An alternate way to roll up long sleeve shirts. Worth a shot.
J Hilburn »
March 23, 2011 -
This awesome – J. Hilburn is a direct-to-consumer manufacturer of custom men’s clothes. Choose your preferred fabric and style, provide your measurements and the clothing will be custom-tailored to fit you. The result is far less expensive than high-end stores and should provide a far better fit.
Kilts, Tartans, Wales and Texas
February 7, 2011 - Leave a Comment
As my dad’s side of the family originates from Wales, I have some kilt-wearing blood flowing through my veins, but unlike the Scots, the Welsh don’t have a history of using tartans to recognize families or clans. In fact, there’s some argument as to how long the Welsh have worn kilts. I don’t care about the latter, but I did want to see what might be available for a Jones boy in Texas.
The Jones Tartan
The design symbolises Jones roots in Wales and the name’s global spread. The heart of the sett reflects the green and white of the Welsh flag with its red dragon. From Wales people with the name of Jones moved to England, represented by pale green together with the red and white cross of St. George. Many Scots bear the name of Jones, and Scotland is represented by the blue and white perimeter. When viewed diagonally this creates the cross of St. Andrew, the Scottish saltire The black band represents the ocean deeps that separate all the people named Jones who now live far from Britain but whose roots remain here.
The Texas Blue Bonnet Tartan
While I don’t expect to drop $500+ on a full, official kilt soon, it’s great to know that I have two great options.
I just picked up a modern kilt created by Nation Kilt, in a solid olive cloth, which I am very excited to own and plan to wear throughout South by Southwest Interactive as a part of the Five Kilts crew. There will be many photos posted.
Tartan images from The Scottish Registrar of Tartans
Accessorizing Your Eyeballs
November 30, 2007 - 2 Comments
Matt Haughey provides a very interesting write up on ordering glasses online instead of at the local optometrist / giant chain store in his article Adventures in $40 eyeglasses. I love the idea of having more than one pair of glasses from which to choose each morning, while paying significantly less than I would for a single pair from my optometrist.
Now, I’m more than happy to pay for a good optometrist, but frames and lenses are commodities in all but the rarest instances, and those instances are out of my spending range. Plus, I really don’t like having a designer’s signature scrawled on my clothing, much less my glasses, so selling me on the brand doesn’t work. That said, I spent more on my current set of glasses than I ever had previously because they really feel right, but they aren’t practical to wear some days. Having a second set of glasses would be nice to have around when I know that I will be more active during the day. Hell, just the ability to get an inexpensive pair or two of prescription sunglasses would encourage me to leave my contacts in their solution in order to wear my glasses.
Matt also posted a link to Glassy Eyes, a blog about ordering glasses online – sounds dull, but it’s very useful. I’ll post back when I take the plunge.
Click 2 Touch
October 11, 2004 - Leave a Comment
One of the biggest issues with online clothing retailers is the high percentage (35 – 40%) of returns. Quite often, an article of clothing is returned because the customer expected the fabric to feel different, be thicker or thinner etc. One UK company aims to change this state of affairs. Software from Click 2 Touch creates “unique web pages that allow consumers to see garments as 3D objects, enlarge important details and experience ten tactile sensations.” It is an intriguing (though not really new) concept.
From what I gather from the demo, they are using Flash to display a series of high resolution images, each focused on a specific part of the fabric. The interesting aspect of the demonstration are the attributes they demonstrate for each fabric. The demo only illustrates thickness and elasticity, but they also list softness, fullness, smoothness, hairiness, prickliness, drape, rigidity and warmth as other options.
The most important thing for this company, and the future of their product is the process behind the creation of these demonstrations. Their success depends heavily on the following points, missing one point will seriously complicate matters in such a competitive market:
- Speed – Adding new clothing lines and products to a retail site is time-consuming, especially for those who work on catalog schedules. Inserting another major step in the process has a large impact. If that step isn’t relatively fast, it may well be left by the wayside.
- Automation – While this is tied to speed in many ways, it is important to note that automated processes are extremely important in catalog-to-Web workflows. If the system isn’t automated, then it can only be used for a smaller, subset of products due to time constraints.
- In-House Production – While some retailers will be open to using this as a service, many will want the ability to purchase software for in-house customization and use. If this isn’t an option, many clients will walk away.
- Cost – Always an important point, the cost of the system/process is an integral selling point. The catalog company will have to factor in the time it will take their team to learn the system, and modify it to fit their site in addition to the time spent to create each product demonstration. The overall cost will rise very quickly, and may well eclipse the cost to develop the same basic functionality in-house.
All in all, this is an interesting system. We’ll keep an eye on them over the next year or so, to see how they progress.