Sharply Simple is a style blog for men over 40. It covers outfits, fit, haircuts and grooming. This page explains, in plain English, what information Sharply Simple collects when you visit, why it’s collected and what you can do about it. By using this website, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy. If you don’t agree, please don’t use the site.
A Note About Children
Sharply Simple is written for adults and isn’t intended for anyone under the age of 13. We don’t knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.
If you’re a parent or guardian and you believe your child has given us personal information, please contact us. We’ll delete that information as soon as we can.
What Sharply Simple Collects
We collect two kinds of information: the details you choose to give us, and technical details that are gathered automatically when you browse.
Information you give us may include:
- Your name
- Your email address
- Your phone number or mailing address, if you include them in a message
- Payment details, if Sharply Simple ever sells a product and you buy it
- Anything else you write in a comment, contact form or email
Information collected automatically may include:
- Your IP address
- Your browser type and version
- Your operating system
- Your internet service provider (ISP)
- The date and time of your visit
- The pages you viewed and the page that referred you to us
We collect this information through contact forms, blog comments, newsletter signups, any purchases you make, server log files, Google Analytics and cookies.
Server Log Files
Like almost every website, Sharply Simple uses standard server log files. These logs record visitors when they land on a page. The information includes your IP address, browser type, ISP, date and time stamp, the pages you visited before and after ours, and the number of clicks.
None of this is linked to anything that personally identifies you. We use it to analyse trends, run the site, understand how visitors move around it and gather general demographic information.
Cookies
Cookies are small text files that a website saves in your browser. Sharply Simple uses them to remember your preferences, understand which pages are popular and make the site work better for you. Some cookies are placed by us. Others are placed by third-party services we use, such as analytics tools and, in the future, advertising partners.
You can turn cookies off, or delete them, in your browser settings. Each browser handles this a little differently, so check your browser’s help section for instructions. Some parts of the site may not work properly if cookies are switched off.
Google Analytics
Sharply Simple uses Google Analytics to understand how people use the site. That includes which articles get read, how long visitors stay and where they come from. Google Analytics uses cookies to gather this information, and it’s reported to us in summary form, not as data about individual people.
You can read how Google handles this data in Google’s Privacy Policy. To stop Google Analytics collecting data from your visits, you can install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
Pixels, Beacons and Tags
Some pages on Sharply Simple may contain small pieces of code called web beacons, pixels or tags. These are used by analytics services, and may later be used by advertising partners, to count visits, understand how visitors interact with content and measure whether ads are working.
These tools work alongside cookies. Blocking or deleting cookies in your browser limits what they can do.
How We Use Your Information
The information we collect helps us:
- Run, maintain and improve Sharply Simple
- Understand which articles are most useful so we can write more of them
- Reply to your messages and answer your questions
- Send you the newsletter, if you signed up for it
- Personalise your experience on the site
- Develop new articles, features and resources
- Market the site and share updates
- Find and prevent fraud, spam and abuse
Comments and Social Media
When you leave a comment, we collect the name, email address and any website you enter, along with your IP address and browser details. These help us catch spam. Your comment and name are shown publicly. Your email address is never displayed.
If you share, like or follow Sharply Simple on Pinterest, Instagram or any other social platform, that platform’s own privacy policy applies to what you do there. Anything you post publicly on social media can be seen by others, so please think before sharing personal details.
The Newsletter
If you sign up for the Sharply Simple newsletter, we’ll use your email address to send you new outfit ideas, style guides, grooming tips and occasional updates about the site. We’ll only email you if you’ve asked us to.
Every email includes an unsubscribe link at the bottom. One click takes you off the list. We follow the CAN-SPAM Act. That means we don’t use misleading subject lines, we identify ourselves clearly, and we honour unsubscribe requests promptly.
Affiliate Links
Sharply Simple takes part in affiliate programs, including the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. This is an affiliate advertising program that lets websites earn fees by linking to Amazon.com. Put simply, when we recommend a jacket, a pair of shoes or a grooming product and you buy it through our link, we may earn a small commission. It costs you nothing extra.
Affiliate partners may use cookies to track that a purchase came from our link. Affiliate links are always disclosed, and they never decide what we recommend.
Advertising Partners
Sharply Simple may work with third-party advertising partners, now or in the future, to show ads on the site. These partners may use cookies, web beacons and similar technologies to show you ads based on your interests and your visits to this and other websites.
We don’t control the cookies these partners use. You can opt out of personalised advertising through the Network Advertising Initiative and the Digital Advertising Alliance. Opting out doesn’t mean you’ll see fewer ads. It means the ads won’t be based on your interests.
Embedded Content
Some articles on Sharply Simple include content embedded from other websites, such as videos, images or social media posts. Embedded content behaves exactly as if you’d visited the other website.
Those websites may collect data about you, use cookies, add their own tracking and watch how you interact with the embedded content. That includes tracking you if you’re logged into an account with them.
Links to Other Sites
Sharply Simple links to other websites, including stores, brands and useful resources. This Privacy Policy covers Sharply Simple only. Once you click through to another site, its own privacy policy applies. We’re not responsible for how other websites collect or use your information, so we suggest reading their policies too.
When Information Is Shared
We don’t sell your personal information. We may share it only in these situations:
- With service providers who help run the site, such as our web host, email newsletter service and analytics tools. They may use your information only to provide their service to us.
- To follow the law, if we’re required to by a court order, legal process or government request, or to protect our rights, property or safety, or those of others.
- In a business transfer. If Sharply Simple is ever sold or merged with another business, visitor information may be transferred as part of that deal.
Opting Out
You’re always in control. You can:
- Unsubscribe from the newsletter using the link in any email
- Disable or delete cookies in your browser settings
- Opt out of Google Analytics with Google’s browser add-on
- Opt out of personalised ads through the NAI and DAA links above
- Email us and ask us to stop contacting you
How Long We Keep Data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its details are kept indefinitely. This lets us recognise and approve follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them for moderation.
Newsletter subscribers stay on the list until they unsubscribe. Messages sent through the contact form are kept for as long as they’re useful for replying and keeping a record of the conversation. Analytics data is kept according to the retention settings of the tools we use.
Keeping Your Data Safe
We use reasonable, industry-standard measures to protect the information you share with Sharply Simple, including a secure (SSL) connection across the site. Still, no method of sending or storing data online is 100% secure, so we can’t guarantee complete security.
Your Rights If You’re in the EU or UK
Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you have the right to:
- Access the personal data we hold about you
- Correct any personal data that’s wrong or incomplete
- Erase your personal data, in certain circumstances
- Restrict how we process your personal data
- Object to us processing your personal data
- Data portability, meaning you can ask for your data in a format you can take elsewhere
- Withdraw your consent at any time, where we rely on consent to process your data
- Complain to a data protection supervisory authority in your country
Your Rights If You Live in California
Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), California residents have the right to:
- Know what personal data we collect about you, where it comes from, why we use it and who we share it with
- Delete personal data we’ve collected about you, with some exceptions
- Opt out of the sale of your personal data. Sharply Simple doesn’t sell personal data, but you can still send a “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” request, and we’ll honour it.
- Not be discriminated against for using any of these rights
Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, for example when we add new features or start working with new partners. When we do, we’ll change the effective date below. If you keep using Sharply Simple after an update, that means you accept the revised policy. Please check this page now and then so you know about any changes.
Contact
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, or you’d like to make a request about your data, email:
contact@sharplysimple.com