"Cardi with a cause" is at the center of a new collaboration between the nonprofit Dress for Success, O Magazine, and women's retailer Talbots, which launched Tuesday.
Five cardigans are part of the capsule collection, but women can also donate professional clothes to Talbots to participate.
CBS's Gayle King, while wearing one of the cardigans, told Cheddar the effort offers a way for women to look good in all work situations.
"It's one of those win-win-win situations," she said. "When you look good, you feel good, you do good, and that's what Dress for Success does."
This is the fifth year that Oprah Winfrey's magazine and Talbots have teamed up to benefit the cause, which aims to help women achieve economic independence.
King said the partnership has continued because of its success and because "we all actually like each other."
O Creative Director Adam Glassman said the partnership has raised over $6 million and helped 150,000 women. During the event, Talbots will donate 30 percent of proceeds to the nonprofit.
"With Dress for Success, they've figured out a way for women to look good in all social work situations and Talbots just adds to that," said King, who is also editor-at-large of O Magazine.
It's important to empower women in the workplace to pay it forward because she said research shows the inclusion of women in the workplace improves companies and helps foster better work environments.
"All the statistics show when women are involved they're more collaborative, they tend to have a really good success rate," she said.
Ariel Kaye, founder and CEO of home goods business Parachute, joined Cheddar to discuss the company's sales success over the holidays as it navigated supply chain issues. She also expects a strong showing in 2022 with the continuation of 2021 trends. "The hybrid work model is going to be here for a long time," Kaye said. The business, which currently has 12 physical locations, plans to expand to 30 brick-and-mortar shops by the end of 2022.
Nikola announced that it delivered its first electric semi trucks last week, sending the embattled EV company's stock soaring. There is a lot of competition in this space, though, said Lauren Fix, an automotive analyst with Car Coach Reports. While every country has companies racing to dominate the electric trucking industry, she explained, a shortage of graphite, used in batteries, and a dearth of convenient charging stations will still keep growth slow in 2022. "You really have to be very careful when you're investing in this marketplace," Fix said. "That's great that [Nikola was] able to deliver one, but can they deliver more?"
It looks like the supply chain didn't steal Christmas this year after all. Retail sales jumped 8.5 percent between November 1 and December 24, compared with the same period last year, according to a report from Mastercard. That's the strongest growth in 17 years. Jharonne Martis, director of consumer research at Refinitiv, joined Cheddar to discuss how retailers were able to do so well despite inflation, supply chain issues, and the COVID-19 omicron variant but gave a subdued outlook for the retail sector at the beginning of 2022. "Consumers are not just completely isolated from the inflation issues," she said. "This is definitely going to continue into the first half of the year, as per our IFR data."
Hotel cancellations are on the rise ahead of the holidays as the omicron variant spreads around the world. Online hotel search site Trivago noted a 35 percent jump in cancellations since November. Axel Hefer, managing director and CEO at Trivago, joined Cheddar to discuss this worrying trend. Hefner said it is important for both travelers and businesses to watch how the 2021-2022 winter travel season unfolds as it will help them prepare for next year as the pandemic will likely be ongoing.
Markets opened slightly higher to kick off the final trading week of the year as investors continue to watch the Omicron variant in the U.S. Sean O'Hara, President, Pacer ETFs joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss what drove early market activity.
Eric Mitchell, Sports Analyst and President & CEO of LifeFlip Media, breaks down the updated rules around testing in the NFL and outlines how vaccinated players are impacted by new return-to-play guidelines.
Carlo and Baker kick off the weirdest week of the year with all the news you missed over the holiday weekend, including calls for the CDC to shorten its isolation window as Omicron sweeps through the country.
