Air Hostess, I Like the Way You Dress…

The Japanese fascination with the air hostess uniforms given to employees of Japan Airlines (JAL) has prompted such a high demand for the goods that a black market has been created.

Although shops selling replica uniforms are very common on the streets of Japan, the desire to own the authentic JAL uniform has created a remarkably competitive market for them, with the genuine article often selling for thousands of dollars.

Those shops supplying the uniforms hope that many more will soon become available as the company filed for bankruptcy back in January.

What not to wear in the office

Bespoke corporatewear supplier NKD Clothing has published a list of workwear faux pas that may leave some of you quaking in your all-too-casual Ugg boots….

• First up, cleavage and short skirts are a big no-no. Though they may attract a lot of attention, it is almost always for the wrong reasons. Likewise, keep your towering stilettos, lacy camisoles and fishnet tights for the weekend.
• At the other end of the scale, jeans, Ugg boots and that woolly jumper your grandma knitted you for Christmas may well be a little too casual for the workplace. The same applies to flip-flops and trainers, or anything that would not look out of place in a gym.
• Finally, clothes should always be clean and ironed and complemented with tasteful jewellery and neat hair. Over-the-top makeup should be avoided at all costs, as well as anything too outrageous or trendy.

But how seriously should we take these rules? A quick look around the office and I’ve already seen at least 8 violations of the NKD guidelines, but does that make us any less professional? I’d like to think not. In companies where there is little face-to-face contact with clients, comfort may well take precedence over formality. With such diversity in the expectations of individual workplaces, I would suggest that perhaps the only rules we should be following are those listed in the company dress code.

Londoners set to design their own tartan

A competition was launched yesterday, St. Andrew’s day, to give Londoners the chance to design the city’s first official tartan.

The Scottish Tartans Authority (STA), who opened the competition at Kings Place yesterday evening, would like the designs to reflect the colours of the capital, from the red of its famous buses, to the green of Hyde Park. Would-be designers will be able to submit their ideas via an app on the STA’s website.

Brian Wilton, of the Scottish Tartans Authority, said: “It is fantastic that tartan is getting recognised beyond Scotland’s borders. Every tartan is unique and we look forward to seeing what inspires the residents of London and the way they will approach Scotland’s most traditional textile.”

Two famous Scotts - actor Robbie Coltrane and poet Jackie Kay - will be on the judging panel.The winning tartan will be revealed on Burns night.

Label victims

According to a study carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers, a pair of £8 jeans has been found to be better made and longer wearing than a £123 pair.

Sceptical? Well, ten pairs of ladies' jeans and ten polo shirts underwent rigorous testing in fifteen different trials aimed at judging the garments’ colour-fastness, seam strength, shrinkage after washing and resistance to abrasion.

In general, the cheaper items fared better than their more expensive rivals, with the £8 pair of jeans coming out on top and the £123 pair lagging behind in fourth place. Full marks also went to a £12 polo shirt, while the £85 shirt came in fifth place.

Andy Garbutt, retail expert at PWC, said: 'We didn't test for fit, fashionability or brand. We purely looked at the quality of the clothes, how well made they were. And it is clear that there is no longer a link between quality and price. It may not have been the cheapest clothes that won, but it was often the second cheapest.'

While a £115 saving might seem appealing in the run-up to a credit crunch Christmas, unfortunately PWC has refused to reveal the names of the retailers tested for fear of 'damaging relationships' with clients.

CARdigan

A car made from clothes. There's a novel idea. Well, in fact, it's been made. And in some style too, as you can see from this picture. The story on The Telegraph website gives some details of car's components: "The car is made from 1,999 items - including 1,682 t-shirts, 88 pairs of jeans, 64 pairs of shoes and 31 belts". Fan belts presumably?

A team of eight people worked for five hours at the Puma store in Carnaby Street, London, to turn the pile of clothes into a model of Kimi Raikkonen's motor. Black jeans are used for the tyres and red t-shirts give the car its classic Ferrari colour. Many fans have been visiting the store to see the car while a time-lapse video showing the team making the car has been watched more than 130,000 times on the internet.

Creative director Peter Hale, from GBH Design, said: "The Formula1 car was great fun to make and looks great.We worked like a pit crew when making it - each person piecing a different part of the car together."

Scotland the brave

You can't have failed to notice the recent furor over events in Scotland concerning the Lockerbie bombing and the subsequent fallout. Part of this including people calling on others to boycott Scotland and products associated with them.

Harris Tweed, the famous clothing brand, was reportedly going to tone down its Scottishness, in order to avoid any adverse business arising from this boycott. However, Betty Davies, the Edinburgh-based designer and fashion consultant, said that any strategy downplaying the origins of the fabric would be a “serious mistake” and maintained that the claims could instead be motivated by an attempt to harm the Scottish government, said an article by The Times.

It's an interesting point. Any company or brand that uses its country of origin as a selling point does risk the (admittedly rare) chance the brand could become devalued in the eyes of the population. The Boycott Scotland movement doesn't seem like it will go far, and it would be harsh to subject hard-working people to a boycott over a decision they had no involvement in, but it's been enough of an issue that the company has become involved in the news in this way.

Stone Age Clothing

Since human's made clothes, they liked fashion. Who doesn't like looking good? From the ice age to the dole age (thanks Morrissey) we humans have been fickle folks when it comes to colours, shades and lines, and now we have the proof to prove it. Sort of.

Archaeologists have uncovered a haul of pink, turquoise and black fibres that were used to make thread more than 34,000 years ago in caves the hills of the Republic of Georgia. Pink and turquoise? Hmm, suspect cavemen fashion. Then again, I guess if they saw some of the things we wear, they'd be a little shocked.

Let me introduce to you...

The Beatles! Marvellous band. So says, well, everyone. In fact, in honour of the launch of these remastered albums and The Beatles: Rockband, we thought it would be fun to look at some of the fantastic outfits worn by the fab four.

There were the suits from the pop period - a look that has been copied many times over by earnest boybands.

The awesome military style suits from the Sgt Peppers period.

The dark and brooding look - arty.

The Abbey Road ensemble; complete with undertaker's suit.

What do you think? Any Beatles memories or clothing thoughts? Share the love...

Summer breeze

So another washed out weekend comes and goes in the damp squib that is the British Summer. From Cornwall To Carlisle the rain comes pouring, ruining BBQs, crickets matches and picnics.

And for the organisers of a world record attempt, it somewhat hampered their efforts too - well, the 'most amount of women in bikini's photographed' was going to require good weather wasn't it? Why this qualifies as a world record we don't know - seems pointlessly random. However, it was for charity, so that's good and overrules concerns on the nature of 'what is a world record'.

How about you; any great summer plans washed out by the rain and wind?

Water a load of madness

A school in Devon has banned pupils from wearing swimming goggles because they get slippery when wet. You think?

They are acting on advice that informs, correctly it must be said, that goggles are often unnecessary but the plastic can slip and injury due to the water making them slippery. Which is true. However, surely the best part of swimming at school was being able to dive around in the water, peering at everyone underwater and so forth. That's why we wear goggles, to see the underneath of water. Something you can't very well do in British waters can you?

Ah well, never mind. The main thing is the children get to have a nice swim. Who knows, perhaps there's a future swimming champion in there.

Cycled clothing

Cycling is going through a bit of a cultural revolution (ha!) as people seek to escape the daily commute and expand their lungs by cycling hither and thither. Unfortunately cycling does mean you can have to don some rather ridiculous clothing - yellow jerseys, lycra and the like.

However, a new clothing range from TfL (Transport for London?!) is proving to be a bit of a hit with some people. The range is called, and you'll like this, Bspoke and the range features names that reference various parts of London - Kensington, Richmond, Holborn for example.

It's great to see clothing being used as part of a promotional push(bike) and if it gets people out on their bikes, then we're all for that.

Charitable television

A programme that caught Company Clothing's eye last night was Mary Queen of Charity Shops; in which Mary Portas a 'fashion guru' turned a run of the mill charity shop into a thriving, £2,000 a week business for Save the Children.

She made a big effort to try and get people to donate clothing that was fashionable and looked good, citing the fact most women have a piece of clothing they have never worn; something that would surely be good for a charity shop. She visited magazine publishers Emap, where assembled fashionistas were told to 'Donate, Don't Dump' (D-Day - should have been 3D Day really).

At the end the Save the Children head honchos revealed that with the revamp and the far more enticing product lines, the shop was bringing in the required £2,000 a week and that they would be rolling out the changes in design and product stock to many more stores. So, next time you're passing a charity shop, have a think about the bargains you could snap up!

And of course, if you're company has bundles of good quality clothing that could be given away, think charity shop first, before recycling.

Golden Oldies

Another quick link here - these stories really don't need rewriting, just linking you see - to a story on the BBC website about technology used in clothing that could help old folks, the elderly etc, by sending information back to their doctor should it detect anything that could become a problem, or even monitoring the temperature in a room and adjusting the thermostat remotely. You gotta love technology that can do that.

Why Wood you?

The message is clear: don't print images of Woody Allen without permission. We've all learnt this for free, but American Apparel have had to pay $5 million for the priviledge.

Printing iconic images of people on t-shirts has long been a popular way to make retro or even ironic clothing - there's a great bit in popular comedy show Peep Show in which protagonist Mark decries the 'veneration' of Chairman Mao on a T-shirt - but as today's outcome shows, it doesn't always pay off.

What's acceptable?

With the onset of summer the wardrobes of office staff across the land will soon be changing. Out go the overcoats and scarves, and in come the...well, what? Aside from losing items of clothing to cool down, what can office staff to do to stay cool?

It depends on each organisation, but most professional, office based workers still wear a suit, shirt and tie, or just a smart shirt with trousers and shoes. There seems little scope for change. But what about flip-flops? Should they be allowed on hot days? Or caps, or sun hats. Shorts even? How laid back does an office have to be to make shorts permissible? Or is it much safer to stick to those black trousers and smart shirt?

Perhaps now it doesn't even matter. Casual dress is such a part of so many places that many places probably won't even notice the gradually exposure of flesh over the coming months. What do you think? We'd love to hear your thoughts, opinions, stories and so on this topic as it's something we're putting together for our next print issue.

Jackets and knives

Yet again, the idea of offenders wearing jackets as part of their punishment has risen it's fluorescent head. This time, an offender who was made to wear a jacket has been told he doesn't have to as the ruling to wear them came in after he was convicted.

A thorny issue, and one that draws emotive responses on both sides. Ironically the young lad in question said he didn't want to wear it as it's "embarrassing and humilitating" and "you don't want the whole world to know". By protesting against the decision he has ended up with his faces plastered across papers and websites across the land. So you'd think a lot more people will now know then before. Ho hum.

What do you think anyway? Is it right to make people wear such jackets if they have committed a crime? Or is it unnecessary and degrading?

Police arrest their own garment manufacturers

The New York Times (we read widely) carried an interesting story about a police raid on a clothing factory that you can read in detail about here.

Interesting to note too that the factory they raided was one that made the very same garment the police were wearing; it must have been an odd moment. And having discovered the company that made the uniforms was also wanted by those wearing them the NYPD cancelled their contract with them.

The Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said that quality was the main factor in authorizing a supplier. “That is our primary consideration,” he said. “We are going to leave the other issues to the Department of Labor, which obviously they are addressing today.”

It's cool to be green

Company Clothing have always been ones to try and stay ahead of the curve, or at least on the curve, and as such for around two years now have had a dedicated "Green Room" section in each issue in which we look at green issues. In the past have included topics as diverse as a Colombian charity run by nuns manufacturing outdoor clothing, reviews of Fairtrade Fortnight and Arco joining the Ethical Trading Initiative. During this time we've seen how important ethical and environmental issues and standards have become.

Therefore we were not surprised, but were certainly pleased, to see that Mintel (a data analysis group that leaves you with fresh breath) have announced that the ethical clothing market is now worth £175 million

As the interest in our Environmental Initiative Award category showed, there is a wealth of companies in the corporate clothing world striving to do good through business and that customers and end-users are equally as keen to purchase clothing that has ethical and environmental credentials.

Our next issue will, of course, feature a look at more good work going on in this sector, including an interview with someone we met through Twitter, @freedomclothingproject.

Fashionable first lady

Apologies for the missing blogs over the last two day - we were in Birmingham - so access to internet was minimal to non-existant. Never fear though we're back and it's Friday and it's now British Summer Time.

Our first blog for today (we'll do two because we know how upset you would have been at missing out for two days) concerns that inspiring woman, Michelle Obama. Not content with delievering moving, passionate speeches to school children, she is also enthralling the fashion commentators (who are a tough bunch to please) with her stylish clothing choices for high-end functions, without ever losing the personnal touch that makes her so respected.

Tune in latter for our tips for the Grand National...

Light my fire

Since time began man has had a difficult relationship with fire. It gives us warmth, it also burns things down. Being the innovative human race that we are though, we decided a dedicated bunch of people who fought fires would be a good idea...a brigade of fire fighters if you will.

These people needed clothing - clothing that identified them and protected them from the various dangerous they would face working such a dangerous job. Which brings us to the point of this blog post - The Guardian has put together a briliant slideshow of uniforms through the ages, ending at the present day with the latest rollout. You can see them all here.