says:Contrary thoughts are always closely connected with each other and are often paired off in such a way that the one thought is exaggeratedly conscious wile its counterpart is repressed and unconscious. This relation between two thoughts is an effect of the process of repression. For repression is often achieved by means of an excessive reinforcement of the thought contrary to the one which is to be repressed.Lets try apply Freud’s idea of repression to statement from PACT, an underwear brand, by picking out their descriptive words and phrases (in bold below). “Change starts with your underwear,” they say:The purchase of PACT underwear is participation in a social movement: when you buy PACT underwear, you are supporting and encouraging organic cotton farmers, responsible labor practices, and businesses that form partnerships with nonprofit organizations dedicated to positive change in our world.

PACT is making us exaggeratedly conscious of the fact that we are doing a good thing by buying their under-wear. So what is the repressed counterpart to this? That we have a legacy of socially and environmentally destructive underwear.

I am only partly joking. PACT is emphatically positive about their eco-chic underwear because it sells to a culture that has a repress guilt about their habits of over consumption. By celebrating green products and overemphasizing the language of sustainability, our culture is decidedly not recognizing the fact that we continue to live beyond our means. As Jenny Gai noted last week, the fashion industry continues to become more eco-friendly, but Kendra Pierre-Louis pointed out that sustainable fashion is actually more viable if we commit to buying less while manufacturing more ethical products.But that’s not the end of the repression. Environmental and social apocalypse may be a repressed fear in the culture of eco-fashion, but it is an exaggeratedly conscious thought in media in general. Actually, the fears of human annihilation are as old as human existence. As long as human beings have been aware of their own death, they have feared the end of the world. Today, we have a heightened sense of the earth’s fragility

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because we know that its destruction is our destruction. In the rhetoric of sustainability, our underlying, unconscious thought is that we are not more than worm food.In a recent issue of The Walrus Daniel Biard suggests,The real problem with the future is that it doesn’t yet exist, and the forces that bring it into existence are too complicated, too subtle and volatile and fractal, for us to know in advance–or ever.Prophets will continue to preach the end of the world and optimists will continue to look for solutions. The world may very well end tomorrow, this afternoon, or even a hundred billion years from now, but no matter how long we are here, we will always grapple with our finitude.

The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker explores our attempts to avoid death, or at least avoid thinking about it. Becker suggests that cultures set up hero systems through which each member can be an important con-tributor to society and feel at peace with the awareness of their limited life. In his concluding paragraphs Becker observes:

Modern man is drinking and drugging himself out of awareness, or he spends his time shopping, which is the same thing. As awareness calls for types of heroic dedication that his culture no longer provides for him, society contrives to help him forget

The rhetoric of eco-fashion, builds a hero system through which each consumer can contribute to positive social change by purchasing earth-friendly products. As citizens of the earth, we need to identify our re-pressed fears seen through the culture of eco-fashion and use them for good. Mortality salience, recogniz-ing our own death, shouldn’t throw us into despair but should make us fight for life. Without knowledge of our fragility, we would have destroyed ourselves long ago.

Summary:

The fear of destroying the planet and by giving back to purchase sustainable items, customers think they help getting the world to a better place and giving themselves a clear conscious. It’s all about the mind-set of people, it is imprinted that the world is going to end when we keep on consumering the way we do right now, by buying to much and producing too much. Changing this into a more sustainable way and the feel-ing of giving back we might think we can save the world.

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Article 12 - 3D Printed Pieces On the Catwalks Stratasys Ltd, a leading manufacturer of 3D printers and production systems for prototyping and manufac-turing and Materialise, a Belgian-based pioneer in Additive Manufacturing software and solutions, have revealed how a collaboration ended up on the catwalks of Paris Fashion Week as part of Iris van Herpen’s Haute Couture show, ‘VOLTAGE’.Dutch designer van Herpen’s eleven-piece collection featured two 3D printed ensembles, including an elaborate skirt and cape created in collaboration with artist, architect, designer and professor Neri Oxman from MIT’s Media Lab, and 3D printed by Stratasys.An intricate dress was also designed in collaboration with Austrian architect Julia Koerner, currently lecturer at UCLA Los Angeles, and 3D printed by Materialise, marking the second piece created together with Ko-erner and the ninth with Materialise

The 3D printed skirt and cape were produced using Stratasys’ unique Objet Connex multi-material 3D print-ing technology, which allows a variety of material properties to be printed in a single build. This allowed both hard and soft materials to be incorporated within the design, crucial to the movement and texture of the piece. “The ability to vary softness and elasticity inspired us to design a “second skin” for the body act-ing as armor-in-motion; in this way we were able to design not only the garment’s form but also its motion,” explains Oxman. “The incredible possibilities afforded by these new technologies allowed us to reinterpret the tradition of couture as “tech-couture” where delicate hand-made embroidery and needlework is re-placed by code.”

Van Herpen adds, “I feel it’s important that fashion can be about much more than consumerism, but also about new beginnings and self-expression, so my work very much comes from abstract ideas and using new techniques, not the re-invention of old ideas. I find the process of 3D printing fascinating because I believe it will only be a matter of time before we see the clothing we wear today produced with this technology, and it’s because it’s such a different way of manufacturing, adding layer-by-layer, it will be a great source of inspiration for new ideas.”According to van Herpen, motivation to collaborate with Oxman came after seeing her ‘Imaginary Beings : Mythologies of the Not Yet’ collection – 3D printed by Stratasys’ matchless Objet Connex multi-material 3D printing technology – that featured in the Multiversités Créatives exhibition at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, last spring. Oxman explains that the joint venture is very much an extension of the series: “This project has taken ‘Imaginary Beings’ to ‘Wearable Beings’, myths that one can wear. The original col-lection includes 18 Stratasys 3D printed prototypes for the human body inspired by Jorge Luis Borges’ Book of Imaginary Beings. They are human augmentations inspired by nature; but not all wearable. For Iris’ col-lection at Paris Fashion Week it was important to take the series to the next level, thinking not only about form and materials, but also about movement and wearability. This was a new challenge for me and for my colleagues – Prof. W. Craig Carter (Department of Materials Science & Engineering) and Keren Oxman. It inspired us to design algorithms that could map physical movement and material behaviour to geometrical form and morphological variation in a seamless and continuous wearable surface.”

Van Herpen, Koerner and Materialise have continued testing the limits of 3D printing with this 3D printed dress, proving once again that normal rules don’t apply when fashion and high technology combine. In last season’s ‘Hybrid Holism’ collection, they first introduced the use of Materialise’s Mammoth Stereolithogra-phy machines for a stunning semi-transparent dress that one spectator compared to liquid honey. For this latest collection, ready for an even greater challenge, an experimental new material was put to use in the creation of a flexible, soft dress of stunning complexity. The piece’s intricate lace-like texture was created with precision by lasers (in a process known as Laser Sintering) and would have been impossible to realise any other way.

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Julia Koerner explains, “My collaboration with Materialise for the 3D printed dress for Iris van Herpen’s Haute Couture Show ‘Voltage’ 2013 reveals a highly complex, parametrically generated, geometrical struc-ture. The architectural structure aims to superimpose multiple layers of thin woven lines which animate the body in an organic way. Exploiting computational boundaries in combination with emergent technology selective laser sintering, of a new flexible material, lead to enticing and enigmatic effects within fashion de-sign. New possibilities arise such as eliminating seams and cuts where they are usually placed in couture.”

Following the Paris Fashion Show, the skirt and cape will be exhibited at MIT’s Media Lab.

Summary

Technology lifting fashion into a higher segment and rejecting consumerism. 3D printing is a way of making unique pieces that are not incorporated jet in our daily life but are a piece of art. The wish to make them wearable is not impossible. A collaboration determines the success of 3D printing and ready to wear gar-ments. With the latest developments in technology related to the fashion industry can cause a wave of new developments in consumerism.

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Article 13 - Ethical fashion

Cheap, throwaway clothes have become hugely popular on the high street. But last week a report criticized the trend and here The Observer’s ethical columnist says our appetite for disposable fashion is becoming an eco disaster One can only speculate on the fashion footprint of the wardrobes of Lord Howie of Troon and the Earl of Northesk, both members of the Lords science and technology committee, but you’d have to suspect it is minimal. Given each lord’s age, gender and peer-group interests - the highest fashion consumption rates are for women in their early thirties who read glossy magazines - the peers’ share will come in well below the average of 35kg of textiles per person per year (mostly clothing). Much of this will be thrown out within a year; a small part will be recycled or donated to charity, and the rest will be chucked in the bin.

Last week’s waste reduction report from the Lords committee read a little in places like an analysis of the woodland defecation procedures of bears. ‘[The] culture of “fast fashion” encourages consumers to dispose of clothes which have only been worn a few times in favour of new, cheap garments which themselves will also go out of fashion and be discarded within a matter of months,’ announced the venerable lords in tones of shock and awe.

Many women are inured to the obscene excesses of fast fashion. One pound in four is now spent on ‘value’ fashion as provided by the likes of Primark, Asda and Topshop, which has had huge success with model Kate Moss’s range of clothes. Between 2003 and 2007 garment prices fell by an average of 10 per cent and over the past five years the rate of frenzied buying has accelerated, while we make room for it by discarding some two million tons every year.

The true weight of this addiction has only really been felt by an unfortunate few such as the Salvation Army which, with around 2,750 of the UK’s 9,000 charity clothing banks, has been faced with an ever growing mound of tat to flog to consumers indifferent to pre-worn unless it happens to be vintage. Value fashion retailers will debate forever as to how they can sell clothes so cheaply, usually citing economies of scale, but it has been clear to recyclers for some time that a fall in fibre quality and finishing is part of the equation. This makes the resale of last season’s paper thin, slightly shrunken sun dress a distinctly unappetising com-mercial proposition. Besides, there isn’t much incentive for consumers to buy worn when a new dress costs less than a lunchtime panini and coffee.

The bulk of discarded fast fashion is chucked into landfill. Meanwhile, the fashion industry has been particu-larly adept at avoiding green censure and criticism. While more prosaic sectors - food and drink, electronics, detergents and even car manufacturers -

have been forced to own up to environmental shortcomings either to pre-empt legislation or conform to new regulations (such as the EU directive that means your hairdryer or washing machine can no longer be flung into landfill) fashion appears to have charmed us all in a haze of sequins, air kisses and the seemingly boundless dynamism of fast fashion with its high street empires and super-rich moguls.

But when Defra, the department for the environment, began to analyse the impact of different materials in the nation’s landfills a couple of years ago, fast fashion’s get-out-of-jail-free card was unexpectedly revoked. The nation’s penchant for ‘McFashion’ - as one-night-only T-shirts and skinny jeans have been dubbed - was found to translate into more than three million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

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More significant to millions of fashion-lovers than the opinions of a Lords committee or Defra will be the opinion of the style press. And even those who formerly and gleefully proclaimed Primark the new Prada are now suggesting that fast fashion has rather had its day. Apparently it is all about ‘investment dressing’ - buying one piece and loving it for a long time - now as fashionistas tighten their tiny little belts. ‘Gucci or gas?’ asks the September issue of Harper’s Bazaar, advising fashion-lovers feeling the credit crunch to sur-vive on ‘one big ticket item, something in between or a little bit of both’.

There’s some validity in this argument, as anything that cuts down the rapid turnover begins to reverse the fact that - according to Matilda Lee from the Ecologist - just 2 per cent of the average clothing budget goes on services that repair or lengthen the lifespan of our garments and accessories.

However, to be truly sustainable, the fashion parameters will have to be widened. If fashion is about inge-nuity and innovation, this is a good time for the industry to draw on these qualities and return to meas-uring fashion in terms of something other than quantity. There has already been a shift. Phil Patterson, once textiles manager at Marks and Spencer, has set up ecotextile.com to allow consumers to assess their wardrobe in terms of environmental damage units (EDUs) with the goal that they’ll be more fibre-discern-ing in future. The London College of Fashion recently launched its Centre for Sustainable Fashion and there has been a renaissance of thrift fashion ideas from reworking existing pieces to sewing classes, kit fashion, clothes swaps and clothes and accessory libraries.

There would appear to be some ethical motivation for change too. In the aftermath of the Observer and Panorama exposé of child labour used in manufacturing a line for Primark, an ICM research poll, commis-sioned by Drapers magazine, found that 42 per cent of people who shop at Primark were less likely or a lot less likely to shop at the retailer because of what they had heard.

In reality, any demise of super-cheap, super-fast fashion probably comes down to market economics. La-bour costs have increased 50 per cent in the past four years across provinces in south-eastern China, the sewing room of the world. Meanwhile, fast fashion is scarily dependent on cheap fibres, namely polyester and cotton - which together account for more than 80 per cent of all fibre production worldwide.

Both are dogged by sustainability issues. As petroleum production declines, polyester prices are soaring, while cotton’s insatiable need for water (and agrichemicals), coupled with the fact that two-thirds is still rain-grown in areas where rainfall has declined, means there’s not enough to go around. Add to this a new, hungry consumer in the form of the Chuppie (the Chinese yuppie) who has developed an appetite for fast fashion herself, meaning that Chinese producers are less eager to export.

It will almost certainly get slower. In order to keep up with the trend for two new lines a week, brought to the high street by Spanish fashion giant Zara, competitors are increasingly reliant on air freight, and that is becoming hugely expensive.

Shipping a standard container from Shanghai to America’s east coast costs $8,000 (£4,315) today, as op-posed to just $3,000 a few months ago. Container ships are slowing down to cut fuel costs. If fashion stays fast it will need to become more localised, which will increase cost. So it can be slow and cheap, or fast and expensive. It is the combination of cheap and fast that is unsustainable.

In any case, we shouldn’t overly mourn the passing of cheap fast fashion. We may be short on cheap fibre and oil, but one thing we have an abundance of is creativity. The demise of fast fashion could be as revolu-tionary as the mini skirt, the Ugg boot and Agyness Deyn all rolled into one.

• Lucy Siegle is the Observer’s Ethical Living columnist and Visiting Professor at the London College of Fash-ion

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Summary

Today’s consumerism is all about fast fashion, but this is about to change. With this fast fashion stand-ards we are drying out our sources like cotton and polyester, that being the 2 main raw materials used to keep up with the demands of today’s society. To keep up with this demand there are only 2 possibility’s to produce clothing in your own county which is expensive or to outsource it and to be fast and cheap, which would mean a bad influence on nature. According to style press people have had enough of fast fashion and are now looking for pieces that will last for a longer time, an investment in your wardrobe. Turning fast fashion into slow fashion is a hard thing to do, but with the future perspectives of drying out our own resources and the changing in the consumers’ minds this isn’t unlikely to happen.

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Conclusion

In the beginning I had trouble summarizing. But when I kept on practicing on articles it felt like it was doing better. This is also the reason I ended up with 9 articles. It is not only a good preparation for my essay but is also a good orientation. I have followed the rules on how many words there may be used. The articles given in the manual are 150 words. And 3 articles of myself are 75 words. These articles are: Global warming, Eurozone and ‘Neo Dandy’. For the rest of the articles they are between 90 and 130 words so they are definitely in the maxi-mum zone. Adding some new research to my article portfolio led to a great subject for my essay. When looking for new articles I stumbled upon the fast fashion into slow fashion subjects and found them to be very interesting and inspiring to write an essay on.

Sources Article 1 - McKinsey & Company, November 2012 Article 2 - http://money.cnn.com/2013/02/22/news/economy/europe-economy/index.html?hpt=ibu_c2 (24-2-2013 – 12:04) By Mark Thompson Article 3 - Kiah Smith, Peter Utting, Sarah Cook, November 2012 Article 4 - http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2013/02/27/nerdwallet-best-cities-women-entre-preneurs-more-than-promise/2/ (27 – 2 -2013/ 17:24) By Meghan Casserly Forbes Staff Article 5 - http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/25/hot-climate-labour-capacity (25-2-2013 - 15:21) By Reuters Article 6 - http://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelhennessey/2013/02/27/having-a-tattoo-and-a-job/ (27-2-2013/13:47) By Rachel Hennessey, ContributorArticle 7 - Global trends: 10 Crucial Consumer Trends for 2013 by Trendwatching.com Article 8 - http://www.forbes.com/sites/thesba/2013/01/23/5-surprising-marketing-trends-for-2013/ (26-2-2013 – 14:26) By Forbes.com Article 9 - http://www.guardian.co.uk/fashion/2013/jan/06/new-dandies-mens-fashion (25-2-2013/19:08) By Karen Kay Article 10 - Nina Foroutan, February 20th 2012, http://urbantimes.co/2012/02/technology-of-fashion/ (14-3-2013/12:05) Article 11 - Scott Kobeweka, January 23rd 2012, http://urbantimes.co/2012/01/culture-of-fashion/ (14-3-2013/13:25) Article 12 - by: Rachel Park On Tue, January 22 2013, http://3dprintingindustry.com/2013/01/22/iris-van-herpens-3d-printed-pieces-a-hit-at-paris-fashion-week/ (14-3-2013/13:44) Article 13 - Lucy Siegle, the observer, August 24th 2008, http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/aug/24/ethicalfashion (14-3-2013/13:55)

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