The sourcing cost of clothing production is rising in China, where many retailers employ factories to create fast fashion for their stores. For smaller brands, the solution has been to move production to domestic hubs like Los Angeles, but larger retailers like Forever 21 and Macy’s, who need merchandise in big quantities that only China can offer, say they will be forced to pass the climbing costs on to consumers.

The next subdivision of social media may come down to what a new website calls “Service Networking.” Essentially, it means networking online to outsource tasks you need done and offer individual services that you can provide.

The term was coined by a Boston couple who started TaskRabbit.com. Their site was founded based on the popular conception that there is never enough time in the day to get things done, especially all the simple, common tasks of everyday life. The site suggests things like IKEA furniture assembly, airport rides and grocery runs but current tasks range from iPod playlist updating to mowing a lawn.

It’s no secret that fast fashion retailers employ factories in developing countries to churn out large quantities of cheap clothing that consumers gobble up, but now there are reports that the high demand for low-priced, trendy outfits is overwhelming for laborers in poor countries.

The hottest new personalized product service is Chocomize, a New York-based Web company that offers custom-made candy bars, designed by the consumer and shipped right to their door. Chocomize offers a choice of up to five out of 90 ingredients to add to your choice of chocolate bark for over 30 million combinations to create “chocolate exactly the way you want it.”

The Marc Jacobs fashion label is worth an estimated $5 million, but up to this point the brand had no e-commerce store of its own. The top American fashion designer’s lack of online retail until now is actually more interesting than the recent news that marcjacobs.com will begin selling clothes this September. In any other industry, just now breaking into e-commerce would be totally unheard of, ironic, inexcusable and perplexing.

Francois Nars did not just hire Daphne Guinness to be the face of his Nars Cosmetics fall campaign. He named a $23 purple eye shadow after her as well, saying purple feels right as the meaning of Daphne to him. The two recently collaborated on his 15×15 project in celebration of Nars Cosmetics’ 15th anniversary.

A 10 percent tax on tanning bed services took effect July 1 to the dismay of orange-skinned indoor bronzing devotees. Salon owners and workers are also upset by the new tax, worrying their businesses will suffer and jobs may be lost. The potential for job losses is the only obvious downside to the new tanning services tax.

The iPad will breathe new life into Gourmet magazine late this year when Condé Nast plans to unveil Gourmet Live, a free iPad application that will offer repackaged articles, recipes, menus and photos collected from the magazine in addition to new features such as videos, social networking tools and games.

Competition for e-reading consumers’ affection sizzled on Monday as Barnes and Noble dropped the price of its Nook e-book reader 23 percent to $199 and introduced the Nook WiFi at an even bigger bargain $149, though the latter device can only be used in a WiFi environment. Amazon, whose $259 price tag for its Kindle e-reader previously matched the Nook’s cost exactly, responded by dropping the price of the Kindle to $189.