clothing

There's gold in them thar closets.

That's what Zappos founder Nick Swinmurn is telling people with his new startup, RNKD, which is aiming to dole out rewards to people who share with the world photos of what's in their wardrobes.

The idea behind RNKD, which launched today, is fairly simple. Swinmurn, who came up with the idea for what eventually became Zappos, and who got eventual CEO Tony Hsieh to invest, wants to help brands learn more about shoppers' tastes. And Swinmurn thinks that the best indication of their future behavior is their past actions.

The more … Read more

Tossing clothes into the wash when dirty is so last year, thanks to a discovery by chemists out of the University of California at Davis. Near-ordinary cotton may simply need be exposed to light to get busy killing bacteria and breaking down toxic chemicals such as pesticide residues.

Ning Liu, a doctoral student at UC Davis, worked with textile chemists Gang Sun and Jing Zhu to develop a method that incorporates a compound (2-AQC) into cotton fabrics. When exposed to light, it produces reactive oxygen species such as hydrogen peroxide that kill bacteria and break down toxins.

While Liu says 2-AQC is more expensive than other compounds, it is difficult to remove from cotton due to strong bonding, and cheaper equivalents should work, too.

"The new fabric has potential applications in biological and chemical protective clothing for health care, food processing, and farm workers, as well as military personnel," she says.

The team reported on its findings in the Journal of Materials Chemistry last month, shortly before another study out of the University of Iowa chronicled the vast presence of even drug-resistant disease-causing bacteria on hospital curtains.… Read more

We know school's already in session for most kids, but it's still September, so it's not too late to do a back-to-school-related post. At least we hope we're not too tardy.

Anyway, we spotted these school-themed tablet/smartphone "smart" Toddy cloths on the company's Web site and were mildly amused. They're made out of premium microfiber that's treated with a microbe shield, have a plush side to clean and silk side to polish, and are machine washable in cold water. A single Toddy will run you $9.99, but if you … Read more

Congrats to Bryce M. of Tonawanda, N.Y., for winning a Davek Note Bag and umbrella in last week's giveaway. Now, on to this week's prize.

A few months back, we gave away $300 in custom men's shirts from ShirtsMyWay. This week, we're adding custom pants to our gratis-goods ensemble with a $400 voucher for jeans from custom clothing site IndiDenim.

If you win, all you have to do is head over to the site and unleash your inner jean designer. You'll choose the fit (relaxed, trouser); wash (dark, vintage tinted, distressed, and so on); and style (pockets, pocket embellishments, fly, hem style); and then add your measurements. Your dream jeans will arrive in about four weeks. If they don't fit perfectly, you can exchange them for jeans that do.

With jeans sold on the IndiDenim site generally running about $200 max, you'll be adding two new pairs of fancy-schmancy pants to your wardrobe. The site sells both men's and women's denims.

So how do you try to win this week's prize and live out your "Project Runway" fantasies. Let us enumerate the basic rules. Please read carefully; there will be a test--as well as a strut down the catwalk. … Read more

The success of Rovio's Angry Birds franchise is pushing creator Rovio into new areas of business, soon to include game-themed gear for babies.

Reuters reports that developer Rovio is planning a lineup of baby blankets and clothes made by SwaddleDesigns that will feature Angry Birds art.

The new offering will join Rovio's existing lineup of wearable merchandise, which includes flip flops, shoulder bags, and backpacks. The company also sells plush toys, iPhone cases, and stationary kits aimed at those in school.

The sales of products like these has turned into a big business for Rovio, with Reuters reporting sales of some 7 million Angry Birds toys since the company began offering them late last year. In an interview with the news outlet, Ville Heijari, Rovio's vice president of franchise development, said merchandise is "one of the fastest growing parts of the company."

Related: The unofficial Angry Birds bra … Read more

The sun is throwing out magnetic storms that could disrupt your GPS, your cell phone signals, and maybe even cause soda machines to kill you in extremely violent 1980s movie style. Just ... Google it. In other news, the World Wide Web turned 20 this weekend, the kids of today are learning to be hackers at DefCon, and if you buy virtual gold instead of earning it, the terrorists win. No, really, that's actually kind of true.

PALM DESERT, Calif.--It seems like a no-brainer, but why don't the thousands and thousands of online clothing retailers offer customers a way to stand in front of a Webcam and virtually try things on?

That's a question a couple of companies that presented at the Demo Spring 2011 conference here today were trying to answer. Both Zugara and FaceCake Marketing Technologies showed the audience here forthcoming offerings that would integrate virtual dressing rooms into e-tailers' sites.

Although Demo often showcases companies with related technologies, I don't recall a time in my many years of attending this … Read more

Forget curing cancer or putting people on Mars; the new pinnacle of human achievement is a line of high-tech shirts out of Japan.

The garments, called Otoko Kaoru, have special rose-scented micro-capsules in the collar which, when they come in contact with the skin, release a (presumably manly) fragrance. That way, the wearer smells, well, like something, all day long. The Japanese seem to really like high-tech hygienic clothes.

Otoko Kaoru translates literally to "the good smelling man," which explains why last time I was in Tokyo people kept yelling that every time I walked into a room. The name will likely sell more shirts than my line, "Anata no Musume no Tame Ni Kite Ire," or "I've come for your daughters." Still not sure why that didn't take off.

The shirt gives off a rose and menthol scent, and there appear to be a few different styles, too. The site says the fragrance can last up to 10 washes, so that's a good year's worth of smell-good in my book. … Read more

Is this the beginning of carbon-neutral clothing? The London College of Fashion, University of Sheffield, and University of Ulster have collaborated on a unique dress that they say could do its small part to save the earth.

The highly experimental prototype dress, called Herself, is sprayed with a mixture containing titanium dioxide. In sunlight, the chemical absorbs pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide. According to the inventors, 40 people wearing such a dress and standing in a 3-foot area could purify about 6.5 feet of airspace in just one minute. We're not exactly fashion experts here at Crave, but that certainly gives new meaning to the term "breathable fabrics." … Read more