retail
LifestyleYahoo Canada StyleDon't miss out on the best (and worst) things to buy in June
We've rounded up some of the best deals of the month.
LifestyleYahoo Canada StyleThese are the best and worst things to buy in May
Keep your eyes peeled for some of the biggest deals of the year happening this month.
LifestyleYahoo Canada StyleThe best and worst things to buy in April 2020
These are the deals to look out for this month.
NewsYahoo LifeWalmart is letting its employees wear jeans — but the dress code change isn't as great as it may seem
The retail chain announced that some stores would be testing a revised uniform that allows for blue jeans, jeggings, chinos, skorts, and shirts of any solid color.
NewsYahoo LifeThe 'it' girl model trifecta walked this posh runway show
The runway at the Anna Sui Fall 2018 show at NYFW was filled with a variety of bold colors, mixed textures, and the designer’s unmistakable flair.
NewsWoman's DayClaire's Has Pulled 17 Makeup Products After They Tested Positive for Asbestos
The items are marketed to children and teens.
NewsInStyleYes, The Post-Holiday Sales Include the Best Deals You've Seen All Year
Here's your cheat sheet on where to shop during the post-holiday sales and boxing day.
NewsYahoo LifePatagonia founder invited to testify to Congress over Trump spat
On Friday, Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, invited Yvon Chouinard, founder of the ourtdoorwear retailer Patagonia, to testify before Congress about its rebuke of President Trump's decision to reduce the extent of the Bears Ears National Monument.
NewsYahoo LifeSephora, Burberry, ASOS: Here’s how to get the best beauty and fashion deals this season
From Sephora to Burberry to Tom Ford, these are the best beauty and fashion discounts through the end of the year and how to take advantage of them.
NewsYahoo LifeHave we seen the end of the Black Friday stampede?
Though we have yet to see bloody, violent stampedes like those of years past, it doesn't mean Black Friday 2017 has been without incident.
NewsYahoo LifeLuLaRoe superseller live-streams exclusive look inside company warehouse
In a live stream posted to her Facebook page, saleswoman Crystal Foy brought LuLaRoe fans along with her — and the lady in charge, DeAnne Stidham — as they pulled their own inventory from the shelves of the expansive warehouse.
NewsYahoo LifePlus sizes not offered by 99.9% of luxury fashion designers
According to new data, plus-size shoppers are shut out of shopping at luxury fashion brands. But those brands can't afford to ignore 67% of shoppers anymore.
NewsYahoo LifePlus-size shoppers grill retail execs: 'When I see your regular models, they don't look like me'
At theCurvyCon 2017, retail executives answered shopper questions about the plus-size market and what they're doing to solve its biggest issues.
NewsYahoo LifeParents who back-to-school shop online are missing out, psychologists say
Online shopping may make back-to-school shopping more convenient for some families, but psychologists say it will never really replace this formative experience.
NewsTown & CountryHow Melania Trump Is Handling the First Lady Role
Clinton spoke up for the 11-year-old via Twitter after an article attacked the first son's clothes.
NewsYahoo LifeNasty Gal's former CEO can't stop throwing shade at the company
Nasty Gal founder Sophia Amoruso left the company in 2015 but continues to call out the brand on Twitter for its mistakes.
NewsYahoo LifeThe key to the perfect fitting room isn't just about 'skinny mirrors'
In a 1994 Seinfeld episode, Elaine Benes, the fictional character played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, spends an afternoon shopping a “huge sale” at Barney’s department store in New York City. Elaine finds a dress she loves, and she thinks it loves her back. That is, until she gets home.“I try this dress on. Stunning. Stunning. I couldn’t take my eyes off myself,” Elaine tells Jerry Seinfeld. “OK, so then I put it on at home. It looks like I’m carrying twins!”And in that comedic moment, Elaine identified the arch nemesis of every frustrated shopper: skinny mirrors. “Skinny mirrors! They make you look, like, 10 pounds lighter!” she cries.If Elaine’s plight sounds familiar, then you too may have fallen victim to the skinny mirror snafu, in which a particularly cheap or warped mirror reflects to you a morphed version of your size, perhaps taller and thinner than you see yourself IRL. But more on that later.While Elaine was certainly on to something, the truth is, there’s so much more to a disheartening fitting room experiences than the culpable skinny mirror. There are actually dozens of things that affect how you feel about yourself when you try something on in-store, and retailers have struggled for years to perfect the fitting room formula.“Fitting rooms are a psychological land mine for everybody,” Marge Laney, CEO of retail consulting company Alert Tech said in 2015. “Retailers can’t do anything about that at all, and they shouldn’t even try to address that. What they can do is ride as lightly as they can on psychological problems by creating an environment that makes the customer look and feel good.”Laney’s son Brian, the vice president of sales and product for Alert Tech, has worked with his mother for the last 20-plus years, and talked to Yahoo Style about how he tries to help retailers be successful and shoppers comfortable.Brian Laney says that until the 2010s, “fitting rooms were horribly utilized” and retailers really didn’t pay attention to how fitting rooms impact sales.“Spending money on a high quality mirror is really important, but labor is also one of the largest costs that retailers spend money on,” he adds, “and they weren’t training their labor to address fitting room problems, like connecting people with associates.”According to the National Retail Federation, more than two-thirds of shoppers who use fitting rooms are likely to buy something, and those who use fitting rooms are twice as likely to buy than people who don’t use them. Other fitting room factors that majorly affect sales: the availability of a salesperson to pull another size and the length of the fitting room line to begin with.Some retailers have tried to bring too much technology into what should be a simple, comfortable space, which can ultimately make fitting room lines longer, says Laney. The so-called “magic mirror” craze in 2015, in which “smart” mirrors that displayed widgets and touch screen functionality to shoppers, never quite caught on, despite industry fanfare and implementation at stores like Rebecca Minkoff.Laney says it’s because adding high-tech features to a space where shoppers already feel vulnerable adds another layer of stress to the mix. Plus, shoppers who aren’t tech savvy end up spending too much time in fitting rooms trying to figure out how to work the machinery, creating even longer fitting room lines.So, if all this tech isn’t the answer to fitting room woes, what is? The formula for a perfect fitting room isn’t as tough as retailers make it out to be, according Laney, who boils it down in the following way: Fitting rooms shouldn’t make shoppers feel claustrophobic or like they need a flashlight; if you’re sweating before you’ve unzipped your pants, it’s too hot; if there are leftover clothes or debris from previous shoppers, that’s a deterrent for buyers.Regarding those pesky mirrors, Yahoo Style spoke with Michael Tuts, physics department chair at Columbia University, for the skinny on how to spot a mirror you can trust. When a mirror is vertically convex (“the top and bottom of the mirror bends and bulges out in the middle”) or horizontally convex (“the sides are squeezed until the middle bulges out”), the way the light reflects off the mirror can reveal an image that isn’t true to size. Meaning that you might appear shorter and fatter or taller and thinner than you truly are.Tuts says “flat” mirrors will the reflect the same height and width of the object (in this case, you).“The way you could tell [a mirror is flat] is by taking in a nice straight ruler in with you — hold it vertically on the mirror and see that it touches everywhere. There should be no gaps between the ruler and the mirror surface,” Tuts explains. “Now hold it horizontally. If there are no gaps, then it is a flat mirror, whereas if you see a gap at the end of the ruler, then you are looking in a ’skinny-making’ mirror.”The horror of all horrors when it comes to mirrors might be when the mirror itself is placed outside an individual’s fitting room, a cardinal sin according to Laney. Still, some retailers like Aritzia stand by their decision to use communal mirrors in a “spacious, well-lit environment” that “allows for a more social shopping experience and greater access to our highly knowledgeable stylists,” says an Aritzia spokesperson.And if anything else in that fitting room is making you feel uncomfortable, consider whether you’d feel better trying on the clothes at home (depending, of course, on the store’s return policy). That’s always been this writer’s MO, and it probably would’ve helped one Elaine Benes 20 years ago, too.Read more from Yahoo Style + Beauty: • Angelina Jolie, One of Hollywood’s Highest Paid Stars, Wore an Affordable Everlane Outfit • Tiffany Trump Quotes Muhammad Ali in Stylish Memorial Day Photo • Teen Faced Her ‘Biggest Fear’ and Wore a Swimsuit at the BeachFollow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyle and @YahooBeauty.
NewsYahoo LifeVain Millennial Men Still Need Mommy to Shop for Them, Says Survey
A recent poll conducted by a men's clothing startup finds that millennial men are vain about their butts and are still getting shopping help from their moms.
NewsThe Zoe ReportH&M’s Newest Designer Collaboration Is So Epic
We can't wait to get our hands on it.
NewsYahoo LifeWho Really Shops at High-End Airport Stores? A Lot of People, and They Spend Thousands.
Shoppers with money to blow and time to kill are enjoying luxury shopping at international airports like Heathrow, where a new personal shopping service launched, attracting fashionistas and celebrities.
NewsPopsugar USA Former Employee Breaks Down EVERYTHING You Need to Know About Forever 21
Forever 21 is a girl's dream come true when it comes to fast fashion. I worked there for almost two years, and I learned a lot of insider shopping secrets during my time at the store.
NewsInStyleNet-a-Porter Sale Section Has the Best Under $100 Finds
You will never be able to forgive yourself for missing this amazing sale.
NewsYahoo LifeYou Could Be Wearing Ivanka Trump Right Now and Not Even Know It
Shoppers and activists were outraged over a case of "mistakenly labeled" Ivanka Trump dresses relabeled as Adrienne Vittadini dresses. But this is actually common industry practice, not politics.
NewsRefinery29Ivanka Trump's Clothing Label Just Changed Its Name...Sort Of
On Monday, it was revealed that the company that owns Ivanka Trump's eponymous fashion label has been reselling items from her clothing line with a different designer tag. G-III Apparel Group has admitted to relabeling pieces from Trump's line with the tag of Adrienne Vittadini Studio and reselling them to Stein Mart, a chain that has nearly 300 stores across America, without the knowledge of Ivanka Trump and the Trump organization, Business of Fashion reported. “G-III accepts responsibility for resolving this issue, which occurred without the knowledge or consent of the Ivanka Trump organization,” a representative for G-III, which manufactures and distributes Trump's line via a licensing agreement, told BoF.
NewsYahoo LifeHistory Buffs and Hipsters Will Love this Mob Hangout-Turned-Designer Shop
For Stacia Canon, owner of the Canon NYC store at 150 Sullivan St., that history is personal as much as it is part of her business. SoHo’s Thompson-Sullivan Historic District, where the Canon NYC store lives, was home to plenty of mafia outposts.