As you listen to or read this essay, you will be celebrating the beginning of a brand-new month. But it is being written and recorded on another milestone -- the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. I was present for the very first one, as a student at the University of Illinois. Seminars, programs, speeches and leaflets urged the protection of our environment and an appreciation of the outdoors. For me, that appreciation would continue for a lifetime. This was the era of the "back to the land" movement and Mother Earth News. REI and Backpacker Magazine. Community cleanups and widespread tree planting. I would be fortunate enough to acquire a small hobby farm in Northern Wisconsin, if only for a few years. I often think about that property and can imagine in my mind how the land has changed, and how it hasn't. I will celebrate today not only by getting outdoors, but also by revisiting some of my favorite outdoor writers: Henry David Thoreau, Aldo Leopold, and Sigurd Olson. Their thoughts are

Experts says India needs to avoid ‘vice versus virtue’ dichotomy with regard to alcohol.

The company, which has a portfolio of more than 50 beer brands including Stella Artois, Corona and Harbin, reported quarterly revenue of $956 million, down from $1.6 billion last year.

Green Visor Capital backed-Simpl, that allows users to buy now and checkout with pay-later function, said the surge in the number of transactions done for daily essentials increased despite supply and workforce issues by merchant partners.

Currently, owing to the ongoing lockdown, kirana (corner) stores on JioMart serve limited inventory. But that will be a thing of the past once restrictions are lifted.

Pernod Ricard, estimated to have revenues of Rs 21,000 crore in India in 2019-20 on sale of around 55 million cases, sells imported brands such as Chivas Regal, ABSOLUT, Glenlivet and Jameson, apart from the locally-made large-selling ones such as Royal Stag, Blenders Pride, and 100 Pipers.

In addition to making their products available at more outlets, top spirits makers are also in discussion with state excise departments and online food delivery giants such as Swiggy, Zomato and Dunzo to push for home delivery of liquor, including select premium brands, sources said.

Assam cabinet held its meeting on Friday through video conferencing. Assam Industries and Commerce Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said the 25 per cent hike will add Rs 1000 crore to the government's kitty.

Under the e-token system, customers are given specific time for purchasing alcohol so that there is no violation of social distancing norms by people queuing up outside liquor stores.

Bata India Chairman Uday Khanna said: “We have plans to open 100 stores a year and would close 25 to 30 which are either at wrong place or not making profits. We tend to continue to keep this pace. (On a net basis) we do add about 70 stores a year.”

The five per cent increases, which will take the tariffs to 15-25 per cent, and are due to roll out in stages through December and target some popular items, such as laptops, mobile phones and some shoes.

There is a lot of deal activity because businesses are looking for capital.

Bata has already identified 180 such markets in smaller cities pan-India.

The commission said that the bag which was made available by Bata in Rs 2 to the consumer had the company’s logo and accessories printed on it.

The company, which has a retail network in 450 towns, is further expanding by adding new stores in smaller towns through franchise route.

Industry players say premium and luxury buying sees an uptick in two cases — purchase for occasions by the aspirational millennial and by a growing cohort of marathon runners.

The outbreak that has infected over 24,000 people and killed nearly 500 in mainland China has forced many stores and factories to close and airlines to cancel flights.

"Our topline was around Rs 1,250 crore (FY19) and is growing by 10 per cent every year, which is a quite healthy and sustainable," Aero Club Managing Director Harkirat Singh told .

Founded in 2017 by Taran Chhabra and Amar Preet Singh, Neeman’s is a sustainable shoe brand that uses completely natural, renewable, recyclable and chemical-free materials to reduce the carbon footprint.

"The newly launched footwear range is available in 90 stores. We plan to further expand and make it accessible at more stores in the coming seasons," said Somdeb Basu, head of foot apparel and accessories at W.

The donation will impact a number of countries in Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia-Pacific, including India.

The pandemic is also likely to catalyse the shift to e-commerce.

Women’s share in the activewear category has gone up for sports brands such as Nike, Reebok, Adidas and Puma because of an increase in their participation in sports and other activities such as running, yoga, pilates and Zumba.

Big brands have quit Amazon's platform due to sales of counterfeit products and unauthorised sellers which undermines the value of the original brands.

The brand will expand into Hyderabad, Goa, Kochi, Pune and Mysuru next year by introducing products through a mix of exclusive and multi-brand outlets, Xtep India director Vijay Chowdhary said at an event here organised in memory of US-born boxing legend Muhammad Ali.

“The Puma and First Mile programme has diverted about 40 tonnes of plastic waste from landfills and oceans, just for the products made for 2020. This roughly translates into 1,980,286 plastic bottles being reused,” said Stefan Seidel, head of corporate sustainability for Puma, in a press statement

Puma operates 365 owned stores in India, and over the past three years, has signed up cricketer Virat Kohli, boxer Mary Kom, footballer Sunil Chhetri and actress Sarah Ali Khan to endorse its products.

According to the company, Puma's collaboration with the Indian cricket captain saw a massive rise in sales in FY2019 with sales through One8 accounting for almost 10 per cent of its overall sales, and cementing the leadership position by a wider margin.

In a letter to the brand’s business partners, Bjorn Gulden, global CEO of Puma SE, announced Ganguly’s elevation in the company adding that that he will continue to work out of Puma’s India head office in Bengaluru.

Khan will be the face for Puma’s soon-to-be launched collection of low-intensity training apparel collection targeted at workouts such as yoga, barre, and pilates. The new line will be launched in April and retailed both online and offline.

China accounted for 20% of Adidas sales in 2018. It sells its products from about 12,000 stores in China, most franchises plus fewer than 500 of its own stores. Almost a fifth of its shoes and apparel are produced in the country.

With this campaign, the brand aims to highlight the inspirational stories of real women, influencers and athletes from different age groups and fields through the medium of a film, said the company.

"We would like to wholeheartedly apologise. We have paid our landlords the rent for April." Adidas, which made a net profit of nearly two billion euros ($2.2 billion) in 2019, has been hard hit by a slump in Chinese sales and store closures around the world.

Puma said it expected all markets to recover by the end of the year and for growth to return in 2021, noting that the crisis has made many people do more sports than before and has strengthened the trend towards more casual dressing.

No large-cap company in the FMCG/ retail space is offering growth visibility as high as Titan.

​​​​Voganow Fashion owned Brune & Bareskin sells leather jackets, footwear, bags and accessories for men on online platforms such as Myntra, Jabong and Snapdeal.

Our revenues were flat in a quarter where the industry consumption on gold was minus 32% in tonnes.

“We have bagged a multi-million dollar order from the Ministry of Defence to make rucksacks for the Indian army. It is an unchartered territory but creating an ideal rucksack for an Indian jawaan who spends maximum time outdoors in challenging terrain will be good learning. The order will be executed next year,” said Siddharth Sood, cofounder of Wildcraft India.

“Sales in all divisions in the second half of December were also impacted to some extent due to forced store closures due to the protests in the North East and in many other parts of the country,” the company said in a stock exchange filing on Saturday.

The watchmaker will form a development centre in Hyderabad with HUG in hardware, firmware, software and cloud technology and has appointed the company's founder Raj Neravati to head technology for wearables at Titan Company.

According to the company, each piece will have features such as front quick-access pockets, anti-theft zippers, mesh back padding and multiple spacious compartments found throughout the collection.

“Titan phased out its older models and launched Fastrack’s Reflex 2.0 in the 2018Q3. It helped the brand to get a healthy 70% sequential growth in its overall shipments in the overall wearable segment,” IDC said.

​Chumbak founder Vivek Prabhakar will continue as head of marketing and digital, and co-founder Shubhra Chaddha will continue to head product and design.

The MIT Press, ISBN-13: 978-0262039802, English, 464 pages, 2019, USA

Nam June Paik is back in the limelight, thanks to an important historical exhibition at Tate Modern (see the report in this issue). There has →

Duke University Press, ISBN-13: 978-0822368687, English, 288 pages, 2019, USA

Eidsheim starts this book by introducing ‘the acousmatic question’ (“who’s this, who’s speaking?”) to discuss the dichotomy between a sound and its source before and →

INTRO – The typical view of the path to musical success sends the enterprising young musician into one of our country’s media centers… New York or L.A. For the members of Asheville’s The Broadcast, they’re taking a road less traveled in an effort to establish a musical career. George Olsen spoke with the band’s lead singer Caitlin Krisko and has this. I’ve long jokingly said that I’m still deciding what it is I want to be when I grow up. At 50+, the joke is getting old… as am I, for that matter. Still, there’s some truth behind the joke, which may be why I’ve always had a deep respect for anyone who determines what it is they want to be and pursue it doggedly with no doubt, no regrets. Among those now with my deep respect… Caitlin Krisko and her band mates in the band The Broadcast. “And being in NYC we realized financially speaking we couldn’t afford to do that. We couldn’t afford to pay our rent and be on the road 150 days a year without spraining our back trying to get people to

INTRO – The Triangle’s Red Clay Ramblers have been involved in a number of artistic collaborations … with Academy Award and Pulitzer Prize nominated playwright and actor Sam Shepard for two of his films and one off-Broadway play and with the late Doug Marlette on the musical based on his comic strip Kudzu, amongst others. Another collaboration took the band away from stage and screen into a different realm, and about nine years after its debut the music is now available on CD. George Olsen talked with Bland Simpson of the Red Clay Ramblers and has this. The latest CD from the Triangle’s Red Clay Ramblers “Carolina Jamboree” plays out as somewhat of a “greatest hits” CD … the bulk of the material spans the band’s 40+ career from the early 1970s to present day. And the band has performed the entirety of the “Carolina Jamboree” CD multiple times for multiple audiences. But the likelihood that the crowd was laser-focused on the band is doubtful … given all else that was going on. “And when

Industry watchers say wholesalers are holding back stocks of popular phone models in anticipation of a price rise by the month-end as production in China slows; brands as yet unaware of complaints.

“There are supply issues for several brands. There is no clarity when the situation will normalise,” said Nilesh Gupta, director at Vijay Sales, a leading electronics retailer in Mumbai and New Delhi. “If it doesn’t get corrected fast, we may move into a stock-out situation from next month.”

In an interview with Fox Business, Cook said: "I see India as a huge opportunity for us. For years, we could not enter there unless we entered there with a partner into retail and we did not want to do that. We wanted to maintain control of our brand and so forth".