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Kim Kardashians apparel brand Skims is outfitting American athletes at the Olympics for the fourth time in a row, and this years collection is its cheekiest one yet. Skims and Team USA have established something of an annual tradition. The brand has dressed Olympic and Paralympic athletes in new loungewear-slash-underwear capsules at the Tokyo 2020, Beijing 2022, and Paris 2024 Gamesand now, its back for Milano Cortina 2026. This years collection includes everything from Americana-themed panties to cozy pajama sets, tasteful sweaters, menswear, and accessories. The collection will be available to average folk starting on January 8 at Skims.com and some Skims flagship stores, with prices ranging between $20 and $88. From left: Dani Aravich, Kaysha Love, Madison Chock. [Photo: Skims] Compared to previous collaborations, this years launch isnt exactly reinventing the wheel. However, sprinkled throughout the more standard offerings are a few items that feel like Juicy Couture turned sportyand for Skims, those pieces make complete sense. Skims Team USA serves up business in the front, party in the back For years, Team USAs Olympic aesthetic has largely been defined by its ultra-preppy, buttoned-up collaboration with Ralph Lauren, which has officially helmed the countrys ceremony outfits since 2008. Other brands, like J. Crew, have worked on more casual takes on Olympic apparel (see this years 70s-inspired collection), but Skims has led the charge on some of the most approachable Team USA gear in recent years, bringing its quintessential focus on minimalist silhouettes and soft fabrics to each new collection. This years Skims Team USA capsule is largely in line with years past. Staples include basic Team USA-themed ringer tees, undies, and tank tops, paired with flannel sleep shorts and wooly crewneck sweatersessentially, exactly what one might imagine from a Skims x Team USA collab. But a couple of the pieces seem to wink at a slightly more experimental direction. At least one of the pairs of underwear includes the phrase Team USA emblazoned in bold retro lettering across the bum. And in one photo, the Skims team styled this design quirk with a pair of white, over-the-knee socks, also featuring Team USA lettering. Its a shot that feels like a glimpse of how y2k Juicy Couture mightve handled Olympic outfitting; and it brings a sexier design ethos to prepand the worlds most anticipated athletic event. It makes sense that Skims Team USA might try something a bit more out-of-the-box this year, given that its cachet in the athleisure and brand collaboration spaces has expanded massively since its first Olympic partnership in 2020, including official partnerships with the NBA, WNBA, Nike, and North Face. If any brand could get away with bringing a bit of lighthearted levity to the Games apparel, it would be Skimsand as long as it doesnt verge into nipple bra or merkin territory, well take it.
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E-Commerce
A golden phone that President Donald Trump‘s family business promised to release last year remains mysteriously under wraps as the technology industry serves up a glut of new gadgets at CES in Las Vegas this week. When the Trump Organization launched a mobile phone service last June, it was supposed to be a stage setter for a new smartphone bathed in gold with a $500 price tag a bargain compared to Apple’s latest iPhone models that sell for anywhere from $800 to $1,200. The newly formed Trump Mobile targeted its T1 phone for an August or September release. What’s more, Trump Mobile initially hailed T1 as a device that would be proudly designed and built in the United States for customers who expect the best.” But both the T1’s shipping date and U.S. manufacturing ambitions gradually began to shift, even as Trump Mobile continues to accept $100 deposits for the device. Not long after announcing the device, Trump Mobile pivoted from describing it as a phone that would be made in the U.S. to framing it as a device that would be proudly American. Trump Mobile’s website now touts the T1 as having an American-proud design, with no further explanation. Analysts believed that the shift stemmed from a recognition that the U.S. lacked the supply chain and other logistics required to make a smartphone for less than $1,000 the same hurdles that made it implausible for Apple to acquiesce to President Trump’s demands that the company move its iPhone manufacturing from China and India. Later in the summer, Trump Mobile also became more vague about when the T1 would become available, but still indicated it would be delivered to customers who paid the $100 deposit by the end of 2025. Trump Mobile’s website continues to list the T1’s targeted release date as later this year. The Trump Organization didn’t respond to inquiries from The Associated Press about the delays or when the device is now expected to be shipped. The Financial Times recently reported that it was told by a customer representative for Trump Mobile that the phone will be shipped in late January and attributed its delayed release to the 43-day shutdown of the federal government last year. Whatever the reason, the T1’s ongoing absence from the smartphone market didn’t come as a surprise to International Data Corp. analyst Francisco Jeronimo. We have always been quite skeptical about this phone, Jeronimo said. They are probably finding that it is harder to build a phone than they thought it would be. Let’s see if this thing comes to life or not. While the T1 has remained in a holding pattern, Trump Mobile has been selling its wireless service for $47.45 per month a price tied to Donald Trump’s titles as the 47th and 45th President. For customers looking for a smartphone that they can use sooner rather than later, Trump Mobile is also selling refurbished versions of older iPhones and Samsung’s Galaxy models at prices ranging from $370 to $630. Maybe they changed their strategy and figured out they are better off just selling refurbished phones, Jeronimo said. Michael Liedtke, AP technology writer
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E-Commerce
Pipeline safety regulators on Monday assessed their largest fine ever against the company responsible for leaking 1.1 million gallons of oil into the Gulf off the coast of Louisiana in 2023. But the $9.6 million fine isn’t likely to be a major burden for Third Coast to pay.This single fine is close to the normal total of $8 million to $10 million in all fines that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration hands out each year. But Third Coast has a stake in some 1,900 miles of pipelines, and in September, the Houston-based company announced that it had secured a nearly $1 billion loan.Pipeline Safety Trust Executive Director Bill Caram said this spill “resulted from a company-wide systemic failure, indicating the operator’s fundamental inability to implement pipeline safety regulations,” so the record fine is appropriate and welcome.“However, even record fines often fail to be financially meaningful to pipeline operators. The proposed fine represents less than 3% of Third Coast Midstream’s estimated annual earnings,” Caram said. “True deterrence requires penalties that make noncompliance more expensive than compliance.”The agency said Third Coast didn’t establish proper emergency procedures, which is part of why the National Transportation Safety Board found that operators failed to shut down the pipeline for nearly 13 hours after their gauges first hinted at a problem. PHMSA also said the company didn’t adequately assess the risks or properly maintain the 18-inch Main Pass Oil Gathering pipeline.The agency said the company “failed to perform new integrity analyses or evaluations following changes in circumstances that identified new and elevated risk factors” for the pipeline.That echoed what the NTSB said in its final report in June, that “Third Coast missed several opportunities to evaluate how geohazards may threaten the integrity of their pipeline. Information widely available within the industry suggested that land movement related to hurricane activity was a threat to pipelines.”The NTSB said the leak off the coast of Louisiana was the result of underwater landslides, caused by hazards such as hurricanes, that Third Coast, the pipeline owner, failed to address despite the threats being well known in the industry.A Third Coast spokesperson said the company has been working to address regulators’ concerns about the leak, so it was taken aback by some of the details the agency included in its allegations and the size of the fine.“After constructive engagement with PHMSA over the last two years, we were surprised to see aspects of the recent allegations that we believe are inaccurate and exceed established precedent. We will address these concerns with the agency moving forward,” the company spokesperson said.The amount of oil spilled in this incident was far less than the 2010 BP oil disaster, when 134 million gallons were released in the weeks following an oil rig explosion, but it could have been much smaller if workers in the Third Coast control room had acted more quickly, the NTSB said. Josh Funk, AP Transportation Writer
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E-Commerce
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