A Retrospective - The Year That Was 2011

Wed, 11 Jan 12

The year of 2011 passed by in a haze of relentless media reporting, with the rapid online news cycle spurred on by a constant twitter stream, blog commenting and social media updates. In a fast paced digital world, it’s often easy to be snowed under by day to day life – let alone keeping up with the current events of society.

From famine on the plains of Somalia, to the debt crisis in Greece and revolution in Egypt, 2011 was a year marked by the people’s struggle for change. In fact, Time Magazine’s Person of the Year was announced as ‘The Protester’, with reference to the Occupy Wall Street movement, as well as the ongoing Arab Spring conflicts across the Middle East.

A prince married his long-time citizen sweetheart in April, while gay marriage legislation continued to be debated around the globe. 2011 was also a symbol of the information economy; Wikipedia celebrated 10 years as an online encyclopaedia, technologic visionary Steve Jobs passed away and British tabloid publication The News of the World closed its doors. Mother Nature tested the strength of community in every continent, as an earthquake tore apart Christchurch, tsunami devastated Japan, while flooding, cyclones and bushfires waged war on Australian soil.

Amid the doom and gloom of news reporting, the team at Shirt Studio have compiled our own list of the things that have made us happy in 2011, from scientific breakthroughs to sporting milestones.

Highlights of 2011:

Sport: In September, tennis star Samantha Stosur was praised internationally as a resurrection of Australian tennis after she won the US Open (the first Australian woman to do so in 31 years).

Business: Although the Government invested $13 Billion towards clean energy initiatives in November, other major companies such as GE and Virgin Australia are already supporting the cause, after developing renewable resources such as eucalyptus biofuel, solar power plant, low carbon technology and geothermal energy.

Technology: NASA discovered two new earth-like planets orbiting a sun outside of our solar system, which were then named after German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler.

Science: Time travel was noted to be within the realm of possibility, after academics conducted atom smashing tests at the biggest particle accelerator in the world, located in Geneva.

The Arts: Australian film maker Baz Luhrmann started filming the remake of the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic novel The Great Gatsby in Sydney, starring Leonardo Di Caprio and Carey Mulligan in lead roles.

Shirt Studio 2011 Achievments:

Seventh Birthday: Our month-long birthday celebration started in February, with the launch of our much anticipated Seven Deadly Sins campaign, which saw our clients admitting to their guiltiest pleasures to win a heavenly Shirt Studio shirt!

Buying Trip: For the annual buying trip, the fashion destination of Italy yet again served as a creative muse for the 2011 Shirt Studio collection, as well as an extensive travel diary for our readers.

Concept Stores: This year also launched our new retailing concept, which aimed to put authentic boutique service back in the shopping experience by creating four different sections: new season men and womens, made to order and corporate uniforms.

Corporate Service: Our corporate uniform division grew strongly this year, under the guidance of Corporate Director Anoop, who is passionate about delivering uniform branding at the highest standard. In December, we farewelled our lovely Corporate Executive Kathleen and welcomed Dee into our corporate team, who has dived straight into consultations with ease.

Stay tuned for Shirt Studio’s exciting plans in 2012!