“I never thought I would have to ask for food.” The young mother said as a box was placed in her car. In the last three weeks over 500,000 Illinois residents have filed for unemployment. We have never seen such a sudden, dramatic increase in the need for food in our region. There are now growing lines at area food pantries. Numbers of those seeking help has tripled. For 70% of them this is their first visit to a food pantry. This is occurring when food banks are receiving fewer donations from their sources. The food banks are dependent upon the donations from large food chains. Usually food whose shelf life has nearly expired, or produce that is about to go bad. Because nervous buyers have cleared out so many store shelves there is less leftover to donate. When you live at the bottom of the food chain and depend on leftovers, it is extra frightening when there is little left behind. We need to use this crisis to question our present food system built on dependence. We need to ask how

If you’re like me, you probably having a hard time changing the idea of social distancing into a habit. That’s not easy. Old habits die hard. Why don’t we wear a mask in public, wash our hands more often…or stay at least six feet apart? We each have our own reasons. Sometimes we just forget. I do. And some people just don’t understand the consequences if someone else is exposed to their cough; their hands or something they touched with the virus on it. Other people resist the whole idea of being told what to do. They think that social distancing imposes on their freedom. Or worse, they just can’t be bothered, no matter who they expose to the virus, even their loved ones. So here’s a thought -- Six Feet is Not That Far Away. Where I live in Princeton, Illinois, right off Interstate-80’s Exit 56, a group of us are asking “What does social distancing mean to us? We’re hoping that artists of all kinds will share their interpretations of that message in photographs, videos and music about

As you listen to or read this essay, you will be celebrating the beginning of a brand-new month. But it is being written and recorded on another milestone -- the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. I was present for the very first one, as a student at the University of Illinois. Seminars, programs, speeches and leaflets urged the protection of our environment and an appreciation of the outdoors. For me, that appreciation would continue for a lifetime. This was the era of the "back to the land" movement and Mother Earth News. REI and Backpacker Magazine. Community cleanups and widespread tree planting. I would be fortunate enough to acquire a small hobby farm in Northern Wisconsin, if only for a few years. I often think about that property and can imagine in my mind how the land has changed, and how it hasn't. I will celebrate today not only by getting outdoors, but also by revisiting some of my favorite outdoor writers: Henry David Thoreau, Aldo Leopold, and Sigurd Olson. Their thoughts are

FM Nirmala Sitharaman had announced about a 10% cut in corporate income tax in September 2019 to boost the economy.

Experts says India needs to avoid ‘vice versus virtue’ dichotomy with regard to alcohol.

There is a lot of deal activity because businesses are looking for capital.

Bata has already identified 180 such markets in smaller cities pan-India.

Russia has imported leather and footwear worth USD 3.9 billion in 2018, and India's exports to that country stood at only USD 52.6 million, said Panaruna Aqeel Ahmed, chairman of Council for Leather Exports (CLE).

The brand will expand into Hyderabad, Goa, Kochi, Pune and Mysuru next year by introducing products through a mix of exclusive and multi-brand outlets, Xtep India director Vijay Chowdhary said at an event here organised in memory of US-born boxing legend Muhammad Ali.

While early movers like Rolex, Omega and Tag Heuer entered India in early noughties, a clutch of global luxury watches like Panerai are now placing bets on the Indian market, keeping in mind a longer investment horizon. In a bid to create a deeper connect with the Indian consumers, Panerai launched two MS Dhoni special edition watches on Wednesday.

Exports to Hong Kong, the sector's biggest market, plummeted 41.3 percent, while exports to France fell 48 percent, and those to South Korea were down 46.2 percent.

The elderly Viv notices our presence and invites us to sit in her kitchen, right there in front of her, where she can see us. Thus began the interactive video experience “The Visit“, born from the collaboration of the artist →

"We strongly appeal to you to not increase GST on mobiles. The increase of 6% would directly lead to hike in prices of product, impacting consumer behaviour leading to a slowdown in demand affecting business adversely,” said the letter written by AIMRA national president Arvinder Khurana.

"We will be closing all of our retail stores outside of Greater China until March 27," Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote in a letter posted on the company's website.

The decision was taken in the 39th GST Council meeting chaired by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The move was made to correct the inverted duty structure. ​

Xbox will be available for Rs39,990, while the model with Kinect, an interface that allows the use of gestures to play games, will cost Rs45,990.

Many people assume that the videogame seller will go the route of book, music, and video stores, reports Joshua Brustein at Bloomberg Businessweek.

There are nearly 100 such gaming cafes currently and less than 1000 non-exclusive cafes, said Vamsi Krishna, Head of Consumer Marketing, South Asia, NVIDIA.

The total outstanding amount, according to the agency, is approximately Rs 3695 crores. The agency had sealed the office and house of Vikram Kothari’s residence, in New Delhi.

The company had also brought the Classmate Pulse Selfie notebooks, allowing personalisation of notebooks with a selfie on the cover.

"Sales and profits of set products business, including smartphones and TVs, are expected to decline significantly as COVID-19 affects demand and leads to store and plant closures globally," Samsung said in a statement.

Both LG and Samsung have opened bookings for various products on their websites for limited periods and are offering gifts of up to Rs 10,000 on pre-bookings made during the lockdown period. LG has opened pre-bookings till May 15 and Samsung by May 8.

About a fourth of the corrugated box makers in the country are in danger of shutting down over the next few months as they are unable to pass on cost pressures to their clients.

Documentation solutions firm Xerox today announced the appointment of Ashraf ElArman as Managing Director of its Indian unit, effective June 22.

At Myntra, Kamal was heading different verticals including logistics, operations excellence and the training function, where he built the in-house logistics team and scaled it to include more than 3500 people, spread across 80 plus towns and delivering over 100,000 packets a day.

With about a million products available on its website, Tolexo is among the largest B2B ecommerce sites in the country, serving 2.5 lakh businesses.

​​H​​anung Toys and Textiles Ltd (borrowing account) dealing with the bank since 2008 had availed various credit facilities under consortium arrangement wherein, Karnataka Bank was one of the member banks, it said in a regulatory filing.

It costs Rs 5-6 crore per store to set up and over the next three years, the company will spend Rs 50-60 crore on The Collective portfolio, its brand head, Amit Pande, said. “We want to double our footprint and our monobrand portfolio will also see growth. However, those (mono-brand) stores cost much less at about Rs 2-3 crore per store to set up.”

Most consumers tend to go bargain hunting online. For a large part of 2019, luxury mall managers reported that sales were lacklustre. Luxury goods websites, however, managed to buck the trend because of 20-50% lower costs on their sites. But at the moment, watch companies do not seem to be finding too many takers in tier-2 and 3 towns.

BigThinx’s neural networks create a personalised 3D virtual avatar from 2D images for fashion brands and their customers.

Wise fashionistas merely store rather than discard, waiting for the tide to inevitably turn.

Good Earth is now a prominent go-to destination for home decor enthusiasts and interior designers alike as it offers something for everyone.

The 280 billion euros ($320 billion) per year global luxury goods sector, already reeling from months of protests in the shopping hub of Hong Kong, was dealt a hammer blow earlier this year by the coronavirus outbreak in mainland China.

The offers are on luxury products such as watches, cars and shoes, just as many other players also join the ‘lockdown bandwagon’.

The coronavirus crisis is expected to lead to a spate of mergers and acquisitions of weakened brands, the closure of single-brand stores and reshaping of already suffering U.S. department stores, D'Arpizio said. Customers are also likely to emerge from global lockdowns with a new set of priorities.

The 49-year-old, who has been lodged at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since his arrest last year, appeared before a UK court via videolink.

The body has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and state chief ministers to facilitate payement of wages to workers for these two months. GEMA president Vijay Jindal also sought intervention of Textile Minister Smriti Irani and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the matter.

The annual index by advocacy group Fashion Revolution - now in its fifth year - ranked 250 of the world's biggest brands according to how much information they disclose about their social and environmental policies, practices and outcomes.

In a letter to Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, he said the council members could not clear the shipments on time because of lack of documents, "therefore, demurrage waiver may please be granted starting from March 1 till the time lockdown continues".

According to exporters, payments of previous dispatches are also withheld by importers in the UK and Europe. These exporters employ about 50,000 people, and 60% of them are women engaged in tailoring, thread-cutting and other hands-on work.

Next said store sales plunged 52% in the 13 weeks to April 25, its fiscal first quarter, while online sales were down 32%.

The continued lockdown in April 2020 (from late March) has impacted the entire textile industry and disrupted exports, Ind-Ra said in a report.

The council had recently organised a webinar on 'Manufacturing of PPE Products under Medical Textiles', which saw about 2,000 participants, mainly apparel exporters from across the country.

Toonz has signed a deal with Tariq Albassami Group for opening 10 stores in the Gulf region in the next one year.

Omni-channel kids wear retailer Toonz Retail India has announced a partnership with Tariq Albassami Group for entering the Gulf Cooperation Council region.

​​​The intention is to bring all B2B, B2C, consumer-facing, consumer-based content platforms, apps-based commerce and IoT device-based services under the policy, potentially engulfing products like the Amazon Echo, which is powered by artificial intelligence-driven virtual assistant Alexa, and MG Hector, the Internet-enabled vehicle from Morris Garages in the regulatory realm of e-commerce.

The business is split in three verticals, services, products and skilling. The services which include slimming and diet planning is the oldest and most known.

O2 Spa is currently operating 60 centres across 17 cities in the country.

With this acquisition, a total of 18 outlets will become a part of O2 Spa and would be known as Zazen Spa from the house of O2 Spa.

Aware of the changes in customer preferences, hotels, resorts and online platforms are working to cater to the demand for healthier diets and rejuvenation treatments.