“Sin products”

“Sin products”STARTING January 1, 2013, companies producing alcohol and tobacco products will be paying more taxes to the government after President Benigno Aquino III signed on Thursday Republic Act 10351 or the Sin Tax Reform 2012. Aquino said the new law aims to favor both the government and the Filipino people since revenues to be generated from the measure will be used to fund health insurance programs for the poor, and build and renovate hospitals in the country. Under the new law, the government is expected to raise additional revenues of P33.96 billion on the first year of implementation. To breakdown, P23.4 billion of the amount is expected to come from cigarettes, P6.06 billion from distilled spirits and P4.5 billion from fermented liquors.

Aquino said 80 percent of the expected revenue will be allocated for universal health care under the National Health Insurance Program and 20 percent will be for the medical assistance and health enhancement facilities program. Aside from the increase revenues, Aquino said the new law is also expected to reduce smoking and drinking of alcohol among Filipinos, especially the youth. With the increase in taxes, it is expected that retail prices of alcohol and cigarette products would also increase. But Senators Ralph Recto and Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said the bill is expected to displace tobacco farmers and worsen smuggling. Recto also said the increase in excise taxes might lead to “massive job dislocation” in affected industries. Some politicians argue that even with the increase in taxes and the expected hike in the prices of alcohol and tobacco products, Filipinos would still find ways to buy.

Therefore, the law is not a guarantee that the number of Filipinos hooked to the so-called “sin products” would considerably decrease. But the new law has yet to take effect. We can only see how it fares after a year of implementation. By 2014, we will see if the expected revenue is achieved or not; or whether the statistics would get down. One thing is for sure, the Bureau of Internal Revenue has a great job ahead – and that is, to really go after these companies and compel them to pay the correct taxes.

Covering the Sin Tax Bill: Mostly focused on Policy Issues
By CMFR | 21 Dec 2012
PROMINENTLY IN the news in October and November this year was the “sin” tax
bill (now known as Republic Act No. 10351 or An Act Restructuring the Excise Tax on Alcohol and Tobacco). The extent of reporting depended on the medium. Newspaper coverage was comprehensive, the reports appearing in the front and inside pages, while a number of columns explained the possible effects of the bill on the economy, government revenues, and citizen health. The reports in television were either event-based or focused on the possible impact of the bill on such groups as tobacco farmers and workers, vendors, cancer survivors, consumers, and health advocates. The bill, which has since been signed into law by President Benigno Aquino III, aims to increase excise-taxes on cigarettes and liquor. Media coverage of the bill mostly focused on policy issues. As a health measure, the intention is to save thousands of lives, especially among the youth, from smoking-related deaths. As a revenue measure, it aims to collect billions in revenue from “sin” product consumers.

Those opposed to the bill, however, looked at its implications from an economic perspective, arguing that its passage would ruin the tobacco industry. PJRR reviewed the media’s coverage of the debate on and passage of the bill from October 10 to November 25. PJRR reviewed the coverage of BusinessWorld, BusinessMirror, Malaya Business Insight, Manila Bulletin, Manila Standard Today, Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Daily Tribune, The Manila Times, and The Philippine Star. The coverage by TV news programs 24 Oras, Bandila, Newslife, Saksi, State of the Nation with Jessica Soho, and TV Patrol was also monitored during the same dates. Previous Version

On Oct. 10, Sen. Ralph Recto released his own version of the sin tax bill, which, however, met the disapproval of his colleagues and Malacañang due to its low revenue projection of just P10-15 billion as compared to Malacañang’s previous projection of P60 billion. He was forced to resign as chairman of the Senate Ways and Means committee when Palace officials declared that the Recto version was “a watered-down version” of the original. Print and television covered the resignation of Recto by putting the event in the context of allegations that he had succumbed to the tobacco and alcohol lobby. Among such reports were: “Sin tax advocates: This is a Recto Morris report” (Inquirer, Oct. 11), “From ‘Recto-Morris to Purisima-San Mig” (Inquirer, Oct. 18); and “Recto Morris, Purisima San
Miguel” (BusinessWorld, Oct. 21). During the first weeks of November, the passage of the sin tax bill as amended was widely covered by the media. Many articles expressed disapproval of the amended version of the bill, alleging that it would be damaging to the tobacco industry. Anti-poor, Unconstitutional?

Print and television covered such bill-related angles as the Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corporation’s reservations about the bill, and the Bukluran ng Mangagawang Pilipino’s (BMP), fears of job loss and the collapse of the tobacco industry in the Philippines. Television showed rallies by tobacco workers from different regions in front of the Senate building and the House of Representatives burning red coffins to show their disapproval of the bill. An analysis on Nov. 19 by Inquirer business columnist Francis Lim, “Sin tax bill: Flagging some constitutional issues”, said that “the tax measure, in its current form, appears to have a discriminatory effect against the poor who will bear the larger tax burden. It appears regressive in nature, and seeks to impose a higher burden on those who are in the lower brackets of economic class and status. Statutes that discriminate or disadvantage those of lower economic class and status (like the poor) would be met with strict scrutiny by the courts.” Lobbying

Many newspaper columnists revealed the alleged lobbying by powerful businessmen from the tobacco industry against the passage of the sin tax Bill. Among them were Inquirer columnists Solita Collas-Monsod in her column on Nov. 16, ‘Will tobacco lobby snatch victory from jaws of defeat?’ in which she said “…the tobacco lobby trotted out the same arguments it used eight years ago. Had Sen. Ralph Recto had his way, his sin tax proposal would have handed them a third victory. We know, from past unhappy experience, how Lucio Tan (Fortune Tobacco and others) can get his way with the government, whether it be the executive, legislative, or judicial branch. What may not be so well known is what the tobacco industry—that is, the multinationals—are capable of.”

The possibility that cigarette smuggling would increase once the bill killed the tobacco industry, forcing a massive demand for cheaper cigarettes, was suggested by Senator Edgardo J. Angara in his BusinessMirror Nov. 18 column “Smuggling is on the rise” where he said “…we will have the spectacle of killing our tobacco industry, well, maybe softly but still torturing it to certain demise, less revenues for government and more smokers to take care.” In her Sept. 21 article “2 asecs, 2 senators, and the tobacco lobby”, Monsod refuted the claim that higher excise taxes will lead to more smuggling. She said that “smuggling will take place if it pays to smuggle, period—i.e., where efforts to curtail smuggling are (deliberately?) weak.” Election-Related

In a news article in the Star, (“Bongbong to Correct Miscalculations in Sin Tax Revenue Projections”, Nov. 19), Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was quoted a number of times as saying that senators must consider the impact on their election chances if they vote for the approval of the bill because they risk losing votes from the tobacco-growing provinces in Northern Luzon. No one from the Northern Provinces was asked to confirm if the Senator’s warning should be taken seriously. Most of the articles quoted senators but rarely the people actually affected by the bill. For example, a Nov. 19 article in the Tribune, “Marcos to push sin tax bill amendments” which appeared on the front page, was on Marcos’ decision to push for his proposals for the bill with parts of the story focused on the impact of the senators’ vote on their election chances. Corruption in the Media

The usual suspicions of media corruption, this time by the tobacco and alcohol lobbies, surfaced when Rappler’s Angela Casuay reported that from Nov. 10 to Nov. 13, 2012, four columnists from three different newspapers used the exact same words that negatively portrayed Sen. Franklin Drilon and his proposed bill during the plenary debates on his version of the bill last Nov. 6. Marc Logan’s ‘Mga Kwento ni Marc Logan: Iba’t ibang Eksena sa Pagsasabatas ng Sin Tax Bill’ also reported the allegations Oct 21. Rappler editor-at-large Marites Vitug in her VBlog titled “Corruption in Media” said that the four columnists seemed to be quoting from the same source and that sometimes corporations leak information to columnists whom they bribe to support government policies that benefit the sources of the bribes. The same observations were made by Inquirer columnist John Nery in his Nov. 19 column “Corrupt Journalists” where the four journalists did seem to have used the same talking points from the same “column feed”. Health over jobs

The Philippines being the ‘smokingest’ country in Southeast Asia, the sin tax bill was covered by the media as a priority. Health advocates were given ample coverage by print and television, among the examples being the Inquirer’s “12 medical associations support Drilon sin tax bill”, which included an interview with UP medical professor Dr. Antonio Dans, who said that 66,000 Filipino lives could be saved by the Drilon bill. The Bulletin’s “Health and Sin Tax Bill”, and news stories from Bandila, Newslife, Saksi, and TV Patrol took a similar tack. (By Nicole Marie Abania, Mary Anne V. Ablanida, Sharmaine A. Ramos, and Titus Caluor) A LONG-AWAITED measure restructuring excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol products was signed into law by President Benigno S. C. Aquino III yesterday. “It has been a long battle for the sin tax reform measure proposed as early as 1997. For almost 16 years, the bill was debated on, scrutinized and sometimes set aside… but we have proven that nothing is impossible for a country that rows in one direction,” Mr. Aquino said.

Davao Rep. Isidro T. Ungab (3rd district), the House of Representatives ways and means committee chairman, called Republic Act 10351’s approval “a victory against lobby groups.”

“We got what we wanted — the removal of the annexes, the removal of the price classification freeze, indexation to inflation, unitary rates in five years and leveling of the playing field.”

Prior to the reform, taxes on tobacco and alcohol products continued to be pegged to 1996 prices.

Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares said the law’s passage would be instrumental in securing an upgrade from credit agencies. The Philippines currently stands one notch below investment grade.

Higher taxes on tobacco and alcohol products will be imposed next year, she said, with the tax bureau to issue guidelines within the month.

“We will be coming up with a revenue regulation and it will be published before the end of the year,” Ms. Henares said.

The measure is expected to generate P33.96 billion in fresh revenues during the first year of implementation. The bulk, or P23.4 billion, will come from tobacco products.

British American Tobacco country manager James Lafferty congratulated the government for pushing an important reform through.

“We now have a system that benefits the entire nation by raising government revenues, addressing health needs, and leveling the playing field fueling greater investment in Philippines,” he said in a text message.

Tobacco farmers, however, claimed it marked a”death knell” for their livelihood.

“They did not listen to any of our appeals. Our only weapon left is through the ballot,” said Saturnino Distor, president of the Philtobacco Growers Association, referring to next year’s midterm elections.

FOREIGN business groups are awaiting the implementing guidelines of the recently passed “sin” tax law designed to provide a simple, unitary tax structure for distilled spirits. The European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) said the law still does not clarify excise taxes for spirits pursuant to a directive from the World Trade Organization (WTO).

“While the sin tax bill appears to be now WTO compliant as the rates apply equally to local and imported distilled spirits, the fact remains, however, that the distilled spirits industry did not ‘get’ what it wanted: a best practice of unitary tax structure like the case of cigarettes,” said ECCP Executive Vice-President Henry J. Schumacher in an e-mail to BusinessWorld.

“The adoption of a Net Retail Price (NRP) system as the basis for calculating the correct excise rate is so convoluted and complex … and is not in
accord with best practice. We are still hopeful that the Implementing Rules and Regulations can provide some clarity and transparent procedures and that the industry and public at large will be consulted,” he added.

President Benigno S. C. Aquino III on Dec. 20 signed Republic Act 10351 or the “sin” tax reform measure. The implementing guidelines are expected to be released within the week.

The law sets two tiers both for tobacco products and fermented liquor, with rates gradually increasing to settle at just one by 2017, and a combination of ad valorem and specific tax for distilled spirits.

For fermented liquor, products with a net retail price (NRP) per liter of volume capacity of less than P50.60 will be charged P15 next year, P17 in 2014, P19 in 2015 and P21 in 2016.

For products with NRPs of P50.60 and above, a tax of P20 will be imposed next year, P21 in 2014, P22 in 2015 and P23 in 2016. A unitary tax of P23.50 will be imposed in 2017.

For distilled spirits, a tax of P20 plus 15% of the NRP was set.

“The law is WTO compliant because our taxation will not depend on whether or not the product is imported or locally made, it will be taxed the same way. If you import cheaply you will be taxed lower. Yes, it is complicated but it is unitary which is what the WTO wanted,” said Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares in a separate telephone interview.

In 2009, the Philippines was sued by the European Union (EU) before the WTO, and the United States followed a year later. Both claimed that the country’s excise tax regime favors local distilled spirits. The US and EU are the world’s first and second largest exporters, respectively, of distilled spirits.

In August, the WTO ruled that Philippine laws were discriminatory, declaring
that distilled spirits are “like products” and therefore “directly competitive.”

“In other words, while the country has made an important step forward in the excise tax reform, it is essential that the implementation and administration of the new excise taxes will be effective,” said Mr. Schumacher.

Prior to the reform, taxes on tobacco and alcohol products were pegged at 1996 prices. The new law is expected to generate P33.96 billion in fresh revenues next year. The bulk, or P23.4 billion, will come from tobacco products, while the remaining P4.5 billion and P6.06 billion will come from fermented liq

A sin tax is a kind of sumptuary tax: a tax specifically levied on certain generally socially proscribed goods and services, for example alcohol and tobacco, candies, soft drinks, fast foods, coffee, and gambling. Contents|

Summary
Sumptuary taxes are ostensibly used for reducing transactions involving something that society considers undesirable, and is thus a kind of sumptuary law. Sin tax is used for taxes on activities that are considered socially undesirable. Common targets of sumptuary taxes are alcohol and tobacco, gambling, and vehicles emitting excessive pollutants. Sumptuary tax on sugar and soft drinks has also been suggested.[1] Some jurisdictions have also levied taxes on illegal drugs such as cocaine and marijuana.[citation needed] The revenue generated by sin taxes is sometimes used for special projects, but might also be used in the ordinary budget. American cities and countries have used them to pay for stadiums, while in Sweden the tax for gambling is used for helping people with gambling problems. Acceptance of sumptuary taxes may be greater than income tax or sales tax. Opposition to sin tax

* Sin taxes have historically triggered rampant smuggling and black markets, especially when they create large price differences in neighboring jurisdictions.[citation needed] * Critics of sin tax argue[who?] that it is a regressive tax in nature and discriminates against the lower classes, since taxation of a product such as alcohol or cigarettes does not account for ability to pay, therefore poor people pay a greater amount of their income as tax.[citation needed] * Sin taxes are not normally value added in nature meaning that expensive, high-quality products more likely to be purchased by the wealthy will have the tax comprise a much smaller proportion of its final purchase price, thus ensuring that the lower classes pay a much greater proportion of their lower income in tax.[citation needed] * Sin taxes fail to affect consumers’ behaviors in the way that tax proponents suggest, for instance increasing smokers’ propensity to smoke high-tar, high-nicotine cigarettes when the per-pack price is raised[2] and increasing the rate of people mixing their own drinks rather than buying pre-mix alcoholic spirits.[3] * Critics[who?] also argue that the behavior affected by sin taxes are strictly personal and of no social consequence, and therefore should not be moderated by government.[citation needed] * Not all research supports the idea that alcohol and tobacco consumers financially burden societies.

One study used a mathematical model to compare estimated health costs of obese persons, tobacco smokers, and “healthy-living people”. Until age 56, obese persons had the highest estimated annual health expenditure. Tobacco smokers older than this had the highest estimated health costs of all groups, but since life expectancy is shorter for smokers and the obese, the “lifetime health expenditure was highest among healthy-living people.” The model for this study used input parameters based on data from the Netherlands.[4] Support for sin tax

* Some argue[who?] tobacco and alcohol consumption or the behaviors associated with consumption or both are immoral, or “sinful”, hence the label “sin tax”. By raising the cost for certain products (here called immoral), they aim to force change upon people’s behavior. * Tobacco and alcohol consumption has been linked to a variety of medical problems. In the United States alone, over 440,000 people die annually from smoking tobacco.[5] By making the cost of unhealthy behavior prohibitive, they hope to produce a healthier society. * Following the medical argument, some argue[who?] that consumers of tobacco and alcohol cause a greater financial burden on society by forcing others to pay for medical treatment of conditions stemming from such consumption, especially in most first-world countries with government-funded healthcare, and should be taxed extra to pay for the costs of their treatment.

Adam Smith supported the medical and moral arguments in The Wealth of Nations: “It has for some time been the policy of Great Britain to discourage the consumption of spirituous liquors, on account of their supposed tendency to ruin the health and corrupt the morals of the common people.”[6] The moral, medical and financial arguments are occasionally considered in contemporary news settings.[7] or and distilled spirits, respectively. — Emilia Narni J. David

Fashion is a general term for a popular style or practice, especially in clothing, footwear, accessories, makeup, body piercing or furniture. “Fashion” refers to a distinctive; however, often-habitual trend in a look and dress up of a person, as well as to prevailing styles in behavior. “Fashion” usually is the newest creations made by designers and are bought by only a few number of people; however, often those “fashions” are translated into more established trends. [1] The more technical term, “costume,” has become so linked in the public eye with the term “fashion” that the more general term “costume” has in popular use mostly been relegated to special senses like fancy dress or masquerade wear, while the term “fashion” means clothing generally, and the study of it. For a broad cross-cultural look at clothing and its place in society, refer to the entries for clothing, costume, and fabrics. Although fashion can be geared towards being feminine or masculine, some fasion trends are androgynous.[2][3] Contents|

Clothing fashions

2008 Ed Hardy runway show
Main article: History of Western fashion
Early Western travelers, whether to Persia, Turkey, India, or China frequently remark on the absence of changes in fashion there, and observers from these other cultures comment on the unseemly pace of Western fashion, which many felt suggested an instability and lack of order in Western culture. The Japanese Shogun’s secretary boasted (not completely accurately) to a Spanish visitor in 1609 that Japanese clothing had not changed in over a thousand years.[4] However in Ming China, for example, there is considerable evidence for rapidly changing fashions in Chinese clothing.[5] Changes in costume often took place at times of economic or social change (such as in ancient Rome and the medieval Caliphate), but then a long period without major changes followed. This occurred in Moorish Spain from the 8th century, when the famous musician Ziryab introduced sophisticated clothing-styles based on seasonal and daily fashion from his native Baghdad and his own inspiration to Córdoba in Al-Andalus.[6][7] Similar changes in fashion occurred in the Middle East from the 11th century, following the arrival of the Turks, who introduced clothing styles from Central Asia and the Far East.

The beginnings of the habit in Europe of continual and increasingly rapid change in clothing styles can be fairly reliably dated to the middle of the 14th century, to which historians including James Laver and Fernand Braudel date the start of Western fashion in clothing.[9][10] The most dramatic manifestation was a sudden drastic shortening and tightening of the male over-garment, from calf-length to barely covering the buttocks, sometimes accompanied with stuffing on the chest to look bigger. This created the distinctive Western male outline of a tailored top worn over leggings or trousers. The pace of change accelerated considerably in the following century, and women and men’s fashion, especially in the dressing and adorning of the hair, became equally complex and changing. Art historians are therefore able to use fashion in dating images with increasing confidence and precision, often within five years in the case of 15th century images. Initially changes in fashion led to a fragmentation of what had previously been very similar styles of dressing across the upper classes of Europe, and the development of distinctive national styles.

These remained very different until a counter-movement in the 17th to 18th centuries imposed similar styles once again, mostly originating from Ancien Régime France.[11] Though the rich usually led fashion, the increasing affluence of early modern Europe led to the bourgeoisie and even peasants following trends at a distance sometimes uncomfortably close for the elites—a factor Braudel regards as one of the main motors of changing fashion.[12]

Albrecht Dürer’s drawing contrasts a well turned out bourgeoise from Nuremberg (left) with her counterpart from Venice. The Venetian lady’s high chopines make her look taller. Ten 16th century portraits of German or Italian gentlemen may show ten entirely different hats, and at this period national differences were at their most pronounced, as Albrecht Dürer recorded in his actual or composite contrast of Nuremberg and Venetian fashions at the close of the 15th century (illustration, right). The “Spanish style” of the end of the century began the move back to synchronicity among upper-class Europeans, and after a struggle in the mid 17th century, French styles decisively took over leadership, a process completed in the 18th century.[13] Though colors and patterns of textiles changed from year to year,[14] the cut of a gentleman’s coat and the length of his waistcoat, or the pattern to which a lady’s dress was cut changed more slowly. Men’s fashions largely derived from military models, and changes in a European male silhouette are galvanized in theatres of European war, where gentleman officers had opportunities to make notes of foreign styles: an example is the “Steinkirk” cravat or necktie.

Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI, leader of fashion
The pace of change picked up in the 1780s with the increased publication of French engravings that showed the latest Paris styles; though there had been distribution of dressed dolls from France as patterns since the 16th century, and Abraham Bosse had produced engravings of fashion from the 1620s. By 1800, all Western Europeans were dressing alike (or thought they were): local variation became first a sign of provincial culture, and then a badge of the conservative peasant.[15] Although tailors and dressmakers were no doubt responsible for many innovations before, and the textile industry certainly led many trends, the history of fashion design is normally taken to date from 1858, when the English-born Charles Frederick Worth opened the first true haute couture house in Paris. The Haute house was the name established by government for the fashion houses that met the standards of industry. They have to adhere to standards such as: keeping at least 20 employees engaged in making the clothes, showing two collections per year at fashion shows, and presenting a certain number of patterns to costumers.[16]

Since then the professional designer has become a progressively more dominant figure, despite the origins of many fashions in street fashion. For women the flapper styles of the 1920s marked the most major alteration in styles for several centuries, with a drastic shortening of skirt lengths, and much looser-fitting clothes; with occasional revivals of long skirts, variations of the shorter length have remained dominant ever since. Flappers also wore cloches, which were snug fitting and covered the forehead. Her shoes had a heel and some sort of buckle. The most important part was the jewelry, such as: earrings and necklaces that had diamonds or gems. The flapper gave a particular image as being seductive due to her short length dress, which was form fitting, and the large amounts of rich jewelery around her neck. The four major current fashion capitals are acknowledged to be Paris, Milan, New York City, and London, which are all headquarters to the greatest fashion companies and are renowned for their major influence on global fashion. Fashion weeks are held in these cities, where designers exhibit their new clothing collections to audiences. A succession of major designers such as Coco Chanel and Yves Saint-Laurent have kept Paris as the centre most watched by the rest of the world, although haute couture is now subsidised by the sale of ready to wear collections and perfume using the same branding. Modern Westerners have a wide number of choices available in the selection of their clothes. What a person chooses to wear can reflect that person’s personality or interests.

When people who have cultural status start to wear new or different clothes, a fashion trend may start. People who like or respect them may start to wear clothes of a similar style. Fashions may vary considerably within a society according to age, social class, generation, occupation, and geography as well as over time. If, for example, an older person dresses according to the fashion of young people, he or she may look ridiculous in the eyes of both young and older people. The terms fashionista and fashion victim refer to someone who slavishly follows current fashions. One can regard the system of sporting various fashions as a fashion language incorporating various fashion statements using a grammar of fashion. (Compare some of the work of Roland Barthes.) In recent years, Asian fashion has become increasingly significant in local and global markets. Countries such as China, Japan, India, and Pakistan have traditionally had large textile industries, which have often been drawn upon by Western designers, but now Asian clothing styles are also gaining influence based on their own ideas.[17] Fashion industry

The fashion industry is a product of the modern age. Prior to the mid-19th century, most clothing was custom made. It was handmade for individuals, either as home production or on order from dressmakers and tailors. By the beginning of the 20th century—with the rise of new technologies such as the sewing machine, the rise of global capitalism and the development of the factory system of production, and the proliferation of retail outlets such as department stores—clothing had increasingly come to be mass-produced in standard sizes and sold at fixed prices. Although the fashion industry developed first in Europe and America, today it is an international and highly globalized industry, with clothing often designed in one country, manufactured in another, and sold world-wide. For example, an American fashion company might source fabric in China and have the clothes manufactured in Vietnam, finished in Italy, and shipped to a warehouse in the United States for distribution to retail outlets internationally. The fashion industry has long been one of the largest employers in the United States, and it remains so in the 21st century.

However, employment declined considerably as production increasingly moved overseas, especially to China. Because data on the fashion industry typically are reported for national economies and expressed in terms of the industry’s many separate sectors, aggregate figures for world production of textiles and clothing are difficult to obtain. However, by any measure, the industry accounts for a significant share of world economic output. The fashion industry consists of four levels: the production of raw materials, principally fibres and textiles but also leather and fur; the production of fashion goods by designers, manufacturers, contractors, and others; retail sales; and various forms of advertising and promotion. These levels consist of many separate but interdependent sectors, all of which are devoted to the goal of satisfying consumer demand for apparel under conditions that enable participants in the industry to operate at a profit. Media

The media plays a very significant role when it comes to fashion. For instance, an important part of fashion is fashion journalism. Editorial critique, guidelines and commentary can be found in magazines, newspapers, on television, fashion websites, social networks and in fashion blogs. In the recent years, fashion blogging and YouTube videos have become a major outlet for spreading trends and fashion tips. Through these media outlets, readers and viewers all over the world can learn about fashion, making it very accessible. [18] At the beginning of the 20th century, fashion magazines began to include photographs of various fashion designs and became even more influential on people than in the past. In cities throughout the world these magazines were greatly sought-after and had a profound effect on public clothing taste. T

alented illustrators drew exquisite fashion plates for the publications which covered the most recent developments in fashion and beauty. Perhaps the most famous of these magazines was La Gazette du Bon Ton which was founded in 1912 by Lucien Vogel and regularly published until 1925 (with the exception of the war years). Vogue, founded in the US in 1892, has been the longest-lasting and most successful of the hundreds of fashion magazines that have come and gone. Increasing affluence after World War II and, most importantly, the advent of cheap colour printing in the 1960s led to a huge boost in its sales, and heavy coverage of fashion in mainstream women’s magazines—followed by men’s magazines from the 1990s. One such example of Vogue’s popularity is the younger version, Teen Vogue, which provides clothing and trends that are more targeted toward the “fashionista on a budget.” Haute couture designers followed the trend by starting the ready-to-wear and perfume lines, heavily advertised in the magazines, that now dwarf their original couture businesses.

Television coverage began in the 1950s with small fashion features. In the 1960s and 1970s, fashion segments on various entertainment shows became more frequent, and by the 1980s, dedicated fashion shows such as Fashion-television started to appear. FashionTV was the pioneer in this undertaking and has since grown to become the leader in both Fashion Television and New Media Channels compared to other Fashion Magazines. Despite television and increasing internet coverage, including fashion blogs, press coverage remains the most important form of publicity in the eyes of the fashion industry. However, over the past several years, fashion websites have developed that merge traditional editorial writing with user-generated content. Online magazines like iFashion Network, and Runway Magazine, led by Nole Marin from America’s Next Top Model, have begun to dominate the market with digital copies for computers, iPhones and iPads. Example platforms include Apple and Android for such applications.

A few days after the 2010 Fall Fashion Week in New York City came to a close, The New Islander’s Fashion Editor, Genevieve Tax, criticized the fashion industry for running on a seasonal schedule of its own, largely at the expense of real-world consumers. “Because designers release their fall collections in the spring and their spring collections in the fall, fashion magazines such as Vogue always and only look forward to the upcoming season, promoting parkas come September while issuing reviews on shorts in January,” she writes. “Savvy shoppers, consequently, have been conditioned to be extremely, perhaps impractically, farsighted with their buying.”[19] Ethnic Fashion is defined as the Fashion of Multicultural groups such as African-American, Hispanics, Asians, etc. Examples of Ethnic Designer are FUBU, BabyPhat, FatFarm, Sean John, Etc. It is estimated that Ethnic Fashion has contributed over 25 Billion dollars in revenues, thus making them a large, very important part of the fashion industry. Intellectual property

Within the fashion industry, intellectual property is not enforced as it is within the film industry and music industry. Robert Glariston, intellectual property expert at Creative Business House ( organization specializing in fashion and trademarking), mentions in a fashion seminar held in LA that “Copyright law regarding clothing is a current hot-button issue in the industry. We often have to draw the line between designers being inspired by a design and those outright stealing it in different places.” To “take inspiration” from others’ designs contributes to the fashion industry’s ability to establish clothing trends. For the past few years, WGSN has been a dominant source of fashion news and forecasts in steering fashion brands worldwide to be “inspired” by one another. Enticing consumers to buy clothing by establishing new trends is, some have argued, a key component of the industry’s success. Intellectual property rules that interfere with the process of trend-making would, in this view, be counter-productive. On the other hand, it is often argued that the blatant theft of new ideas, unique designs, and design details by larger companies is what often contributes to the failure of many smaller or independent design companies. Since fakes are
distinguishable by their inherent poorer quality, there is still a demand for luxury goods.

And as only a trademark or logo can be copyrighted for clothing and accessories, many fashion brands make this one of the most visible aspects of the garment or accessory. In handbags, especially, the designer’s brand may be woven into the fabric (or the lining fabric) from which the bag is made — this makes the brand an intrinsic element of the bag. In 2005, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) held a conference calling for stricter intellectual property enforcement within the fashion industry to better protect small and medium businesses and promote competitiveness within the textile and clothing industries.[20][21]