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A new clothing website launched by ex-Hugo Boss designer Bruno Pieters offers men's and women's collections that are completely transparent regarding manufacturing costs. Honest by provides a radical disruption in fashion (especially designer fashion), where manufacturing costs are often hazy or hidden, allowing brands to demand considerable premiums for labels.

Macy's has tapped Martine Reardon as its new chief marketing officer. The announcement comes amid a series of senior executive moves at the retailer, prompted by the retirement of Ron Klein, Macy's chief stores officer. Peter Sachse, who was named Macy's first chief marketing officer in 2003, will take Klein's place.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Caremark has announced the appointment of Larry Burton as SVP government affairs, effective Feb. 27, bringing more than 30 years of experience in strategy development, public policy and government affairs to the company. He joins the company from Business Roundtable in Washington, D.C., where he was executive director. In this role, Burton was responsible for developing policy positions and strategies for implementation on matters of priority interest to CEOs in such areas as energy and environment, trade, corporate governance, health care and other major economic issues. Previously, Burton was regional coordinator of the Western Hemisphere

Staples announced the appointment of Mike Edwards to executive vice president, U.S. retail merchandising. Edwards previously served as president and CEO of Borders Group and had also served as the company's chief merchant.

Arizona has handed Amazon a $53 million bill for uncollected sales taxes — the latest sign that the state is getting tougher on untaxed e-commerce at a time when it's also trying to encourage online distributors to set up operations here.

The number of sales tax rate changes across the U.S. showed modest decline in 2011, as did the combined average sales tax rate, this according to the annual Sales Tax Rate Report from Vertex, a provider of corporate enterprise tax solutions.

The latest Empathica Consumer Insights Panel survey found that 28 percent of consumers said they tell others about their luxury purchase through social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook or blogs.

British fashion apparel retailer Topshop recently launched a fully transactional iPhone app to engage customers when they are in a store or on the go. With a significant percentage of Topshop’s online sales already coming from mobile devices, Topshop created the app to make its entire product catalog easily accessible to mobile customers. In the first four weeks that it has been available, the app has seen more than 280,000 downloads. “At this point customers expect a native app from their favorite retailers, at least on the iPhone,” said Alex Sbardella, mobile products manager at Red Ant, London. “For

Los Angeles-based Forever 21 Inc. has entered France, with the opening of its first-ever store at the Vélizy 2 shopping mall southwest of Paris, according to www.wwd.com. In addition, the company plans to open three more stores in France over the next 14 months. The new store measures approximately 21,500 sq. ft. The brand's second store in France is expected to open in September 2012, at the Rosny 2 mall east of Paris. Currently, the company operates 500 stores worldwide and is launching around 80 projects this year, including store openings, renovations and combining existing concepts. SAVE | EMAIL