Pitti Immagine Uomo the Menswear show opens tomorrow in Florence. London Menswear Show in progress.

Watch the Live Streaming of Burberry Menswear fashion show at London #LCM at 1pm today. @Burberry

Geometric shapes and forms are new jewellery trends this Spring.

What’s new this spring?  The regularity of well-balanced shape and geometric form in contemporary jewellery.  

Matrick Jewwellery

Alma Sophia Grønli Geller

These are some of the latest in sculptural contemporary jewellery that I look forward to find at the Spring edition of Top Drawer due to take place at London Olympia 17 – 19 January.

Marks & Spencer CEO Marc Bolan to retire amid disappointing Christmas sales

As its general merchandise sales plummeted over the Christmas period, UK’s leading retailer Marks and Spencer (M&S) has announced that chief executive Marc Bolland will retire in early April and he will be succeeded by new director of general merchandise Steve Rowe.

General merchandise fell 5.8% on a like-for-like basis in the 13 weeks to 26 December.

On BBC's Radio 4 this morning, Bolan said he informed the board in the summer of 2015 that he was planning to leave in 2016. Bolland said he has completed core tasks such as restructuring the retailer's website in his six-year period at M&S.   He is set to stay in his position until the end of the current financial year.

Bolland said in a statement, "It has been a huge honour to lead one of Britain's most iconic companies." "I am delighted to handover to Steve Rowe as my successor. I have worked closely with Steve for six years and I am convinced that he will be a great leader for Marks and Spencer."

According to financial news reports, the retailer's share price has climbed over 15% under Bolland's regime, although sales in the current financial year have not taken off significantly yet. Merchandise was down 0.4% like-for-like in the first quarter.  M&S shares were up more than 1.5% in early morning trading.

Meanwhile M&S’ clothing rival and UK's second largest retailer - Next - also released disappointing Christmas sales figures earlier in the week while blaming it on unseasonal warm weather.   

“This quarter was unusual in that we didn’t have any cold weeks. There’s not a lot you can do. When it’s warm in winter people don’t buy T-shirts and shorts,” said chief executive Lord Wolfson. 

Next reported Tuesday revenue that missed analysts’ estimates, and, consequently, that profit will come in at the bottom of its forecast range.

UK Private Sector Growth ticks up at end 2015 – CBI GROWTH INDICATOR

The UK economy has finished 2015 strongly, according to the latest CBI Growth Indicator,

especially with business services showing impressive growth.

The CBI survey of 766 respondents, which comprises economic activity across manufacturing, retail and business & consumer services sectors, found growth improving following weaker figures reported last month.

The balance of firms reporting rising output was +20%, compared with +13% in November, well above the long run average of +5%.

Recovering growth across the retail and wholesale sectors was buttressed by a strong year end among business and professional services, though manufacturers, especially exporters, continue to face difficult times.

Overall, the economy is expected to grow at a similar pace over the next three months (+20%), well above the long-run average (+10%). 

“Nonetheless, there is no room for complacency in 2016 as significant challenges to global growth remain, "said Carolyn Fairbairn, CBI Director-General. “Many emerging markets are facing a testing time, with China moving to a slower growth path and other emerging economies being buffeted by low commodity prices, capital outflows and currency depreciation. 

Fairbairn added, “The picture differs markedly by sector. Manufacturers are having a tough time, with the strength of sterling hitting their competitiveness in the Eurozone and the slowdown in emerging markets weighing on export demand. And the North Sea industry and its suppliers are feeling the impact of falling global oil prices.”

Wishing everyone a jolly New Year 2016!

As New Year resolutions go, this one leads to the charity shops.

Well, it's that time of the year again and as we reflect on the happenings in our lives over the last 12 months (the triumphs along with a few regrets perhaps), once again we are going through that process of decluttering our possessions in order to make room for the new year. 

But decluttering is a major responsibility, a chore that I always dread because it is not simply about throwing things out, but deciding on what to discard and what to keep?

But before we do anything, we should consider how we can prolong the life of any items we no longer need or want, as I do believe reuse is better than recycling, or at least to consider the further usefulness of any item before chucking it out to the recycle bin, and the default destination for most of our unwanted possessions will be the local charity shop.

Donating to a charity shop allows your items to live on as well as generating funds to protect and help those who most need it in our society, according to Alastair Petrie, General Manager of BMc Azurri, a company specialising in the provision of Gift Aid systems and IT services for the charity sector. 

The only problem appears to be that a lot of people aren’t sure exactly what’s worth donating, or how best to donate. "We’ve found that some charities are missing out on funding because of the processes required to maximise the benefit available from every donation," according to Alastair. 

So, if you are planning on a new year clear out, Alastair offers these tips for sorting through our unwanted items and making sure charity shops can get the most from your charitable donations.

Remember, remember…Gift Aid

The most important factor in donating to charity shops is Gift Aid. Gift Aid is a tax incentive which allows anyone who pays income tax in the UK to complete a very simple declaration to this effect, stating that they’re happy for Gift Aid to be applied to their donation. Any donations they make are then treated as being made after basic-rate income tax, so the charity can reclaim the value of that tax on each donation. For most people, this adds 25% to the value of their donations, and can have a big impact on a charity’s profits and ability to help their cause.

Declarations are incredibly simple to make

Originally they had to be made in writing, but now they can be made orally. Charities still need to confirm the declaration in writing for records, but for the donor there’s little more to it than verbally confirming that you’re happy for a charity to get 25% extra from the government on all of your donations.

Make this declaration as early as possible in the process, to ensure that you’re on record as a Gift Aid donor. Many charities will have systems in place to enable you to make a declaration over the phone when you first contact them, or fill out an online form. Confirming Gift Aid doesn’t require a signature, so you can get the process underway immediately.

Almost everything is welcome

So what to donate? The short answer is anything which might sell. Just a few examples of donations which are always in demand:

•           Unwanted gifts

•           Clothing and shoes

•           Accessories

•           Toys and games

•           Books, DVDs, CDs and especially vinyl

•           Crockery, glassware, bakeware, etc.

A lot of people wonder – especially in the case of clothes – whether their donation will actually sell. Charities are likely to face a disposal cost for items which they can’t shift, but in the case of clothing, almost every charity shop will have a relationship with one or more textile merchants, so everything donated can be sold on. Even if the charity shop is essentially a landfill alternative in the case of some items, you can always label a bag of clothes ‘for rag.’

Practically every donation is useful. 

Whilst all charities will have the ability to gain income from the “rags “ sale many of them do not maximise the Gift Aid that can increase the value to the charity This is partly because of the associated administration effort but the latest developments in systems make this easier thus enabling charities to claim Gift Aid on the regular Rags income stream and maximise the return so donors should consider a charity shop ahead of the alternatives of landfill and the cash for clothes operators.

Check first for specialist items

Furniture and electrical items can bring often bring in higher revenue for a charity shop. Making sure that the shop you’re planning on donating to can handle this type of donation is important, as not all locations have the facilities. When donating items of furniture, make sure that they have a fire retardant label attached, as this will be necessary for resale and will cost the charity if absent. Any electrical goods should be inspected and tested before donation, ideally by a qualified electrician. If you’re not sure if a charity can handle a certain sort of donation, always contact them first and describe the item fully so that they can judge for themselves.

Focus on what might sell rather than what might not

It’ll be up to the shop’s customers to decide what they’re interested in, and that coat that you wouldn’t be seen dead in might wind up becoming someone else’s treasured possession; those old boxsets that you’ll never watch again might introduce someone to their new favourite show.

Interesting Christmas Trivia – Hampshire is the British county with most Christmassy street names

With over 2,200 variations, Hampshire has topped a chart for the county with the most festive street names* in Great Britain. 

According to Landmark Information Group, the UK’s supplier of digital mapping, property and environmental risk information, it recently undertook a research of its national datasets to identify the areas that come out on top with road names linked to Christmastime – and it found that counties located in the South of the UK are at the top of the chart.

With road names including Holly Road, Mistletoe Road, Christmas Avenue and Rudolph Court, Hampshire is the most Christmas-friendly county, followed by Surrey, Essex, Hertfordshire and Kent. Lancashire is the most festive Northern counties, which features at number 11 in the chart with 885 variations.

When looking specifically at key cities and boroughs, the Midlands and North shine brightly, with Birmingham leads with over 3,300 festively named roads, followed by Durham and Leeds. Those at the bottom of the chart with the least number of festive street names include Swindon with just four, while Denbighshire in north Wales has just two. 

Over a quarter (27%) of all streets named ‘Santa’ are located in Milton Keynes, while Hertfordshire is at the front of the pack when it comes to streets named ‘Rudolph’. Only Devon and Hampshire have streets with the word ‘Cracker’ included, while almost a third of all ‘Turkey’ referenced street names can be found in Enfield. Medway leads when it comes to streets named ‘Christmas’ with almost a quarter of all Christmas-named streets being based in the area (23.8%). There are no streets currently named ‘Humbug’ across the UK!

Samantha Ashton, Landmark Information Group said: “We cross-examined our national datasets to see which areas of the country really are the most festive based on their street-names, while Hampshire strived as the leading county, overall Birmingham came out on top with well over 3,300 roads that have a Christmas connection – whether it’s Ivy Avenue, Old Snow Hill, Holly Lane or Bells Farm. It’s been interesting to see just which areas come out top.”