This t-shirt typically retails at around $30 from Abercrombie & Fitch.

This very similar white v-neck t-shirt is only $6.95 from H&M.

From a university student’s perspective, the H&M t-shirt is more economical because I can get more wear out it as it is way more versatile and the price is much more attractive. On the other hand, Bloomberg Businessweek states that teenagers are moving away from logos because they strive for individuality and uniqueness rather than brand “uniforms”.

The clothes that one chooses to wear, says a lot about a person.

“Besides communicating about a person’s beliefs and nationality, clothing can be used as a non-verbal outlet to attract others. Men and women might adorn themselves with accessories and keep up with the latest fashion trends to attract partners they are interested in. In this case, clothing becomes a means of self-expression, and people can sense power, wealth, sex appeal, personality, or creativity just by looking at what a person is wearing.” – Maggie Pazian, examiner.com

This being another reason why consumers tend to shy away from branded clothing. Brands can say so much about a person, for example wearing Abercrombie & Fitch clothing may be a sign of money and good fashion sense in the eyes of younger generations, while older generations may not want to be caught dead in an Abercrombie & Fitch hoodie for fear of being judged for not dressing their age.

Another reason for this social trend may be caused by fashion advice websites that are promoting logo-less clothing for university students.The following photo was taken from College Fashion‘s Valentine’s day outfit page. As you can see, there are no visible logos on the clothes.

But then again there is the question of what came first, the chicken or the egg? Is the fashion trend moving away from logos because fashion advice tells them to? Or are fashion websites simply reporting the fact that there is a trend and making recommendations for those who are behind?

It’s amazing how far toilet paper has come. From wet sponges to leaves, straw, hay, and grass to  catalog paper,  and from traditional toilet paper to the new flushable wipes, humans have come a long way in developing a product that is used primarily for the purposes of wiping one’s bottom after going to the loo.

Personally, I don’t put much thought into toilet paper. Yes, it is a necessity, but I honestly couldn’t care less about softness or absorbency or pretty patterns that supposedly make the toilet paper stronger. So you can imagine I was surprised to come across a site called The Toilet Paper Encyclopedia. It is dedicated to toilet paper history, its uses, funny stories about toilet paper and it includes surveys about how people feel about their restroom experience. Who knew! A fact I found particularly interesting was that 75% of people who took the survey, said that ’tissue texture’ was the most important factor for public washrooms.

Now I’m sure you’ve all seen these ads multiple times on the television, but I’ve posted a few here, just to refresh your memory:

Quilted Northern Soft and Strong Ad                                 Kleenex Cottonelle Ad

Charmin Ultra Soft Ad                                                   Purex Ad

From these ads, it would seem that these companies actually conducted market research about what their consumers wanted from their toilet paper and then designed the new product to meet those needs. Whether it be softness, strength (to stay together), the company’s community involvement, absorbency, environmental impact, and how the consumer feels after each use. It’s very interesting to see how much thought people put into deciding what brand of toilet paper to purchase.

And if you’re one of those people who uses the new ‘flushable wipes’, you might want to watch this video on Flushable Wipes as consumer reports found that they don’t do all that they promise.