Week Eight BOC: Trend Forecasting

Right from the first question I already knew what she was talking about when it came to trend forecasting.  Someone that has worked in the industry and keeps up to date with fashion can always know some sort of fashion forecasting, especially since she has been working in the in industry since 1981.  The second question is about how important is it?  I want to know how it is not important and that is exactly pretty much what she says.  People who work in the industry know how important it is to know what is going to be popular next and how you have to be on top of what people want.  That is how you get your business going is by making and selling things that are in style.  I love how she looks for next trends.  She said that she looks all over the world what people are wearing and makes a decision on what her next trend is going to be.  I also love how she talks about other big companies like Ralph Lauren and Tommy to see what styles they are coming out with.  These are some of the biggest designers in the world and they usually always have something good.  I love when she talks about how it is all logo overkill.  It is all about consumers remembering what they are buying, and someone else seeing what they bought.  This statement is so true.  Consumers can be free advertising for your brand. That is what you want as a company, well that is what I would want as a company. 

Week 7 BOC: Johnny Cupcakes Interview

I think that the interview was good.  I think that she asked her questions to the wrong person though.  She was asking questions like she was talking to this super famous person.  I understand that he has done well for himself and that he will continue to do well for himself, but just let the man be and let him sell his T-Shirts.  The question about personal style and brand image the one that I liked the best, because this is what he did with his brand.  He turned something from nothing into everything.  Like he said in the chapter once you have an idea stick with it and you will do just fine.  The next question she asked about fashion branding was a good question as well.  All he has is a cupcake on a shirts and people line up around the block.  He has done so well by just putting is product out there and being in the right place at the right time.  Taking things like Jaws the movie and turning it into a well selling product is just amazing.  The last question that she asked about PR I really wanted to know if he was being honest or not.  Yes, it is really hard to be in PR but I think it is a lot harder to do what he has done.   The last question do you think that you have to look a certain way and the answer would always be yes only because he is trying to sell a product and he has to look like the product that he is trying to sell.

BOC Week Six: Why Jeans Cost $300

Jeans are the new thing and they have been for a few years know.  I think that jeans are that things that people can afford to say that they have a designer product.  These people can’t afford to buy a runway outfit, but they can save up their money and buy a pair of Gucci jeans just to say they own something Gucci.  Jeans are a huge market.  Guys can put on a pair of True Religion jeans and a sport coat and be considered looking good when we go out.  You don’t have to put on slacks any more.  The first reason that I can see is some of the really good jeans today are made right here in the United States.  If it cost $150 to make them then you at least have to charge %50 markup I can totally see how they can go for $300 or even more than that.  This is just a classic case of cost and demand people want them so we mark them up and sell them.  “Denim has gone from a casual to dressy, highly stylized item, “Sari Sloane, head buyer for Intermix stores, tells Us. “Trendy skinny-leg styles are more expensive to produce because they require additional attention to fit.”  http://www.californiastyleonline.com/2006/08/why-jeans-are-so-expensive.html.  People all over the fashion industry are seeing what jeans are doing to people all over the world.  Everyone wants them and everyone needs to get them.  I don’t see them going anywhere to soon.  Like I said as long as the demand keeps up they will not go down in price.  

BOC: Midterm Disney

The Walt Disney Company was founded by Roy and Walt Disney in 1923.  From 1923 to 1928 they made many silent era films in L.A. California.  During WW Two Walt and his brother wanted to make everyone around the United States happy by making fun movies. “In 1937, Disney's innovative first full length animated feature, SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, was released to critical acclaim and worldwide success. In order to expand and meet the expectations of his audience, Walt saw a need to increase the size of his studio. With profits from SNOW WHITE, he made a deposit on 51 acres of land in Burbank and began designing a modern studio specifically for the purpose of making animated films http://studioservices.go.com/disneystudios/history.html. 

After Walt had a dream of making people happy through movies.  He had a dream to make people happy in a different way.   In 1953 Walt bought 160 acres outside of LA in farmland that is now Orange County.  He had an idea of water, mountains, waterfalls and much more. “When the real designing came around, Walt was met with inevitable questions. How do you make believable wild animals, that aren't real? How do you make a Mississippi paddle ship? How do you go about building a huge castle in the middle of Anaheim, California? So, Walt Disney looked to his movie studio staff for the answers. The design of Disneyland was something never done before. There would be five uniquely different lands.” http://www.justdisney.com/disneyland/history.html.  At the time there was nothing like this anywhere, but he wanted it done and he said that it could be done.  On opening day there was 6,000 invitations that were given out and 25,000 tickets were sold.  Walt was 53 on opening day.  Today there are four different parks around the world.  Disneyland, Disney World, Disney Tokyo and Disney Paris, they are the most profitable theme parks in the world. 

Disney also owns ABC.   The biggest step that ABC made was EPSN in 1984.  They are now considered the worldwide leader in sports.  In 1995 there was a up and coming movie studio that started by making movies with only computers and Disney bought them and they are Pixar.  They had their big brake through in 1995 with Toy Story.  “Nine for nine. Nine movies, nine hits. Since they created the first entirely computer animated feature film in 1995, Pixar Animation Studios have been on an unparalleled winning streak. In addition to grossing over $2 billion domestically, Pixar has won ten Academy Awards, including last month's Oscar for Best Animated Feature for "WALL-E." http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/need-to-know-pixar-history.html.  

Disney is not only one of my favorite companies in the world, but I love everything that they do.  I think they are a company that does everything the right way and they try their best at everything they do.  

Midterm BOC: Ford

Ford Motor Company was started in 1903 by Henry Ford at age 40 in Detroit Michigan.  It was one of the only companies to survive the great depression of the 1930’s.  Henry Ford is most known for being the first company to start a car assembly line.  Their first car was and still is a famous called the model A that sold for $2000.  Ford has been one of the largest and most profitable companies in the world.  They are also the biggest family ran company in the world.  In 1917, “Ford begins offering $5 per day for eight-hour work days and 15,000 job seekers clamor for 3,000 jobs at the Model T Plant in Highland Park. The previous pay rate was $2.34 per day for nine hours.” 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5168769.  This happens right after Ford passed Olds and Buick in sales and that was just unheard off at the time.  In 1922 Ford bought Lincoln it was a way for them to compete against giant Cadillac.  It was a way for Ford to sell cars not to just the working class, but the wealthy as well.   The next biggest thing that happens to Ford was in 1963 when they realized that they needed a new kind of car that was cheap and fun to drive.  At the time Ford had a car called the Falcon.  It was a four door small car that many people could afford.  Ford decided to make it smaller and get rid of two doors and call it a Mustang. “To make the Mustang affordable it needed to share much of its engineering with an existing Ford product. That product was the smallest Ford of the time, the compact Falcon. In fact, the first Mustangs were built in the same Dearborn, Mich., plant as the Falcon.” http://www.edmunds.com/ford/mustang/history.html.  

The thing that many people don’t know is that the Falcon and the Mustang had the same exact frame and all the same parts just a different name and top body.  The Mustang blew up and has become one of America’s best selling cars since the 1960’s.  The next big move was in 1986 when Ford started to pursuer Austin Martin. 

             “Then in 1986 Ford bought 75% of the company and the future of Aston Martin started to look a bit more promising. In 1993 Ford finally bought the rest of the company from Victo Gauntlett and took over complete control of the operations. http://www.amlvantage.com/history.shtml.  

Ford sold their Tractor line to Fiat to be able to purchase British monster Austin Martin.  Ford biggest competitor in the US is Dodge and Chevy.  But they compete all over the world.  The car industry is just too big anymore to only have one competitor; you have to be able to compete all over the world.   

Midterm BOC: Nike

When people think about sports in the United States they think about football, baseball, basketball and so on, but when we think about a sports brand we think about Nike.  Nike is all around us all the time.  We grow up playing sports and think that Nike is the only thing that we can wear when we play these sports.  How did Nike get like this and where did they come from.  Blue Ribbon Sports was created by Phillip Knight and Bill Bowerman in 1964.  In 1978 the name was changed to Nike from the Greek God word victory. The SWOOSH logo is a graphic design created by Caroline Davidson in 1971. It represents the wing of the Greek Goddess NIKE. Caroline Davidson was a student at Portland State University in advertising. She met Phil Knight while he was teaching accounting classes and she started doing some freelance work for his company. Phil Knight asked Caroline to design a logo that could be placed on the side of a shoe. She handed him the SWOOSH, he handed her $35.00. In spring of 1972, the first shoe with the NIKE SWOOSH was introduced.....the rest is history! http://xroads.virginia.edu/~class/am483_97/projects/hincker/nikhist.html.

The first things that they made were running shoes for their track team at The University of Oregon.  They wanted to make a shoe lighter and could make the runners run even faster.  Nike still has its headquarters in Oregon. “Basketball star Michael Jordan signed an endorsement deal with Nike in 1984. In 1985, his shoe, the "Air Jordan," was released, and profits from its sales exceeded a billion dollars by 1986. Nike expanded into sports apparel in 1987.” http://www.ehow.com/facts_5002826_history-nike-shoe-company.html.

This was the first time Nike expanded into sports apparel.  I think that this is the best move that Nike has ever made.  They saw this young star out of North Carolina College and I think it paid off for them.  

“The Nike slogan, "Just Do It" was created in 1988. A store called NikeTown opened in Oregon in 1990.”  http://www.ehow.com/facts_5002826_history-nike-shoe-company.html.  The saying “Just Do It” has to be one of the best sayings ever created.  Because no one knew what it meant.  Just do what?  Nike said whatever you want to do, and the saying just blew up and is still used today!  Nike is a company that people not only have to have, but they have made it so you seem like you cant live without them.  You can think of any major sport in the world and Nike has the best or the highest paid player on their payroll.  As far as competitors go you can say Adidas and Puma, but they have always been in second place because Nike is in first.  Nike has gone from running shoes in Oregon to a lifestyle all over the world, and there is much more to come. 

BOC Week 3: Midterm Oakley

History about Oakley is it started in 1974 by Jim Janard.  He started out by making bike grips in the back of his car.  The special things about the grips is that they sucked up all the sweat from your hands so that you have better grip on the bike.  It was a huge success.  After doing that for two years he started to make goggles for people that rode dirt bikes.  He called them eye shades it was the second Oakley product of all time.  After a few years in the late 80’s he was driving in his convertible to San Diego and had on a pair of Rey Bans Wafares and realized that there is no protection on the side of your face from the sun.  The only protection that there was if you were looking right at the sun.  He wanted to come up with something that gave you protection all the way around your eyes so you can look out the side if you have too.  He came out with something called the blade.  It was a pair of glasses that wrapped all the way around your face so that you had amazing protection and the sun could not come in from any direction.  

The name Oakley comes from his dog.  Right when he stated to make the Blades people started to really like the concept of what his glasses were and that they actually protected your eyes from the sun all around your face not just from the front.  Sports people from all over the world stated to wear his glasses for baseball, biking and many other sports.  This is how he really got his name out there.  Going into the mid to late 80’s this is what everyone used and became the leader in sunglasses not only in the United States, but many countries all over the world.  Oakley makes all of their glasses by the edge of their seats and still do it today.  

Oakley has made many glasses that have changed the industry to day and they still continue to do so.  They have contracts the US government and the police force.  Because all of Oakley are safety glasses and not only do they not distorted your vision they are the safest things to put on your face.  Oakley's number one compeditor is Maui Jim.  Just a funny story about Oakley is their headquaters is in Orange County California.  Oakley flies a skull and crossbone flag at headquaters to say that they are differnt from everyone else.  They were told by the county to take it down, because it is not something that you should fly.  They were charged $10,000 to take it down and they continue to pay $10,000 a month just so they can be differnet and still fly it!

Week One BOC: My Voice

I am in the field of fashion retail management. The reason that I have chose this field is because, if you think about it this is a field that is always going to be around. We are always going to need cloths. From when I was a little kid I have always liked to go to church because I knew that I was able to wear my suit that day. I was never a kid that did not like to dress up or did not like to go shopping. There is just something about putting on great clothing and the way that it makes you feel. Some of the best artist of my time are people that design cloths today for example Valetino, Karla Lagerfeld, Tom Ford and Ralph Lauren. The one main reason that I love working in the retail industry is because it is never the same. You always run into something different everyday because every person’s style is different, I am her to help them find it. I currently work in my industry, at Oakley. I go from selling shirts and pants to selling sunglasses. After working for Oakley for a year I have totally come to realize that it does not matter where I work at or what I sell, I just love selling a product and making the customer happy when they leave my store.

Week One BOC: Slip,Slap,Slop





  Slip, slap slop is a campaign that takes place in Australia against skin cancer.  Australia is Leading County of deaths in skin cancer.  The way that they want people to use sun screen is a much different way than the rest of the world.  They go about it in a very fun way, like us her in America just kind of say use it or die.  “Ultraviolet (UV) radiation levels in Australia are higher than in Europe, even during summer. Being located close to the ozone hole over the Antarctic means much higher, more severe levels of UV radiation get through to ground level.”  http://www.theozonehole.com/australianskincancer.htm.  Since they are so close to the sun the summer months are absolute crazy.  There are laws in Australia that make you use only certain kinds of sun glasses too.  You can’t just buy anything of the self you have to use UVA and UVB protection at all times. “As summer approaches in Australia and the Victorian SunSmart media campaign kicks into gear to celebrate 30 years of SunSmart, there are many who are yet to heed the warning messages.”  http://www.clinuvel.com/en/blog/lightandhealth/three-decades-of-slip-slop-slap-but-teens-still-want-tans/.  Sun Smart just re did the messege to make it look more now a day’s hoping that more people see it and like it and start to understand it.  “The American Cancer Society suggests following a simple slogan of Slip, Slop, Slap when spending time in the sun. First, slip on a shirt. Wearing a long sleeve shirt is best, but a short sleeve shirt will also assist in protection. Remember to apply sunscreen under the shirt because rays can still penetrate.” http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/nhrota/InTheNews/Pages/Slip,Slop,Slap,ForSunSafety.aspx.  After reading this last bit I really hope that the rest of the world can get on board cause this is no reason to die if there are ways to prevent it.