Banana Republic Factory Pre-Fall Event takes up to 50% off new styles + extra 15% off

Banana Republic Factory Pre-Fall Event takes up to 50% off new styles + extra 15% off

Banana Republic Factory Pre-Fall Event takes up to 50% off hundreds of styles and an extra 15% off your purchase. No code needed. Customers receive free shipping on orders of $50 or more. Easily elevate your fall style with the Luxe Touch Performance Half-Zip Pullover that’s currently marked down to $21 and originally sold for $50. This pullover pairs perfectly with shorts, joggers, jeans, or chino pants alike and will become a go-to in your wardrobe. It can be layered under vests, jackets, or flannel shirts alike and you can choose from four versatile color options. The material is highly-breathable, lightweight, and infused with stretch, which allows for mobility. Head below the jump to find the rest of our top picks from the Banana Republic Pre-Fall Event or you can shop the entire sale here.

Our top picks for men include:

Our top picks for women include:

FTC: 9to5Toys is reader supported, we may earn income on affiliate links

Subscribe to the 9to5Toys YouTube Channel for all of the latest videos, reviews, and more!

Bolsonaro’s ‘banana republic’ military parade condemned by critics

Critics have denounced Jair Bolsonaro’s “banana republic-style” decision to send combat vehicles on to the streets of Brazil’s capital for a rare military parade in what was widely seen as a beleaguered president’s ham-fisted attempt to project strength.

Bolsonaro, whose ratings have plunged as a result of his chaotic response to the Covid pandemic, looked on from the marble ramp outside the presidential palace as a motorcade of armoured vehicles trundled past on Tuesday morning.

“Ridiculous. Grotesque. Pitiful. Needless. Banana Republic stuff,” tweeted the Brasília-based journalist Brunno Melo as the procession advanced under a perfect blue sky.

The hastily arranged parade – which experts said had no precedent in the years since the restoration of democracy in 1985 – was reportedly ordered by Bolsonaro last Friday and came on the same day members of congress were scheduled to vote on highly controversial Bolsonaro-backed plans to change Brazil’s voting system.

It also followed a succession of incendiary and anti-democratic remarks from Brazil’s leader, an authoritarian-minded former army captain who has said next year’s presidential elections may not happen if the changes are not approved.

“This is an obvious and explicit attempt by Bolsonaro to show that the armed forces are on his side,” said Thaís Oyama, a political journalist who first reported plans for the military mobilisation on Monday.

Oyama called the event “typical Bolsonaro”. She said: “The only language he speaks is provocation. The only thing he understands is threats and chaos. He is obsessed with demonstrating that the armed forces are on his side.”

Jair Bolsonaro (centre) waves as the parade passes. Photograph: Evaristo Sa/AFP/Getty Images

João Roberto Martins Filho, a leading military expert, said the procession was “completely unheard of” in the nearly four decades since the end of the 1964-85 military dictatorship and was an attempt by Bolsonaro to reaffirm his dominance.

“There are those who say the military chiefs control Bolsonaro … but I think he is utterly uncontrollable,” Martins Filho said.

Opposition politicians from left and right condemned the spectacle, which the defence ministry claimed was held to formally invite Bolsonaro to annual navy training exercises due to start next week near the capital. Those exercises have been held every year since 1988, however, and never before have armoured vehicles been sent to the heart of Brasília, which also houses Brazil’s congress and supreme court.

Alessandro Vieira, a centre-right senator, said it was unacceptable to squander public money on “an empty exhibition of military might”. “Brazil isn’t a toy in the hands of lunatics,” Vieira tweeted.

Sen Simone Tebet denounced the “improper and unconstitutional intimidation” of Brazil’s democratic system.

Omar Aziz, the president of a congressional inquiry into a Covid catastrophe that has killed more than half a million Brazilians, said: “Bolsonaro thinks this shows strength, but it’s actually just evidence of the fragility of a president who is cornered by corruption investigations … and the administrative incompetence that has caused death, hunger and unemployment in the midst of an uncontrolled pandemic.”

Many also regarded the president’s tanqueciata (tank parade) – which lasted only 10 minutes, featured a distinctly limited selection of fume-spewing military hardware, including a single model of Austrian tank, and was attended by only about 100 hardcore Bolsonaro supporters – as a fiasco.

Marcelo Soares, a São Paulo-based journalist, called the pageant a “legitimate show of farce”.

Supporters of Jair Bolsonaro cheer with a Brazilian flag as protesters hold flowers to give to soldiers from the military convoy in Brasilia. Photograph: Eraldo Peres/AP

José Roberto de Toledo, a political journalist from the magazine Piauí, compared the procession to the 1959 British comedy The Mouse That Roared, in which the puny Duchy of Grand Fenwick declares war on the US.

“It’s unbelievable … The only explanation is that they are trying to convince congress they need more money for equipment,” Toledo said. “Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined they were capable of something so pathetic. It looks like it was staged by the opposition, or some infiltrated communist.”

Another wit compared the underwhelming cast of vehicles to the cartoon TV series Wacky Races.

Adding to the sense of absurdity, one pro-Bolsonaro lawmaker celebrated Bolsonaro’s parade on Twitter using an image of Chinese tanks processing through Beijing’s Tiananmen Square two years ago to mark the anniversary of Mao Zedong’s 1949 communist revolution.

Martins Filho said it was troubling that the commander of Brazil’s navy – appointed this year after the defence minister and heads of all three branches of the armed forces were forced out by Bolsonaro – had not resigned when asked to stage an “absolutely unnecessary” parade that had badly backfired.

“The comments people are making about the armed forces [today] are absolutely brutal. I just don’t understand how they don’t see the damage this is doing to their image.”

The Case of the [Allegedly] Stolen &

Tuesday, July 27, 2021

In a recent installment of the dispute christened “the Case of the Stolen Ampersand” by Judge Furman, the S.D.N.Y dismissed Moshik Nadav Typography LLC’s (“Nadav”) claims against Banana Republic LLC (“Banana Republic”). The court dismissed the unjust enrichment claim with prejudice but granted Nadav leave to file a third amended complaint limited unfair competition and violation of Section 349 of New York’s General Business Law.

Nadav is a small graphic design business that creates typefaces and logos for high‑end brands such as VOGUE, Estee Lauder, and Volkswagen. In 2012, Nadav allegedly developed the Paris Pro FS typeface, including the “Paris Pro Ampersand:” . At an unspecified point in time, Banana Republic, the global fashion retailer, began using a stylized ampersand, , in its online marketing materials. Nadav alleged that Banana Republic copied and used Nadav’s ampersand without obtaining a license or other authorization.

Paris Pro Ampersand (left) and an exemplary ad from Banana Republic (right)

As noted by the court, to survive a motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Procedure 12(b)(6), a plaintiff must allege facts sufficient to state a facially plausible claim to relief. Applying this standard, the district court dismissed Nadav’s unjust enrichment claim with prejudice and sent Nadav back to the drawing board for its other two claims.

First, the district court addressed Nadav’s claim for unjust enrichment. To state a claim for unjust enrichment under New York law, Nadav must plead that Banana Republic was enriched at Nadav’s expense, and that “equity and good conscience” require Nadav to recover from Banana Republic. Though Nadav asserted that an equitable obligation ran from Banana Republic to Nadav by virtue the alleged misappropriation of the Paris Pro Ampersand, the court found no relationship “whatsoever” between the parties. Nadav’s allegations relating to its design of logos for other players in the fashion industry were too attenuated to demonstrate that the company had any relationship with Banana Republic. If Nadav could succeed on a motion to dismiss without alleging an actual relationship between it and Banana Republic, “then the requirement [for an equitable obligation between the parties] would be rendered meaningless.” For these reasons, Nadav’s unjust enrichment claim failed.

Second, the district court addressed Nadav’s unfair competition claim. This claim failed because Nadav did not plausibly plead that Banana Republic acted in bad faith—an element of unfair competition under New York law. Though Nadav asserted that Banana Republic acted in bad faith by intentionally copying the Paris Pro Ampersand, Nadav failed to support this allegation with specific facts. For instance, Nadav did not plausibly allege that Banana Republic was even aware of the existence of Nadav, its alleged Paris Pro Ampersand, or that Nadav designed the Paris Pro Ampersand. Without such knowledge, Banana Republic could not have copied in bad faith.

Third, the court addressed Nadav’s claim under Section 349. To state a claim under the statute, a plaintiff must demonstrate that it was injured as a consequence of the defendant’s “materially misleading” “consumer‑oriented conduct.” For non‑consumers such as Nadav to obtain relief, “the gravamen of the complaint must be consumer injury or harm to the public interest.” Nadav’s claim failed because the core of its complaint, according to the district court, “is a dispute between businesses, not harm to consumers” or the public interest. As for potential consumer deception stemming from Banana Republic’s use of a stylized ampersand in its marketing materials (e.g., believing that the Banana Republic ampersand originated from Nadav), the district court held that such deception alone is not a cognizable injury.

Nadav filed its third amended complaint on July 1, 2021. Banana Republic has not yet moved to dismiss.

The case is Moshik Nadav Typography LLC v. Banana Republic, LLC, No. 20-CV-8325 (JMF), 2021 WL 2403724 (S.D.N.Y. June 10, 2021).

A. Sasha Hoyt, a Summer Associate at Finnegan, co-authored this article.