Posts filed under 'outdoor clothing'
The hutongs (alleys to you and me) of Beijing have a new police force – of sorts. They are called ‘Public Security Volunteers’ and there are more than 400,000 of them – arranged into neighbourhood groups that are serving the Olympic security forces which include a mixture of police, over 100,000 ‘counter-terror troops’ and more than 300,000 CCTV cameras. The PSVs patrol litter-dropping, inappropriate clothing and spitting in the street – but by the locals, not the expected foreign visitors! Despite the attempt to distinguish the new PSVs from the old ‘neighbourhood committee’ by giving the new volunteers a snazzy red and white striped polo-shirt to wear when ‘on duty’, there’s a lot of concern in the populace – the former committees were a mixture of spies and party members who reported on the irregular activities of their neighbours, and caused many a midnight arrest or disappearance for ‘re-education’.
The PSV polo-shirts are a big sign of changing China – they are sponsored by the Yanjing beer company, which would have been unthinkable a decade ago, and while every volunteer has been given one, less than half actually wear them. The other half have been put on the black market, still in their original wrappings, as part of the
Beijing Olympic memorabilia business. That too, would have been impossible (or an arrestable offence!) a few years ago.
The concern that the new volunteers have caused can be directly related to their entrepreneurial flair. Those who have flogged their
polo-shirts still need to distinguish themselves from ordinary citizens … so they’ve dug out Cultural Revolution-era red armbands to wear, and those armbands remind nervous Beijingers of the knock on the door in the middle of the night …
Beijing street cleaners in new uniforms
July 29th, 2008
Kent women police officers have complained that their new uniform is too tight and encourages unwanted attention. They say the black zip-up tops, made of lightweight wicking fabric are too revealing and accentuate their cleavages, making life difficult while on the beat. The polo-shirts are being tested as a replacement for the traditional white shirt and tie.A police source in Medway said, ‘It is understandable for female officers to be worried about their appearance - they have to present a professional appearance to the public. If they are being leered at by men it can only undermine them, especially when they are working at night trying to control groups of drink-fuelled young men.’
The British Association for Women in Policing said yesterday that the problems came as no surprise, the national co-ordinator, said, ‘… the problem with these particular tops stems from the material used. They are quite cheap, which is why they have a tendency to stick.’ Kent Police has asked suppliers for more polo-shirts in larger sizes.
In January women police officers complained that their uniform trousers made their bottoms look big.
WPC courtesy of KingofHiking
June 2nd, 2008
Canadian politicians are fuming – they’ve discovered that Canada’s Olympic uniforms are being made in China! But Tu Ly, one of the designers who created them, is unapologetic about the situation. In an interview he made a robust defence of the decision to manufacture in China, ‘I would like to challenge these politicians to give up their cell phones made in China or their TVs, then maybe they’d really be on an even plane,’ he said. Ly added that his company has a code of vendor conduct to ensure its suppliers operate under fair working law and respect the environment.
But New Democrat MP Paul Dewar isn’t happy. ‘This is our Olympic team. We should be ensuring that all of our Olympic athletes are … wearing Canadian-made textiles and all of their uniforms should be made in Canada.’ The decision has sparked such controversy because the Canadian clothing manufacture market is in something of a decline at present.
The Hudson Bay Company, for whom Ly works, said that Asia is the only readily-available source for the specialist fabrics featured in the eco-friendly designs, which are specifically mandated to help athletes cope with Beijing’s heat and humidity. These innovative fabrics include bamboo, cocona and organic cotton. But the line of Olympic Supporters apparel is being made in China too, and that may be a more difficult case to fight, as souvenir buyers probably won’t be travelling to China!
For the last summer Olympics, Roots Canada made the athletes’ uniforms at home and outfitted Canada’s Olympic teams for every Olympics from 1998 to 2004.
Canadian Olympic team modelling their uniforms courtesy of JP Moculski, The Canadian Press
May 8th, 2008
Well, sometimes they become ‘vintage’ or ‘collectable’ (1970s McDonalds workwear is selling for a goodly price on eBay) and sometimes it just gets dumped in rubbish bins or charity shops, but Festival Place shopping centre in Basingstoke has something else in mind. Their old uniforms are to be recycled. More than 600 items, including:
- 350 shirts
- 140 pairs of trousers
- 50 jumpers and cardigans
- 20 Hi-Viz coats
- 30 Hi-Viz waistcoats
- 30 ties
- 60 fleeces
- 20 blazers
- and four suits, have been collected.
They will all be sent to Devizes Textile which will sort through the items, sending the best quality clothing to Africa to be reworn, and recycling the rest into items for industrial use. Danny Williamson, company partner at Devizes Textiles, was equally happy to help. He said, ‘This is the first shopping centre that we have worked with and we look forward to working with them in the future to help reduce Basingstoke’s landfill.’
Workwear, and work colleague, photograph courtesy of Robstephaustralia
April 23rd, 2008
Next time you see people wearing polo shirts, check to see if the logo has one or two horsemen. There’s a big legal dispute going on in the USA over precisely this, because US Polo Association’s logo is similar to the one made famous by Ralph Lauren because, as they say, they are the main organisation for the sport of polo in the United States and it seems a little odd for them not to be able to depict the sport on their own clothing. Now it seems that Ralph Lauren may be about to lose the battle to stop the US Polo Association using two horseman striking the ball in their logo. The association also has USPA underneath their two polo players logo on their clothing but Ralph Lauren feels that this infringes their logo and the Polo Association’s polo shirts may be mistaken for Polo Ralph Lauren and is trying to get the logo banned. The battle between Ralph Lauren and the Polo Association has been going on since the 1980s and although it now appears that courts may be willing to uphold the USPA’s right to continue with their logo.
Polo courtesy of Paul Keleher
April 8th, 2008
To overcome Vista’s somewhat negative public perception issues, Microsoft Australia has put together an online Fact or Fiction quiz about Windows Vista. Everyone who enters gets a certificate of completion and, if you are an OEM system builder, you get Windows Vista Advisor polo-shirts too. The catch here? You may have to move to Australia and become an OEM system builder to qualify ….
Crew make embroidered linen T-shirts for women as well as polo shirts and short sleeved rugby shirts – they came into being in 1993, selling yachting kit to the rich, famous, deck-shoe wearing hordes who arrive on the Isle of Wight every Cowes week. To get your free polo shirts, all you have to do is join the England polo team, because Crew are the team sponsor. Where’s the catch? Well buying a couple of ponies and having enough airfare to fly around the world to play, right?
The Greg Norman Collection, which features golf shirts, polo shirts and other top of the line golfing apparel is sponsoring Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Club Golf League. The first two hundred league members to enter a score in the 2008 competition ‘won’ GNC items while this year’s finalists will receive shirts from GNC’s Spring/Summer range. The league is open to all European and US based Virgin Atlantic Flying Club members and the season highlight will be a competition at St Regis Monarch Beach, California, in September. Now that actually might be something that many of us can attain to! So for more info, visit: www.flyingclubgolfleague.com.
Greg Norman image courtesy of DanPerry.com
February 28th, 2008
Most people now accept that the climate change debate has shifted from whether we need to act to what we must do and how best to do it - and the clothing industry has been in the forefront of both innovation (organic and sustainable clothing) and criticism (sweatshops and carbon footprints). The Climate Change Summit 2008 is notable for the input that is being given by big hitters in the garment and textile industries. Taking place at the Regent’s Park Marriot Hotel between 12 and 12 February, the Summit offers delegates opportunities to explore the enormous changes that lie ahead and aims to help them discover how to make a virtue out of necessity.
Key topics include: climate initiatives that achieve both environmental and business objectives; designing climate change messages to win the support of sceptical consumers (in other words, how to communicate with your customers without being accused of ‘greenwashing’); a complete guide to using offsets and taking advantage of carbon trading; ways to report a company’s climate change objectives and achievements for maximum impact; and most crucially - how to manage the many risks of climate change. Speakers who have a major stake in the garment and textile industries include:
