Blue September at Barkers

This September Barkers enters its fourth season in support of Blue September, a charity which raises awareness of prostate cancer within New Zealand. We’ve donated well over $100,000 to the cause thus far, and this year we’re getting behind this most vital of causes once more. We’re selling t-shirts designed by the Blue September ambassadors like Brendon Pongia and Ido Drent to raise money for the cause, plus getting our stores to participate in Blue Friday on September 3rd. To show your support this Friday just make it blue – your face, your clothes, or just buy a wristband from one of our stores or another participating retailer. Click here to watch the Blue September television commercial, or head to the Barkers online store to check out the range.

Posted: 2 Sep 10, 12:00 a.m. | Comments (0) | categories: Barkers Blog

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Oliver Stone's Wall Street was one of the masterpieces* of cultural response to the mid-'80s financial madness. It was an era when traders and institutions engaged in a high wire act with fortunes the size of a small countries, gambling that stock or bonds would head one way or another. And when the market failed to grant their wishes they took matters into their own hands - using the brute strength of their organisations to put it into motion, or wresting secrets from inside companies to give them a competitive advantage over the rest of the marketplace. The period saw obscure financial approaches like Leveraged Buy Outs (LBOs) and Junk Bond Trading become front page news, with much of the world caught up in the notion that the markets could continue their amazing bull run. This fallacy only became apparent on Monday 19 October 1987, when shares worldwide plunged following shockwaves out of Hong Kong. By the month's end The United States and Britain had lost over 20% of their market's value. New Zealand was one of the worst affected countries of them all, losing 60% of its value - a figure it would take nearly a decade to regain. Two months later Wall Street was released to rapturous reviews. The timing was serendipitous, but, as legendary critic Roger Ebert noted, the film's strengths lay in the way it made the frequently baffling world of traders come alive and make sense on screen. "All the financial wheeling and dealing [seems] complicated and convincing, and yet always [makes] sense," he wrote at the time. "The movie can be followed by anybody, because the details of stock manipulation are all filtered through transparent layers of greed. Most of the time we know what's going on. All of the time, we know why." Now here we are nearly a quarter-century later, suffering through a bigger recession caused by the same forces which drove the last one. So there could not be a more fitting time to catch up with Gordon Gekko, Michael Douglas' masterfully rendered villain, upon his release from prison. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps has the potential to impact as deeply as its predecessor - perhaps more so, as the global economy has not been so easily righted as in the late '80s. The film opens on September 23rd, and Barkers is proud to be associated with its arrival on our screens. Watch the trailer below and get a sense of why this film has been so hotly anticipated. And note too that bang on the one minute mark there's a shot of Gekko collecting a new suit - the men throughout these films are impeccably tailored, and to celebrate the film's release Barkers has assembled our most compelling suit deal yet. To put it simply you can purchase a tailored suit, extra trousers, a dress shirt and tie** for just $499. The retail value of this package is over $1,000, but you can look a million bucks without having to commit insider training. This is for a very limited time so get in quick - our brand new styles are flying out the door. And if that wasn't enough with the help of Flight Centre, everyone who purchases a suit goes in the draw to win a trip for two to New York, the home of Wall Street and its brazen, dazzling greed. So get in stores, pick up one of our fantastic new suits then head along to Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. Check out the trailer below: * There were a number of fantastic books which captured the era too. Try Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of The Vanities, James B. Stweart's Den of Thieves, Bryan Burrough and John Helyar's Barbarians at the Gate and Michael Lewis' Liar's Poker. ** Selected styles only

Posted: 24 Aug 10, 12:00 a.m. | Comments (0) | categories: Barkers Blog

The Style Pasifika 2010 New Zealand Fashion Awards

Barkers is proud to be presenting the menswear category of the 2010 Style Pasifika New Zealand Fashion Awards. Next Friday the explosion of fashion, music, culture and dance takes place at Vector Arena. Barkers customers can get $5 off tickets simply by quoting the code 'BARKERS' when purchasing their tickets via TicketMaster. The event features Black Grace, DawnRaid, Annie Crummer and many more - pick up your ticket today.

Posted: 23 Aug 10, 12:00 a.m. | Comments (0) | categories: Barkers Blog

Canterbury Runway Spring 2010 Fashion Collections

Those in the Canterbury region should get their tickets for the Canterbury Runway Spring 2010 Fashion Collections show at the Christchurch Art Gallery. You'll get a sneak preview of both the Barkers and Little Brother collections ahead of their debut in stores. It's for a good cause, and the clothes are looking fantastic.So get along - tickets range from silver at $30 to $65 for the full noise VIP treatment.

Posted: 4 Aug 10, 12:00 a.m. | Comments (0) | categories: Barkers Blog