Love jeans with that relaxed, sandblasted look? You’re going to have to find a different brand than Gianni Versace.

The Italian design house has now joined Gucci and H&M (for which Versace is producing a collection this fall) by banning the practice after much outrage and lobbying by the Clean Clothes Campaign.

To get that look, “workers fire sand under high pressure at jeans” (according to the Courier Post Online), a practice that has led to the deaths of workers in Turkey, Bangladesh, “and other countries” where the process is done manually, the site reports. What's more, sandblasting leaves “large amounts of silica dust” in the air for workers to breathe. It can cause silicosis, a pulmonary disease that can be a killer.

Those things probably aren’t the first things  on the mind of a consumer when he or she is buying Versace. And now they don’t need to be.Continue reading...

Amazon's Android tablets reportedly codenamed Coyote and Hollywood.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's personal brand rocked by confession he fathered a child with household staffer.

Birds Eye plans new sales push in Russia.

BP Russian pact with Rosneft collapses.

California pushes for tighter security controls on social networks.

Conde Nast expands iPad magazine editions.

Disney may make power play for Olympics sponsorship; and fined $3M for violating kids' privacy.

Facebook meets with bankers to discuss IPO.Continue reading...

Weatherproof's Obama ad is taken down from Times Square. [NY Times]

The 2010 Winter Olympics will create a $250 million for NBC. [Brandweek]

Ameriprise's $30 million campaign stresses the importance of having an advisor. [Adweek]

Twitter will hold its first ever Developer's Conference based on Yahoo's "Hack Day." [Gawker]

Thanks to the Justice Department, Live Nation and Ticketmaster will merge. [CNN Money]

Ford's will hire 1,200 new employees for its Chicago Plant. [WSJ]Continue reading...