Zappos merchandising happy hours are always quite the party, let me tell ya. All the different lifestyle merch teams do skits, they celebrate the accomplishments of the teams for that quarter as well as individual accomplishments.

This past happy hour was a big day for Chris P. Not only did his performance team have outstanding numbers for the past quarter, but Chris was surprised with a promotion to Director of Performance. Chris has been at Zappos for five years, and not only has built a really strong team, but is someone who exemplifies what the core values are all about.

Congratulations Chris!

Several Outdoor Brands attended our Outdoor Expo at our offices in Henderson, NV yesterday to help educate our team members on new and upcoming styles. Expos such as these allow our Customer Loyalty representatives, as well as other employees to understand how the items we carry on the website are sized, manufactured and designed. Our Customer Loyalty team strives to pursue growth and learning, as well as stay on top of the coolest styles. Big Thanks to the Scheduling team for organizing the flow throughout the day, and allowing everyone in our awesome CLT department to attend!

If you're a regular Blog Reader you know about Bald Blue and Beautiful, and possibly about Free Golf cart rides for 3, but beautiful and Lustrous permanent Hair Color? That's right, The Lovely Ladies from Procter & Gamble stopped by with the new Frederic Fekkai hair color and hooked a couple of gals in our merchandising department up! Stayed tuned for Frederic Fekkai Hair color on Zappos.com!

My Mythology - Creating our own living legacy at Zappos.

One of the joys about working at Zappos is the freedom to be ourselves through our own personal style. Style shouts! Individuals identify themselves through their personal style. Taking the chaos out of the closet and using clothing as a celebration to create personal mythology or legend is something I have been fascinated by.

What is someone trying to say through their style?

Join me in the discovery. Each week I will take an employee from Zappos and find out their personal psychology through their favorite outfits.

Today we study the mythology of Mike F. : Merchandising Assistant 2 for Athletic Performance at Zappos.com.

Today, the magnificent Mike F. is rocking a vintage ski vest, Y-3 sneakers and his trademark tight jeans.

How would you define your look?
Classy yet crazy. Funky and frank.

What inspires your style?
I’d say mainly my friends. I like to take bits and pieces of what I see change it up a bit and make it my own.

Who is your favorite designer?
The late YSL designs have always caught my eye, if only I could afford it…

What fashion item would you never leave the house without? .
Bike, facial hair and a set of fingerless gloves.

Who are your fashion/style icons?
Brandon Boyd and Mr. Depp.

What are your favorite labels?
Corpus, American Apparel, Insight, Ted Baker and Marc Jacobs. I recently became obsessed with the Swedish style and their labels like Cheap Monday, Acne, and Uniformsforthededicated.

How would you define your mythology that you portray through your style?
I like to change up my style every now and then. I don’t like to feel one dimensional, I believe I can pull off any style, any piece. I often wipe my closet clean, keep the keepers and get rid of everything else and get a whole new look. My clothes often express how feel.

What is your favorite decade for style?
Most definitely the 80s

Fixed gear or free wheel?
I am a risky fella… Fixed!

What is your favorite fabric?
Is it wrong to say the good cotton?

Which watch?
I use to rock a watch I got from a lucky charms box for awhile… and them someone stole it!

What brand of denim do you prefer?
Cheap Monday!

What is your favorite color?
Red!

What item do you allow yourself to splurge on?
Shoes and socks.

Delirium Tremens or Pabst Blue Ribbon?
Even though I drink PBR 90% of the time I would much rather drink Delirium… if only it was a cheap as PBR :-/

Alexander McQueen or Vivienne Westwood?
Is this a trick question? I think I better say Vivienne…

Black tie, bow tie, skinny tie or bolo tie?
If I had more of them, I would wear a bow tie everyday!

Sunglasses?
I like them but I always lose/break them so I have completely lost hope with sunglasses.

Alexander McQueen or Vivienne Westwood?
I knew it was a trick question!

What are your fashion rules?
I try not to match. I do tend to break this often because it very easy to believe that you should match but I really don’t like to.

Man bags or man jewelry?
Man bags.

Cats or dogs?
Meow.

Argyles or paisleys?
Argyle.

Briefs or boxers?
I was boxer-briefs for awhile but I have recently switched to briefs for reasons not to be stated

Would set foot in a thrift store?
I’d have to say yes since it is basically the only stores I do shop in.

What is the best thing you’ve ever found at a thrift store?
Oh there is so many… The best stuff I have found has been furniture like my lamp on my nightstand, I can only describe it as amazing! Oh, just the other weekend I found some little bikes made out of beer cans.

What is the most you’ve ever spent on fashion and for what item?
I cannot recall a single item but I did spend over a $800.00 in my favorite store once.

Account by Lynsey C.!

January 21st

5pm Touchdown, Salt Lake City, grab our bags and head to the taxi line. This taxi line has proven difficult in the past, so we’ll see this year. Last show, Andy and I received a reprimanding from the line coordinator on how to properly wait for a cab ;)

530 Checking in at Grand America; I love this hotel. Every afternoon you are greeted with warm chocolate chip cookies!! Over warm cookies we have a slight confusion on rooms and end up switching roommates to “do more with less, core value #7” and save good old Zappos an extra night hotel.

January 22nd

7am Wake up call

715 Reality check that it’s 29 degrees outside and I packed for more like 70 degrees. I knew it was cold, but just didn’t really think about it at 5am while packing the day before.. Confirm that Tara (New Yorker) totally packed for cold weather.

830 am Bump into Steve from Zappos on my way out of the hotel. Salt Lake City offers a great little tram that runs about every 10 minutes and will take you from just outside the hotel to the convention center. Well, 10 minutes in 29 degrees with a thin cotton hoodie and leggings sounds like frostbite.

9am While waiting at the booth to meet with Brad and Jerry, another Hi-Tec employee and myself get to chatting about Twitter. He follows Tony and quite a few other Zappos employees. We exchange Twitter names and are destined to Twitter to one another someday soon! Next, Meet with Hi Tec team. I’ve been asking for more pink additions to the girls offering of the kids’ line and this season they have it! We review their Magalog spot last year and discuss our options for 09’. Overall, great meeting and partnership.

10am Swing by Life is Good to grab a catalog for our apparel buyer, Holly. Jimmy Ho and I share a tear that I no longer will get to work with him on apparel and then immediately after make plans for beers later.

10:20am Check out White Sierra for apparel group. Dom schools us on the Good/Better/Great method of buying.: ) Head over to Hot Chillys booth with Dom to discover that he won Rep of the year!! Dom received a very nice plaque that he flashed off for a second as well as a glass paper weight (at least that’s what I think it was) with Chillys on it.

11am Check out Baffin and Bogs with Greg. After two years of buying cold weather boots I still can’t figure out what kid goes into 60 degrees below-zero-weather.

12pm Lunch, beat the sandwich line rush and stake out a spot on the floor. Next, Teva with Barney and Liz. WOW, fall product looks amazing! Get to talking about European exclusives and special color make ups for Zappos. End up meeting the design team and marketing team. Great people. Meet the guy that started the Teva Mt. games! Run over to Birkenstock to recap with Scott about our '09 plan. Everything is solid, so on to next appointment.

330pm Check out J-41 with Fred R. Women’s line; looks awesome, smaller kids SKU count but continues to evolve season to season.

4pm Walk the show for an hour while answering emails and recapping topics with Tara.

530pm Get ready for meeting with Fred and Steve.

6pm Recap meeting with entire Zappos team at show as well as our executive team. Great meeting!

715pm Wonderful dinner with Kamik team, shut down the Metropolitan (amazing service).

January 23rd

7am Rise and shine; wake up call

9am Kamik Team meeting. Product looks great, looking at two spots for Magalog next year. Also, talking exclusives with Dave and wide width snow boots!

12pm Keen meeting with executives and meet Tom. Great guy! Business is good and just wanted to focus on Magalog and marketing initiatives!

1pm Andy and Erika head over to Ahnu to check out kids line. I take off to say hello and thank you to some of our apparel vendors. Tag teaming!

2pm lunch!!! WAIT, Sorel and Columbia with Katie. Grab lunch and eat on the way! Columbia’s got pop colors. Love it and have been waiting for some fun colors and new shoe types.

2:45 Head over to Sorel. Line looks amazing.Logo changes and marketing initiatives are great. Toddler boots are great addition and overall, really stoked on everything we saw.

5pm Head to airport…..long story short; forget my wallet at Grand America, but soon is brought to me. All is well and on the plane home at 7:30 (delayed flight)

Today we take a look into the life of the OG HelpDesker… Brooke James!

Brooke was the very first person to start the Help Desk department. She was the main liaison between Merchandising and CLT. Her days were full of answering emails from CLT, driving shuttles, and doing random projects.

Hmmm… does that sound familiar to anyone? :) Brooke started in 2004 and was in the department for about a year. We at the Help Desk owe it all to Brooke’s visionary ways.

Brooke mentions, “I would always look forward to vendors coming into the office. They were always the highlight of my day.”

Nowadays Brooks is busy buying some pretty snazzy handbags for our site. Check out her greatest accomplishment to bring to Zappos – Dooney and Bourke Handbags!

At Zappos, we have always taken a crazy amount of pride in our product presentation on the website. The multi-view and product descriptions were the result of years of practice, determination and, most importantly, at least on the photo side, experimentation. But some products need just a little bit more description...so the idea for video descriptions was sparked.

The idea is simple: some products, especially outdoor technical gear, have many different functions that can only be eluded to in the photos and descriptions, and a video could allow a person to personally explain each special feature. And, in an effort between the Zappos Merch, Content and Video teams, we were able to pull together 15 products and shoot videos. Below are a few examples.

http://www.zappos.com/n/p/p/7258531.html
http://www.zappos.com/n/p/p/7302845.html
http://www.zappos.com/n/p/p/7436385.html
http://www.zappos.com/n/p/p/7436386.html
http://www.zappos.com/n/p/p/7497443.html

We had also decided to use actual Zappos employees in the videos, the first round being only members of the Merch and Content teams. But, after the initial videos were completed, we decided that since there are so many smiling faces at Zappos, why not give everyone a chance to try it out!?

So, on Tuesday, Jason Lee, from our Content Team, sent out an open casting call to all Zappos Employees in Vegas, and the day was caught on camera! Take a look below.

Stay tuned for hundreds of cool product videos to come!

In the spirit of giving that this season brings to life, Zappos sold raffle tickets to employees, which dropped their name into the running for winning prizes donated by vendors and our Merchandising Department all through this December. All proceeds were donated to the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation. But, some prizes were so special, that they needed to be given away in a silent auction.

There were many fine items up for auction, and here are some highlights of the items sold:

• Performance Gamer Chair-donated by the electronics department
• Two Umbrellas, Autographed and Donated by Rhianna herself
• 1 Night Stay At The Wyndham
• 1 Autographed Wilson Football Signed By Eric Wright Of The San Francisco 49ers

One of the joys about working at Zappos is the freedom to be ourselves through our own personal style. Style shouts! Individuals identify themselves through their personal style. Taking the chaos out of the closet and using clothing as a celebration to create personal mythology or legend is something I have been fascinated by.

What is someone trying to say through their style?

Join me in the discovery. Each week I will take an employee from Zappos and find out their personal psychology through their favorite outfits.

Today we study the mythology of Casey L. : Assistant Buyer 3 for Cosmetics at Zappos.com.



How would you define your look?
Classic and not too complicated .

What inspires your style?
Whatever is clean and hanging in my closet.

Who is your favorite designer?
Hmmm… I’m a cosmetic chic so MAC, Stila, Lancome… but if I have to choose for apparel I’d say Marc Jacobs or BCBG.

What fashion item would you never leave the house without?
I wouldn’t really have a great answer to that… Always have the classic diamond stud earrings, lip gloss and mascara.

Who are your fashion/style icons?
Claire and Terra, they always looks great!

What are your favorite labels?
Whatever fits the best!

Matte or gloss?
Gloss, the little extra shimmer can never hurt anyone!

How would you define your mythology that you portray through your style?
If it take more than 30-45 minutes to get ready I don’t want to deal with it, but it’s alright if it looks like you take longer!

What is your favorite decade for style?
This one, it combines them all!

What is your favorite fabric?
Denim, it always works.

Which watch?
Isn’t telling time that what my blackberry is for?

What brand of denim do you prefer?
7 for all mankind and Marc Jacobs, Chip and Pepper sometimes too!

What is your favorite color?
Green year-round and red in the fall.

What item do you allow yourself to splurge on?
Good wine, jeans that fit.

What is your favorite perfume ?
Marc Jacobs and Euphoria by Calvin Klein… it’s a toss up.

What scent do you prefer for a man?
Easy choice… Bulgari Aqua and John Varvatos.

Liquid or bar soap?
Liquid, it’s more moisturizing.

If you were in a time crunch and could only apply lipstick, mascara, blush, or eye shadow which would it be?
Mascara.

Which bag?
I know I need to update soon, but Coach for now.

Sunglasses?
Marc Jacobs or Gucci.

Smoky eyes or bright lips?
Smoky Eyes.

What are your fashion rules?
I don’t have any really.

Man bags or man jewelry?
Man bags.

What gift set is amazing for a Christmas present?
Anything fragrance, it’s usually the price of spray so the rest is all bonus!

Kevin Aucoin or Bobbi Brown?
Bobbi Brown.

Any tips on how to stay looking young?
Wash you face and use a moisturizer… Especially if it has an SPF.

Would set foot in a thrift store?
Yes, but not without backup.

What is the best thing you’ve ever found at a thrift store?
In college, we lived there for theme parties so there are too many outfits to choose from.

What is the most you’ve ever spent on fashion and for what item?
Honestly, not enough to mention.

Maybe you've worked in a retail situation before where you had to hear Christmas music on a loop for two months. Maybe you are a Christmas nut and listen to it in the shower, at work, in the car, lunchtime, bed time, nap time.....either way, we all have an opinion about the tunes that hop on the radio waves and the department store speakers the day after Thanksgiving, and we explored the opinions that fill the halls of Zappos.

For better or worse, here you go: )

My Mythology - Creating our own living legacy at Zappos.

One of the joys about working at Zappos is the freedom to be ourselves
through our own personal style. Style shouts! Individuals identify
themselves through their personal style. Taking the chaos out of the
closet and using clothing as a celebration to create personal mythology
or legend is something I have been fascinated by.

What is someone trying to say through their style?

Join me in the discovery. Each week I will take an employee from Zappos
and find out their personal psychology through their favorite outfits.

Today we study the mythology of Cat S. : Merchandising Assistant 3 for Athletic Performance at Zappos.com.

How would you define your look?
I’m kind of all over the place. I like flashy/bright pieces that nobody else will wear, but I also like being comfortable in whatever I’m wearing. I usually have a little bit of So-Cal steeze or 80’s craze going on..

What inspires your style?
Bright colors and unique pieces you don’t see everyone wearing. Also, the weather and how I’m feeling that day.

Who is your favorite designer?
Betsey Johnson, Marc Jacobs and Charlotte Ronson

What fashion item would you never leave the house without?
Jewelry, usually gold and something big and funky

Who are your fashion/style icons?
Gwen Stefani always looks fabulous and so well put together. I love how her style has evolved over the past 10 years and how she incorporates new trends into her own signature style. Nicole Richie usually has a good knack for incorporating trend pieces into her personal style without causing too much of a mess as well.

What are your favorite labels?
L.A.M.B., Betsey Johnson, Luxirie

How would you define your mythology that you portray through your style?
So-Cal beach with a little edge maybe..

What is your favorite decade for style?
I think the ‘70s was a great decade for fashion and more than just a time for free love and long hair, peace signs, and leather fringe. A lot of the pieces that are hot right now borrow looks from the Woodstock days, and I love throwing on a fun vest or extra wide leg jeans to add a little sass to the day.

What is your favorite fabric?
I love lace. Black lace is hot, especially layered over other fabric

Which watch?
Vestal’s Gold Fairamay or a gold L.A.M.B.

What brand of denim do you prefer?
Luxirie always has something fun and crazy going on with their denim to “make” your outfit.

What is your favorite color?
Black and hot pink.

What item do you allow yourself to splurge on?
Jewelry! I have a weakness for jewelry, especially if it’s one of my favorite designers. I usually don’t even look at the price tag or contemplate.. impulse buying at its finest!

Gore-Tex or Omni-Dry ?
Omni dry.

Neons or neutrals?
Neons!

Cowboy hats or cowboy boots?
Cowboy boots. I have some awesome shark skin boots my grandma gave me that she bought 25 years ago

Which bag?
Marc Jacobs and Volcom have great oversized bags.

Sunglasses?
Always, especially out here. Oversized or aviators.

What is your favorite sport to participate in?
Running and any of the boardsports. I can’t wait for snow sessions this year!

What are your fashion rules?
If you like it, make it work. If it still doesn’t work, it’s not meant to.

Man bags or man jewelry?
So long as it’s not a fanny pack, man bags are alright. Jason L. knows how to rock his man bag!

Rave or emo?
Neither? Raving was big in Portland when I was growing up and I think the combination of candy necklaces and JNCO’s scared me a little bit.

Shorts or skorts?
Are skorts still around? I’m going to have to go with shorts.

Cowl neck sweaters or sweater sets?
Cowl necks..not a huge fan of that much matching. I love layering though, and cowl necks are perfect for that.

Glossy or matte?
Depends. Usually glossy, but not if it’s patent.

Would set foot in a thrift store?
Yes! Portland has some great spots that I like to check out when I’m up there.

What is the best thing you’ve ever found at a thrift store?
Awesome vintage leather jacket for like 15 bucks. I think there was an old ticket to the Los Angeles zoo in one of the pockets.

What is the most you’ve ever spent on fashion and for what item?
1,000 on a Robert Lee Morris cuff.

Check out the fun and crazy things that our Casual Lifestyle Merchandising Assistant, Latrira S., keeps on her desk.

The Zappettes were busy today with back to back bookings. They gave singing grams to birthday celebrants, Kathy C. and Steph B. This in house Zappos singing group has been a huge success. Not only are they spreading angelic cheer, but all proceeds go to the Zappos charity of the month. Happy Birthday ladies, hope your birthday is as harmonious as your singing gram!

My Mythology - Creating our own living legacy at Zappos.

One of the joys about working at Zappos is the freedom to be ourselves through our own personal style. Style shouts! Individuals identify themselves through their personal style. Taking the chaos out of the closet and using clothing as a celebration to create personal mythology or legend is something I have been fascinated by.

What is someone trying to say through their style?

Join me in the discovery. Each week I will take an employee from Zappos and find out their personal psychology through their favorite outfits.

Today we study the mythology of Scott Julian, Fashion Buyer at Zappos.com.
Scott is sporting super cool Gucci sneakers and a wide variety of silver jewelry that includes stylish brand names like "King Baby"!



How would you define your look?
That’s tough? I’d say casual with accessory excess!

What inspires your style?

Punk and Hip Hop …European Youth.

Who is your favorite designer?

Neil Barrett.

What fashion item would you never leave the house without?

A good pair of flashy socks!

Who are your fashion/style icons?

George Esquiveland Alexander Mcqueen.

What are your favorite labels?

Diesel, Neil Barrett, and Gucci.

How would you define your mythology that you portray through your style?

+Good shoes, nice jeans, and a crisp shirt + 5 lbs of man jewelry and I’m out the door+

What is your favorite decade for style?

80’s.

What is your favorite fabric?

I don’t have one…

Chrome Hearts or King Baby?

King Baby!

What is your favorite color?

Black and white.

What item do you allow yourself to splurge on?

Sneakers and jewelry.

Vivienne Westwood or Alexander McQueen?

Alexander McQueen.

Silver or Gold?
Silver!

Black tie, bow tie, skinny tie or bolo tie?

Bow tie for sure

Which bag?

Hugo Boss

Sunglasses?

Dior Homme

Skateboarding or rollerblading?

Dang!..Was hoping this wouldn’t come up… I can’t lie, I’m a rollerblader!

What are your fashion rules?

Your outfit should be conversational.

Man bags or man jewelry?

Both!

Would set foot in a thrift store?

No …Not patient enough.

What is the most you’ve ever spent on fashion and for what item?

500+ for a pair of Alejandro Ingelmosneaks.

Newly formed in-house Zappos singing crew, the Zappettes gave CFO, Alfred, a harmonious birthday greeting today. They sang two special songs before he entered the Dunk Tank for today's customer service week festivities. You can now hire the lovely and talented Zappettes, Alane, Liz and Kathleen to send a special someone not only a birthday sing-o-gram, but a singing telegram for any special occasion or even just because. All proceeds go to the Zappos sponsored charity of the month.