Toronto Star: Fiorito: Why this man's face is covered in tattoos

I had just bought a chicken in Kensington Market and was looking for a fistful of herbs with which to stuff it when I saw the tattooed man.

His hands, his fingers, his wrists, his arms were inked. So was his face. I looked, and looked away, and looked again. His face.

I couldn’t get a reading on him; nor could I read my own reaction. And so I introduced myself and said, “I gotta ask.”

He said, “About what?” Read more

NY Times: Tattoonomics, Part I

According to a 2006 survey conducted by Pew Research, 40 percent of Americans between the ages of 26 and 40 have at least one tattoo; 36 percent of those age 18-25 report having a tattoo. Only 1 in 10 people older people have a tattoo.

These numbers are shocking to my economist brain.

Economists tend to like choices that are reversible. Whatever my preferences might be today, who knows what they will be a week, a year, or a decade later? I loved Adam Ant when I was in high school, but I sure am glad that I didn’t tattoo his name on my forearm. The same would certainly hold with respect to tattooing the names of any of my ex-girlfriends on my chest.

So what makes tattoos so popular? Read more

Justin Bieber gets inked

On Monday 18 May photos were released of teenage pop-sensation Bieber getting a small tattoo of a bird on his torso. The inking happened in the Son of a Gun tattoo parlour in Toronto, Canada, and speculation suggests the Baby superstar got it sometime in March. Read more

Love for fitness franchise more than skin deep

People love Anytime Fitness so much they tattoo its logo onto their skins.

"Commitment to the brand is unparalleled," boasts Chuck Runyon, CEO and co-founder of the fast-growing health club franchiser in Hastings, Minn.

Three tattoo artists worked the company's September annual franchisee meeting in Braselton, Ga., inking one enthusiastic attendee after the next. Read more