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| − | == Ugg boots ==
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| − | Wherther you have been flocking to stores around the world in search of the perfect pair of [http://www.inugg.co.uk/ uggs]? Look no further than UGG Boot Central, your ultimate destination for high quality casual foot wear.
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| − | If you have some problems,you can go to search in this adress: http://www.inugg.co.uk/.
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| − | == Emu Australia recruits VF Corp MD ==
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| − | Emu Australia, the sheepskin footwear company, has named Andy Knowles as CEO Europe with a remit to oversee all European marketing from the brand.
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| − | Knowles was most recently VF Jeanswear managing director where he oversaw the Lee and Wrangler brands. He has also held senior positions at Nestlé and Cadbury Schweppes.
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| − | Emu Australia entered the UK market in 2006 and has just opened a European head office and sales showroom in London. The company was founded in 1994 and positions itself as a luxury brand with the strapline “naturally Australian”.
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| − | The privately owned company is a rival to [http://www.inugg.co.uk/ ugg boots] and has just shot the 2009 autumn/winter campaign at a heritage-listed historical sheep station.
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| − | == Aussie made products vanishing from shops ==
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| − | "THIS is Australian," says the salesgirl. "See here on the label? It says 'Designed in Australia'."
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| − | She is holding a leather handbag and letting me see only the top half of the label. The bottom half is obscured by her red-nail-polished thumbnail.
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| − | I look at her. Her thumb moves.
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| − | "Made in China,'' says the label.
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| − | She laughs. I can't tell if it's a guilty or an embarrassed laugh.
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| − | "All our stuff's made in Australia, to an extent,'' she says. "I mean, most of it's made in China - but we're a wholly Australian company.
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| − | "It's all designed here.''
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| − | We're in Pitt St Mall in Sydney at 2.45pm and I'm conducting a little experiment: If I wanted to spend my $900 stimulus payment locally, could I find Australian-made goods worth buying?
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| − | Will I end up with nine pairs of [http://www.inugg.co.uk/ ugg boots]? I hate [http://www.inugg.co.uk/ uggs].
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| − | In every shop, I ask if there are any Australian-made goods.
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| − | On every occasion I'm greeted with some degree of awkward throat-clearing or defensiveness.
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| − | "Oh, yeah, I know what you're saying,'' says one saleswoman. "I like to spend my money here too.''
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| − | Staff tell me there's no Australian content in Hype, Witchery, Nine West, Esprit, Just Jeans, Oroton, Emporio and Strandbags. At Surf Dive 'n' Ski, they're selling green-and-gold thongs bearing the names Surfers Paradise, Bondi, Cottesloe, Maroubra.
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| − | All made in Brazil.
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| − | How about the flower stall?
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| − | "Ah, these ones are Singapore orchids - from Thailand,'' says the florist, holding up flowers so blue they're almost neon.
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| − | Laughing with an apologetic air, she adds: "Some of the others are from Africa.''
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| − | In the 19 stores I visit, only seven have any Australian-made content - that's 36 per cent. Only one, Jurlique, is all-Australian.
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| − | A shop named Glue has an Australian-made Backstage dress for $119.99.
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| − | Portmans has a healthy stack of local clothes and at Soul Pattinson pharmacy, there's Le Tan, Sukin skin care and Nude by Nature makeup.
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| − | At Sussan, everything's made in Asia except the nail polish and the lip gloss.
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| − | Then I get to Borders and it seems a gleaming ray of hope.
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| − | Of 28 books on the new-release shelves by the door, only five are printed overseas.
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| − | It's an array of Australian-made words. Even the latest books by British authors Jeffrey Archer and Alexander McCall Smith are printed here. I'm delighted to discover such a beacon of localism, right here in the American chain store that locals love to revile.
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| − | Borders can't be that bad, if even the foreign books are Australian-made, can it?
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| − | But that situation exists only because of protectionism: a long-enduring ban on the parallel importing of books, which the Government is now considering axing because it keeps prices artificially high.
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| − | So in this little shopping strip we have a perfect encapsulation of the Australian economy.
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| − | There's a bit of manufacturing, a bit of protectionism, a fair amount of free trade - and an awful lot of embarrassment.
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| − | "We used to make it here but it's just too expensive now,'' one young salesman informs me. "It's all Australian ideas, though.''
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| − | And that's the crux. It's just the reality of our modern economy, right? Australia is no longer really about making things. Manufacturing is 9.2 per cent of our gross domestic product. Mining is 10 per cent.
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| − | Agriculture is 2.6 per cent.
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| − | We're a services-dominated nation: retail, finance, law, tourism, education, transport, construction, hospitality.
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| − | The Pitt St shop girls are the economy, even when selling Singapore orchids from Thailand.
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| − | So why all the bashfulness?
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| − | Well, here's one reason: The shop girls know as well as I do that it's very hard to be sure about the conditions in those Chinese factories or Thai hot-houses. Are they as good as in Australian factories?
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| − | Do the workers get holidays? Are they paid fairly?
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| − | AussieBum underwear founder Sean Ashby is still horrified to recall the time he visited a Chinese manufacturer who wanted his business.
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| − | The showcase factory was clean, brightly lit and staffed by apple-cheeked employees taking regular tea-breaks.
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| − | Then he saw the real factory out the back: dirty, dark and stacked with bunk-beds.
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| − | That's one of the reasons it's cheaper to manufacture offshore. That's why Ashby keeps his production in Sydney.
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| − | And that should be the issue that concerns us. I don't care if products are made in Bangladesh or Bankstown as long as they're made by people treated decently.
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| − | We can't make everything here, or stand alone against the tide of globalisation. Protectionism won't protect us forever.
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| − | But we can be inquisitive about what we're importing. We can look beyond the embarrassment and think about how things are made.
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| − | We can read labels and ask questions in shops.
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| − | I haven't spent my $900 handout yet. Turns out half the [http://www.inugg.co.uk/ ugg] boots are made in China anyway. What a relief.
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| − | == Levity and catharsis bring fashion festival to a close ==
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| − | SOME things remain constant, even in hard financial times. A fashion festival will attract a certain cast: preening, glossy haired princesses with vacant stares and glistening lips; ageing madams eyeing off the flawless catwalk colts with pursed-lip longing; flashy spectators who have piled on every fashion trend at once — sequinned cape, ruched shiny leggings, trilby hat. Less is more anyone? And, of course, where would any fashion festival be without some multinational exploiting the target audience and spruiking a 97 per cent fat-free product. Skinny Cow anyone? (It's an ice cream.)
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| − | Thank goodness for moments of levity and catharsis — and there were some as the Melbourne Fashion Festival drew to a close at the Docklands yesterday. The festival's final show, staged by budget department store Target, bristled with the sheer joyousness of acrobatics, dance and youth. If there was a lesson to be had, it was that in the end it's not so much the clothes that maketh the man (or woman) but his (or her) dance moves. One young break dancer, Aron, busted some show-stealing moves, wearing nothing too directional, a baggy T-shirt, baggy jeans.
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| − | The two Target catwalks shows were a mish-mash of styles and influences plucked from bygone eras, and reprising recent trends: '70s peasant, paisley blouses teamed with denim shorts; shiny leggings with disco-style off-the-shoulder tops; bottom-skimming micro-mini dresses with vivid tights; skinny jeans teamed with tasselled boots and check flannel shirts; [http://www.inugg.com/ ugg boots] and trackie-dacks; sexy secretarial looks with pencil skirts and cinched waists; a muted palette of grey and black set off with vibrant accessories.
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| − | "The thing with fashion at the moment is diversity, there are so many things happening, so if you're into all black linear, you've got it, if you want bright pop bold you've got it, so there are all these counter trends," festival director Karen Webster said. "But … I've noticed most of the week is that fashion is dressing up again. I think this is one of the things that have come out with this whole current economic position, is that people are wanting to feel good and look good." I like [http://www.inugg.com/ uggs] .
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| − | == She’s going to be extremely busy over the next few days ==
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| − | On Tuesday we secured our place in the World Cup Final by beating the West Indies by 146 runs. It will be the first time we have been in a World Cup Final since 1993 and is a massive achievement for all the girls.
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| − | For me this meant an unrelenting list of interview requests which is phenomenal and showed that all the hundreds of people I have contacted over the past four years have been taking notice and are cottoning on to how good these players are.
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| − | First up were rights holders Sky Sports followed by Sky Sports News and then Sky News. We also fitted in BBC, various national newspapers as well as the Loughborough Echo, the Leicestershire Mercury and other regional press. I’m always keen to continue to provide for the regional press as they cover us year in, year out, so it’s great to reward them when things are going well.
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| − | By 9.30pm the interviews were just about finished and England had just woken up. Cue 52 more interview requests for the players. This was brilliant even if it did mean a 2am finish for me - a 20-hour day no less! We have managed to fulfil every single one of those requests so hopefully the players and the game are now getting the profile they deserve.
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| − | Over the past few days I have had so many messages of good luck to pass onto the squad which has been just brilliant. It’s great to see that people back home are taking an interest and really getting behind us before Sunday. Lots of my friends (who know I’m here, but don’t really follow the cricket) have heard the scores and are emailing, texting and Facebooking me to let me know and wish us well, which is awesome. Even my Dad, who’s in Siberia, has been keeping up to date with how it’s all going and has been sending pep talks via text! All greatly received!
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| − | On Wednesday night after training we had a team meeting and Clare Connor and I gave a brief media session to the players in preparation for what could be the biggest week of their lives.
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| − | This was made slightly amusing by the fact that Caroline Atkins and I had swapped clothes for the evening as people keep getting us mixed up! I think I’ve got the better end of the deal there - an opening international bat vs a media manager?! While I dressed Shaggy, as she’s affectionately known, in a lovely joules skirt with a white vest top, cardi and white flip-flops, she dressed me in her baggy jeans, a salmon pink polo shirt (salmon is not my colour!) and my running trainers! Needless to say she got the best straw in the clothing stakes!
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| − | When the players all saw me there was a deathly silence as they were all too polite to say anything, until one of them started laughing and then they all did with huge sighs of relief that it wasn’t real. This is no slight whatsoever on Shaggy’s clothes as everyone kept telling me - they just look a lot better on her! Caroline, on the other hand, got a lot of compliments and even managed to get served at the bar first that evening!
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| − | The win over the West Indies and the fact that India had beaten Australia meant that our game against the hosts on Thursday had no relevance on our place in the final. However, we wanted to win. After winning the toss and batting we were all out for 161 and they knocked off the runs in 34 overs. This was so disappointing but, as Lottie keeps saying, we’re in a World Cup Final so we have regrouped and are now looking ahead to the most important game on Sunday.
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| − | Despite the loss, the good luck messages still roll in and everyone is still very much behind us which means so much to everyone here.
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| − | Today was a rare day off and after my 1am finish this morning I managed a lie-in until 8am. After a quick visit to the gym I started my first round of interviews with Isa Guha and the BBC. That was swiftly followed by Katherine Brunt with various journalists and then I returned to my computer to reply to the emails that had come in overnight.
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| − | Whilst here I am still trying to keep up to speed with things back home like our PR and media plans for this year’s Friends Provident Trophy, the ICC World Twenty20, and anything else that needs doing.
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| − | Anya and I then headed out to George Street to find some [http://www.inugg.com/ ugg boots]. Mine were for myself and my boyfriend’s sister while Annie’s were for her sister and her brother’s girlfriend.
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| − | We eventually found a shop that sold original [http://www.inugg.com/ uggs] after traipsing round hundreds of shops, much to Annie’s annoyance! We rewarded ourselves with pizza for lunch and then a quick stop back to the hotel to catch up on a few more emails and phone calls. This afternoon we headed down to the Aquarium at Darling Harbour following a recommendation after bumping into my colleague Gill Harris in Circular Quay earlier!
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| − | It was then a quick dinner before returning to the hotel to do an hour’s worth of interviews with Lottie. Another late night with training tomorrow and then the pre-final press conference and photo shoot at the SCG with Lottie again.
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| − | She’s going to be extremely busy over the next few days!
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| − | == Heroes lift our spirits higher than Paul O'Connell in lineout ==
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| − | HOORAY FOR panic and pleasure and sweet palpitations! Oh, but it did the heart good to feel the heart flutter and skip a beat and almost stop, before the triumphant roar of those brave enough to look made it race again and nearly burst with joy.
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| − | At long last – a chance to celebrate.
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| − | Good news, for once. Great news. News to put a smile on your face, and make you sing and cheer and do silly dances.
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| − | The sort of headline news that has nothing to do with budgets and pay cuts, unemployment figures and politicians’ expenses.
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| − | The blessed relief of sporting distraction.
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| − | It didn’t matter if you never set eyes upon an oval ball or knotted an old school tie. Whether you are into rugby, soccer, Gaelic, bog-snorkelling or tiddlywinks – it didn’t matter.
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| − | This was a nation responding, admittedly belatedly and in a different fashion, to their Finance Minister’s call to “patriotic duty”. Thanks to the outdoor exploits of a rugby team and the indoor exploits of a boxer, Ireland grabbed the chance to get out there and party.
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| − | On an exhilarating Saturday that stretched giddily into the early hours of Sunday, we broke through the pervading gloom of the last few months and fell happily into the glorious Green beyond. First, a rugby Grand Slam title after a wait of 61 years, and then, the heroic capture of a boxing world title by a courageous Dub with a great line in patter.
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| − | Gift. Absolutely gift.
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| − | We’re not the better of it yet, thank God.
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| − | Bernard Dunne, who was crowned the WBA World super-bantamweight champion in Dublin after a gutsy display of stamina and self-belief saw him knock out the highly rated title-holder, will be honoured by his native city next week.
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| − | Yesterday belonged to the rugby players.
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| − | Coach Declan Kidney’s team, led by captain Brian O’Driscoll, arrived home at lunchtime and were met by a huge, adoring crowd at Dublin airport. It was a foretaste of what was to come.
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| − | Taoiseach Brian Cowen, who has wisely kept out of the limelight during the celebrations, leaving the players to bask in the glory, called into the Mansion House from Government Buildings, where discussions on the economic crisis are ongoing.
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| − | The Taoiseach, who loves his sport, stood back and applauded with the rest of the guests as the players entered The Round Room. He met the players and looked on proudly as his youngest daughter Meadhbh had her photo taken with O’Driscoll and Ronan O’Gara.
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| − | Social Welfare Minister Mary Hanafin, had she been in a line out, would have been penalised for barging as she elbowed her way through the throng to sit beside O’Driscoll and the trophy.
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| − | If O’Driscoll thought it was tough on the pitch, he didn’t reckon on the determination of Irish female politicians. He was sandwiched by Senator Ger Feeney and Cllr Deirdre Heeney, clinging to the trophy for dear life as the rhyming public servants smiled for the camera.
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| − | Outside, the crowd waved their green flags and waited for a glimpse of their heroes. Finally, the players emerged from the Mansion House to deafening roars of approval, walking a green carpet and a guard of honour of flagbearers and drummers.
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| − | Coach Declan Kidney, meanwhile, had a few words with Brian Cowen back inside. Was the Taoiseach asking him the secret of his success? Our IRFU man said that Kidney told his men at half-time that they had been doing everything right, and if they kept that up, the scores would come. “Keep doing what you are doing,” he told them.
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| − | Not, perhaps, the sort of advice to be giving to Brian Cowen.
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| − | Jerry Flannery’s mother, Jane, was waiting for the son to appear. “I was at the match — there were the Horans and myself and the Hayes. We stayed seated at the end and I swear to God, all the Welsh in front of us stood up. We couldn’t see a thing. Then we heard the roar. We thought it was the Welsh roaring, at first, then we realised Ireland had won. There were hugs and kisses and jigs all round.” Jerry is one of the many walking wounded on the team. “He has a big, big swollen eye. He needed five stitches,” Jane told us, as her son mounted the steps to the platform.
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| − | She looked on in delight, a proud Irish mother. “And his hair not even combed.”
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| − | Brian O’Driscoll’s girlfriend, actress Amy Huberman, held his nine-month-old niece Aoife in her arms. “I had her on my knee during the game and she hadn’t a clue what was happy. Thank God, she was a great distraction. When it was finally over, and I realised we won, I couldn’t stop crying for an hour.” Tommy Bowe sang a verse of The Black Velvet Band. At the first sighting of Brian O’Driscoll, the crowd burst into a chorus of “Ole, Ole, Ole.” There were high-pitched squeals from the sizable contingent of teenage girls in [url=http://www.inugg.co.uk/]ugg boots[/url] whenever Ronan O’Gara said or did anything. Then the ticker-tape exploded out of machines at the base of the platform with great gusts of tinselly green. The wind caught the paper and it rained down on the crowd.
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| − | Sure, it was only a game. Just 80 minutes of diversion. But it was great, and it gladdened the heart and the next few weeks at least will be a little easier and the memories will remain forever. By jingo, isn’t patriotism great?
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