Friday, August 09, 2002


paradox

isn't interesting that as coffee sizes get larger and larger, clothing sizes get smaller and smaller?

it was several years ago that starbucks eliminated the "short." now "tall" is the smallest advertised size, and other coffee chains have kept up; this is old news. at the time i thought it was just a marketing ploy: those extra few ounces they give you cost them 2 cents (plus another 5 for the extra whipped cream on top!), but they charge you 75 cents more. the washington post reports that this so-called supersizing is spreading through all beverages.

when i was a teen, clothes came in 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13. now if i breeze through the juniors department, i see 1, 3, 5, 7, 9. 11 and 13 have vanished! but it doesn't seem to be a case of simple re-labeling: the garment tagged with the new 9 isn't just the old 13 re-marked to assuage vanity; it seems to have stayed the same dimensions. a similiar magic act has happened in the misses department. i never saw a size 2 in a major department store until i was in college.

today if i walk into a snooty boutique, even 0 is considered too large. barneys new york actually sells clothing in the negative sizes: imagine -1. these high-end, designer clothes appear to be downsizing; what used to be 8 is now called a 10. which means a size 8 dress now has the dimensions of a garment once called 6.

it's a peculiar trend, because as we all know, americans are following the coffee cups, not the clothing. . .another reason we yogis and yoginis should strive to educate more people about the benefits of yoga. . .

as i noted the day before yesterday, here in the u.s.a. fair-trade coffee sales appear to be slowly growing. but fair-trade's really taking off in the u.k., where this coffee is the 6th most popular brand in the supermarket. while this means it's still only about 2 percent of the u.k. coffee market, that's still quite a leap from the 0.8 percent here in the states. and according to a recent article, more and more large coffee purveyors are getting on the fair-trade bandwagon in the u.k., meaning sales will continue to grow quickly. an interesting development, doncha think?

posted by fortune | 6:18 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments