Travels of a T-Shirt How to Trust Government Data (...State economic officials are hoping to harness the power of a Keene, N.H., company's T-shirt that has gained some serious buzz on the Web. 's Top 100 list. The shirt, which depicts three wolves howling at a moon, gained cult status after a satirical review was posted claiming it had the ability to attract beautiful women, among other powers. Similar reviews were posted, and demand for the shirt grew until printing company The Mountain had to work overtime to handle the spike. The state Division of Economic Development said Tuesday it is designating the shirt the official T-shirt of New Hampshire economic development."The Mountain's Three Wolf Moon is a true New Hampshire success story," said Steve Boucher of the Division of Economic Development. "What started off as a tongue-in-cheek take on a cool T-shirt has resulted in worldwide acclaim for a very creative and growing Granite State business."The shirt has been worn by actor Rainn Wilson of "The Office" and Allan Hyde of "True Blood."

It was also worn by the U.S. Marine's Bravo Company 1st Combat Engineer Battalion.Boucher said an online campaign will be launched featuring local business officials and celebrities wearing the shirt. The Business Resource Center also plans to give Three Wolf Moon shirts to winners of its monthly "Innovation Rocks!" initiative, which recognizes the ingenuity of New Hampshire's innovation leaders.Boucher said that regardless of the truth of the claims of mystical properties possessed by the shirt, he's optimistic about the effect it will have on New Hampshire's economy."If it can generate half of the results that Amazon shoppers are experiencing, we're in awesome shape," he said. "Every CEO should be wearing this shirt."A "circular economy" is a concept being increasingly bandied about these days.  But what is it exactly?  To those unfamiliar with the topic it can seem a bit complex. No more straight line to the landfill A circular economy is defined “one that is restorative and regenerative by design, and which aims to keep products, components and materials at their highest utility and value at all times, distinguishing between technical and biological cycles.”

In short, a circular economy uses resources so that they are continually reused, making them go around and around through a production and consumption cycle. In contrast, most of our economic system works on a linear model, where a product is manufactured, consumed, and then thrown out. Used Drop Deck Furniture Trailers For SaleTake for example, a T-shirt. Hardwood Floor Installation Worcester MaFibers are grown in a field, produced in factory, sold at a store, consumed at home, and then thrown in the trash to be sent to the landfill.Bengal Kittens For Sale In New York State The upshot is that we invest an immense amount of energy and resources to create a product that has a short consumer lifespan. 

In a world with seemingly boundless resources, this would not be a problem, However, with the Earth nearing its environmental limits, such practices are increasingly damaging and unsustainable. Let’s imagine how the life of this T-shirt would look if American consumers bought their fashions from companies following a circular model. In this example, consumers return their merchandise back to the manufacturers, who then recycle the clothing and sell it again. Sounds like a good idea. Why don't we have a circular economy now? A lot of the products we buy now are not manufactured to last very long. As a result, businesses profit when their low-quality items fall apart and consumers are forced to buy again. Using fashion as an example again, the world’s biggest retailers have created something called “fast fashion,” whereby new fashions are introduced (and discarded) to increase purchasing and profit.  This practice is short-sighted, however, and ultimately very destructive to our planet and the well-being of our fellow global citizens.

(When clothing is cheap for Westerners, it’s because others are paying the price—like the Bangladeshi workers who were killed in the collapse of the Rana Plaza textile factory.) On the other side of the coin, we as consumers would need to make a larger effort to repurpose our products than we do now, and research has shown that we tend to do so only when it’s convenient for us. Are there real-life examples of this happening right now? Yes, there are companies that have taken steps to move toward a circular model. Levi’s is one brand taking the initiative to recycle, allowing customers to return their old pairs of jeans to any store location to be repurposed or recycled. Other businesses utilize a leasing model, which helps prolong the life of items that may otherwise be prematurely dumped. Furnishare, for example, is a New York-based company that delivers and rents out quality-furniture. The idea was formulated after founder Alpay Koralturk became frustrated not only by the stress of moving in New York City, but also by the amount of furniture that was constantly being thrown out.

The Furnishare system encourages high-quality manufacturing, reuse, and repair, all principles of a circular economy. What can we do to move towards a circular economy? We can start the shift towards a circular economy by purchasing from businesses that have made steps to adopt circular practices. We can also aim to lengthen the useful life of what we purchase by repairing our things instead of replacing them. As for clothing, we can patch and sew them up, revamp them, and finally recycle items we no longer want. Planet Aid makes it easy to do this through its system of yellow bins across the country, as well as its Thrift Store in Baltimore, Maryland. If we all make the effort to move away from a linear mindset, we can improve both the quality of our products and our environment. P-Lux want to turn former French foreign ministers Robert Schuman into a European icon. The European Union hasn’t exactly been picking up fans over the past few years. Since autumn 2007, the percentage of Europeans for whom the EU conjures up a negative image has doubled to 28%, while only 31% have positive associations when thinking of the EU, down from 49%, according to the institution’s own survey conducted this spring.

Hardly the right atmosphere to start a new business trying to dip into enthusiasm for European institutions. But that’s exactly what Gauthier Bas, a 26-year-old Frenchman who works in Brussels as a PR consultant, and his friend Charlelie Jourdan are trying to do. This spring, the pair founded P-Lux, “the very first Europe-wide brand of clothings dedicated to promote the European Idea.” For sale are T-shirts featuring a stylized image of Robert Schuman, a French foreign minister who was instrumental in the creation of the EU after World War II, as well as one commemorating the 1992 signing of the Treaty of Maastricht, the legal basis of the euro. P-Lux hope their T-shirts get more people talking about the EU. “We think that it is important to talk more about Europe and to talk differently about Europe, because the communication policy of the institutions is quite useless,” says Mr. Bas, pointing to recent PR disasters such as the “Science: It’s a Girl Thing” campaign and a Kill Bill-inspired video promoting the EU’s enlargement policy that triggered accusations of sexism and racism.

During his time as a trainee at the European Parliament’s communication services, Mr. Bas says he just couldn’t to get excited about the white T-shirt with a blue-and-yellow EU flag he was asked to wear for the assembly’s open day. Instead, Messrs. Bas and Jourdan are trying a different tack, drawing inspiration from the iconic “Hope” image of Barack Obama’s 2008 election campaign and vintage college T-shirts. “They could sell at H&M,” Mr. Bas says of the T-shirt designs. With that strategy, the two hope to turn Robert Schuman into their “European Grandpa,” a Che Guevara not for the international left but today’s “Erasmus generation.” (Erasmus is the name of a popular program that allows students to spend a semester or year at a university in another EU country.) “We decided to do T-shirts, because if you put a message on a T-shirt the person wears the T-shirt and carries the message around,” says Mr. Bas. “Some people will ask him about the T-shirt.

It creates a dialogue.” In PR speak: “It’s a multiplier.”Featuring clips from Messrs. Bas and Jourdan’s own Erasmus years and European travels (as well as some great examples of euro-English), the video helped the pair raise €3,535 — far above their €2,500 goal — from 100 like-minded euro-thiasts to get the project off the ground. So far, Mr. Bas said they have sold some 100 T-shirts, with around 30 going to people outside Brussels and their own families. Some were shipped all the way to Canada, to a group of students participating in a simulation of the European Parliament. But once they have streamlined their production and shopping process, the two hope to extend their reach beyond the already-initiated. Already in the pipeline are T-shirts commemorating the Treaty of Lisbon, signed in 2007, as well as images of Jean Monnet (another “founding father” of the EU) as well as German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and French President François Mitterrand holding hands close to the Verdun battlefields in 1984.