It's just another day in the mad, mad world of fashion. kate spade new york, the eponymous U.S.-based fashion brand is launching "kate spade Saturday," a brand whose name is being disputed by a similarly-coined NYC retailer.

The diffusion line is making its debut in Japan via an online store and a retail location in Tokyo—complete with an American-style café—with plans to have an online presence in Brazil and the U.S. later this spring. (A "sneak peek" at selected items from the new brand was offered on Fab.com through today, February 20.) CEO Craig Leavitt said the brand "saw an opportunity in the market to engage a new customer base—one that aspires to be part of the kate spade new york brand."

The new sub-brand will feature apparel, a beauty line and home decor at a notch below typical kate spade prices, with a target demographic of consumers ages 25 to 35. The price point will be "about 50 percent below" the kate spade brand, and its retail experience promises to thread digital throughout the graphic, pop art-inspired clothes. However, the brand's introduction has not been without some controversy.Continue reading...

When Steve Jobs announced in 2011 that Apple would be using 175 acres of land in Cupertino, Calif. to build a 2.8 million-square-foot office complex, the expectation was that it would be completed in 2015.

It's looking like a mid-2016 opening is more likely. But as plans for a groundbreaking move forward, the company has recently submitted a revised plan to city officials, offering more detailed (and pastoral — see above) glimpses of the futuristic facility for the Apple-obsessed.

Meanwhile, Apple is moving forward with plans for new offices — if however more conventionally designed — in Austin, Texas.Continue reading...

A Bathing Ape (also known as BAPE) creator Tomoaki Nagao (who's also known  as NIGO®) has linked with Beams creative director Hiroshi Kubo to produce a limited-edition collection of retro-styled Coca-Cola vendor wear.

NIGO®’s newest label, Human Made, is inspired by pre-1960s Americana. He’s placed a huge emphasis quality and authenticity while still keeping a whimsical nature to the brand with the addition of lighthearted graphics provided by Sk8thing.

As an avid collector of vintage memorabilia, it’s a no brainer that a collaboration with Coca-Cola — ranked currently by Interbrand as the world's best global brand — is a natural fit for both parties. In an interview, NIGO® reveals that he was once a Japan Coca-Cola yo-yo champion back in the '80s and also pulled from his bespoke collection of Coca-Cola memorabilia to inspire this new line.Continue reading...

A Bathing Ape (BAPE) celebrates its 8th anniversary in the U.S. today, marking the opening of its New York City flagship store on December 12th, 2004. It's a bittersweet time for many longtime fans, including this writer.

The Planet of the Apes-inspired brand paved the way for many streetwear brands, with a limited edition run of products sparking a huge craze outside of Japan at a time where you could only attain items imported by proxy vendors or resellers. As a result, it was ranked #3 on Complex's "50 Greatest Streetwear Brands" ranking last year.

The New York store, located in SoHo, is still a mainstay for streetwear aficionados, tourists and fans of the Bathing Ape lifestyle — and many of them will be flocking to the store today to pick up the limited edition anniversary gear. With the recent 10th Anniversary of BAPE London, I am reminded of my experiences over the last eight years with BAPE New York and the Bathing Ape brand.Continue reading...

The "Is Japan Cool?" campaign from All Nippon Airways, Japan’s largest airline, aims to lure Americans to fly ANA and visit Japan. Unlike the UK's cocky (and to some, uncool) "Cool Brittania" campaign in the late 90's, it's a rhetorical question that peddles Japan's charms with a soft sell. Some might argue, too soft of a sell.

The goal of the “Cool Campaign,” now in its second phase, is to help Americans more easily understand places in Japan through pictures and videos mapping locations and enlightening visitors about cultural institutions, tourist attractions and quirkier trends (Cosplay, anyone?)Continue reading...

London may have been the Olympic city this past summer, but it was also "Audi City." The German luxury car brand launched its first digital showroom in London, just in time for the Olympics, pitching it in a movie-style trailer. The innovative concept was designed to digitally present Audi's entire line of cars in a compact space, using such "groundbreaking media technology," says Audi, as the ability for visitors to "digitally select their vehicle from several hundred million possible configurations and experience it in realistic 1:1 scale on screens that almost fill the entire space." More Audi Cities are coming soon.

Audi didn't start the trend of marketing cars in big city downtown areas, however. In May, BMW opened its first "BMW Brand Store" in metropolitan Paris, positioning it as "Future Retail." Unlike the Audi concept, real cars appear in the Paris space, along with an employee BMW unashamedly refers to as a "product genius" in a nod to Apple's retail concept, the "Genius Bar."

Not to be outdone, the iconic Rolls-Royce brand, a motorcar brand many might consider ultra-stodgy, is making a few breakthrough moves of its own. The venerable Rolls-Royce brand, has been around since 1904, but the British icon clearly don't want to be left behind in the 21st Century. In the fourth quarter, Rolls-Royce plans to open a boutique — don't call it a showroom — at Rama 3 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Rolls-Royce already has a Bangkok showroom, but the boutique, the first of its kind to be located in an upscale shopping mall, will feature additional products. Still, why open a "boutique" in Bangkok?Continue reading...

On Day 10 of the London Olympics, Nissan on Monday unveiled its vision for the future of the city's iconic 'black cab' and its 300,000 daily users - the Nissan NV200 London Taxi. Taxi versions of the NV200 have already been unveiled in Tokyo and New York, where it's billed as the "Taxi of Tomorrow."

The NV200 London Taxi will offer significantly reduced CO2 outputs compared to current taxi models, in line with London Mayor Boris Johnson's Air Quality strategy for London. An all-electric e-NV200 concept is also set to undergo trials in the Capital.Continue reading...

Many nations, such as the United States, won’t allow tobacco companies to advertise at sporting events. Japan is not one of those countries — and it may pay a big price for that.

Even though there is some debate about if hosting the Olympic Games is financially worth it, plenty of nations are always at the table when the International Olympic Committee is ready to dole out assignments for the next one.

Japan is often one of the ones pulling its chair up at those negotiation sessions. It last had the ginormous quadrennial sporting event when Nagano hosted the 1998 Winter Games and women’s hockey players and snowboarders got to go for gold for the first time.Continue reading...