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Bridget Sandals:The Only Sandals Sexier Than Stilettos

Gadgets For Her

Why Women HateSports

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The focus of our feature article this week is Bridget Sandals, a world class product made right here on the Rock. This week’s issue is rounded out with our usual tip-friendly features as well as another with a little insight into the respective psyches of both sexes. It is always my pleasure to present something new and fresh every Monday. We appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to indulge in Your Style.

Have a productive week.

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Editor’s Note

Quote of The Week

Photography by Warren Buckle

2010APR19

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automati-

cally liberates others.”

-Marianne Williamson

Gadgets For Her

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technology

I t’s 2010, and if mid-20th century science fic-tion films are anything to go by, we should have seen our first flying, foldable car; but alas, we will have to make do with video phones and the wonder of self –parking cars for now. For

many women, who rival men with the number and types of gadgets they purchase; design, ease of use and style are some important criteria.

Our numerous advances in technology have seen the need for the average person to be connected at all times, and to have whatever they need available to them at a moment’s notice. With our fast pace world, these gadgets will defi-nitely keep today’s woman in the thick of it all.

Smart Phone

Even with Nokia, Motorola and even Google all tossing their hats into the fray of smart phone combatants nowadays, the top dogs continue to be RIM’s BlackBerry (affection-ately called BB) handhelds, and of course Apple’s stylishly app-heavy iPhone. Bucking the worldwide trend, Jamaica’s choice has to be the BlackBerry, with all mobile providers facilitating unlimited data transfer for affordable fees.

Features such as BB Messenger, in addition to social net-working sites such as Facebook and Twitter, endear the BB to the hearts of the Jamaican woman. Leisure, business or a little of both, the iPhone and the BlackBerry is a good bet for today’s connected woman.

netbook (mini laPtoP)

The laptop has come full circle with portability, once more being the index by which today’s leading computers are be-ing judged. For smaller laptops, Lenovo seems to be the product of choice according to www.notebookreview.com, with the Apple and Dell making contributions to the top 10 list.

At five pounds or less, with notably sleek designs and a va-riety of fun colours you can choose from, these fully func-tional computers fit perfectly into an oversized handbag with little or no fuss. Style, convenience and functionality in one package.

mP3 Player

With the compact disc on the verge of going the route of the dinosaurs, the preferred format is of course MP3 play-ers. Music has gone digital and digital has gone stylish. Since the advent of the ubiquitous iPod, makers of digital music players have all been put under pressure to combine style and functionality.

While products from Zen, Creative and even Microsoft are all worthwhile alternatives, Apple’s baby is still the instru-ment of choice. With the ease of connectivity and iTunes becoming almost synonymous with digital music purchase, the iPod is the easy choice for an MP3 player. At home, in the car or at the gym, your music becomes the playlist to your life.

For many women, who rival men with

the number and types of gadgets they purchase;

design, ease of use and style are some

important criteria.

”

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T

Bridget Sandalscover story

The Only Sandals Sexier Than Stilettos

o most, Jamaica is famous for its beautiful land-scape; beaches, rivers, waterfalls, exotic plants, reggae music, coffee and of course, rum. With our manufacturing sector a mere shadow of

its former self, “Made in Jamaica” doesn’t quite extend much further than rum and coffee; but in the heart of Kingston at 1 Abbeydale Road rests a 25 year old shoe manufacturing company. Alive, vibrant and 100 percent Jamaican, Bridget Sandals stands as a tribute to the per-sistence of the Jamaican entrepreneurial spirit.

Bridget Brown tried her hand at a number of endeav-ours, including selling belts at Reggae Sunsplash to cush-ion- making, before the pieces to her puzzle finally came together perfectly. Fate reveals that Bridget’s hands were made to design sandals. In an interview many years ago, she stated: “Father give me the divine design of my life and a definite lead now. Reveal to me my divine tal-ent, under grace, in a perfect way. And so it is. And so it is to be.” For Bridget, who is very spiritual and at one with nature, every sandal starts with a dream and in-spiration that is transformed into an individualistic style

that is sheer brilliance. The company started out of her home, and today, has remained the factory, retail store and headquarters for Bridget Sandals.

The exquisite craftsmanship of Bridget Sandals is sec-ond to none and from the features in ELLE, Vogue, ELLE France, Bella and other fashion magazines, these sandals are a match for any coming out of Europe the fashion mecca of the world. “Surprisingly, a lot of people don’t know that about 60 percent of the ELLE female staff in New York owns a pair of Bridget Sandals, and every summer we get a wish list requesting various designs and colours,” stated Jonathan Buchanan, chief operating officer and Bridget’s third of four sons.

Ask any owner of a pair of Bridget Sandals, and some-where in the conversation, the terms “long-lasting” and “durable” are bound to come up. Many would probably wonder if the quality of Bridget Sandals was attributed to elves working hard through the night, as in the fairy tale, but Jonathan provided some insight into the pro-duction process.

Father, give me the divine design of my life and a definite lead now. Reveal to me my divine talent, under grace, in a perfect way. And so it is. And so it is to be.–Bridget Brown ”“

A 20+ year old Bridget sandal

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“Mom draws most of her inspiration from the garden and nature itself. A simple thing as a flower gives her inspiration, which she transfers into sketches that often make sense to her and no one else,” he said laughing. “A sandal usually passes through various stages before being inspected by Bridget herself.”

This ensures that the final product is of the high quality that cus-tomers have come to expect from Bridget Sandals. “Usually about five or six pairs are made in the initial stage in an array of sizes, and put to market for feedback. Recently, the first person to buy that sandal gets it named after them, hence the female names for most of her sandals.” He explained that depending on the feedback, the sandal goes into production after being patented of course to pro-tect from mass producing copiers. “We have patent for every sin-gle style we have ever created, as the patent is the most important part of production. Without the patent, we cannot make the shoe. If it’s a sandal that we will only distribute locally, we copyright it on the local level, but if it will be distributed internationally, then we patent it on the international level,” explained Jonathan.

Conceit has not slithered its way into the mindset of the unflap-pable Bridget Brown, even after gracing runways at events such as Caribbean and New York Fashion Weeks. That is of course, one of the main reasons that her quality has not been compromised after over 25 years of operation. If we are what we wear, then a pair of these sandals ought to make anyone feel like a proud product of a beautiful nation. We’ll be looking out for more from Bridget Sandals, and from all indications, we would be hard pressed to miss them.

Bridget Sandalscover story

The Only Sandals Sexier Than Stilettos

“Cutaway” and “Bitte” style sandals

A pair of “Rose” sandals A pair of “Jahmela”sandals

A pair of “Leaf ” sandals

Who is bridget’s main supplier of her raw mate-rial?None of our raw material is produced locally anymore, due to the unfortunate closing of most of our suppliers. Howev-er, we select the finest leather, inspected by myself or Bridget from North and South America and Europe.

What is her clientele like?We cater to the working girl, the party girl, as our sandals range from strappy, thong to open toe. There is no limit to the type of sandal one can get at Bridget’s. Also, we have kept a very exotic and unique edge to our product that caters to a niche market. We cater for the person who can appreciate handcrafted leather sandals. They do exactly what our clients want them to do, simple yet playful, exotic and perfect for dressing up or dressing down.

When will she be expanding her line of sandals?Expansion starts at home, as we have recently expanded the factory by adding a mere 100 sq feet. [This] to most, might not be significant but [it is] for a small company that has a total of 13 employees, including me and my mom [Bridget]. This is a major step seeing that it has almost doubled our output and has arguably created the most recognized fashion brand in the Caribbean.

Where to find bridget Sandals boutiques outside of Jamaica?Boutiques are in Trinidad, Antigua, Barbados, St Lucia, St Vin-cent and St. Kitts. Outside the region we are in California, Portland Oregon, South Beach Miami and New York. Pres-ently, we are preparing for a cultural festival in New York around May, where our sandals are usually well received. If you are outside of our boutique locations, we will definitely ship it to you wherever FedEx goes, which is everywhere ex-cept Cuba. hoW does bridget continue to sell sandals without marketing?Outside of our Facebook and Twitter accounts, we have a loyal and returning fan base that starts with the mother and then with the daughter, who will tell her girlfriends. So, it’s a generational loyalty that we have, which is why our customer base is so huge. And of course, our quality, hand craftsman-ship and uniqueness also keep then wanting more.

Why she is not in major clothing boutiques island wide?Nothing we do here is done by machine; every thread is done by hand and every bead sown by hand. We do not want to

get to the stage where we are selling [sandals] for $20 and making a million units. At Bridget’s you get quality and not quantity.

cover story

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Did you know?Bridget has created over 1000

catalogued designs

Bridget does repairs on your old Bridget Sandals’

The average life span of a Bridget San-dals’ is 7 to 8 years and longer if worn

with care

Destra and Alison Hinds are religious clients of Bridget Sandals’

Bridget SandalsThe Only Sandals Sexier Than Stilettos

Jonathan Buchanan, Chief Operating Officer

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Men, Womenrelationships

W

and Sports

hat type of woman are you….do you love, hate or tolerate sports?

Before an attempt is made to answer this question, another cause for concern is why do men love sports so much? Men love sports for several reasons. Some that are understandable and others that are utterly beyond our comprehension. It is because of some of these unfathomable reasons why some women, instead of trying to understand or love sports, detest them or simply have no form of interest in it whatsoever.

It is important to note that not all women hate sports, and in fact hate is such a strong word when some women have the total opposite emotion towards sports. In fact there are some women who absolutely love sports…all types of sports too and who understand and can even play some sports bet-ter than males…Kudos to those women!

Then there are those women who have strong negative emo-tions towards sports and all types of it. And there are those who don’t really hate sports per se, but rather the attention it consumes from their male partners and thus the attention it takes away from them. Too often some men are not able to multitask during sports and are incapable of devoting even some of their attention to women unless there is a commer-cial break. These women often feel neglected and ignored.

Often times sports is used as the invitation for spending qual-ity relationship time but when the game is over, the woman feels ignored and the her spouse feels fully satisfied because he saw his favorite team win the match by scoring a goal in the final minutes of the game.

Gary Chapman proposes five essential types of love lan-guages, one of these being quality time. The central aspect of quality time is togetherness. This does not necessarily mean proximity. Togetherness has to do with focused attention. According to Chapman “A husband who is watching sports on television while he talks to his wife is not giving her qual-ity time, because she does not have his full attention. A hus-band and wife playing tennis together, if it is genuine quality time, will focus not on the game, but on the fact that they are spending time together.”Instead of making a fuss about these blatant signs of neglect and being ignored, some women use this opportunity to learn and understand some types of sports, especially the ones

most watched by the men they know, and use it as the runway to have stimu-lated discussions. Then there are those women who use this opportunity to get anything they want…the credit card, a long promised vacation to name a few.

During highly aroused states, like watching sports, for most males, concentrating on other stimuli can prove to be very difficult and the chances of being told “yes” are significantly greater.

Whether you hate, love or simply tolerate sports, everyone has a chance of winning…if you play the game right!

olivia roseapplied Sports Psychologist

It is important to note that not all women hate sports, and in fact hate is such a strong word when some women have the total opposite emotion towards sports. ”“

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