Arket

Buy it now: classic jeans and sweats for spring



Arket straight rinsed ecru jeans

Time for some jeans and sweats news, as I’m about to chuck off the knits and go into slightly lighter layer territory.

I live in jeans and my go-to cut is generally an as-loose-as-I-can-get-away-with boyfriend fit, or a straight cut that’s my smart option to wear with a stack heel boot and a blazer. My current default is a pair of two-year-old dark indigo Arket jeans that have a high waist and a straight, wide-ish leg but alas, they’re sold out on site. So the next best thing is the new Levi’s Vintage Company 701 jeans  (more…)

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It’s not about product so what works in bricks and mortar retail now?



what works in bricks and mortar retail now? Tiina The store Amagansett Christopher Sturman for The New York Times

News broke last week that Debenhams, one of the UK’s biggest department store chains, is closing 50 stores. I worked as a sales girl at Debenhams in Oxford Street during my art student years and I loved it. I worked with amazing people, liked selling and would pop across the road to the Keith Haring and Kenny Scharf exhibitions at the Anthony d’Offay gallery in my lunch hour.

I haven’t really shopped there as an adult, other than occasionally for beauty or pots and pans. I’m more of a high-end heritage shopper or I go to the minimalist stores like Cos and Arket. But it’s a serious warning sign that retail really is changing. Debenhams’ competitors like John Lewis & Partners and Selfridges have been much better at creating a modern lifestyle destination, which taps into the idea that stores aren’t only for shopping. (more…)

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Are expensive jeans worth it?



Toogood denim

Jeans. So utilitarian. So egalitarian. Yet so bloody difficult to nail! Are expensive jeans worth it? Should you pay more then £100 for a pair? Surely denim is considered a workwear fabric, ergo it should be cheap as chips. Yes, but no.

There’s denim and then there’s denim. Japanese denim is beautiful – dense, dark, rigid but made in Japan so relatively expensive. Stretch denim to me is not really denim. (It’s usually cheap and prone to sagging, and don’t get me started on jeggings.) And modern mass produced denim is nothing compared to vintage denim. (more…)

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The DRG Retail Index: Zara, COS, H&M, Ikea X Virgil Abloh



HM conscious exclusive

Here’s our latest retail round up celebrating experimentalism and innovation on the high street. From the latest social campaigns to exciting new collections and retail formats, we’re watching… and shopping.


ZARA DOES AR
Zara Studio Collection SS18
Augmented reality (AR) shopping ‘experiences’ have been gaining momentum over the last couple of years, (we liked Burberry’s doodle one the most!) and now it seems, Zara has also got the AR memo. (more…)

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