Walking Miracle

Im focusing on footwear yet again! I came across these sandals today called 'fitflops,' they are a half fashion friendly sandal and half muscle toning. At first I thought how can a sandal be regarded as a fitness product? I did a bit of research and found that the fitflop has a unique density midsole that increases muscle load and mantians a more natural gait. I work in shoes so I know all of the terminology, but to break that down, it means that the sole is shaped in a particular way and allows for a natural progression through the foot. When wearing the fitflop greater power is required by the calf at push off and the slower eversion rate creates a significantly longer activation time in the calf, thigh and buttocks. With the sole of the sandal creating an uneven walking surface, the fitflop challenges the muscles to maintain control over locomotion and improve gait. There is a growing awareness of how specifically designed footwear can improve health and wellness. With frequent use, improved gait characteristics may reduce the incidence of some musculoskeletal problems. This is a great way to show how technology and fashion are intertwined. Through the use of technology our fashion accessories are becoming practical and improving our health and wellbeing. After seeing the fitflop in a store at my local shopping centre i've seen advertisements in Vogue, on television, a segment on today tonight, they are being advertised everywhere through technology and media. The slogan is "so how do you feel about wearing a flip flop that has the potential to make your bum smaller and your leags leaner? I thought so. Me too." "The fitflop midsole extends the amount of time that the slow twitch muscles are engaged during each step (by approximately 10- 12%). Slow twitch muscle fibres produce energy by converting fats into energy aerobically." Anyway, enough about the research and technology behind this seasons 'must have' according to leading magazine- Vogue. They come in a variety of fashionable colours, including, black, red and blue and as a fashion obsessed female I couldn't resist and purchased a pair of red ones, I can't wait until they start toning!

http://www.thefitflop.com/

Nike+ a new technology in sports shoes

Nike is a majorAmerican supplier of athletic shoes, apparel and sports equipment. Nike have recently incorporated fashion and technology through the Nike+. Nike+ is designed for people who like to run or walk with music and people who want to measure and monitor their progress vs their goals. Nike+ is an innovative product and information system that enhances a running experience. A sensor placed under the sockliner of the left Nike+ ready shoe measures a runners pace, distance, time elapsed and calories burned. This information is transmitted wirelessly to a reciever on an Apple ipod nano for real- time audio feedback while individuals listen to their favourite workout music. All current Nike shoes have a space under the sockliner where the chip is placed and as an add on sale individuals are able to purchase this Nike+ ipod sport kit for $47.95. This technological advancement proves that fashion and technology are soon going to be inextricably connected. People are able to wear a fashionable shoe as it records their progress, what will be next?

Credit cards both technological and fashionable

After reading the three fashion magazines that I buy monthly (Cosmopolitan, Shop till you drop and Vogue) I realised that credit cards are a great form of technology. Being a system of payment through a small plastic card. As well as convenient, accessible credit, credit cards offer consumers an easy way to track expenses for personal expenditures and work related expenses for taxation and repayment purposes. Credit cards are accepted worldwide and are available with a variety of credit limits, repayment arrangements and now different designs and colours. Different institutions have designed various colours and images on cards to make them appear fashionable and as an appealing accessory.

Bonds- a global brand

As we all know, Bonds is an Australian manufacturer of men's, women's and children's underwear and clothing and when we hear the name we all envisage and relate its trademark 'Chesty Bond,' which is recognised as a popular national icon. Although the company has come a long way since 1915, when George Allan Bond established the corporation in Sydney to import a range of womens hosiery and gloves. Two years later he manufactured hosiery in a small factory in Redfern and the following year he purchased a small factory in Camperdown, where he began manufacturing underwear. Mens cotton athletic singlets were one of Bonds original products registered in the 1920's. In the same decade George Bond was growing the cotton and spinning, dyeing and weaving the fabric to make Bonds underwear. In 1938 Bonds requested its advertising agency to develop a campaign for mens athletic singlets, and 'Chesty Bond' was created and registered. Bonds continued to grow and with the help of technology more products were created and within the four factories (3 located in New South Wales and the other in China) at least 40 million garments are produced each year.

I found these statistics interesting:

Unanderra- New South Wales

-48,000 garments per day

-10.6 million per year

-150 full time employees

Wentworthville- New South Wales

-7,500 garments per day

-1.7 million per year

-60 full time employees

Cessnock- New South Wales

-20,000 garments per day

-4.5 million per year

-85 full time employees

China- Taiping and Shanghai

-111,000 garments per day

-24.4 million per year

-1800 employees

After reading those statistics all I could think was how effective production is through the use of technology. I went on to the Bonds website http://www.bonds.com.au/pdf/Summary.pdf and read about the fibres, yarns and fabrics,the dyeing techniques and the decorating of fabric, all possible through technology and machinery. The report stated 'all machines are fully automated and computerised,' 'most of our fabrics are knitted on 'circular' knitting machines of various gauges' and 'we engage the services of skilled people who have specialised expertise in knitting, sewing and making up.' Through the advancement of technology Bonds has become a global brand renowned around the world and as portrayed through advertising and media is recognised and interrelated with Australian culture. Bonds also has a clothing line to date.

Ipods- the latest fashion accessory

Ipod is a brand of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple. Launched in October 1991, the ipod stores media on an internal hard drive and also using flash memory. "Ipods have won several awards ranging from engineering excellence to most innovative audio product, to fourth best computer product of 2006" (Kanellos 2006:2). IPods often receive favorable reviews; scoring on looks, clean design, and ease of use. The iPod has sparked an extraordinary ecosystem of over 4,000 accessories made specifically for the iPod that range from fashionable cases to speaker systems. Colour cases are available and can be swapped whenever the listener feels they want a change. Such cases proved to be a popular innovation that designers have come up with accessories such as carry cases to transport multiple ipods. The ultimate iPod accessory is Fendi's Juke Box created by Karl Lagerfield. A $1,500 carrying case for transporting multiple iPods. Lagerfield believes that iPods completely changed the way people approach music and sees them as a positive modernisation, owning 40 ipods for perswonal use. "The technology of ipods inspired him to create the iPod carrying cases for Fendi, and he allowed that their shape and materials could also be inspiring for fashion in general" (Kahney 2005: 1). http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/news/2004/05/63423

Danika Cleary, Apple's iPod product manager, said, "The iPod has become iconic, and fashion designers have picked up on it. It's a fashion item in itself." Designers have noted this innovation is a popular gadget and have realised they can make a profit through creating accessories. In our hedonistic culture of mass consumption individuals feel they need new innovations to move forward in the fashion stakes and with society. The ipod has proven that technology can be fashionable and through the media and advertising, the ipod is promoted as a fashion forward item that incorporates the idea of wearable technology.

Related articles:

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7468

http://reviews.ebay.com/iPod-Fashion-Craze-updated_W0QQugidZ10000000000009149

http://lowendmac.com/archive/05/0304.html

http://cjwriter.com/2007/08/10/is-an-ipod-the-latest-fashion-accessory/

Fashion advertising

Advertising is paid, one-way communication through a medium in which the sponsor is identified and the message is controlled. Every major medium is used to deliver these messages, including: television, radio, movies, magazines, newspapers, the Internet and billboards. These forms of mass media act as means of conveying a message, aiming to promote and sell a product and to draw the customer to the object being endorsed. The message is to persuade you to try something, to tell you about something, to encourage you to try a new product and to convince you that you need to buy a new product. Martin Hooper is a London based commercial advertising photographer with his majority of experience including fashion photography and campaigns. His work is renowned and seen on billboards all over America. http://www.martinhooper.com/

Advertising is possible through technology as images are created, enhanced and made appealing through computer programmes e.g. photoshop.This programming and technology offers the tool of airbrushing making the items of clothing look more flattering on the body. Advertising is a way the media portray the image of how people should like and make individuals feel self conscious and not comfortable within themselves. There is much media controversy on the topic and especially in regard to skinny models in advertising campaigns.

Just a few quotes:

* Australian fashion models generally have more "meat on their bones" and look healthier than those in Europe and the United States, says top designer Wayne Cooper.

*"Clothes look better on thin people, the fabric hangs better on bodies that are comparatively featureless. Designers like to work with a plain canvas as it’s all about highlighting the clothes." Alex Perry

*"For me as a designer, I would never knowingly use a model who was anorexic, but the simple fact is that we employ these girls as moving coat-hangers. "We’re not looking for sex appeal or to hold a mirror up to the woman on the street, we're trying to shift clothes to the store buyers, and I personally think that a slender figure is the best way to show them off." Kim Molloy

Related websites:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=405600&in_page_id=1879

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22062136-5011860,00.html

http://www.thewest.com.au/aapstory.aspx?StoryName=378561

The future of fashion and technology

Fashion is really just starting to interact with the information technology world. Today there are already 'cool' gadgets and wearables, but tomorrow, we will see whole new domains where fashion can play a key role.
The biggest of these is the duality of appearance - where we may appear one way in the physical world, and have a whole range of digital appearances in the augmented reality and virtual environment worlds. This will lead to many people designing for themselves.
Along the way, electronics will continue to shrink in size to a point where it no longer significantly need affect the form of the object that carries it. Form and function will be separated, at least as far information technology is concerned.
Fashion is often at the forefront of technology usage. Many new materials and technologies are used in textiles and accessories when they are still too expensive or primitive for other uses.
The next decades will see the gradual convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive technologies. Typical results will be materials with different tensile, thermal and optical properties, integration of onformation technology into fabrics, and linkage of our bodies to the network for medical and communication purposes, via clothing or skin-wearables.
Thin, flexible displays are becoming available already, and we will undoubtedly see them built into clothing with increasing frequency. This will be both for body adornment and functional uses.
A wide range of electronic devices can already be built into clothes and this will increase. New fabrics are already being developed to provide power generation - using solar power, electromagnetic, thermal and mechanical means.
Storage technology is improving extremely quickly and we may expect massive amounts of storage to be available in very small volumes, so that people can take all their files, music and videos with them - integrated invisibly into small devices or clothes.
As local production becomes more widespread, self design may become very popular indeed. How much this affects the market for professional fashion designers will thus depend on how much relative skill and creativity they really have, as well as on how much effort people can be bothered to invest in designing themselves.

For further information and reports- http://www.nanotec.org.uk/finalReport.htm

Internet shopping

"Technology refers to the branch of knowledge that deals with science and engineering, or its practice, as applied to industry"(Malouf 1998: 1203). Through technology we must acknowledge the notion of efficiency in terms of human productivity and especially recognise the positive device recognised as 'The Internet.' The Internet became fully available in 1991 and offers electronic interaction between people, although another popular function of The Internet is for personal shopping for those who dont have much spare time, live too far from shops or live in small towns where there isn't much variety. The evolution of the "information age" in retail is mirrored in the exponential growth of fashion web pages, in the 21st Century connecting to the web for some retail therapy isn't anything out of the ordinary. Ebay, an online auction and shopping website which I'm definately aware of, was founded in 1995 and offers clothing, collectibles, appliances, computers, furniture, equipment, vehicles and other miscellaneous items. Although Ebay isn't the only website available for online shopping, type 'online shopping' into google and you will be made aware of how many different websites are available and the large variety of products ready to be sold. MyCatwalk.com- http://www.mycatwalk.com.au/pages/home.html is an internationally avalible website offering clothes and accessories from top designers, a more exclusive range of clothes than the ones readily available in shops and yes they are often a little more pricy although i've done my own research and noted the price of the items in shops (when and if you ever find the articles) isn't raised for Internet sales, it has been the same. Delivery is efficient, within Australia it is between 4 and 6 days and internationally it can take up to 2 weeks. The consumer culture of modern society is being supported by technology and if technology continues to advance who knows what we will be offered in another decade? Clothing purchases brought to our doorsteps within a few hours... Seem far fetched? No, not really.

Fashion- The media's influence

The media are human communication systems which use processes of industrialised technology for producing messages. The media, which includes press, radio, television and cinema, have become the place through which we recieve most of our information. In their representations, the media give us explanations and ways of understanding the world in which we live, also including other people and ourselves. A question which is commonly asked- are we automatically affected and controlled by forces outside ourselves or do we have freedom and autonomy to make our own decisions? I argue that we are programmed and controlled by forces outside of our control (including the media), but through our own feelings and rationality we have the ability to question and change things. This question interlinks well within the fashion industry. When we think about fashion and the media I automatically think of television programs such as 'Australia's Next Top Model,' 'What Not to Wear' and 'Queer eye for the straight guy,' each of these shows is created around the concept of image and how individuals should look. The media produces images via magazines, television shows and cinema of models and actresses portraying an ideal image of what to wear and how the rest of society should look. Jennifer Aniston quoted in Vanity Fair, May 2001, "the media create this wonderful illusion-but the amount of airbrushing that goes into those beauty magazines, the hours of hair and makeup! It's impossible to live up to, because it's not real." http://www.hilary.com/fashion/bikini.html

Contemporary society is hedonistic and our culture is a lot more materialistic and image based. Due to advanced technology the media is readily available worldwide to influence individuals and paint a picture of how we should look, this is evident in every television show we watch. Home and Away, a show aired at 7:00 weeknights aimed at teenagers, demonstrates this idea with individuals being categorised as 'cool' and 'popular,' through the way they look and dress. The media acts as a vehicle of influence and information and through advancements in technology individuals world wide can access it.