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Wiki Wiki Summary
1990s in fashion Fashion in the 1990s was defined by a return to minimalist fashion, in contrast to the more elaborate and flashy trends of the 1980s. One notable shift was the mainstream adoption of tattoos, body piercings aside from ear piercing and, to a much lesser extent, other forms of body modification such as branding.
Fashion design Fashion design is the art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction and natural beauty to clothing and its accessories. It is influenced by culture and different trends, and has varied over time and place.
History of fashion design History of fashion design refers specifically to the development of the purpose and intention behind garments, shoes and accessories, and their design and construction. The modern industry, based around firms or fashion houses run by individual designers, started in the 19th century with Charles Frederick Worth who, beginning in 1858, was the first designer to have his label sewn into the garments he created.
Fashion capital A fashion capital is a city with major influence on international fashion scene, from history, heritage, designers, trends, styles, to manufacturing innovation and retailing of fashion products, including events such as fashion weeks, fashion council awards, and trade fairs that together, generate significant economic output.With exquisite fashion heritage, structured organization, and the most vaunted fashion designers of the last century, four cities are considered the main fashion capitals of the 21st century. Called the "Big Four, the most prominent fashion capitals of the world—in chronological order of their eponymous fashion weeks, are New York, London, Milan, and Paris, which receive the majority of press coverage.
Compartment syndrome Compartment syndrome is a condition in which increased pressure within one of the body's anatomical compartments results in insufficient blood supply to tissue within that space. There are two main types: acute and chronic.
Cholecystitis Cholecystitis is inflammation of the gallbladder. Symptoms include right upper abdominal pain, pain in the right shoulder, nausea, vomiting, and occasionally fever.
Fast fashion Fast fashion is a term used to describe the clothing industry business model of replicating recent catwalk trends and high-fashion designs, mass-producing them at low cost, and bringing them to retail stores quickly while demand is highest. The term fast fashion is also used generically to describe the products of the fast fashion business model.Fast fashion grew during the late 20th century as manufacturing of clothing became less expensive — the result of more efficient supply chains and new quick response manufacturing methods, and greater reliance on low-cost labour from the apparel manufacturing industries of South, Southeast, and East Asia, where women make up 85-90% of the garment work-force.
Merchandiser A merchandiser is an arcade gaming device, which features a machine that contains a display of merchandise, which can be won by playing the game.\nIn the trade, such games are described as "skill with prize" (SWP) games, and are a hybrid of games of skill and games of chance, with the preponderance of skill or chance differing between devices and often able to be set by the operator.
Merchandise Mart The Merchandise Mart (or the Merch Mart, or the Mart) is a commercial building located in downtown Chicago, Illinois. When it was opened in 1930, it was the largest building in the world, with 4 million square feet (372,000 m2) of floor space.
Promotional merchandise Promotional merchandise are products branded with a logo or slogan and distributed at little or no cost to promote a brand, corporate identity, or event. Such products, which are often informally called promo products, swag (mass nouns), tchotchkes, or freebies (count nouns), are used in marketing and sales.
Effects of climate change The effects of climate change span the impacts on physical environment, ecosystems and human societies due to ongoing human-caused climate change. The future impact of climate change depends on how much nations reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change.
Gang stalking Gang stalking or group-stalking is a set of persecutory beliefs in which those affected believe they are being followed, stalked, and harassed by a large number of people. The term is associated with the targeted individual (T.I.) virtual community formed by like-minded individuals who claim their lives are disrupted from being stalked by organized groups intent on causing them harm.
List of generic and genericized trademarks The following three lists of generic and genericized trademarks are:\n\nmarks which were originally legally protected trademarks, but have been genericized and have lost their legal status due to becoming generic terms,\nmarks which have been abandoned and are now generic terms\nmarks which are still legally protected as trademarks, at least in some jurisdictions\n\n\n== List of former trademarks that have been genericized ==\nThe following partial list contains marks which were originally legally protected trademarks, but which have subsequently lost legal protection as trademarks by becoming the common name of the relevant product or service, as used both by the consuming public and commercial competitors. These marks were determined in court to have become generic.
United States Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexandria, Virginia, after a 2005 move from the Crystal City area of neighboring Arlington, Virginia.
Arithmetic Arithmetic (from Ancient Greek ἀριθμός (arithmós) 'number', and τική [τέχνη] (tikḗ [tékhnē]) 'art, craft') is an elementary part of mathematics that consists of the study of the properties of the traditional operations on numbers—addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, exponentiation, and extraction of roots. In the 19th century, Italian mathematician Giuseppe Peano formalized arithmetic with his Peano axioms, which are highly important to the field of mathematical logic today.
History of cricket The sport of cricket has a known history beginning in the late 16th century. Having originated in south-east England, it became an established sport in the country in the 18th century and developed globally in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Affiliated Computer Services Affiliated Computer Services Inc. (ACS) was a company that provided information technology services as well as business process outsourcing solutions to businesses, government agencies, and non-profit organizations.
Special Activities Center The Special Activities Center (SAC) is a division of the Central Intelligence Agency responsible for covert operations and paramilitary operations. The unit was named Special Activities Division (SAD) prior to 2015.
Emergency operations center An emergency operations center (EOC) is a central command and control facility responsible for carrying out the principles of emergency preparedness and emergency management, or disaster management functions at a strategic level during an emergency, and ensuring the continuity of operation of a company, political subdivision or other organization.\nAn EOC is responsible for strategic direction and operational decisions and does not normally directly control field assets, instead leaving tactical decisions to lower commands.
Operations research Operations research (British English: operational research), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of advanced analytical methods to improve decision-making. It is sometimes considered to be a subfield of mathematical sciences.
Surgery Surgery is a medical or dental specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pathological condition such as a disease or injury, to help improve bodily function, appearance, or to repair unwanted ruptured areas.\nThe act of performing surgery may be called a surgical procedure, operation, or simply "surgery".
Bitwise operation In computer programming, a bitwise operation operates on a bit string, a bit array or a binary numeral (considered as a bit string) at the level of its individual bits. It is a fast and simple action, basic to the higher-level arithmetic operations and directly supported by the processor.
Online shopping Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the retailer directly or by searching among alternative vendors using a shopping search engine, which displays the same product's availability and pricing at different e-retailers.
Substantial disruption The substantial disruption test is a criterion set forth by the United States Supreme Court, in the leading case of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969).
Endocrine disruptor Endocrine disruptors, sometimes also referred to as hormonally active agents, endocrine disrupting chemicals, or endocrine disrupting compounds are chemicals that can interfere with endocrine (or hormonal) systems. These disruptions can cause cancerous tumors, birth defects, and other developmental disorders.
The Disrupt The Disrupt is the debut studio album by American hip hop musician Oh No. It was released on October 5, 2004 by Stones Throw Records.
Disruptive coloration Disruptive coloration (also known as disruptive camouflage or disruptive patterning) is a form of camouflage that works by breaking up the outlines of an animal, soldier or military vehicle with a strongly contrasting pattern. It is often combined with other methods of crypsis including background colour matching and countershading; special cases are coincident disruptive coloration and the disruptive eye mask seen in some fishes, amphibians, and reptiles.
Financial law Financial law is the law and regulation of the insurance, derivatives, commercial banking, capital markets and investment management sectors. Understanding Financial law is crucial to appreciating the creation and formation of banking and financial regulation, as well as the legal framework for finance generally.
Disruptor Records Disruptor Records is an American record label founded by Adam Alpert in September 2014, as a joint venture with Sony Music Entertainment. The label has sold more than 15 million singles worldwide as of 2016.
Pardon the Interruption Pardon the Interruption (abbreviated PTI) is an American sports talk television show that airs weekdays on various ESPN TV channels. It is hosted by Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon who discuss, and frequently argue over, the top stories of the day in "sports...
Kay Krill Katherine "Kay" Krill was the President and Chief Executive Officer of ANN INC., a wholly owned subsidiary of Ascena Retail Group from 2000 - 2015. ANN INC. comprises several leading women's specialty and apparel retail brands.
Asheville Outlets Asheville Outlets, formerly Biltmore Square Mall, is a shopping mall located just off Interstate 26 on Brevard Road (North Carolina Highway 191) in Asheville, North Carolina, United States. Outlet stores include Ann Taylor Factory Store, Banana Republic Factory Store, Brooks Brothers Factory Store, Coach, Cole Haan, GAP Factory Store, J. Crew Factory, Nike Factory Store, RH Outlet, Tommy Hilfiger, Under Armour, and Vera Bradley.
Concord Mills Concord Mills is a shopping mall located in Concord, North Carolina. The mall is in Cabarrus County, just a few hundred feet from the Mecklenburg County border and Charlotte city limits, and about 12 miles (19 km) from Uptown Charlotte.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (film) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a 2005 musical fantasy film directed by Tim Burton and written by John August, based on the 1964 British novel of the same name by Roald Dahl. The film stars Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka and Freddie Highmore as Charlie Bucket, alongside David Kelly, Helena Bonham Carter, Noah Taylor, Missi Pyle, James Fox, Deep Roy, and Christopher Lee.
Human impact on the environment Human (or anthropogenic) impact on the environment refers to changes to biophysical environments and to ecosystems, biodiversity, and natural resources caused directly or indirectly by humans. Modifying the environment to fit the needs of society is causing severe effects including global warming, environmental degradation (such as ocean acidification), mass extinction and biodiversity loss, ecological crisis, and ecological collapse.
Risk Factors
ANNTAYLOR STORES CORP ITEM 1A Risk Factors The following risk factors should be read carefully in connection with evaluating our business and the forward-looking information in this document
See “Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Disclosures”
Our ability to anticipate and respond to changing client preferences and fashion trends in a timely manner The specialty retail apparel business fluctuates according to changes in the economy and customer preferences
These fluctuations especially affect the inventory owned by apparel retailers since we enter into agreements for the manufacture and purchase of our private label apparel well in advance of the applicable selling season
As a result, we are vulnerable to changes in consumer demand, pricing shifts, and the timing and selection of merchandise purchases
Our success is largely dependent upon our ability to consistently gauge fashion trends and to provide merchandise that satisfies client demands in a timely manner
Our failure to anticipate, identify or react appropriately in a timely manner to changes in fashion trends could lead to lower sales, excess inventories and more frequent markdowns, which could have a material adverse impact on our business
The effect of competitive pressures from other retailers The specialty retail industry is highly competitive
Our stores compete with certain departments in national or local department stores and with other specialty stores, catalogs and internet businesses that offer similar categories of merchandise
Many of our competitors are considerably larger players with substantially greater financial, marketing and other resources
There is no assurance that we will be able to compete successfully with them in the future
In addition to competing for sales, we compete for favorable store locations and lease terms
We also face competition from other retailers that recently have been developing brand extensions and new concepts targeted at our client base
Our ability to secure and protect trademarks and other intellectual property rights We believe that our “AnnTaylor” and “AnnTaylor Loft” trademarks are important to our success
Even though we take action to establish, register and protect our trademarks and other intellectual proprietary rights, there can be no assurance that these actions will be adequate to prevent infringement of our trademarks and proprietary rights by others
The laws of some foreign countries may not protect proprietary rights to the same extent as do the laws of the US, and it may be more difficult for us to successfully challenge the use of our proprietary rights by other parties in these countries
In addition, our license to use the “ANN TAYLOR” trademark for manufacturing and exporting purposes in the People’s Republic of China expires on June 30, 2015 unless the parties agree to an extension
7 ______________________________________________________________________ [31]Table of Contents The effect of general economic conditions The success of our operations depends to a significant extent upon a number of factors impacting discretionary consumer spending, including economic conditions affecting disposable consumer income such as employment, consumer debt, taxation, energy prices, interest rates and consumer confidence
There can be no assurance that consumer spending will not be negatively affected by general or local economic conditions, thereby adversely impacting our continued growth and results of operations
Our ability to grow through new store openings and existing store remodels and expansions Our continued growth and success will depend in part on our ability to open and operate new stores and expand and remodel existing stores on a timely and profitable basis
Accomplishing our store expansion goals will depend upon a number of factors, including locating suitable sites, negotiating favorable lease terms and hiring and training qualified personnel, particularly at the store management level
There can be no assurance that we will be able to achieve our store expansion goals, manage our growth effectively or operate our new and remodeled stores profitably
Fluctuation in our level of sales and earnings growth A variety of factors have historically affected, and will continue to affect, our rate of growth and performance
These factors include, among other things, client trends and preferences, competition, economic conditions, managing inventory effectively and new store openings
There can be no assurance that we will achieve positive levels of sales and earnings growth, and any decline in our future growth or performance could have a material adverse effect on the market price of our common stock
Our reliance on foreign sources of production While we purchase merchandise from domestic and foreign suppliers, a majority of our merchandise is purchased from foreign suppliers
Any event causing a sudden disruption of manufacturing or imports from those countries, or the imposition of additional import restrictions, could have a material adverse effect on our operations
We cannot predict with certainty whether any of the foreign countries in which our products are currently manufactured or any of the countries in which we may manufacture our products in the future will be subject to future import restrictions by the US government, including the likelihood, type or degree of effect of any such new trade restriction
Trade restrictions, including increased tariffs or quotas, on apparel or other items sold by us could affect the importation of such merchandise and could increase the cost or reduce the supply of merchandise available to us and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and liquidity
Further, the US may impose additional duties in response to an investigation as to whether a particular product being sold in the United States at less than fair value may cause (or threaten to cause) material injury to the relevant domestic industry as claimed by such industry
Our merchandise flow may also be adversely affected by financial or political instability in any of the countries in which our goods are manufactured, the potential impact of natural disasters and public health concerns, particularly on our foreign sourcing offices and manufacturing operations of our vendors, if they affect the production, shipment or receipt of merchandise from such countries
Merchandise flow may also be adversely affected by significant fluctuation in the value of the US dollar against foreign currencies or restrictions on the transfer of funds
In addition, the violation of labor or other laws by any of our independent manufacturers, or the divergence of an independent manufacturer’s labor practices from those specified in our human rights compliance program or otherwise generally accepted as ethical by others in the US, could damage our reputation and force us to locate alternative manufacturing sources
Our reliance on key personnel Our success depends to a significant extent both upon the continued services of our current executive and senior management team, as well as our ability to attract and retain additional qualified management personnel in the future
Our operations could be adversely affected if, for any reason, one or more key executive officers ceased to be active in our management
8 ______________________________________________________________________ [32]Table of Contents Our ability to successfully upgrade and maintain our information systems We rely upon our various information systems to manage our operations and regularly make investments to upgrade, enhance or replace these systems
Any delays or difficulties in transitioning to these or other new systems, or in integrating these systems with our current systems, or any other disruptions affecting our information systems, could have a material adverse impact on our business
Any failure to maintain adequate system security controls to protect our computer assets and sensitive data, including client data, from unauthorized access, disclosure or use could also damage our reputation with our clients
In addition, our ability to continue to operate our business without significant interruption in the event of a disaster or other disruption is dependent in part on the ability of our information systems to operate in accordance with our business continuity plan
Our dependence on a single distribution facility Our distribution functions for all of our stores are handled from a single facility in Louisville, Kentucky
Any significant interruption in the operation of the distribution facility due to natural disasters, accidents, system failures or other unforeseen causes could delay or impair our ability to distribute merchandise to our stores, which could cause sales to decline
The impact of the Ann Taylor Factory business strategy Our product strategy at Ann Taylor Factory stores is evolving to a more direct merchandise approach, with product designed specifically to carry the Ann Taylor Factory label
The success of this strategy is dependent on a number of factors, including client acceptance of the Factory label merchandise, the effect on gross margin rates at Ann Taylor and LOFT of selling clearance merchandise formerly sold at Ann Taylor Factory stores, as well as the impact on the look of our Ann Taylor and LOFT stores and the effect that might have on sales at those divisions
There can be no assurance that our Ann Taylor Factory store merchandise strategy will deliver sales and margin gains and increase overall profitability
Risks associated with Internet sales We sell merchandise over the Internet through our websites, www
Although our Internet operations encompass only a small percentage of our total sales, our Internet operations are subject to numerous risks, including unanticipated operating problems, reliance on third party computer hardware and software providers, system failures and the need to invest in additional computer systems
Our Internet operations also involve other risks that could have an impact on our results of operations including diversion of sales from our stores, rapid technological change, liability for online content, violations of state or federal privacy laws, credit card fraud, risks related to the failure of the computer systems that operate the websites and their related support systems, including computer viruses, telecommunication failures and electronic break-ins and similar disruptions
There can be no assurance about the performance of our Internet operations or their ability to achieve sales and profitability growth
Effects of war, terrorism or other catastrophes Threat of terrorist attacks or actual terrorist events in the United States and worldwide could lead to lower client traffic in regional shopping centers
Natural disasters could also impact our ability to open and run our stores in affected areas, such as when we closed certain stores in the New Orleans area temporarily in the wake of Hurricane Katrina
Lower client traffic due to security concerns and war, or the threat of war, and natural disasters could result in decreased sales that would have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations