Banana RepublicBanana Republic is an accessible luxury masstige clothing and accessories retailer owned by the American multinational corporation Gap Inc.
It was founded in 1978 by Mel and Patricia Ziegler, who originally called the company "Banana Republic Travel & Safari Clothing Company." The original concept for the company was to sell items that complement a safari and travel lifestyle. The couple worked for the San Francisco Chronicle. He was a reporter. She was an illustrator. They lived in an apartment on Russian Hill.
In 1978, they quit their jobs, moved to Tamalpais Valley. They wanted to start a business for income. But first, Mel received a magazine assignment to explore Australia for a few weeks with other journalists. In 1983, Gap purchased the company, changed the name to "Banana Republic," and rebranded the stores to achieve a more upscale image.
History
The original Banana Republic was founded by Mel and Patricia Ziegler in 1978. The couple was known for acquiring interesting clothing items that their travel-related jobs brought them in contact with. They eventually opened a store in the Mill Valley area of Northern California. They were known for a hand-drawn catalogue of items with fictional traveler/explorer stories printed alongside, and their safari-themed retail locations. The Zieglers recount their adventures in the first ten years in their memoir, Wild Company, published in 2012 by Simon and Schuster.
Gap Inc. acquired Banana Republic in 1983 and by 1988 the founders, Mel and Patricia Ziegler, lost creative control,eventually rebranding it as masstige, an accessible mass luxury clothing retailer. The literate articles, hand-drawn catalog, and eccentric tourist-oriented items were phased out and were replaced with more luxurious, but not unique, items for which the brand was known, currently replacing higher quality materials for mass quality lower cost fabric standards.
Locations
Inside the store
Banana Republic on Saint Catherine Street in Montreal, Quebec.
Banana Republic in Markville Shopping Centre
The company operates more than 500 Banana Republic stores in the United States (including Puerto Rico), 40 stores in Canada, and 61 stores beyond North America. The Gap, Inc. is expanding its international presence with franchise agreements for Gap and Banana Republic in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. In 2015 Banana Republic opened a new flagship in Manhattan on Fifth Avenue and 18th Street.
Banana Republic opened its first store outside North America in 2005 in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district. Banana Republic's presence in South Korea debuted in August 2007 with a store in the Apkujeong district of Seoul.
In 2007, the first Banana Republic stores opened at The Avenues shopping mall in Kuwait City, Kuwait; Senayan City in Jakarta, Indonesia; and Pavilion Kuala Lumpur in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Banana Republic opened its first store in Turkey in March 2008 in the Kanyon Shopping Mall in Istanbul.[10] By May 2008, İstinye Park Shopping Mall and Nişantaşı stores were also opened in Istanbul. More stores are planned to be opened in Ankara and İzmir by the end of 2008 to bring the total number of stores in Turkey to six.
Banana Republic opened in Saudi Arabia in late 2008, with a store in Mall of Arabia in Jeddah and a second in Riyadh Gallery Mall in Riyadh in March 2009.
In March 2008, Banana Republic opened its 17,000-square-foot (1,600 m2) store on Regent Street in London, England. On May 9, 2008, Banana Republic opened its store on Greenbelt 5 in Makati, Philippines.
In October 2016, Banana Republic announced that it would close all its UK stores by the end of the year, due to falling sales. As of 2017, Banana Republic had over 700 locations, but as a result of european stores closures, none left in Europe.
In August 2020, Banana Republic alongside Gap announced that they will close over 225 store locations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The original plan was to close only 90 stores, however, they expanded the number as a consequence of the financial effects caused by the pandemic. The company has not stated the exact locations that will be closed, but most will be stores within malls.
Ralph Lauren Corporation is an American publicly traded fashion company that was founded in 1967 by American fashion designer Ralph Lauren. The company is headquartered in New York City, and it produces products ranging from the mid-range to the luxury segments. They are known for the marketing and distribution of products in four categories: apparel, home, accessories, and fragrances. The Company's brands include the mid-range Chaps brand, to the sub-premium Lauren Ralph Lauren brand, to the premium Polo Ralph Lauren, Double RL, Ralph Lauren Childrenswear, and Denim & Supply Ralph Lauren brands, up to the full luxury Ralph Lauren Purple Label and Ralph Lauren Collection brands.
History
Polo Ralph Lauren – the flagship brand of the company.
Ralph Lauren was one of several design leaders raised in the Jewish community in the Bronx, along with Calvin Klein and Robert Denning.
Lauren started The Ralph Lauren Corporation in 1967 with men's ties. At 28 years-old, Lauren worked for the tie manufacturer Beau Brummell. He persuaded the company's president to let him start his own line. Drawing on his interests in sports, Lauren named his first full line of menswear "Polo" in 1968. He worked out of a single "drawer" from a showroom in the Empire State Building and made deliveries to stores himself.
By 1969, the Manhattan department store Bloomingdale's sold Lauren's men line exclusively. It was the first time that Bloomingdale's had given a designer his own in-store shop. In 1971, Ralph Lauren Corporation launched a line of tailored shirts for women, which introduced the Polo player emblem, appearing on the shirt cuff. The first full women's collection was launched the following year.
1972 marked the opening of Ralph Lauren's store on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, California, his first freestanding store. In 1972, Lauren released a short-sleeve cotton shirt in 24 colors. This design, emblazoned with the company's famed logo—that of a polo player, became the brand’s signature look. In 1977 Ralph Lauren Corporation introduced a signature cotton mesh polo shirt in various colours, featuring the polo player logo on the chest.
In 1974, Ralph Lauren outfitted the male cast of The Great Gatsby in costumes chosen from his Polo line - a 1920s-style series of men's suits and sweaters, except for the pink suit which Lauren designed especially for Robert Redford’s Jay Gatsby. In 1977, Diane Keaton and Woody Allen wore Lauren's clothes in the Oscar-winning film, Annie Hall.
In 1978, the first Ralph Lauren fragrances, produced by Warner-Lauren, Ltd were launched at Bloomingdale's. Lauren for women, and Polo the men's cologne. This was the first time that a designer introduced two fragrances – one for men and one for women – simultaneously
The company entered the European market, and went international, in 1981 with the opening of the first freestanding store in New Bond Street in the West End of London, England. Lauren opened his first flagship in the Rhinelander mansion, on Madison Avenue and 72nd Street in New York City in 1986.[10] On June 12, 1997, the company becomes a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange.
The 98-seat restaurant, RL, opened in March 1999 in Chicago adjacent to its largest and world flagship Ralph Lauren store at the corner of Chicago and Michigan Avenues on the Magnificent Mile. It was followed by the opening of two additional restaurants – Ralph's at 173 Boulevard Saint Germain Paris store in 2010 and The Polo Bar at Polo's store in New York in 2015.
The company launched its website and online shop in 2000 as polo.com by RL Media (a cooperation between Ralph Lauren and NBC). In 2007, Ralph Lauren Corporation acquired the NBC share of RL Media and the website was relaunched as ralphlauren.com. In September 2015, it was announced that Stefan Larsson would replace the company's founder, Ralph Lauren, as CEO in November. Lauren stayed on as executive chairman and chief creative officer.
In February 2017 it was announced that Larsson had agreed to leave his position as CEO effective May 1, 2017 due to differences with Lauren.[16] On May 17, 2017, Ralph Lauren named Patrice Louvet President and Chief Executive Officer.[17] Louvet most recently served as Group President, Global Beauty at Procter & Gamble (P&G). He took over on July 17, 2017.
In October 2020, Ralph Lauren Corporation announced that it would transition its Chaps brand to a fully licensed business model to focus on its core brands, reduce its direct exposure to the North American department store channel, and setting up the Chaps brand to be nurtured with an experienced partner. Also in October, Ralph Lauren Corporation has appointed former Obama administration consultant Valerie Jarrett to the board of directors.
In May 2021, Ralph Lauren Corporation announced it would sell its Club Monaco brand to private equity firm Regent LP.
Stores
The Ralph Lauren flagship store occupying the Rhinelander Mansion on Madison Avenue in New York City
Ralph Lauren store on Madison Avenue in New York City
The Company ended Fiscal 2016 with 493 directly operated stores: 144 Ralph Lauren stores, 77 Club Monaco stores and 272 Polo factory stores. The Company also operated 583 concession shop locations worldwide at the end of the year.
Children's clothing at department store Smith & Caughey's Queen Street in Auckland, New Zealand
In addition to Company-operated locations, international licensing partners operated 93 Ralph Lauren stores and 42 dedicated shops, as well as 133 Club Monaco stores and shops at the end of Fiscal 2016.
Ralph Lauren operates its representative flagship stores in New York City on Madison Avenue – for menswear in the former Rhinelander Mansion, and for womenswear and home in another structure, across the street, which opened in 2010. The company also manages flagships, for retailing Ralph Lauren collections, in Chicago, Manhasset, Greenwich (USA), London, Milan, Tokyo, Moscow, Kyiv and Paris.
AlcatelAlcatel is a French brand of mobile handsets owned by Finnish consumer electronics company Nokia and used under license by Chinese electronics company TCL Technology. The Alcatel brand was licensed in 2005 by former French electronics and telecommunications company Alcatel-Lucent to TCL for mobile phones and devices, and the current license expires at the end of 2024. Nokia acquired the assets of Alcatel-Lucent in 2016 and thus also inherited the licensing agreements for the Alcatel brand.
History
Former Alcatel One Touch logo
Alcatel Mobile Phones was established on 24 April 2004 as a joint venture between Alcatel-Lucent (45%) and TCL Corporation (55%). Alcatel originally started making mobile phones in late 1996.
In 2005, the joint venture was dissolved and TCL acquired Alcatel-Lucent's 45 percent share, and Alcatel Mobile Phones became a wholly owned subsidiary group of TCL. The brand name was licensed to TCL.
In 2010, Alcatel One Touch became the corporate brand. In February 2016, it was changed back to simply Alcatel and a new logo was introduced.
Company structure
TCL Mobile Limited (former name: T&A Mobile Phones Limited) is a member of TCL Communication listed on Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE: 2618) which was established in August 2004 by TCL Communication and Alcatel. TCL Mobile Limited manages three business units: Alcatel, TCL Mobile Phones and Brand Design Lab. TCL Communication was also the developer of BlackBerry devices from 2016 to 2020 when its contract with BlackBerry expired.
BlackviewToday, the Chinese manufacturer of mobile phones Blackview is actively developing in the world market, and its products are becoming more and more popular in Ukraine. The brand first appeared on the market in 2013, when one businessman Xu Ming decided to diversify the range of reliable secure devices. In his opinion, many companies often unreasonably overestimate the cost of their products, but the price of Blackview devices is really low. BV has become the most popular line of the company, since it is it that is distinguished by gadgets with a capacious battery and excellent build quality. Many of the brand's devices also deserve attention due to their high-capacity battery and resistance to mechanical stress and weather conditions.
The popularity of Blackview in the global market is evidenced by the results of the sale of gadgets: in the last 2018, over 3 million units were sold. Of course, the more famous brands have much higher sales, but since Blackview smartphones have an adequate price and good hardware, their popularity is growing every year. The main advantages of the brand's products include:
High build quality. Thanks to this, Blackview phones are able to withstand various bumps and drops without compromising functionality and appearance.
Attractive design. It should be noted right away that Blackview smartphones are distinguished by a massive durable body, therefore they are more popular among men. Their design is made with an eye on practicality and reliability, so non-developers do not copy the design of devices from famous brands.
Capacious battery. On average, a standard Bleckview smartphone has a 5,000 mAh battery, which is great for three days of use on a single charge. Some models are equipped with a battery of 10,000 mAh or more, so they are able to withstand enormous functional loads.
CubotHardware
Cubot phones use the MediaTek system on a chip and the ARM architecture.
Provided without additional GUI to Android nor bloatwares pre-installed.
Cheetah Phone
In February 2016, Cubot and Cheetah Mobile launched the CheetahPhone, an Android 6.0 Marshmallow based smartphone, at MWC in Barcelona, Spain.
In 2016, Cubot and Kilimall launched the Cubot Note S, which includes an eight megapixel primary camera. The secondary camera is five megapixels. The 5.5" scratch resistant screen comes with an extra layer of security in the form of a protector. It has a high definition resolution of 720p. The device has a mono speaker and a 3.5mm jack. The device has 16 gigabytes of internal storage, expandable to 64 gigabytes.
UMIDIGIUmidigi is a Chinese smartphone manufacturer based in ShenzhenShenzhen City that produces budget Android smartphones, smartwatches, and other mobile electronics.
The company was founded in February 2012 as Umi, launching their first phone, the UMI X1, in July of that year. Umidigi only sells their products on online retailers such as Banggood, AliExpressAliExpress, eBayeBay, and AmazonAmazon. The name "Umidigi" was used as a secondary branding until 2017, when the company officially rebranded as Umidigi.
Umidigi C2 is a smartphone released by the Chinese company Umidigi
Umidigi is a Chinese smartphone manufacturer based in Shenzhen City that produces budget Android smartphones, smartwatches, and other mobile electronics.
History
The company was founded in February 2012 as Umi, launching their first phone, the UMI X1, in July of that year. Umidigi only sells their products on online retailers such as Banggood, AliExpress, eBay, and Amazon. The name "Umidigi" was used as a secondary branding until 2017, when the company officially rebranded as Umidigi.
Products
Umidigi has released more than 55 phone models.
Umidigi produces mobile accessories such as wireless earphones, smartwatches, a Bluetooth selfie stick/tripod combo and a wireless charging pad. These products go under the brand names Ubeats, Upod, Uwatch, Selfie Stick, and Q1.
In Bangladesh, Umidigi is partnering with Redgreen.
A version of the Umidigi A9 is sold in the United States as the "Freedom Phone."
Complaints
Complaints include:
- Lack of software updates and security patches.
- Lack of after sales support
- Software updates from Umidigi can bring new bugs
- Like many companies, Umidigi reportedly influences Trustpilot reviews by telling people to write product reviews to win a giveaway of an Umidigi product.
Correios
Correios
Empresa Brasileira de Correios e Telégrafos (Brazilian Post and Telegraph Corporation), abbreviated as ECT, also known as Correios, is a state-owned company that operates the national postal service of Brazil since the seventeenth century. The company created and manages the Brazilian postal code system known as Código de Endereçamento Postal.
Empresa Brasileira de Correios e Telégrafos (Brazilian Post and Telegraph Corporation), abbreviated as ECT, also known as Correios, is a state-owned company that operates the national postal service of Brazil since the seventeenth century.
The company created and manages the Brazilian postal code system known as Código de Endereçamento Postal. It also provides e-commerce platform (CorreiosNet Shopping), banking (Banco Postal) acting as proxy of Banco do Brasil, Boleto bill payment collection and express mail service Sedex, with its international service network reaching more than 220 countries worldwide. It is the largest employer in Brazil with more than 109,000 own employees and outsourced, being the only company to be present in all municipalities in the country, with a wide network of owned and franchised units[citation needed]. The company is fully owned by the Federal Government of Brazil and subordinated to the Ministry of Communications.
History
Central Correios post office in São Paulo.
An ordinary post office at Coronel Fabriciano, Minas Gerais.
The Post Office had its origin in Brazil on 25 January 1663. In 1931 the Decree №20.859 of 26 December merged the Directorate General of Posts to the General Bureau of Telegraphs and creates the Department of Posts and Telegraph.
The new name and status, ECT, was created 20 March 1969 as a public company under the Ministry of Communications through the transformation of the Federal Authority which was then the Department of Posts and Telegraphs.
In the years that followed, several services were being incorporated into the portfolio. Besides the traditional services of letters, courier, postage and telegrams among the new services can be highlighted those belonging to the SEDEX family, express delivery service.
In August 2013 the company has provided 2,000 of its mail delivery staff with smartphones to provide real-time information on their deliveries. The move is the first phase of a new Mobility in the Postal Service project in which the company is looking to allow customers to track their deliveries in real time on the Internet. The first phase covered the SEDEX 10 express service in various states (a service that delivers documents and goods with a guaranteed delivery time before 10 am the next day after posting).
In December 2013 the company inaugurated its second hybrid mail production center in Santa Catarina. The new facility near Florianópolis will serve the south and the states of Ceará and Bahia. It has the ability to scan and produce 2.7m items each month, a little smaller than the Brasilia plant's 4.5m capacity, which was opened in August of that year. At the moment, the two plants together are producing about 2.5m mailpieces a month, including communications for the Ministry of Health and notifications for the Federal Highway Police and the Judiciary. The company is also planning to open a facility in São Paulo later this year, while next year facilities will be opened in Belém, Salvador and Belo Horizonte as the company's hybrid mail capabilities expand.
In February 2014 it was reported that Correios has inked an agreement with its Italian counterpart Poste Italiane to launch a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in Brazil. Until then Brazil had two MVNOs, Portoseguro and Datora. In October of that year National Presort Inc. has won a $11m contract to upgrade sorting technology, which will see the replacement of controlled electronics, barcode readers and software within existing sorting machinery of Correios.
Logo history
Before 1970 Correios used governmental insignia to identify itself. From 1970 Correios used a logo designed by architectural student Eduardo J. Rodrigues in a public competition. From 1990 on this logo became part of a new logo which basically added a textmark and afforded a colour scheme as part of a broader visual identity. To celebrate its 350th anniversary Correios requested the agency CDA to design a new logo which takes recourse to the original design by Eduardo J. Rodrigues and has been in use since May 2014.
Empresa Brasileira de Correios e Telégrafos (Brazilian Post and Telegraph Corporation), abbreviated as ECT, also known as Correios, is a state-owned company that operates the national postal service of Brazil Brazil since the seventeenth century.
The company created and manages the Brazilian postal code system known as Código de Endereçamento Postal. It also provides e-commerce platform (CorreiosNet Shopping), banking (Banco Postal) acting as proxy of Banco do Brasil, Boleto bill payment collection and express mail service Sedex, with its international service network reaching more than 220 countries worldwide. It is the largest employer in Brazil with more than 109,000 own employees and outsourced, being the only company to be present in all municipalities in the country, with a wide network of owned and franchised units[citation needed]. The company is fully owned by the Federal Government of Brazil and subordinated to the Ministry of Communications.
Empresa Brasileira de Correios e Telégrafos (Brazilian Post and Telegraph Corporation), abbreviated as ECT, also known as Correios, is a state-owned company that operates the national postal service of Brazil since the seventeenth century.
The company created and manages the Brazilian postal code system known as Código de Endereçamento Postal. It also provides e-commerce platform (CorreiosNet Shopping), banking (Banco Postal) acting as proxy of Banco do Brasil, Boleto bill payment collection and express mail service Sedex, with its international service network reaching more than 220 countries worldwide. It is the largest employer in Brazil with more than 109,000 own employees and outsourced, being the only company to be present in all municipalities in the country, with a wide network of owned and franchised units[citation needed]. The company is fully owned by the Federal Government of Brazil and subordinated to the Ministry of Communications.
DynabookThe KiddiComp concept, envisioned by Alan Kay in 1968 while a PhD candidate, and later developed and described as the Dynabook in his 1972 proposal "A personal computer for children of all ages", outlines the requirements for a conceptual portable educational device that would offer similar functionality to that now supplied via a laptop computer or (in some of its other incarnations) a tablet or slate computer with the exception of the requirement for any Dynabook device offering near eternal battery life. Adults could also use a Dynabook, but the target audience was children.
Part of the motivation and funding for the Dynabook project came from the need for portable military maintenance, repair, and operations documentation.[citation needed] Eliminating the need to move large amounts of difficult-to-access paper in a dynamic military theatre provided significant US Department of Defense funding.
Though the hardware required to create a Dynabook is here today, Alan Kay still thinks the Dynabook hasn't been invented yet, because key software and educational curricula are missing.[citation needed] When Microsoft came up with its tablet PC, Kay was quoted as saying "Microsoft's Tablet PC, the first Dynabook-like computer good enough to criticize".
Toshiba also has a line of sub-notebook computers called DynaBooks. In June 2018, Sharp acquired a majority stake in Toshiba's PC business including laptops and tablets sold under the Dynabook brand
Fujitsu Limited (is a Japanese multinational information and communications technology equipment and services corporation, established in 1935 and headquartered in Tokyo. Fujitsu is the world's sixth-largest IT services provider by annual revenue, and the largest in Japan, in 2021. The hardware offerings from Fujitsu are mainly of personal and enterprise computing products, including x86, SPARC and mainframe compatible server products, although the corporation and its subsidiaries also offer a diversity of products and services in the areas of data storage, telecommunications, advanced microelectronics, and air conditioning. It has approximately 126,400 employees and its products and services are available in approximately 180 countries.
Fortune named Fujitsu as one of the world's most admired companies and a Global 500 company. Fujitsu is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Nagoya Stock Exchange; its Tokyo listing is a constituent of the Nikkei 225 and TOPIX 100 indices.
Hollister Co., often advertised as Hollister or HCo., is a retail brand owned by Abercrombie & Fitch Co. Goods are available in-store and through the company's online store. In 2019, Piper Jaffray ranked it in the top five clothing brands among teenagers. Its main competitors are Aéropostale, American Eagle Outfitters, rue21, H&M, Gap, Old Navy, and Jack Wills.
Umidigi C2 is a smartphone released by the Chinese company Umidigi
