ShopDiary

California Gift Card Law: Get Cash Back From Your Gift Cards

Image by ShopDiary. Gift card images from respective retailers.

California shoppers, listen up. As of January 1st, you’ll be able to redeem gift cards for cash if the balance is less than $10, thanks to a new state law, SB250, signed in October. Currently, gift cards worth less than $5 can be subjected to dormancy fees and a store can refuse to give the remaining value back in cash no matter how small the value. Unredeemed gift cards have raked in as much as $8.2 billion for retailers in 2006, according to Sen. Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro), who authored the bill. The law will apply to any gift certificate or gift card sold after Jan. 1, 1997. Existing state law already prohibits retailers from putting an expiration date on gift cards.

So dig into your wallet, dresser drawers or wherever place you’ve stashed your unused gift cards. If their value is less than $10, you get to claim your cash back. Be vigilant though. As the law is new, some retailers like Victoria’s Secret, may not have gotten the memo and still refuse to give your change.

[via L.A. Times]

Diane Von Furstenberg Sues Forever 21

When I posted the Cerisier knock-off last week, I wondered “What would Diane do?” Now I know. As reported by WWD:

Diane von Furstenberg Studio filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Forever 21 Retail Inc. late last week in Manhattan federal court. According to legal documents obtained Tuesday, the company alleged Forever 21 has sold dresses that infringe on its Cerisier and Aubrey designs.

The picture above shows the DVF “Aubrey” on the left and the F21 “Pinecone” on the right. I thought the F21 version looked vaguely familiar when I first saw it but I couldn’t quite place it.

Thanks to Julie of Coutorture Media for featuring this story!

[Via Catwalk Queen and The Budget Fashionista]

eBay’s 2006 Holiday Hot List

eBay just posted its Holiday Hot List for 2006. A quick peek in their apparel category shows the top keywords for women’s clothing are “gap”, “abercrombie”, “juicy”, “couture” and “seven”. Interesting.

Item specifics for women’s jeans show “skinny jeans” alongside “boot cut”, “flare”, “low rise” and “Zac Posen”. On women’s shoes item specifics as “Christian Louboutin”, “Jimmy Choo”, “Manolo Blahnik” and “UGG”, among others. Which means that there’s something for everyone on eBay.

This probably also means that it’s never too late to get rid of those UGG boots that you stopped wearing a long time ago while making a few bucks for the holidays at the same time. Cheers!

Tomas Maier for Bottega Veneta

Tomas Maier, creative director of Italian leather goods house Bottega Veneta, has been featured recently in magazines like Time and Vanity Fair. And rightly so. The German born Maier is “the designer largely responsible for ushering in a profitable countertrend of subtlety and refinement to the overblown, logo-besotted luxury market.”

Maier and his team are luxury rebels. They have refused to succumb to the democratization of luxury brands, marked by big logos, lower-priced offerings and “it” bags….Maier’s concept–that the consumer can recognize a brand by the design and quality of the product instead of by a logo–is limited to a very sophisticated consumer, but élitism is what makes it work. A survey conducted last week among wealthy Americans by the New York City–based Luxury Institute revealed that Bottega Veneta outranked Hermès and Armani as the most prestigious luxury fashion brand this year.

Bottega Veneta’s signature woven, or intreciatto, bags are made of leather so soft they assume a slouchy shape and can be packed flat. If understated elegance appeals to you, then Bottega Veneta should be in your closet.

Photo Credit: Net-a-Porter