Blog #4

 Blog #4

        It's Thanksgiving holiday which means shopping and eating. I survived Black Friday by sleeping in and going grocery shopping with my mum. Black Friday never really appealed to me. I wouldn't want to wait outside in the cold for hours just to grab the most "doorbuster" deal. I would prefer shopping online. I did find myself looking through websites to see what kind of deals they had online, though I made sure to stay away  from the "add to cart" and "checkout" button. Going through this challenge kind of changed my perspective on shopping. I am more aware of those who buy excessively and I always wonder if those purchased items are items of necessity. There was this time when I was talking to my friend about the holidays. She told me that she was looking for a job because her bank account was depleting. She told me that she would buy an item or two every single week. She thought that it wasn't much at the time, but it added up. She then said that she was going to stop spending and save as much as she can because she wanted to buy presents for her boyfriend for Christmas. I was relieved that she realized about her spending habit problem and that she was doing something about it. Moreover, I began noticing the spending habits of my other friend. Let's name this other friend as Monica. I would always see Monica post up pictures on Instagram of the things she purchased online that week. There was this one time where my other friend told me that Monica's spending habits influenced her to spend more money and buy more clothes. I would go into Monica's room and her  closet is packed with clothes with no room to breath. I've also heard stories about people buying all these expensive clothing and never end up wearing them. It bothers me to hear stories like that. Why can't they save their money instead of spending it on things that they're not even going to use?       

           Perhaps it's the different cultures that we were all brought up in. In the article, "The Ao Dai Goes Global: How International Influences and Female Entrepreneurs Have Shaped Vietnam's 'National Costume.'", it talks about the "Ao Dai" and how its meaning is interpreted in it's home country and on a global scale. Even though the Ao Dai is a traditional Vietnamese costume, it's meaning has been altered throughout the years because of globalization. I've also seen another example of this at the clothing store, Cotton On.

Cotton On is an Australian based store that has recently expanded to the United States. When I first found out that there was a Cotton On in my local more, I was estatic. When I was younger, Cotton On seemed to me like a store with expensive clothes. It was a store that I wasn't able to shop at yet because I was still young and had no money. It seemed classy to me. I would always go inside and admire their clothes. Comparing the Australian Cotton On and the Cotton On in the States, the Cotton On in America has decreased in value. In other words, it's not as classy as I remembered it was. There are so many sales going on all the time, and because there are so many sales going on, it's always a mess in there. However, the quality of the clothing is still great. In the article, " Cotton On Creates 500 jobs in Geelong", the author stated that "Cotton On now has 1000 retail stores in 11 countries, 650 of which are located in Australia...Mr Baillieu said..."It's a global business, it's a fresh business, it's a cutting edge business and it's a successful business," he told reporters in Geelong. "The company is going to grow and there will be more jobs, more business here from this area."" I think that it's great that Cotton On is expanding internationally. They're bringing the Australian culture to the States. The one thing that I don't like is how the brand is being represented in the States.

- Nicky Lei

Inside Source

• "The Ao Dai Goes Global: How International Influences and Female Entrepreneurs Have Shaped Vietnam's "National Costume." Reorienting Fashion.

Outside Source

•   "Cotton On Creates 500 Jobs in Geelong." The Australian. Theaustralian.com.au, 16 Nov. 2012. Web. .