President Biden on Tuesday signed a $280 billion package that aims to boost the domestic chip-making industry and scientific research.
What they’re saying: “Fundamental change is taking place today — politically, economically and technologically,” Biden said before signing the Chips and Science Act. “Change that can either strengthen our sense of control and security, of dignity and pride in our lives and our nation, or change that weakens us.”
“This is the moment we face,” he added. “Today is the day for builders. Today America is delivering.”
“Today, I am signing the law, the Chips and Science Act, a once-in-a-generation investment in America itself, a law the American people can be proud of.”
Why it matters: The funding is meant to bolster the domestic production of semiconductors — a vital component for almost every electronic device we use today — to help prevent future supply chain crises and increase competition with China.
The bill, which passed Congress in late July with bipartisan support, gives $52.7 billion in funding for US semiconductor production and another $200 billion for scientific research, including a technology directorate at the National Science Foundation meant to translate basic research into commercial products.
Earlier today, reports began emerging Google was down.
While it has since returned, it once again highlights our dependence on technology service providers and shows how reliant many people are on a single operator for daily functions.
There are few things we completely rely upon in our modern lives, but for many people, Google is one.
Its brief disappearance from the internet felt, for many, like an almost-apocalyptic moment – underscoring how deeply “googling” has been integrated into our lives.
As I wrote when the cloud computing firm Fastly had an outage last year,
It’s disconcerting when the sites we rely on suddenly become inaccessible, and even more so when it happens on such a vast scale.
Read more: Fastly global internet outage: why did so many sites go down — and what is a CDN, anyway?
What happened?
We don’t know yet. Google has so far not commented publicly on the outage.
According to Downdetector there was a significant spike in outage reports for Google earlier today. The newswire Reuters reported:
There were more than 40,000 incidents of people reporting issues with the world’s largest search engine, according to Downdetector, which tracks outages by collating status reports from a number of sources including user-submitted errors on its platform.
According to the website Downdetector, a significant spike in outage reports was seen by Google. down-detector
Downdetector also reported people had experienced problems accessing Google Mapswhile The Guardian reported problems with Gmail and Google images, too.
The outage affected a wide range of Google sites, with internet monitoring website ThousandEyes reporting over a thousand servers being impacted.
Despite the scale of the incident, it seems to have only lasted for around 30–40 minutes before services started to return to normal.
Not an isolated occurrence
Google, like all technology providers, is vulnerable to a wide range of potential service failures.
This is not the first Google outage – other outages occurred in 2020 (including a very large one in December reportedly caused by lack of capacity in their authentication systems).
But outages such as these, however brief, do underscore how dependent we have become on “googling” for many aspects of life.
It’s not all bad news
Although any outage at Google becomes major news around the world, today’s incident was short lived – as were all previous cases.
Google certainly has the capacity and capability to act swiftly to resolve service problems when they do occur.
And, as many people noted, you can still search online even when Google is down – you might just have to use a different search provider, such as Bing or DuckDuckGo.
It would seem that even when an almost unthinkable outage occurs, our capacity to search for cat photos will not be impacted.
Read more: Goodbye Internet Explorer. You won’t be missed (but your legacy will be remembered)
everyone knows about burn outCriterion Games’ beloved, long-dormant collision-centered arcade racing franchise that EA has inexplicably left to gather dust since 2009. The series hit critical mass with Burnout 3: Takedown and, many feel, reached near-perfection with the open-world Burnout Paradise several years later. They’re excellent games; the sort of high-adrenaline racers you’d recommend for newcomers to gaming or seasoned pros alike.
But of course, the series wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders out of the gate. original burn out, launched in 2001, illustrates humble beginnings, especially compared to what would follow in the years to come. It also very nearly released with some pretty strange titles in Japan, as we’ve been reminded this week.
Lots of games undergo name changes when localized from one region to another. We’ve discussed some of the racing genre’s worst offenders in the past — for example, how TOCA World Touring Cars became Jarrett & Labonte Stock Car Racing. The case with burn out is similar, though maybe not as egregious because it wasn’t as blatantly deceitful, and it never ultimately happened. burn out was supposed to be released in Japan as Grand Heat in 2002 via Sega — not Acclaim, who was responsible for Burnout’s distribution in the rest of the world.
Grand Heat never came out, and nobody knows exactly why. the burn out series didn’t debut in Japan until the second game, which had the exact same title as it did everywhere else — Burnout 2: Point of Impact — even though Japanese gamers would’ve never seen its predecessor on store shelves.
What’s more, Grand Heat wasn’t even the first potential name under consideration. game archivist Comby Laurent — the same guy who brought us Luigi’s demonic cameo in Sega GT — has uncovered another, earlier working title for the Japanese version of Criterion’s racer: Heaven’s Drive.
I’ll show you my latest find, exceptionally, on PS2.
There is something distinctly cursed about that name in the signature burn out font, on the original burn out title screen. As for what it meant, context gives us clues.
See, before burn out was but a glimmer in Criterion’s eye, Konami started on a series of arcade-exclusive racing games titled Thrill Drive. Like burn out, Thrill Drive required players to thread the needle in traffic to defeat their competitors. also like burn outcrashes in Thrill Drive put a hard stop to the racing action: the fidelity of the vehicular carnage was what made the game unique for its day.
If I had to sum it up, the main difference between the two games is tone. Thrill Drive haunts you with screams of agony upon every accident; red and black swirls and blankets the screen as your driver is launched from their vehicle amid flashes of the word “FATALITY” in Japanese. Thrill Drive is overwhelmingly, madly macabre. burn out isn’t, but Criterion was definitely influenced by Konami’s earlier work. Perhaps Heaven’s Drive would’ve signaled to Japanese gamers what the newer game was all about, while also paying homage to its inspiration.
For whatever reason, Heaven’s Drive was replaced with Grand Heat, which Sega never released. The fact Sega would have been on tap to release burn out in Japan, when it was published by Acclaim elsewhere, it is an interesting footnote. Sega had an odd partnership with Acclaim during this time, whereby the defunct, Long Island-based publisher was responsible for distributing a few of Sega’s arcade conversions, like F355 Challenge: Passione Rossa, crazytaxi and 18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker, on some platforms in the West. I’m not a particularly avid game collector, but I wish Sega had gone through with this one, just so I could have a version of burn out on my shelf with weird box art and an even more cryptic name.
The 45-year-old took to Instagram on the weekend, asking followers to “help” her find a new man after she split from her Indonesian boyfriend.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Schapelle Corby on life after Bali
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In the post, Corby is pictured walking along the beach holding the hand of her ex-boyfriend, Ben Panangian, whose image has been scratched out.
“Looking for a new Four Leaf Clover,” the image is captioned.
“ATTENTION. Help a girl out – Get Tagging.”
The original photo is from 2019 when Corby and Panangian were on holiday together.
Corby was deported from Bali back to Australia in 2017 after spending almost a decade in a Balinese prison for drug smuggling.
She had maintained a long-distance relationship with Panangian, but things are clearly now over.
And Corby’s followers had a field day with her post.
“DM anytime, I’m here for ya,” one person wrote.
“I have a two-screen Netflix account and a wine club membership,” another offered.
Schapelle Corby is looking for love. Credit: Instagram/Schapelle Corby
Others tagged their friends in, with one person writing: “He’s a strapping young lad with an eye for a mature madam.”
The friend who had been tagged added: “Gimme a chance Schapelle.”
“She’s single and ready to mingle,” one person noted.
“Girl, pick me! I’m single,” another pleaded.
Corby met Panangian in prison in Bali in 2006.
Also convicted on drug offences, Panangian was released from prison in 2009.
Corby was paroled in 2014 and returned to Australia in 2017.
Schapelle Corby and Ben Panangian. Credit: Instagram/Schapelle Corby
The couple spent the next two years meeting up in places where their criminal convictions weren’t an issue.
Corby is not allowed to return to Indonesia and it’s understood the pair hadn’t seen each other face-to-face since the COVID pandemic began.
Rumors that Corby would appear on the new season of The Bachelorette were quickly shot down by producers, who said they were not interested in having “celebrities” on the show next season.
New Zealand cricketer Trent Boult has been granted a release from his national contract so the bowler can spend more time with his family and make himself available for domestic leagues.
On Wednesday morning, New Zealand Cricket confirmed the 33-year-old will have a “significantly reduced role” with the Black Caps, upon his request.
The talented left-armer sits at No. 1 on the ICC Men’s ODI Bowling Rankings, having taken 169 scalps at 25.21 since his international debut in 2011. He has also taken 317 Test wickets at 27.49.
Boult will still be eligible for New Zealand selection when available.
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“This has been a really tough decision for me and I’d like to thank NZC for their support in getting to this point,” Boult said in a statement.
“Playing cricket for my country was a childhood dream and I’m so proud of everything I’ve been able to achieve with the Black Caps over the past 12 years.
“Ultimately this decision is about my wife Gert and our three young boys. Family has always been the biggest motivator for me and I feel comfortable with putting it first and preparing ourselves for life after cricket.
“I still have a great desire to represent my country and feel I have the skills to deliver at the international level. However, I respect the fact that not having a national contract will affect my chances of selection.
“Having said that, as a fast bowler I know I have a limited career span, and I feel the time is right to move into this next phase.”
Boult’s bombshell move could have substantial ramifications for NZC. As more domestic T20 leagues are scheduled during the country’s home summer, Black Caps teammates may be tempted to follow suit.
Boult’s decision to prioritize domestic leagues over international commitments comes after England Test captain Ben Stokes retired from ODI cricket at 31 last month.
Due to the over-saturated cricket calendar, it may soon become the norm for cricketers to step aside from international duties so they can play more high-paying franchise cricket, particularly late in their careers.
The Indian Premier League’s overwhelming success has prompted the introduction of several privately-owned domestic leagues, including the United Arab Emirates’ International League T20 and South Africa’s newly-launched T20 competition.
Importantly, these high-paying tournaments also coincide with the Big Bash League and Australian home summer of cricket, meaning Aussie players could be forced into making some difficult decisions late in their careers.
Former Brisbane Heat captain Chris Lynn has already turned his back on the Big Bash League, signing for next year’s inaugural ILT20.
Boult was recently named in New Zealand’s squad for an upcoming white-ball tour of the West Indies, which gets underway on Thursday.
“We respect Trent’s position,” NZC chief executive David White said in a statement.
“He’s been completely honest and upfront with us about his reasoning and, while we’re sad to be losing him as a fully-contracted player, he leaves with our best wishes and our sincere thanks.
“Trent’s made a massive contribution to the Black Caps since his Test debut in late 2011 and is now considered one of the best multi-format cricketers in the world. We’re very proud of what he’s achieved.
“We’ve had several conversations and I know Trent understands that, in terms of selection, NZC will continue to make a priority of those players with either central or domestic contracts.”
The ink is dry on Tony Fitzgerald’s report into how corruption is investigated in Queensland, but it remains unclear how the state government will deal with a long list of “additional issues” that weren’t within the inquiry’s terms of reference.
Key points:
The report aims to steer the CCC away from mainly criminal investigations, Professor AJ Brown says
Misconduct law specialist Calvin Gnech says a lack of public hearings was a missed opportunity
Protection for whistleblowers was not covered by the terms of the inquiry and still needs to be addressed, critics say
Mr Fitzgerald, who led the historic Fitzgerald Inquiry into police corruption 30 years ago, co-chaired the inquiry with retired Supreme Court justice Alan Wilson.
Their findings on rebuilding public trust in the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) were released yesterday.
As the authors noted, the report was “not Fitzgerald 2.0”, and was charged only with examining and reporting on “quite specific aspects” of the CCC’s operations.
The 10 “additional issues” outlined in the report’s appendix include how the CCC should be funded, the need for a clearing house for corruption complaints, and the need for certain legislative reforms.
The report was commissioned by the Queensland government after a string of high-profile failed prosecutions, and the finding by the Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee (PCCC) that the CCC had erred in its decision to charge eight Logan City councilors with fraud in 2019.
One of the key recommendations is that fewer police be seconded to the CCC, in favor of training up “civilian investigators” from a range of other professional backgrounds.
Griffith University public policy and law Professor AJ Brown said this was to allow the CCC to pivot away from predominantly criminal prosecutions.
Two of the key recommendations from the report on improving operations in the CCC. (abcnews)
He said there were many instances of corruption and misconduct being raised that did not meet the benchmark of a criminal offence, but nonetheless needed to be stamped out.
“The remedy may not be a criminal prosecution, it might be disciplinary action in relation to individuals, or it might be system reform in relation to procedures and institutions,” he said.
“When the CCC looks at serious misconduct issues that are high corruption risks, like acting in the presence of undisclosed conflicts of interest or alleged favoritism or nepotism, the threshold that’s being used to judge those things is not necessarily simply whether a criminal offense has been committed.”
Professor Brown said the report was not suggesting civilians were better placed to judge corruption matters.
“There’s a range of different disciplines and skills that have to be brought to bear potentially, whether they’re a lawyer, or a police investigator or a forensic accountant or a policy person – they all need to see the big picture of corruption and what’s involved in addressing it and stopping it through all sorts of different angles.
One officer told the inquiry there should be more of a focus on education, rather than police enforcement.(ABC News: Patrick Williams)
“This is potentially a big turning point — not just in Queensland, but for anti-corruption investigations and training right around the country — to actually recognize that we need to have the skills that deal with that full complexity,” Professor Brown said.
Among the 87 submissions that the inquiry received, which were only publicly released when the report was complete, former Queensland police commissioner Bob Atkinson submitted his view that “unless there is clear criminal and/or corrupt activity, an educational approach is better than an aggressive prosecutorial approach”.
Mr Atkinson highlighted the prosecution of police Superintendent Michelle Stenner as an example of what he saw as misuse of the CCC’s powers on telephone intercepts, search warrants and covert methods to gather evidence.
Superintendent Stenner was acquitted of perjury in a retrial in October last year, after initially being prosecuted over allegedly giving false testimony to a CCC hearing in 2017.
Mr Atkinson argued that evidence-gathering techniques should only be used in the most serious matters.
Superintendent Michelle Stenner was acquitted after being charged with giving false testimony to a CCC hearing.(Supplied)
“The Stenner case, which was never more than a HRM [human resource management] matter, is an example of the misuse of such powers [phone intercepts and coercive hearings],” he said.
Lack of public hearings a ‘missed opportunity’
Brisbane-based lawyer Calvin Gnech, who specializes in professional misconduct law, said the inquiry had missed the opportunity to reset the bar for transparency and the CCC.
“Only in recent times have the submissions of everyone been disclosed on the website, so the practical effect is there has been no contradiction to any of the submissions,” Mr Gnech said.
“And we now know that the CCC themselves submitted four separate submissions to the inquiry, and no stakeholder or no community member has been able to contradict those submissions in any way because of the way it was conducted.”
Professor AJ Brown says legislative change to protect whistleblowers is “the unresolved issue.” (Mark Leonardi, ABC News.)
Mr Gnech said Mr Fitzgerald and Mr Wilson should have allowed public hearings as part of the review.
“This was the first reform in regards to corruption that was considered in Queensland since 1989, and ultimately a concerning feature of the whole inquiry that has been disappointing is the lack of any public hearings or transparency in regards to the submissions.
“At the moment, you’ll see the benefit of a public inquiry right here in Queensland by looking at the meticulous way that Commissioner Richards has conducted the inquiry into policing and domestic violence in a public way, to allow for public comment, and contradiction of any statements made by – in that inquiry – the police service or any other stakeholder.
“That’s been denied here in regards to the way the process of the inquiry was conducted, and it’s disappointing,” he said.
“I think looking back on this, for a number of reasons, this may well be a missed opportunity.”
Whistleblower protection still an open question
It’s the areas the CCC report didn’t examine that have attracted a lot of commentary, including those outlined in its appendix.
Professor Brown said the key unresolved issue remained how whistleblowers were to be protected under the Public Interest Disclosure Act.
“The parliamentary committee separately recommended that there needed to be a review of the … whistleblower protection laws and the government accepted that as a separate recommendation,” Professor Brown said.
“So I think everyone has been waiting for the government to say how it’s going to progress that review separately — it was never included in the terms of reference for this inquiry.”
Professor Brown said a legislative review remained critical because the commission of inquiry was a result of the CCC’s attempted intervention in support of the whistleblower who made the original Logan Council corruption allegations.
“So that’s sort of the unresolved issue at the heart of this,” he said.
“As part of the wash-up, it’s going to be very important that the Queensland government indicate how that review [of the Public Interest Disclosure Act] is going to happen so that the true root causes that really began this whole saga can actually be addressed.”
Rudy Giuliani was ordered by an Atlanta-area judge Tuesday to appear in person on August 17 in front of the special purpose grand jury investigating whether former President Donald Trump and his allies violated the law in their efforts to flip the 2020 election results in Georgia.
Lawyers for Giuliani, who served as an attorney for Trump during the 2020 election, are seeking to delay his appearance – originally scheduled for Tuesday – saying he shouldn’t fly after he underwent heart stent surgery last month.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney proposed that Giuliani explore land-based travel options.
“John Madden drove all the way over the country in his big bus from stadium to stadium so one thing we need to explore is whether Mr. Giuliani could get here without jeopardizing his recovery and his health, on a train or on a bus or whatever it would be,” McBurney said during the hearing.
Attorney Bill Thomas, who is representing Giuliani, told CNN after the hearing they are going to “explore all the options” for Giuliani’s travel, and that they would plan to be “back here” on the 17th.
“If the court orders that he travel by Greyhound to Atlanta, we are going to do what the court orders him to do,” Thomas said during the hearing.
It’s still not clear if Giuliani is a target in the grand jury investigation. The subject came up briefly at the hearing when Giuliani’s lawyer asked, but the judge said that the prosecutors didn’t need to immediately respond.
McBurney signed off on the subpoena in early July, saying that Giuliani was a “necessary and material witness” in the special grand jury’s investigation.
The Fulton County District Attorney’s office asked the judge to compel Giuliani to testify and said they would “provide alternate transportation including “bus or train” to ensure his appearance before the special grand jury, according to a court filing.
The District Attorney’s office declined offers from Giuliani to appear virtually or wait until he is medically cleared to fly, according to court filings. On Tuesday, the DA’s office said they had “no interest” in Giuliani appearing any other way than but in person.
Giuliani met with Georgia state legislators three times in December 2020 in the aftermath of the presidential election, twice in person and once remotely. During the meetings, Giuliani spread conspiracy theories about widespread irregularities and fraud in the state. Among the false claims, Giuliani accused two Atlanta election workers of smuggling fraudulent Biden ballots in suitcases.
Numerous state and federal officials have debunked Giuliani’s claims of fraud in Georgia, a state that Joe Biden won by nearly 12,000 votes.
Byung “Bjay” Pak, the former top federal prosecutor for the Northern District of Georgia, was among those who testified before the US House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection that Giuliani’s claims of election fraud in Fulton County had been investigated by federal authorities and found to be untrue.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has detailed the far-reaching scope of the investigation, saying that it includes potential “solicitation of election fraud, the making of false statements to state and local governmental bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of oath of office and any involvement in violence or threats related to the election’s administration.”
The Kia Sorento seven-seat family SUV has begun preparing for its mid-life facelift – as long waiting times for the current model remain.
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the facelifted 2024 Kia Sorento large family SUV has hit the road in South Korea, ahead of its global launch next year.
While the current Kia Sorento has only been in Australian showrooms since late 2020, Kia usually updates its vehicles after three years – an indication the mid-life update for the Sorento will arrive some time in 2023.
Australian launch timing is yet to be confirmed, but if previous model-cycle timing is followed, the updated Sorento may be in Australian showrooms by late next year.
Photos published by ShortsCar (via The Korean Car Blog) suggest the facelifted Kia Sorento will draw inspiration from the car maker’s upcoming full-size EV9 electric SUV, with new vertically-stacked LED headlights akin to concept and production versions of the electric vehicle.
Other design changes are hard to discern below the thick camouflage cladding fitted to this South Korean test car, though its alloy wheel design appears to be new.
Few details have emerged on what other changes will be made for the facelifted Kia Sorento, though The Korean Car Blog speculates on mild engine tweaks and updated interior technology.
Within Kia and sister brand Hyundai’s model ranges, new technology fitted to other models – but not yet fitted to the current Sorento – includes a larger 12.3-inch center touchscreen, as seen in the updated Hyundai Palisade (up from 10.25 inches in the current Sorento ).
The new Hyundai Ioniq 6 electric car is offered with a newer version of the Sorento’s Remote Smart Parking Assist system, which not only allows drivers use the key fob to move the car forwards or backwards when standing beside it – as in the current Sorento – but to remotely enter and exit parallel, perpendicular and diagonal parking spaces.
Above: The current Kia Sorento.
The Kia EV9 electric SUV is also set to debut upgraded ‘Level 3’ semi-autonomous driving technology upon its launch early next year – but it’s unclear if this will be offered on the petrol and diesel-powered Sorento.
Whether changes will be made under the bonnet remains to be seen. The current Sorento range in Australia is available with a choice of a 3.5-litre petrol V6, 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo diesel, and hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains based around a 1.6-litre turbo petrol engine.
the 2024 Kia Sorento is expected to be unveiled in full in the first half of next year – ahead of Australian arrivals as soon as late next year, as a 2024 model.
However, Kia may diverge from its typical launch schedule – with a facelift after three years – given the current combination of overwhelming demand and restricted supply for today’s Sorento, which have seen wait times push beyond 12 months in Australia for top-of-the- range models.
Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines as a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family.
Yeah, there have been official Attack on Titan video games, but they’ve never really managed to fully capture the speed and scale of the show, so one indie developer figured he’d try and make his own and release it for free. Which he has done, and then some.
Swammy details the story of his little project in this video, explaining that what started as a fun little experiment in early 2021 blew-up after his girlfriend convinced him to post a short gameplay video on TikTok. An overwhelmingly positive response inspired Swammy to continue development on the demo, building on a foundation of swinging through the city by adding first some Titans to go up against, and then — after one disastrous mix-up — a co-op multiplayer mode.
By January 2022, the game was looking pretty good!
As you can see, the main appeal of this game vs the official releases is the swinging system, which in Swammy’s game is a lot faster and freer. If you’ve played the recent spider-man games, for example, you’ll be pretty much at home here, especially if you play this game in third-person (it’s playable from either first or third-person perspectives).
By the middle of 2022 Swammy’s project had racked up millions of views on social media and hundreds of thousands of downloads. And now it’s blowing up all over again because he’s announced that the whole thing is getting a revamp as he tries to port it over to Unreal Engine 5:
This guy built his own free to play game based off Attack On Titan in a little over a year… you can fight titans, train, sandbox and speedrun
If you want to play the game as it exists today, you most definitely can, with download links available here. Note that while there are versions available for both PC and Android, the PC edition is the one getting all the work, with the Android one now at its “final build”, after “constant harassment and threats” gave Swammy “zero reason to continue working on it, for my own mental health”.
It’s super easy to download and start playing — though there’s a video here if you need some help — and having been messing around with it this morning, I can understand a lot of the hype from fans. Sure, it’s pretty rough around the edges, and stuff like the interface is as barebones as it gets, but allowing for the fact this is a one-man job, and how fun the basic act of swinging around and stabbing things is, I think it’s really cool.
Major athletic footwear brand Reebok is carving out its share of sales by focusing on all-white styles.
“Across Australia and New Zealand we’re seeing an overwhelming desire for clean, stripped-back silhouettes with authentic tie-backs to brand heritage,” says Ash Sampson, brand director for Reebok Pacific.
Paparazzo photographs of euphoria actor Sydney Sweeney, supermodel Gigi Hadid, singer Joe Jonas and Emily Ratajkowski have helped drive demand for Reebok’s all-white Classic Leather styles, first launched in 1983 and the Club C85 silhouette.
“In spring, Reebok will be placing an emphasis on the Classic Leather franchise,” Sampson says. “Consumers are choosing wearability over flamboyancy, which has shifted in recent times.”
Sydney-based entrepreneur Parag Sawant is banking on the continued success of all-white styles, having launched the sneaker brand Monochrome in 2019. Sawant began manufacturing sneakers in Italy for the Australian market after spotting the success of minimalist designs from the brand Common Projects.
“I was trying to find something more in tune with the Australian lifestyle,” Sawant says. “It had to be understated and less flashy. Brands like Givenchy and Saint Laurent were doing premium sneakers, but they were more ostentatious.
“I wanted something sleek that wasn’t a pair of Vans.”
Monochrome offers white-on-white sneakers for $435, but the most successful style has been plain white leather on top of a pale grey, full rubber sole.
“It still has that premium look that people are looking for. We are seeing steady growth as people recognize them as investment pieces.”
There’s also good news for people looking for sneakers to wear outside, rather than keep pristine in boxes to trade.
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“The next big trend will be the great outdoors, with traditional labels like Salomon crushing it in design and with the Paris shows, such as Dior, very connected to the outdoors.”
So, your choices this spring are reformed dad sneakers, technicolour styles basic white or mountaineering motifs. Choose anything in between this spring, and you may as well be wearing chisel-toe black lace-ups or nude high heels.
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