It has suddenly become much more profitable to smuggle gold, and the underworld is very interested.
Consider this: In June, customs in Delhi and Mumbai seized 35 kg of gold worth over Rs. 9 crore. There were 10 seizures in Delhi alone. And sources in Mumbai said that 10-12 kg of smuggled metal is getting past customs and into waiting hands in the city — every day.
Smuggling syndicates, which had operated at a low intensity since liberalisation in the 1990s relaxed controls, have stepped up the action, often employing passengers who carry the gold — and the risk — for them.
The reason for the sudden surge: With the fall in the value of the rupee against the dollar, gold costs Rs. 2.5 lakh per kg more in India than in Dubai, a price gap that has widened from Rs. 1 lakh in less than a month’s time.
Import duties have risen to 8% from 6% and some banks have stopped selling gold coins, heightening Indians’ traditional hunger for the yellow metal.
Syndicates pay the flyer Rs. 50,000 per kg plus costs.
If caught, he gets nothing. That’s a clean profit to smuggling groups of just under Rs. 2 lakh per kg for a three-hour operation — the time it takes to fly someone with the cargo from Dubai.
A customs official said that organised syndicates were using “carriers” in large numbers, and another added: “The moment a carrier is caught, the syndicate members send their men to pay the bail amount and get him out.”
The carriers get bail easily as the offence is bailable.
Officials said smugglers had come out with innovative ways to conceal gold.
In recent cases in Mumbai and Delhi, officials found carriers concealing gold bars in socks, undergarments, in trouser waistbands, shoe soles and false cavities in handbags.
One man even tried to bring in gold in the form of staple pins. Gold has also been found inside TV sets.
Customs department sources also said that last month has seen a change in smuggling pattern, with more and more gold bars being smuggled than the earlier practice of smuggling jewellery.
Legal imports have plummeted to 40 tonnes in June from 162 tonnes in May and 142 tonnes in April.
“The syndicates are taking advantage of this by enhancing smuggling attempts to push gold, obtained through illegal channel, in the market,” said a gold trader.
Kumar Jain, vice-president of Mumbai Jewellers Association, said the government should take measures to reduce the gap in Dubai and India prices.
“They should also consider bringing down the duty. After the duty hike recently, so many attempts of smuggling have taken place,” said Jain.
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The next five months are going to be the toughest in Botswana's post-2008 era. Water rationing is upon us, a creepy signal that we are in a crisis. We don't have water and this has serious implications. First, we are going to have a serious shortage of milk because of the dry spell that has left us with very limited choices. Since beer prices have been hiked several times in recent months, many people have resorted to drinking tea. All of a sudden, tea is going to be an expensive commodity in the next few weeks.Everything has become so expensive that even going to the bathroom in a friend's house will soon be charged for. We should learn to limit our visits to friends and relatives in the coming months or else we will have to contribute something to their pockets. Can you imagine - you have saved water in your last two buckets - one for yourself, the other for your children, preserved for the coming two days or more, before water flows your way. And then from nowhere comes an army of so-called friends invading your lounge. Hell!Some of them do not have ditlhong, they visit with their kids, moms and even distant relatives. First they ask for your last drop to drink. 'Ke kopa metsi a a nowang foo' they start. The next thing they want to visit your loo. He banna! You are caught between a rock and a hard place - having to save this friendship and having to save your water to be able to respond when nature calls.
I recommend that friends should visit for only 20 minutes and leave, or they should pay for the loo.The next five months are going to be challenging indeed. We will have to come up with new ways of doing things.People have to carry with them sekupunyana/skoop in the boot. Another alternative can be these dikupu normally used by soldiers in combat, field trips or during training. Even a flask will ease the situation. For women its simple, they just put the flask or the skoop in their handbags.Maybe we should also find a way of making sure that the few drops left in our dams and reservoirs are enough for us all. We should put our security agents at all our entry points - border-gates and the airport.
Every visitor should produce at-least five litre-sekupu and show it to the agents - this is for those visiting for two days only.Another alternative can be that we put a condition that visitors coming to spend more than a week in our beautiful country bring with them a 25-litre container. We should explain to them that we have no choice but to do it. Let us review our Visa application forms to include a clause that makes it compulsory to bring water when you visit this country. It's simple, we don't have water, and water is a security issue.As we move forward, and there is no improvement we can then find excuses to deport more of these guys. Hei. They should leave us alone in our dry country. We cannot afford to share the little water with people who have a choice of going home when things get even worse. No!We should also deploy security agents in conferences, who should monitor the number of times people visit the bathrooms at events where large crowds are converging.From bottega bag , to stylish clutches, to travel wallets & mini purses, Barneys New York offers an impressive selection of designer bags.
For instance, if there is an event at some Convention Centre, our agents should distribute toilet coupons and make sure that no individual exceeds their limit/quota. If they do exceed, its up to them, they will see what to do with whatever will be troubling them at that point in time. It will irresponsible for any individual to exceed their quotas when they know the what we are facing as a nation, ke mathata.The last but not least, Water Useless Corporation (WUC) should allow us to drill water from our homesteads, since they resolved to close all boreholes on the grounds that it was expensive to operate them (boreholes).It was only a few months ago when they took over as solo suppliers of water in the country, and they closed our boreholes.Instead of harassing Basarwa, maybe we should engage them to share skills on how to survive for days without a drop of water. We should get skills on how to draw water from anything, ranging from wild fruits, tree trunks to a rock.
Police are defending a decision to ask the family of a Christchurch handbag theft victim to organise security camera footage in a bid to identify the offender.
Violet Fraser, 84, had her handbag containing $1140 stolen from Westfield Riccarton on Sunday. She had mistakenly left it under a seat near Wendy's Supa Sundaes.
The money was to pay her rates and insurance accounts.
When she returned with her daughter, Mandy Fraser, 50, moments later it was gone.
An hour later mall security found the handbag in the women's toilets. The money was gone.
The police were contacted and on Wednesday the Frasers received a letter from them asking Mandy Frasher to arrange with Westfield to get the CCTV footage and send it to a police website.
The letter also asked for Mandy Fraser to identify where they were in the mall and what they were wearing.
The letter told Mandy Fraser to arrange for the mall to "upload still photos from video footage" and send it to police. It said she should tell mall management not to "dispose" of the original video footage "unless instructed to do so".
The letter also said if police didn't receive CCTV footage the theft complaint would be filed - effectively no further investigation.
Mandy Fraser told The Star she was upset police had asked her to seek out CCTV footage which might have been able to identify the thief. She believes it is the police's job to do that.
After The Star made inquiries with the police on Wednesday about the situation they contacted Westfield themselves for the CCTV footage.
The footage did not identify an offender.
A Christchurch police spokeswoman said asking Mandy Fraser to source the CCTV footage was the logical thing to do in this case.
As there were multiple CCTV cameras in the mall the only way of accurately pinpointing which one had possibly captured the theft was to get the Frasers to liaise directly with the mall.
Otherwise the police would have had to have taken the Frasers back to the mall.Shopping is the best place to comparison shop for bottega purses.
"If we contacted them what are we going to ask for? We would have to bring her back in to do it. It is easier if they do it because they know where they were at what time.
"This means the footage received is likely to be more of value than if requested by police," the spokeswoman said.
She also said the theft highlighted how careful people needed to be when they left handbags unattended.
People should also think twice about carrying large amounts of money, she said.
Mandy Fraser said her mother didn't like using Eftpos and had withdrawn the money from a bank at the mall shortly before the theft.
The numbers swelled quickly and by 1965 there were 33 playing members. The club also developed a social side and a tradition of Christmas parties and holiday weekends developed.
Competitions were also organised, as were charity bridge events which have raised money for a variety of good causes over the years.
With a waiting list in 1976 the club decided to expand and a mortgage was taken out to buy new premises – Mr Bumbles Parlour – in Wells Promenade, which was formally opened in 1978.
It is still the club’s headquarters and where its 240 members meet to play bridge every week. The oldest member is 95 and the president in golden jubilee year is Les Jones.
Olicana Bridge Club is organising lessons for both beginners and improvers starting in September. The beginners’ classes will be in the daytime midweek and also Wednesday at 7pm.
Honey's Unique Boutique, Pompton Lakes' newest shopping destination, is a retail and consignment shop with a twist.
Owner Jeannie Tonnesen just opened the store on June 17, and plans to have a grand opening around the Fourth of July. Located on 22 Lakeside Ave, the boutique sells top-of-the-line clothing for men and women and offers a selection of handbags, jewelry, shoes, and household items as well.
"The unique part of it is that we carry top-of-the-line women's clothes but we also take consignment clothes affordable to this area," Tonnesen said.
Prospective shoppers can find women's designer companies such as Vivace, Urban Mix, 90 Degree, and The Mustard Seed Clothing Co. hanging from the boutique's clothing racks. There are custom-made handbags that adorn the walls next to designer brands like Vera Bradley, shoe racks that are stocked with the latest styles, and jewelry that's all brand new except for a few vintage pieces.
According to Tonnesen, the most expensive item at the store is a $150 prom dress that's three-times cheaper than its original price. A Mustard Seed full-party dress that's originally priced at $140, sells at Honey's Unique Boutique for just under $40, and on average, women's fashion items sell for $20.
"I carry household items, a lot of handbags, pictures, small pieces of furniture – a lot of which is done specifically to people's needs," she said. "If you'd like an item enhanced with crystals or artwork, we can do that for you too."
As an artist, Tonnesen enjoys the process of personalizing items, some of which include flower pots, small pieces of furniture, shirts, pants, and handbags. If a customer sees a nightstand that they like, Tonnesen can customize it as long as they place an order well in advance. She can do this for clothes and handbags as well. Some of the items that she creates are also carried by local stores.
Other features of the store include porcelain and Dresden china and a wall of electronics. The electronics wall contains devices such as portable DVD players and small televisions, all of which are new.
Honey's Unique Boutique has a spacious layout and an updated design with modern features that are clean, neat, and contribute positively to the shopping experience.
"It's light, bright, and airy," Tonnesen said. "We strive to maintain a comfortable shopping experience."
Hours of operation are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday; on Thursday the store is open until 6 p.m., and Saturday hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Be sure to visit often because the inventory changes on a daily basis.
Members of Olicana Bridge Club were stepping back in time to the 1960s this week to celebrate the club’s golden jubilee year.
Yesterday, Wednesday, saw members enjoying a full day of celebrations with a theme of the swinging sixties – featuring fancy dress and lots of food and drink.
In the afternoon hats, handbags and gladrags were donned by those visiting the club’s premises in Wells Promenade, Ilkley, to enjoy afternoon tea.
A second event in the evening had a theme of ‘We’re all going on a summer holiday’ with bubbly and snowballs on arrival for guests and food with an international theme.
Committee member Molly Bell’ who came up with the idea of a ’60s themed event, said: “We wanted to mark the day in a way that is quite different but also a lot of fun.
“Around 145 members participated in celebrations throughout the day with prizes on offer for all sorts of things – bridge can be a lot of fun!”Shopping is the best place to comparison shop for bottega purses.
The club has gone from strength to strength since it was established in 1963. Four ladies who had been regularly playing bridge together on a Friday evening decided to encourage their husbands to join them.
On January 15, 1963, the first club meeting was held. and a committee was formed with Bill Hunter as chairman and president. The first decision was to call the club Olicana Bridge Club.
Changes are coming to the 'Fire over the Fox' festival in downtown Green Bay Thursday. Any cooler and large type of bag will be prohibited from the festival area. Officials say the purpose is to keep the event safe and family friendly.
"There's a lot of excitement in the community," said Jeff Mirkes, president of the Festival Foods Fire over the Fox event.
Mirkes, who is also president of Downtown Green Bay and Olde Main Street, Inc., says the annual Fourth of July festival is one families look forward to; and safety is a big concern.
That's why the festival committee decided to ban carry-in coolers, large bags and alcohol.
"We do not see this as being a major problem to event attendees, said Mirkes.
The ban will be confined to the public areas within the festival: like Leicht Park, the Nitschke Bridge and the CityDeck. Chairs, blankets and other things like handbags are still allowed.
"I think to prohibit the carry-ins is a decision made by the committee that I think is appropriate," said Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt at the press conference announcing the changes.
Schmitt says ‘Fire Over the Fox’ brings roughly 100,000 people to the downtown area.
Schmitt says the bans will help ensure the event stays safe, in light of recent events like the Boston Marathon bombings.
"We haven't had problems in the past and I don't anticipate any,” said Schmitt. “But, at the end of the day, we need this to be an event that continues to grow and we want it to be safe."
So how will it be enforced, especially as the event has multiple entrance points throughout the entire festival? Officials say that will be up to the discretion of the police.
"It's going to be up to the officers discretion,” said Lt. Kevin Warych with the Green Bay Police Department. “Whether it be officers telling the person to take it back to their car."
About 50 Green Bay police officers will be patrolling the festival on foot, bicycle and boat.
Officials also ask people that if you see something, to say something.
While festival goers will not be able to bring in their own alcohol, there will still be vendors selling drinks.
Mirkes says there will be signs posted at the various festival entrance points, reminding patrons of the new rules – and the old ones.
A former executive with Tiffany & Co. stole a little blue box bounty from the jeweler’s midtown Manhattan headquarters and resold it for more than $1.3 million, federal authorities said Tuesday.
Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun was arrested Tuesday at her home in Darien, Conn. She was to appear later in the day in federal court in Manhattan to face charges of wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property.
As vice president of product development, Lederhaas-Okun had authority to “check out” jewelry from Tiffany to provide to potential manufacturers to determine production costs. Authorities allege that after she left Tiffany in February, the company discovered she had checked out 164 items that were never returned.
According to a criminal complaint, the missing jewelry included “numerous diamond bracelets in 18-carot gold; diamond drop and hoop earrings in platinum or 18-carot gold; diamond rings in platinum; rings with precious stones in 18-carot gold; and platinum and diamond pendants.”
When confronted about the missing jewelry, Lederhaas-Okun claimed that she had left some of it behind at Tiffany and that some had been lost or damaged, the complaint said. But an investigation found that Lederhaas-Okun resold the goods to an unidentified international dealer for more than $1.3 million, it said.Shopping is the best place to comparison shop for bottega purses.
Bank records showed that since January 2011, the dealer wrote 75 checks to her or her husband for amounts of up to $47,400, the complaint said. Investigators also recovered purchase forms signed by Lederhaas-Okun that said the items were her personal property.
Authorities allege Lederhaas-Okun purposely checked out items valued at under $10,000 apiece to avoid detection. The company takes a daily inventory of all checked-out items worth more than $25,000.
Plenty of companies have turned Pinterest into a de facto catalogue as a way to drive online sales. Nordstrom (JWN) is going in the other direction: stretching the image-based social network into its brick-and-mortar stores.
In March, the department store chain started marking its “most-pinned” products from Pinterest with little “P” logos at two stores near its Seattle headquarters. Now Nordstrom has expanded the initiative to 13 of its 248 locations in a trial that will end just before the company’s big anniversary sale later this month. The Pinterest push marks the latest play by the 112-year-old brand to leverage tech startups for in-store sales.
In a sense, Nordstrom’s move to bring an aspect of Pinterest into its stores was just a way the company could mesh with an online environment its shoppers had embraced. The department store has 4.5 million followers on the social network, many more than its closest department store rivals combined. “We had such a large and engaged Pinterest community already,” says Nordstrom spokesman Colin Johnson. Executives had already adopted Pinterest as a tool, he adds, ”to find out what’s exciting for our customers—and what’s inspiring them.”
Nordstrom has a Pinterest page featuring Boo, the world’s cutest dog, perhaps a nod to the Internet’s cute-animal obsession. But the Pinterest campaign goes beyond fluffy puppies and super-saturated shoe photos: Nordstrom uses the items pinned by its followers to help manage inventory. The company developed an app that lets workers on its sales floor access a “dashboard” that cross-references the most-pinned handbags, shoes, and other offerings with the products in stock at that location. “If we’re not deep in stock in something,” Johnson says, bookmarking something on Pinterest is “not going to help the customer.”
A dress marked as “most-pinned” near one Nordstrom might not hold that distinction elsewhere, and the company can shift supplies to match. There are other layers of geography to consider, too. A pair of much-pinned snow boots probably aren’t going to sell well in a Sun Belt store, even if Nordstrom has them in stock. Johnson says the strategy is more about “engagement” than a way to drive revenue. “You get such great instant feedback that it makes a lot of sense that you’d want to capture it,” he says.
The goal is to develop a consumer label that will rate apparel, from a jacket to a pair of jeans, based on a company's adherence to environmental and worker-safety practices.
Will the Bangladesh tragedies cause a shift in how consumers buy clothes?
"In the short term, yes," said Kimberly Elsbach, professor at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management. "But people tend to slip back into old habits. … It's tough to keep people vigilant, especially when so many other things fight for our attention."
Elsbach said consumers would need more constant reminders, such as a "humane trade" label, similar to the "fair trade" tags found on edible products in grocery stores or organic food vendors. "If an entire (apparel) chain can guarantee humane trade, it's easier for someone to say, 'OK, I'll just shop at 'XYZ' chain, because I know their products are produced humanely,' " said the UC Davis professor.
Clothes-shopping on a recent summer afternoon in midtown Sacramento, elementary school teacher Suzy Brusca said she typically doesn't spend too much time checking labels, partly because it's hard to know how to judge a company's adherence to worker safety or environmental concerns.Shopping is the best place to comparison shop for bottega purses.
"When I look at labels, I don't know which ones are ethical and which aren't," said the Carmichael resident. "But it's just like with our food, where people started reading labels and following where it came from and what's in it.
"Maybe that's where we need to go with clothes."
'SUSTAINABLE' CLOTHING If you want apparel produced in environmentally friendly and/or humane manufacturing conditions, here are starting places.
Beauty, handbags and a better control of licenses around the world meant Burberry was on trend with the City today.
The British luxury brand’s decision to take control of its beauty and fragrance business, expand its accessories lines and streamline its supply chain has wooed the analysts at HSBC.
Luxury expert Erwan Rambourg at the broker said the integration of Burberry’s beauty arm and its Japanese business are the “last big legacy issues” but they are being sorted quicker and more effectively than he first thought. The brand, which has hired actress Sienna Miller and fiancé Tom Sturridge, pictured, as the face of their latest campaign, no longer trades at a premium to the luxury goods sector. Rambourg raised his 2015 estimates and said that although Burberry is predominantly still a clothing brand, its handbags and accessories lines — where luxury brands make the real money — has “credibility” which is “increasing every year”.
The brand’s international expansion has been a success and now it has “operational excellence” and a “much better grip on its supply chain”, he added.
Burberry’s reliance on China has hit the share price recently as fears re-emerged on the growth in Asia. Burberry’s stock lost around 18% in June. Brenda Kelly, senior market strategist at IG, said: “Any continued slowing in China could well weigh on the price in the medium term.”
But today Rambourg raised his rating to overweight — up from neutral — with a target price of 1750p, up from 1530p. Punters were dedicated followers and it was the Footsie’s second highest riser, strutting up 43p to 1407p.
The wider market could not stay above the 6300 level achieved last night as traders were unsure of where the market was going due to an absence of new data. The FTSE100 fell 35.54 points to 6272.24.
Outsourcer Serco took top spot — up 29p to 654.3p — following a report it had won a $1.25 billion ($657million) US health contract.
Miners were shining after an improvement in metal prices — gold has rebounded from its worst quarterly slump. Chilean-based copper mining group Antofagasta rose 15.5p to 848p
On the mid-cap index, distribution group John Menzies said it remains on track to meet full-year expectations but it slipped 8.5p to 696.5p.
Grocer Ocado reported first-half earnings ahead of analysts’ forecasts. Its shares hit a record high last month after it announced a deal in May to supply supermarket group Morrisons but today the shares lost 6.6p to 305.6p after it reported a pre-tax loss of $3.8million.
Small-cap building firm Marshalls reported a dip in first-half sales but said there is no change in its full-year forecast. It retreated 0.75p to 134p.
AIM-listed MDM Engineering announced a dividend at its final results and it strengthened 5.5p to 137.5p.
Prakasam district police on Tuesday arrested three inter-district robbers involved in separate cases and recovered jewellery worth nearly Rs 18 lakh from their possession.
District police superintendent K Raghurami Reddy said a woman thief, Mekala Ramanamma of Gokavaram village in East Godavari district, was arrested near Ongole railway station while she was moving in a suspicious manner.
He said Ramanamma was an accused in three different theft cases over the past several months. Ramanamma used to travel in buses and trains and steal purses and handbags from co-passengers.
Police recovered 25 tolas of gold ornaments worth Rs 7 lakh from the possession of Ramanamma.From bottega bag , to stylish clutches, to travel wallets & mini purses, Barneys New York offers an impressive selection of designer bags.
In another case, police nabbed P Venkatesh of Chennai and recovered 25 tolas of gold and two kgs of silver ornaments worth Rs 8 lakh. Venkatesh is an expert in housebreaking and robbed six houses in Kandukur, Singarayakonda and Tangutur towns in the district.
Another robber Sathuluri Krishna of Kesavarajukunta area in Ongole was arrested and gold chains worth Rs 3.2 lakh and three two-wheelers were recovered from his possession. Singarayakonda inspector T Ashok Vardhan, town DSP P Jhashuva and Ongole rural CI Srinivasan were involved in the arrests.
POLICE are hunting an attacker who mugged two elderly women in broad daylight in Poole last week.
The two incidents – which are now being linked by police – took place on Thursday and Friday in The Avenue, Branksome Park.
Both victims were taken to hospital as a result of the incidents.
As previously reported, on Thursday, an 89-year-old woman was attacked around 2.30pm, pushed to the ground and had her handbags and its contents snatched.
On Friday, a 91-year-old woman was robbed in the same area around 2pm and also knocked to the floor.
A spokesperson for Dorset Police said both victims remain in hospital, being treated for a broken arm and fractured pelvis.
Police have issued a description of the attacker saying he is of a medium build, possibly in late teens to early 20s, around 5ft10 to around 6ft tall with dark hair.
He was wearing a dark jacket and dark trousers.
Both victims had their handbags with purses and personal items stolen.
Nothing has yet been recovered.
In response to the frightening incidents police have increased patrols in the area to provide reassurance to people.
Leader of the Borough of Poole, Cllr Elaine Atkinson, described the attacks as “horrendous and callous”.
She said: “I would just encourage anyone with information to report it to the police, and for residents in the area to keep themselves as safe as possible.
“The police and the Safer Poole Partnership will be giving advice and information in the wake of these awful crimes. The area also has a fantastic Neighbourhood Watch and I'm sure they will also be issuing advice.”
Cllr Atkinson said the police will be doing “everything they can” to find the perpetrators.
“It's very shocking to hear about it”, she added.
On Thursday, armed officers were threatened with an axe at a property in Bournemouth Road, Parkstone while making inquiries about the first vicious mugging.
ingle-use plastic bags will be the target of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors when it meets at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the county administration building, 105 E. Anapamu St., in Santa Barbara.
The board will discuss how the county could develop an ordinance regulating the use of plastic carryout bags and how the ordinance would be enforced. Members also will decide on a budget for modifying the final environmental impact report provided to the county by the Beach Erosion Authority for Clean Oceans and Nourishment (BEACON) if the effort moves forward.
The supervisors voted May 17 to provide $35,000 in 2013-14 general fund money to develop a draft ordinance and modify BEACON’s environmental impact report.
According to the county staff report, an estimated 20 billion single-use plastic bags are used each year in California, including about 658 million in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, which were the target of BEACON’s environmental impact report.
Statewide proposals to ban single-use bags in 2012 — Assembly Bill 298 and Senate Bill 568 — both failed to reach the ballot.
This year, SB 405 authored is making its way through the senate and assembly.
Seventy-six cities and counties throughout the state have ordinances banning the plastic bags. In Santa Barbara, Santa Luis Obispo and Ventura counties, only San Luis Obispo County and the cities of Carpinteria and Ojai have implemented ordinances.
The board will also consider adoption of an ordinance to revise Laguna County Sanitation District service charges and connection fees.
The proposed 11 percent rate hike would raise a typical household’s monthly bill by approximately $5.99, or $54.08 annually.
The market for branded and premium sunglasses in India is experiencing strong growth.
Although local players dominate the domestic market, the industry is changing rapidly, with more and more international brands stepping in to woo Indian customers.
Mehak Prakash is ready to splurge $387 on a pair of sunglasses from an Italian luxury label this summer.
Ms Mehak, who is a chocolatier, saves for a pair of new shades every summer.
She believes that, like luxury handbags, sunglasses too are a noticeable way to display and indeed acquire, the perceived cachet inherent in a designer brand.
She said: "I got this fetish three years ago and since then there was no looking back. Every season I pick up at least one pair if nothing else and the pricing can go up till 15,000-20,000 rupees. That is about $300-400."
The customers who share Ms Mehak's level of brand consciousness that have fuelled the sales of branded sunglasses in the Indian market, which is largely dominated by less-renowned players who lack the marketing focus of the big brands and whose products lack both quality and design protection.
According to a latest government survey, the premium sunglasses segment, which accounts for 30 per cent of the Indian eyewear market, is growing at 40 per cent a year.
Lalit Kalra, managing director at Dayal Opticals, said: "More and more awareness towards the fashion industry plus there are a lot of brands launching in India, like all the major brands have got stores now in New Delhi, so they are really affecting lots and lots of people. So more brand awareness is catching up, people are aware of brands and they want to spend on good brands, spending power is also increasing."
With sunglasses becoming a fashion statement, eyewear designers are introducing new shapes and colours every season to reflect the whims of buyers.
Analysts, who have traced the behaviour of this growing trend over the years, believe that India's fashion eyewear market has huge untapped potential.
Gurpreet Singh, owner of Xpert Opticians, said: "There are some very big players…They are already in India, like you name the brand, and it is available in Indian market. I think they are doing really good, especially in comparison to all over Asia, India and especially the north side in India. It is doing very well and yes, definitely there is much more scope."
Despite the whopping prices, Indians have over the years come to love their expensive sunglasses. Besides the other branded must-have objects like handbags and watches, shades too have emerged as a fundamental fashion accessory for more brand-conscious customers.
Over at Silverstone, the handbags are out between two UK mobile networks ahead of the British Grand Prix. Why? Well it all comes down to what's on the Vodafone-sponsored cars.
Jenson Button's and Sergio Perez's jam jars are branded with Vodafone's yet-to-launch 'Ultrafast 4G' network. According to Vodafone, this annoyed EE somewhat, who contacted the red network "demanding" that the cars be garaged and the branding removed, TechRadar reports. EE claims it did nothing of the sort.
A Vodafone UK spokesperson told TechRadar there was no harm in branding the cars with its forthcoming service. "This is sponsorship, not advertising," they said. "The clue is in the team's name: Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. We're using the cars to build further awareness of our forthcoming ultrafast 4G service.
"It's a 'static' promotion, albeit on a car that can travel at over 200mph. Consumers know Vodafone's ultrafast 4G is coming. We've said very publicly it will be here by the late summer. Even if someone seeing the car wasn't aware of that, there is no 'call to action' on it."
EE's response? It said it never made the demand, that it just thought it strange Vodafone would want to publicise a service that hasn't launched yet. "We're far from demanding Jenson get garaged, we're right behind him for tomorrow's race," a spokesperson said. "We simply asked why advertise a product that you don't have?
"When it comes to 4G mobile networks, Vodafone UK isn't even on the grid."
For a growing number of Internet retailers, offline is the new online.
Across the country, retailers that existed only in cyberspace are opening — or thinking of opening — traditional stores at a time when e-commerce’s explosive growth has spawned a slew of dire predictions that brick-and-mortar retailing will become irrelevant or even extinct.
Online giant Amazon is actively exploring a store concept. Specialty retailers such as Warby Parker, which sells eyewear, and Bonobos, a men’s clothing company, already operate stores.
In Minnesota’s Twin Cities area, Sigma Beauty, a fast-growing, 4-year-old online makeup retailer, recently opened its first outlet — at the Mall of America.
“I feel that everything we’ve done with this company was backward,” joked Simone Xavier, who launched Sigma with her husband, Rene Xavier Filho. “But we wanted to put a face on the brand, and we wanted people to touch and feel the product.”
Moving from websites to storefronts may seem counterintuitive, as online retailers enjoy lower costs than brick-and-mortar chains such as Best Buy and Target, which have to pay store leases and hire salespeople. Plus, more and more shoppers are buying products online, using their laptops, smartphones or tablets.
For the first three months of 2013, e-commerce sales jumped 13 percent to $50.2 billion compared with the same period a year, according to comScore. The double-digit growth in online sales has often come at the expense of physical retailers, which is why companies such as Best Buy and Target are spending millions of dollars to upgrade their websites and mobile software.
But today’s retailer will gladly record a sale any way they can get it, said Jeff Green, a Phoenix-based retail consultant.
“It is strange to see e-commerce sites open physical stores,” Green said. “But when you think about it, it’s not surprising. The most successful retailers are going to have a combination of bricks-and-mortars and digital sales. For online retailers, you might as well get to the sale as close as you can.”
Bricks-and-mortar retailing may seem outdated, but the physical store still offers a credible and safe place for customers to examine the product, ask questions, buy and, if necessary, return it.
“It’s about taking the risk out of buying,” said Steven Dennis, a retail consultant and a former top executive with Neiman Marcus and Sears. That’s especially true of certain products such as clothing, shoes, handbags and eyeglasses, where consumers still prefer real store interaction vs. a purely digital experience.
Don’t expect online retailers to completely shed their digital roots. It’s one thing to open one experimental store in a suburban shopping center to showcase your products; quite another to operate dozens of stores in big malls or large cities, which requires money and expertise that are often beyond the reach of Internet firms.
In the case of Take Sigma Beauty, which was founded in 2009, the New Brighton, Minn.-based Internet makeup retailer quickly grew, thanks to its international reach and deft use of social media like YouTube. The company expects to generate $25 million in sales this year compared to $18 million in 2012.
Opening a store was never part of the plan, Xavier said.
But when the couple learned of available space at the Mall of America, they quickly jumped on it.
For one thing, Xavier said, although Sigma Beauty sells to customers in more than 100 countries, few people in Minnesota are aware of the company.
In addition, a retail space provides an ideal place for Sigma Beauty to host events like “beauty parties” in which the company recruits celebrity makeup experts from YouTube to offer personal makeup tutorials.
Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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