Men with an aversion to shopping for clothes might find their minds changed in an environment where they have happily shopped for other items for years now: online. But a market that has long been dominated by e-tail sites for women - a consequence of this larger audience being more able to find ready investors - last week saw the launch of a new player targeting men. From Net-A-Porter, one of the pioneering companies in online fashion retail, comes Mr Porter (mrporter.com), part fashion portal, part magazine. But why the decade-long wait?
"It has been a question in part of having the right web developers in place - people who might normally work for Google or Facebook - and of having asked our women customers what they'd like. The resounding response has been 'a site for men'," explains Net-A-Porter's founder and one-time fashion editor Natalie Massenet. "I think it's because it will make it easier to buy for the men in their lives."
For all that, Mr Porter is targeted squarely at the men themselves. The editorial content, updated weekly, is mostly style and style-advice-driven, but also touches on men's general interest subjects of the kind covered by magazines such as GQ and Esquire (from whence, in a move that surprised the magazine world, comes its new editor Jeremy Langmead) and aims to be a draw even to those men not intending to shop. And the clothing, meanwhile, targets a specific, male-friendly corner of the market: mainstream luxury. Some 80 brands for the launch season, selected by buying staff formerly of London's Selfridges, include Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Dunhill, Jil Sander and Yves Saint Laurent, to name a few, with more casual style from brands including Levis and Nike, and more classic from Sunspel and Turnbull & Asser. The site has been designed to be especially clean and easy to navigate compared with sites targeting women - less a comment on male intellect than on their propensity to get online, find, buy and sign off rather than browse for its own sake.
According to Massenet, creating a site consciously targeting male shopping habits has been imperative. "Men don't shop for clothes as women do because men's fashion is very different - it's more about personal style than following trends and does not alter radically from season to season," she says. "Men have a loyalty to styles and brands they find and like. Women want to know if an item is a must-have. Men want to know details about a particular buttonhole."
Mr Porter, of course, is not alone - most brands and many independent stores now offer their own online sales outlet. For example, while catering to both men and women, My-Wardrobe.com has recorded growth of 300 per cent in more mass-market menswear sales since it launched five seasons ago, with the Middle East, Scandinavia and the US currently its strongest regions. Similarly, menswear specialist Oki-ni has cornered a market for younger, more directional brands. Nor is Mr Porter's success guaranteed: Menalamode.com, launched to much fanfare three years ago, has since closed.
But what Mr Porter may be able to leverage is not only the access that Net-A-Porter's brand brings - "We launched that on the back-foot, having to convince brands that selling online was a good idea, but now we can walk straight into their CEO offices and they're already excited," says Massenet - but also the logistical power of its operation. Taxes and duties on all sales are prepaid and the company promises dispatch to 170 countries, including the UAE, overnight (compared with, in many instances, a turnaround for orders of three days or more). It also aims to put new products online weekly.
Net-A-Porter's entry into online menswear retail certainly hints at the sector's growth potential. According to James Nuttall, Oki-ni's marketing director, advances in technology have made online shopping more male-friendly, with higher bandwidths, higher resolution online image viewers and video all providing a greatly enhanced focus on detail, while editorial content provides style or historical context of a kind men especially like. "Some bricks-and-mortar shops can be such experiential places now that they actually get in the way of the factual approach to shopping that many men want to take," Nuttall argues. "In contrast, online now you can show a garment down to the fibre or thread in a way you can't even do in a shop."
It is perhaps surprising that virtual fashion stores are only now catering to men - after all, according to My-Wardrobe's buying director Luisa de Paula, they readily bought music, books, white goods and gadgets online long before women typically took mouse in hand and are still generally more savvy when it comes to using online resources for price comparison.
"That idea of an aversion to real shops is not always true," reckons de Paula. "Actually, men can be very tribal in the way they shop for clothes, being used now to going into very specific shops to buy their specific kind of clothing. But men are being drawn to the distinct benefits of online shopping - saving time, for example. With Mr Porter's launch, the breadth of the men's market is now being covered, from high-street to high end, which will help make online clothes shopping that much more appealing to men."
"What men really like about it is that it is a linear and systematised shopping experience," adds Massenet. "You don't have to wander through the lingerie department to find the menswear, for example. You won't have a sales assistant handing you a pair of jeans you'd never buy in a million years. And of course there is already a younger generation coming through that is highly digitally inclined. We're out to convince older generations of men to try it."
SHAITTAN
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If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
Know your camel milk:
Flavour: Similar to goat’s milk, although less pungent. Vaguely sweet with a subtle, salty aftertaste.
Texture: Smooth and creamy, with a slightly thinner consistency than cow’s milk.
Use it: In your morning coffee, to add flavour to homemade ice cream and milk-heavy desserts, smoothies, spiced camel-milk hot chocolate.
Goes well with: chocolate and caramel, saffron, cardamom and cloves. Also works well with honey and dates.
Tips on buying property during a pandemic
Islay Robinson, group chief executive of mortgage broker Enness Global, offers his advice on buying property in today's market.
While many have been quick to call a market collapse, this simply isn’t what we’re seeing on the ground. Many pockets of the global property market, including London and the UAE, continue to be compelling locations to invest in real estate.
While an air of uncertainty remains, the outlook is far better than anyone could have predicted. However, it is still important to consider the wider threat posed by Covid-19 when buying bricks and mortar.
Anything with outside space, gardens and private entrances is a must and these property features will see your investment keep its value should the pandemic drag on. In contrast, flats and particularly high-rise developments are falling in popularity and investors should avoid them at all costs.
Attractive investment property can be hard to find amid strong demand and heightened buyer activity. When you do find one, be prepared to move hard and fast to secure it. If you have your finances in order, this shouldn’t be an issue.
Lenders continue to lend and rates remain at an all-time low, so utilise this. There is no point in tying up cash when you can keep this liquidity to maximise other opportunities.
Keep your head and, as always when investing, take the long-term view. External factors such as coronavirus or Brexit will present challenges in the short-term, but the long-term outlook remains strong.
Finally, keep an eye on your currency. Whenever currency fluctuations favour foreign buyers, you can bet that demand will increase, as they act to secure what is essentially a discounted property.
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
The specs
Engine: 4 liquid-cooled permanent magnet synchronous electric motors placed at each wheel
Battery: Rimac 120kWh Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (LiNiMnCoO2) chemistry
Power: 1877bhp
Torque: 2300Nm
Price: Dh7,500,00
On sale: Now
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Revibe%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hamza%20Iraqui%20and%20Abdessamad%20Ben%20Zakour%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Refurbished%20electronics%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410m%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%2C%20Resonance%20and%20various%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
UAE SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Ali Khaseif, Fahad Al Dhanhani, Mohammed Al Shamsi, Adel Al Hosani
Defenders: Bandar Al Ahbabi, Shaheen Abdulrahman, Walid Abbas, Mahmoud Khamis, Mohammed Barghash, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Hassan Al Mahrami, Yousef Jaber, Mohammed Al Attas
Midfielders: Ali Salmeen, Abdullah Ramadan, Abdullah Al Naqbi, Majed Hassan, Abdullah Hamad, Khalfan Mubarak, Khalil Al Hammadi, Tahnoun Al Zaabi, Harib Abdallah, Mohammed Jumah
Forwards: Fabio De Lima, Caio Canedo, Ali Saleh, Ali Mabkhout, Sebastian Tagliabue
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Price: From Dh215,900
On sale: Now
Where to buy art books in the UAE
There are a number of speciality art bookshops in the UAE.
In Dubai, The Lighthouse at Dubai Design District has a wonderfully curated selection of art and design books. Alserkal Avenue runs a pop-up shop at their A4 space, and host the art-book fair Fully Booked during Art Week in March. The Third Line, also in Alserkal Avenue, has a strong book-publishing arm and sells copies at its gallery. Kinokuniya, at Dubai Mall, has some good offerings within its broad selection, and you never know what you will find at the House of Prose in Jumeirah. Finally, all of Gulf Photo Plus’s photo books are available for sale at their show.
In Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi has a beautiful selection of catalogues and art books, and Magrudy’s – across the Emirates, but particularly at their NYU Abu Dhabi site – has a great selection in art, fiction and cultural theory.
In Sharjah, the Sharjah Art Museum sells catalogues and art books at its museum shop, and the Sharjah Art Foundation has a bookshop that offers reads on art, theory and cultural history.
Company%20Profile
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The Beach Bum
Director: Harmony Korine
Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Isla Fisher, Snoop Dogg
Two stars
INDIA SQUAD
Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami
Second ODI
England 322-7 (50 ovs)
India 236 (50 ovs)
England win by 86 runs
Next match: Tuesday, July 17, Headingley
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
360Vuz PROFILE
Date started: January 2017
Founder: Khaled Zaatarah
Based: Dubai and Los Angeles
Sector: Technology
Size: 21 employees
Funding: $7 million
Investors: Shorooq Partners, KBW Ventures, Vision Ventures, Hala Ventures, 500Startups, Plug and Play, Magnus Olsson, Samih Toukan, Jonathan Labin
Company profile
Name: Thndr
Started: October 2020
Founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: pre-seed of $800,000
Funding stage: series A; $20 million
Investors: Tiger Global, Beco Capital, Prosus Ventures, Y Combinator, Global Ventures, Abdul Latif Jameel, Endure Capital, 4DX Ventures, Plus VC, Rabacap and MSA Capital
Spider-Man%202
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Freezer tips
- Always make sure food is completely cool before freezing.
- If you’re cooking in large batches, divide into either family-sized or individual portions to freeze.
- Ensure the food is well wrapped in foil or cling film. Even better, store in fully sealable, labelled containers or zip-lock freezer bags.
- The easiest and safest way to defrost items such as the stews and sauces mentioned is to do so in the fridge for several hours or overnight.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
