# Gillette; Benetton

Have you noticed how ads for Gillette’s new Mach 3 “Turbo” say that it
now gives good results “whether you shave up or down”? Cleverly not
mentioning what shave direction then non-turbocharged version was
designed for? Thereby giving both the up-shavers and the down-shavers
the impression that the “Turbo” will enhance their shave?

[![](/lately/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/85947ee15b317d7d5948dd2183fb1c27.jpg)](/album/2003-03-29/)

Hey check out my new jacket! I got it for US\$30 from Benetton in San
Francisco! Its zip, though, I can’t quite figure out. The jacket does up
with buttons, but it also has a zip, whose two halves are set about four
inches from the edge of _both_ sides of the jacket. Such that when it’s
zipped up a sort of
[peak](/album/2003-03-29/f02dfa881760a6c7603dcff40f4c91db.html) forms in
the front, where the two pieces of excess fabric come together.

What is this zip for?! Even Benetton don’t know. (My mother was curious
enough to call and ask them.) There was some speculation that it might
be used to hold the jacket in shape whilst hanging in storage—the
material is quite heavy and the zip is not quite sturdy enough to be the
main fastening—but this explanation doesn’t seem right either. (And it’s
not the sort of jacket to have zip-in parts.)