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NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW
Nau is back, Esquire goes high tech, Barack makes a statement, and plastic bags get the boot
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Nau 2.0: Back in January, we told you about Nau, a truly innovative retailer in the green, socially conscious, and high-tech retail space. Nau gained major industry and consumer buzz for their 5% give-back formula, webfront purchasing model, and cutting edge green styles. But a lack of funding forced the retailer to close shop in May, and industry insiders as well as Nau's cult following mourned the loss. Fortunately, California apparel brand Horny Toad believed in the Nau model enough to step in and provide support. Starting tomorrow, August 1st, the new Nau (version 2.0) will re-open for business; new products will be available online and in like-minded retailers.
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Esquire
E-Paper:
For their 75th anniversary, Esquire magazine's October issue is going high tech. Incorporating Amazon Kindle's e-paper technology, it will feature an electronic ink display cover powered by a special battery said to last for approximately 90 days. The cover, which will flash the words "The 21st Century Begins Now", reflects the issue's subject matter which focuses on future issues, people, and ideas.Because of the high production costs involved, only 100,000 copies will hit newsstands- be sure to pick up your copy early as it's sure to become a collectors item!
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Barack Style:
Providing a stylish yet clear approach to speaking your mind without saying anything at all, the statement tee has become a popular wardrobe choice among consumers. Depending on the issue at hand, one might be able to get a clear read of what's going on in the minds of consumers just by looking at their t-shirts. Speaking to this trend, CafePress, a popular online destination for consumer submitted t-shirt designs, has got some hard numbers that seem to indicate where young people's political allegiance lies (or at least that of the creative DIY crowd...who like to submit t-shirt designs). Pitting the number of t-shirt designs featuring Barack Obama with those featuring John McCain, as ofthis morning Obama is in the lead with about 26,000 t-shirt designs while there are just 6,400 McCain designs. Either way, the t-shirts are way cooler than anything available during the Reagan administration; our favorite designs include "John is my homeboy", "Barack to the Future" and "My Mama's For Obama."
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No More Plastic Bags
: Following in the footsteps of countries such as China and Russia, US cities including San Francisco, Seattle and LA have announced plans to fight the plastic bag issue. Starting on January 1st, 2009, Seattle residents will have to pay a fee of 20 cents for paper or plastic bags. LA also has plans to ban plastic bags by July of 2010, offering consumers a paper or biodegradable bag for 25 cents. Hopefully, this will encourage consumers to bring their own reusable bags, drastically cutting down on both the amount of non-biodegradable wastes and the amount of oil used to produce them. We expect more cities to follow suit in the future.
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The editors apologize. In yesterday's trendcentral (July 30, 2008), we mistakenly said that the generally accepted estimate of web pages in Google's search index is 40 million. The correct number is 40 billion web pages.
* trendcentral articles are designed to be trend reports, not endorsements * The Intelligence Group is a trend-forecasting and marketing Consultancy focused on Gen X, Gen Y and Tweens. For more information on our services, or to subscribe to our syndicated studies, The Cassandra Report, Tween Intelligence, Latino Intelligence, and Mom Intelligence, contact Alina Goncalves at 212-277-5299 or via email at agoncalves@intelg.com.
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