Interesting Facts

Shock horror!  According to research published in the Journal of Global Fashion and Marketing, 82% of claims made in adverts for cosmetics are bogus. (Researchers found that only 18% of all claims made in commercials for cosmetics prove to be true.  They classified each claim as vague/ambiguous, an omission, an outright lie, or as acceptable. Every category of beauty products was looked at, including makeup, skincare, body and bath products, fragrance, along with hair, and nail care. Claims like:- "award-winning product" "clinically proven" "your skin feels softer" "your face looks younger" "dermatologists recommend this" "all you need for a day of confidence" and even:- “no testing on animals” Just to prove you can't believe them, here is a famous advert which definitely deserves a #fail:- What were they thinking?)

The bikini (a two piece swimming suit) was named after Bikini Atoll in the Marshall islands. (Bikini Atoll is where the United States detonated an atomic bomb in 1946. The bikini was so named because of the ‘explosive’ effect the garment was expected to have. Of course, people were scandalised by this, forgetting that the Romans had been sporting this fashion item in about 286 AD.)

According to a survey by online retailer isme.com, men stop caring about what clothes they wear when they reach the age of 37. (Most of the men I know never even started caring about what clothes they wear.) 

A survey by the UK department store Debenhams, suggests that you can tell a man's age by the level of his waistband. (Seemingly the height of the waistband bottoms out at the age of 16 with below-the-hip styles and peaks at 57, where it ends up just seven inches below the armpit. Personally I can't stand the sight of young men with their jeans hugging their hips and their boxers on full show, but equally I can't bear the sight of overweight males who can't decide whether to wear their trousers above or below their beer belly. It's called a waistband for a reason!)

Britain has been voted the worst dressed country in Europe. (Yes, 40% of the people polled by Microsoft's price comparison site Ciao thought that Britain was the worst dressed nation, and Germany came second in the league of shame at 33 per cent. Fifteen per cent said the Spanish were least fashionable and 6 per cent chose the French. With a mere 3 per cent saying the Italians were the worst dressed. Personally I dislike any obsessive occupation with looking good all the time. Life's too short to worry about it.)

Three genes account for all the different coat types in dogs. (Whether wiry, smooth, curly or straight, they're all controlled by these three genes. Of course only owners are responsible for diamanté, tartan and other kinds of fashionable clothing that dogs wear.)

Around two million tonnes of clothing ends up in landfill in the UK every year. (The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) says the clothing and textiles sector in the UK produces around 3.1m tonnes of carbon dioxide, 2m tonnes of waste and 70m tonnes of waste water per year. In 2007 the Environment Select Committee found that the proportion of textile waste at council tips in the UK had risen from 7 per cent to 30 per cent in five years. It's called throw away or disposable fashion, driven by companies like Primark, in fact it's called the Primark effect. There is hope though, people like Helen Storey who began the Wonderland project, and who along with Professor Tony Ryan has invented the Disappearing Dress, which disintegrates in the wash. My only worry is that it rains a lot in the UK.)