Word: item
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...year. Somewhat belatedly Reagan seems to have realized that the flow of drugs will abate only when the U.S. curbs its persistent craving. What since 1984 had been the personal cause of First Lady Nancy Reagan -- getting young people to "Just Say No" to drugs -- finally became a top item on the President's own political and public agenda. Promising a massive drug- education campaign and a nationwide drive for "drug-free" schools and workplaces, Reagan urged "a sustained national effort to rid the U.S. of this scourge by mobilizing every segment of our society against drug abuse...
...ties were four inches wide, compared with the then standard 2 1/2 inches, came in vibrant Italian-silk patterns and were priced at $15, more than double the conventional rate. "For anyone who liked clothes, to have a Polo tie was such a luxury. It was really a coveted item," recalls a former employee, Anthony Edgeworth, now a noted photographer. Lauren sold $500,000 worth of ties in his 1967 start-up year, when his entire business fit into one large drawer in a rented space in the Empire State Building. At least one powerful department store, Bloomingdale's, tried...
...result of that assiduousness, Lauren has been criticized as being a promoter rather than a designer, a copycat who turns traditional ideas into high-priced knock-offs. Case in point: his lined dungaree jacket with corduroy collar, a $98 rendering of an item that sells for about $35 with the Lee blue- jean label. Yet what Lauren is accused of taking from tradition is & systematically reborrowed from him by dozens of his smaller competitors...
Nowadays the company's licensees bring to Polo/Ralph Lauren an expertise in making a particular generic item, to which Lauren adds his design, packaging and promotional ideas. His 38 manufacturers produce virtually everything but Lauren's top-of-the-line Polo menswear. The largest licensee is Cosmair, for fragrances, followed by Bidermann Industries, for womenswear. Lauren retains a final say, which he zealously exercises, over the end products. Recalls Clothing Executive George Ackerman, whose company, Warnaco, makes some of Lauren's moderately priced Chaps menswear: "A few years ago we did a safari jacket with copper snaps. Ralph loved...
...South African Krugerrand was far and away the world's top-selling gold bullion coin for years. Then the U.S. banned imports of the item last October in protest against South Africa's racial policies, and Krugerrand sales fell so sharply that production was halted. Canada, Australia and China, among others, are trying to take up the slack. This October the U.S. will begin selling gold coins in $5, $10, $25 and $50 denominations, though the sale price will vary with the value of the metal...