The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) Names Honorees for the 2017 American Image Awards

The American Apparel & Footwear Association today announced its 2017 American Image Awards honorees: Andrew Rosen, Founder and CEO of Theory (Person of the Year); Marc Fisher Footwear (Company of the Year); Stuart Vevers of Coach, Inc. (Designer of the Year); Nick Graham (Fashion Maverick); and Ed Nardoza (Lifetime Achievement Award). Owned and operated by the AAFA, the American Image Awards began in 1977 to honor those who have exemplified leadership, excellence, and outstanding achievement in all sectors of the apparel and footwear industry, including education, design, manufacturing, and retail. Award-winning stage and screen actor Alan Cumming will emcee the gala. Presented on April 24 in New York City, the American Image Awards will benefit the Fashion Manufacturing Initiative (FMI), part of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Foundation. This year’s ceremony will take place at the historic 583 Park Avenue venue in New York City.

Representing more than 1,000 world famous name brands, the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) is the trusted public policy and political voice of the apparel and footwear industry, its management and shareholders, its four million U.S. workers, and its contribution of $361 billion in annual U.S. retail sales. AAFA stands at the forefront as a leader of positive change for the apparel and footwear industry and delivers a unified voice on key legislative and regulatory issues. The organization enables a collaborative forum to promote best practices and innovation and its comprehensive work ensures the continued success and growth of the apparel and footwear industry, its suppliers, and its customers.

The Fashion Manufacturing Initiative (FMI) is a program of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) in partnership with the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and was created to nurture, elevate, and preserve garment production in New York City, ultimately connecting fashion designers to local manufacturing. The program includes: FMI Grant Fund offering matching grants to facilities committed to improving their services through innovation and technology; Apparel Skills Training Courses to generate a stronger workforce; a New York City Production Database on www.CFDA.com; and ongoing professional development sessions, industry events and collaborative partnerships.

Home & Tech/Design: Introducing Hestan NanoBond Cookware

Innovative Culinary Brand, Hestan, Launches First True Innovation In Stainless Steel Cookware In Over 100 Years

Beginning Immediately, NanoBond Will Be Available For Purchase Exclusively At Williams-Sonoma Stores And Online At www.williams-sonoma.com.

Hestan has launched Nanobond Cookware, a line of bonded stainless steel cookware uniquely engineered to last a lifetime, investing over $60 million in developing innovative technologies and kitchen products to elevate the culinary experience. Widely known for its high-end commercial kitchen equipment and premium residential outdoor grills, the company is applying their cutting-edge technology and innovative thinking to their first consumer cookware line, which promises to raise the bar among cookware brands and push the industry towards the future.

Innovative Culinary Brand, Hestan, Launches First True Innovation in Stainless Steel Cookware in Over 100 Years. Introducing Hestan NanoBond.

Since its introduction to the kitchen over 100 years ago, there’s been no significant innovation to stainless steel cookware – often known for tarnishing when exposed to high heat and easily scratching. For culinary professionals and enthusiasts alike, NanoBond brings the most advanced technology to the kitchen, delivering a full line of cookware that introduces modern science to timeless culinary craftsmanship with molecular titanium. NanoBond offers incredible resilience, lasting beauty, and the cleanability to maintain its brilliance for generations.

NanoBond leverages a patented titanium based nanotechnology that creates thousands of superdense nanolayers of titanium alloys bonded to stainless steel. This enables the cookware surface to be four times harder than typical stainless steel. The result is a chemical free, extremely durable cookware that’s resistant to staining, scratching, salt pitting and provides superior performance. Thanks to a pure aluminum core, it is also 35 percent more conductive than other aluminum-clad cookware.

Hestan innovations span the culinary category including Hestan Vineyards – well-respected small-batch wines developed in Napa Valley, Hestan Smart Cooking – a guided cooking system that will forever change the cooking experience, and the award-winning Hestan Commercial and Hestan Outdoor.

Immigrant Contributions To American Society Recognized With 2017 Vilcek Prizes

Visual Artist Nari Ward And Biophysicists Lily And Yuh-Nung Jan Receive $100,000 Vilcek Prizes

Winners Of Vilcek Prizes For Creative Promise Each Receive $50,000 Awards

The Vilcek Foundation is pleased to announce the winners of the annual Vilcek Prizes, recognizing outstanding immigrant contributions to the American arts and sciences. The Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science will be awarded jointly to Chinese-born Lily and Yuh-Nung Jan, a collaborative research duo and professors of molecular physiology at the University of California, San Francisco. The Vilcek Prize in the Arts recognizes Jamaican-born Nari Ward, a New York-based visual artist known for found-object assemblage art. Each prize includes a $100,000 cash award. The prizewinners were selected by panels of experts in each field; they will be honored at an awards gala in New York City in April 2017.

“Like all great artists and scientists, these immigrant prizewinners challenge our very perceptions of the world,” said Rick Kinsel, president of the Vilcek Foundation. “Their works are attempts to understand fundamental questions and concepts in American society, from the neurological underpinnings of the self to the institution of democracy.”

The Vilcek Foundation was established in 2000 by Jan and Marica Vilcek, immigrants from the former Czechoslovakia. The mission of the foundation, to honor the contributions of immigrants to the United States and to foster an appreciation of the arts and sciences, was inspired by the couple’s respective careers in biomedical science and art history, as well as their personal experiences and appreciation for the opportunities they received as newcomers to this country. The foundation awards annual prizes to prominent immigrant biomedical scientists and artists and manages the Vilcek Foundation Art Collections, a promised gift from its founders.

This year, the Vilcek Prize in the Arts is awarded in the fine arts, marking the completion of an 11-year cycle through various disciplines in the arts and humanities. The recipient, Nari Ward, was born in Jamaica and immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 12. He is known for found-object assemblage artworks that invite both a public conversation and an intimate dialogue with the viewer around topics of race, immigration, and the Caribbean diaspora identity. His usage of found objects aims to highlight the history of a place and the urgency of the moment; his installation Naturalization Drawing Table features a large desk—built out of Plexiglas bodega barriers—covered with dense linear drawings made over copies of Immigration and Naturalization Service applications. On select days during the exhibition, viewers are invited to “apply” for naturalization by lining up and filling out an application, giving them a taste of the bureaucratic process of applying for citizenship. Ward has won several prestigious art prizes, including the Joyce Award, the Rome Prize, a Bessie Award, and several other awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation.

Lily and Yuh-Nung Jan were both born in China and raised in Taiwan. They came to the U.S. as graduate students of physics at the California Institute of Technology but switched their focus to biology, in part inspired by their mentor, the renowned biophysicist Max Delbrück. Over the course of a collaborative career spanning over four decades, the husband-and-wife team has made many significant discoveries in the field of neuroscience, with far-reaching clinical implications. They isolated the gene encoding a protein that shuttles potassium ions across cell membranes, enabling the characterization of a molecular player important to functions as vital as maintaining heart rate and controlling muscle movement. Today, this type of ion channel is implicated in diseases such as epilepsy, ataxia, and hypertension. Simultaneously, the Jans identified genes and principles underlying the processes by which neurons acquire distinct identities, burgeon into thickets, and establish precise circuits; their work in this area may help unravel human diseases such as autism and schizophrenia. Currently, professors of molecular physiology at the University of California, San Francisco, the Jans have been honored with membership in the United States National Academy of Sciences, as well as with Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator awards.

The Vilcek Foundation also awards the Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise, given to younger immigrants who have shown substantial talent and ability early in their careers. Each prize includes a $50,000 cash award. The winners in the fine arts are the following:

Iman Issa, born in Egypt, a conceptual artist, creates objects and installations in an attempt to address complex philosophical questions. Her original area of study was phenomenology, a branch of philosophy that examines the structures of consciousness that organize subjective experience—or, put another way, how we take meaning from things we individually experience. Later, Issa realized that art allowed for nuanced exploration of those topics, and continued her philosophical questioning through art. She is particularly interested in monuments and memorials—aesthetic forms tasked with a function that holds a shifting relevance based on their location in time and relationship to history. Her work has been shown at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the 8th Berlin Biennial, and the New Museum, and she has received the DAAD 2017 Artist in Residence Award, the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award, and the HNF-MACBA Award.

Meleko Mokgosi, born in Botswana, is a slow, considered painter; behind every painting he produces are hours of research, reading, and conversations with people. Mokgosi is interested in depictions of Africa and its people; he believes that the widespread misrepresentation of Africa and Africans has done a violence to the people of the continent, and through his art he attempts a representation that is fair and just. He is deeply concerned with politics and seeks to understand and illuminate the relations of power that shape people, families, villages, regions, and nations. Mokgosi has been named the recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters Grant and the Jarl and Pamela Mohn Award, and he has shown his work at Art Basel, the Armory, the Hammer Museum, and the Whitney Museum.

Nike Miami Opens

Store Deliver Innovative Products, All-Encompassing On-Site Experiences and Heightened Personal Expert Service

Today, NIKE, Inc. opens Nike Miami, its newest retail experience. The two-story, multi-sport store is digitally connected across more than 31,000 sq. ft., and is located at 1035 Lincoln Rd., in the heart of the City of Miami Beach’s shopping district. (Nike Miami is open seven days a week. Store Hours: Monday-Saturday, 10 am to 11 pm. Sunday, 11 am. to 10 pm.)

The two-story, multi-sport Nike Miami store is digitally connected across more than 31,000 sq. ft., and is located at 1035 Lincoln Rd., in the heart of the City of Miami Beach’s shopping district.

The store design, inspired by the lifestyle of modern sport, features a unique installation from Miami artist Jessy Nite. The artwork—a multimedia combination of painting, custom typography and sculpture—takes inspiration from the vibrant colors of Miami and the power of sport. The exterior of the building showcases a brise-soleil, a common architectural feature in South America and South Florida used to mitigate the warm afternoon sun. The pattern of the brise-soleil is comprised of two Nike icons: the waffle iron and the Windrunner.

Nike Miami features Jordan Brand and Nike Basketball product on the store’s second floor, including iconic silhouettes and re-stocks.

The new Nike Miami is designed to deliver the best of Nike products and personalized services through a series of unique spaces. Guided by a team of highly trained Nike store athletes, Nike Miami offers personalized, immersive experiences for consumers.

Its unique spaces are the ultimate service destinations and include:

• Nike+ Trial Zones: Three immersive Nike+ Trial Zones transport consumers into authentic sport moments, bringing true sport experiences into a personal shopping destination.
  

  The Nike+ Running Trial Zone, located on the first floor, allows consumers to test shoes on a treadmill surrounded by two cameras capturing data from their run

• Running: In the Nike+ Running Trial Zone on the first floor, consumers start by consulting with Nike certified running athletes on the best choices for footwear. They can then test out shoes on a treadmill surrounded by two cameras capturing data from their run and a video screen that records them on a 90-second real-life run. Consumers’ personal trial experiences may be saved to their Nike+ member profile, to enhance future shopping experiences.
• Basketball: The Nike+ Basketball Trial Zone, located on the second floor, simulates the feel of the game in a 285-square foot space. Consumers consult with Nike certified basketball experts to select the best choices for footwear and receive 1:1 guidance on product features and benefits. They can then test the shoes in an enclosed basketball trial zone, allowing for the simulation of an actual game or practice environment.
• Soccer: The Nike+ Soccer Trial Zone, also on the second floor and adjacent to the Nike+ Basketball Trial Zone, is a 285-square foot cleat trial area, encased in glass walls, with a synthetic turf field and supported by Nike certified trial athletes. Consumers can trial Nike’s best soccer cleats and receive 1:1 guidance on product features and benefits.
• Nike+ Service Station: At Nike Miami, experts are at your service. The Nike+ Service Station is home to the Nike+ 1:1 service, a private appointment with an expert who provides Nike+ members with a product gear-up, immersion in the Nike+ ecosystem, a curated takeaway and access to Nike services and events.
• The Stands: The Stands is the store’s first service destination, offering a special seating area for live in-store programming, including Nike+ Sessions—intimate discussions with leading athletes, trainers, and trendsetters.
  

  Located on the store’s first floor, The Lounge features expanded fitting rooms with adaptive lighting and a treadmill, where consumers can consult with a stylist, and test and purchase products.

• The Lounge: With a large boutique space, Nike Miami’s Lounge is designed to transform sport retail for women. Guided by Nike certified store athletes, consumers can test out products on a treadmill and in enhanced fitting rooms that are double the size of a standard Nike fitting room. The Lounge offers an array of services, from Nike+ 1:1 personal appointments to bra fitting, pant hemming, and digital checkout. There are three adaptive lighting changes in all fitting rooms in Nike Miami—replicating the feel of yoga studio to a night run.
• Nike+ Member Sessions: Nike+ Member Sessions, located in The Stands, provide members with Nike programming, featuring Nike+ Run Club and Nike+ Training Club events, and Nike+ Speaker Sessions, an opportunity for consumers to engage with local nutritionists and trainers.
  

  The first floor of Nike Miami features Women’s product including the Bra Fit Shop.

HGTV Dream Home Giveaway 2017 Now Open For Entries

Starting now and continuing through 5 p.m. ET Friday, February 17, 2017, viewers can dream about moving into the 2017 HGTV® Dream Home on St. Simons Island, Georgia. Fans can enter twice a day by visiting www.HGTV.com/HGTVDreamHome for a chance to win the grand prize package valued at more than $1.7 million. Eligible U.S. residents can log on to www.HGTV.com for full details and official rules.

Enter for a chance to win the HGTV Dream Home Giveaway 2017 at HGTV.com.

In addition to the approximately 3,200-square-foot residence and all its furnishings, the grand prize winner will receive the keys to a new Honda Pilot, plus $250,000 from national mortgage lender Quicken Loans®.

Interior designer Brian Patrick Flynn has restored a hidden gem into a one-of-a-kind getaway with a design aesthetic that can be described as Southern Transitional. With Sea Island as the backdrop, the 1980s-built home maintains a traditional look that embodies true Southern charm with an emphasis on architecture reflective of its coastal location.

“The charming seaside location of St. Simons fits the bill as a ‘dreamy’ location where our fans can see themselves relaxing by the backyard fire pit or hosting friends by the pool,” said Ron Feinbaum, general manager and senior vice president of Home Promotions for Scripps Networks Interactive. “Working with architect Michael Stauffer and builder Allen Construction, we were able to transform this home into a residence with design inspiration that our fans can use in their own homes.” 

The main living spaces reflect an entertaining-savvy layout that features muted, muddy earth tones mixed with bright whites. Comfortable furniture and formal statement pieces are intertwined with casual textiles. A selection of modern art elevates the house to a game-changing showstopper. The three bedrooms and four bathrooms take their cue from the property’s mossy vegetation with shades of green, and the neutral browns are a nod to the nearby beaches. Complete with a private pool, the abode is a fresh new take on Southern style.

Learn more about this year’s giveaway and its sponsors – Honda; Lumber Liquidators, Inc.; Quicken Loans®; Wayfair; Cabinets To Go; Delta Faucet; CESAR® Canine Cuisine; Realtor.com®; Trex Company, Inc.; Belgard; Bush Brothers & Company; ICON Health & Fitness; SimpliSafe Home Security; Sleep Number®; Greenworks Tools; and Bose Corporation – at www.HGTV.com/HGTVDreamHome.

Smart & Blue Unveils 3 New Smart Shower Products plus First International Availability at CES 2017 in Las Vegas

In the run-up to CES 2017 in Las Vegas, French Eco-Tech company Smart & Blue today announced three new HYDRAO smart showerhead products, the much-awaited international availability of its products, plus new industry awards. Smart & Blue is an innovation leader in smart solutions for water conservation. Headquartered in Grenoble, France, the company was founded by founder Gabriel Dell Monica in 2015. The company now employs 10 people directly.

The new HYDRAO Loop and First smart showerheads and HYDRAO Drop smart shower light bring innovation, color, enjoyment – and now French design chic – to the bathroom. They are designed to increase awareness of water usage and encourage reduced water and energy consumption. HYDRAO First will be the first product to become available internationally – starting tomorrow.

Smart & Blue Founder Gabriel Dell Monica

The designs of HYDRAO Loop and Drop have already won two new CES Innovation Awards: HYDRAO Loop in the Smart Home category and HYDRAO Drop in Tech for a Better World category.

THREE NEW SMART SHOWER SOLUTIONS

HYDRAO Loop: a combination of advanced Smart & Blue technology innovation with French luxury design to bring smart-shower capabilities to stylish, modern bathrooms.

HYDRAO Loop smart shower set (Photo: Business Wire)

HYDRAO Loop Hand shower

HYDRAO Drop: adds smart-shower water saving capabilities to an existing shower. It is simple to install, and has a flexible arm that can be positioned to illuminate any shower surface or water jet.

HYDRAO Loop on a showerhead

HYDRAO First: a fun, educational and affordable smart hand shower. Launched in France at the end of 2016, HYDRAO First is available internationally from Jan. 4th 2017.

HYDRAO First is a LED-illuminated showerhead that brings color and enjoyment to families, while educating users on water usage.

SMART-SHOWER INNOVATION WITH LUXURY DESIGN

DESIGN INNOVATION AND WATER EFFICIENCY: Both HYDRAO Loop and Drop benefit from a new miniaturized version of Smart & Blue’s patented smart shower technology, allowing users to benefit from a sleek, streamlined design, with no compromise to HYDRAO’s water conservation guidance. Also new is the ability to allow individual users to monitor their own personal usage and savings – on either one or multiple HYDRAO smart showers.

New smart water pressure innovations also let users enjoy an enhanced shower experience, even at low pressure levels.1 These enhancements include increased energy efficiency for the internal turbine, new water pressure regulation capabilities and an innovative aerated water flow feature. Together they ensure optimum water flow and lighting intensity, while decreasing overall water consumption.

For professional customers, the fully modular, interchangeable design of HYDRAO Loop and Drop allow for design customization. Smart & Blue smart shower technology can also be integrated into own designs.

Pantone Unveils Color of the Year 2017: PANTONE 15-0343 Greenery

A Refreshing And Revitalizing Shade, Greenery Is Symbolic Of New Beginnings

Pantone, an X-Rite company and the global authority on color and provider of professional color standards for the design industries, today announced PANTONE 15-0343 Greenery as the PANTONE® Color of the Year selection for 2017; a fresh and zesty yellow-green shade that evokes the first days of spring when nature’s greens revive, restore and renew. Illustrative of flourishing foliage and the lushness of the great outdoors, the fortifying attributes of Greenery signals individuals to take a deep breath, oxygenate and reinvigorate.

Pantone Unveils Color of the Year 2017: PANTONE 15-0343 Greenery

“While Serenity and Rose Quartz, the PANTONE Color of the Year 2016, expressed the need for harmony in a chaotic world,” said Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute “Greenery bursts forth in 2017 to provide us with the hope we collectively yearn for amid a complex social and political landscape. Satisfying our growing desire to rejuvenate, revitalize and unite, Greenery symbolizes the reconnection we seek with nature, one another and a larger purpose.

The Color of the Year selection process requires thoughtful consideration and trend analysis. To arrive at the selection each year, Pantone’s color experts at the Pantone Color Institute comb the world looking for new color influences. This can include the entertainment industry and films in production, traveling art collections and new artists, fashion, all areas of design, popular travel destinations, as well as new lifestyles, playstyles and socio-economic conditions. Influences may also stem from new technologies, materials, textures and effects that impact color, relevant social media platforms and even up-coming sporting events that capture worldwide attention. For 17 years, Pantone’s Color of the Year has influenced product development and purchasing decisions in multiple industries, including fashion, home furnishings and industrial design, as well as product packaging and graphic design. Past selections for Color of the Year include:

• PANTONE 15-3919 Serenity and PANTONE 13-1520 Rose Quartz (2016)
• PANTONE 18-1438 Marsala (2015)
• PANTONE 18-3224 Radiant Orchid (2014)
• PANTONE 17-5641 Emerald (2013)
• PANTONE 17-1463 Tangerine Tango (2012)
• PANTONE 18-2120 Honeysuckle (2011)
• PANTONE 15-5519 Turquoise (2010)
• PANTONE 14-0848 Mimosa (2009)
• PANTONE 18-3943 Blue Iris (2008)
• PANTONE 19-1557 Chili Pepper (2007)
• PANTONE 13-1106 Sand Dollar (2006)
• PANTONE 15-5217 Blue Turquoise (2005)
• PANTONE 17-1456 Tigerlily (2004)
• PANTONE 14-4811 Aqua Sky (2003)
• PANTONE 19-1664 True Red (2002)
• PANTONE 17-2031 Fuchsia Rose (2001)
• PANTONE 15-4020 Cerulean (2000)

The color selected as the Pantone Color of the Year 2017 was taken from the PANTONE Fashion, Home + Interiors Color System, the most widely used and recognized color standards system for fashion, textile, home and interior design.

The more submerged people are in their own modern realities, the greater their innate craving to immerse themselves in the physical beauty and inherent unity of the natural world. This shift is reflected by the proliferation of all things expressive of Greenery in daily lives through urban planning, architecture, lifestyle and design choices globally. A constant on the periphery, Greenery is now being pulled to the forefront – it is an omnipresent hue around the world.

PANTONE 15-0343 Greenery, a life-affirming shade, is also emblematic of the pursuit of personal passions and vitality.

“The tangy yellow-green speaks to our desire to express, explore, experiment and reinvent, imparting a sense of buoyancy,” said Eiseman. “Through its reassuring yet assertive vibrancy, Greenery offers us self-assurance and boldness to live life on our own terms, during a time when we are redefining what makes us successful and happy.”

In this spirit of reconnection, exploration and belonging, Pantone has partnered with Airbnb – a community marketplace that provides access to unique accommodations and experiences around the globe – to bring Greenery to life through an experience in early 2017. The collaboration, a first of its kind, was inspired by Pantone’s vision for Greenery and Airbnb’s community that connects travelers to magical experiences.

GREENERY COLOR PAIRINGS

Nature’s neutral, PANTONE Greenery is a versatile “trans-seasonal” shade that lends itself to many color combinations. As displayed in the 10 palettes below, Greenery is paired with neutrals, brights, deeper shades, pastels, metallics and even the enduring presence of PANTONE Color of the Year 2016, Rose Quartz and Serenity. These palettes easily cross over fashion, beauty, product and graphic design applications.

A Color of Innovation:

While often associated with environmentalism and nature, Greenery is also a unifying thread in tech and innovation because of its association with boldness, vigor and modernity. Many new apps, animation iconography and digital-first startups express this energy by using the riveting and attention-getting shade of green in their logos. Conveying progression and a pioneering spirit, Greenery portrays an entrepreneurial essence that aligns with the industries that have embraced it.

Greenery for Fashion:

Greenery is nature’s neutral. A great harmonizer merging undertones of cool blues with vibrant yellows, the hue is a natural complement to a wide range of palettes. Like the spectrum of possibilities in colorful petals and blooms paired with lush green leaves, plants and trees, Greenery provides a pop of color in accessories and footwear, or as acts as a bold accent in a pattern. Prominent in fashion for men and women, as seen in the recent collections of Kenzo, Michael Kors, Zac Posen, and Cynthia Rowley, Greenery has also been shown in a variety of solids and prints in children’s wear.

Greenery blends fashion and tech as well, as a prominent color for wearables and activewear.