Friday, March 29
Nike Teams With Philips in Co-branding Venture
Nike Inc. is teaming with global electronics giant Philips to explore opportunities in “smart apparel,” combining Philips’ know-how in such areas as audio electronics with Nike...
Thwarting Counterfeiters With Technology
Technology executives think they’ve come up with the ultimate answer to the age-old fashion industry question “Is it real or fake?” Their answer: phosphors. Phosphors are organic dustlike...
L.A. Designers Go Vintage for a Cause
Richard Tyler is one of several Los Angeles designers who will display their ability to create thrift store chic at the second annual Vintage L.A.—Fashions for the Future ben...
Compliance Office Opens in Monterrey
Compliance office opens in Monterrey. Connecticut-based Specialized Technology Resources (STR) recently opened a regional coordination center in Mexico to offer compliance monitoring, factory evaluati...
There's More Lisa Kline
There’s more Lisa Kline these days. The contemporary boutique on Robertson Boulevard in Los Angeles just underwent a renovation, tripling its floor space to 3,060 square feet. The newly expanded store ...
New Suit Filed Against Wins
The state of California has filed suit against San Francisco-based Wins of California, bringing the company’s employees one step closer to receiving nearly $2 million in unpaid wages....
Three Southern Govenors Urged the Government
Three Southern governors urged the government to take action to protect the U.S. textile industry in a recent letter sent to the Bush administration. The governors of North Carolina, South Carolina an...
Hollywood Nights: Elisabetta Rogiani
It was standing room only at the Highlands Club for
The Victoria's Secret Lingerie Show
The Victoria’s Secret lingerie show on ABC was not indecent. That’s the ruling from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which investigated the racy broadcast after receiving 20 formal complaint...
Latin Museum in Long Beach Spotlights Local Designers
Designers Estevan Ramos, David Cardona and David Rodriguez will all participate in a runway show planned for April 27 at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, Cali...
Steady Rebound Noted at Urban Suburban
The fourth installment of the Urban Suburban trade show, held March 25–27 at the California Mart, opened to better-than-expected traffic, with buyers focused on immediate and Fall items in th...
Prices Roses as Unemployment Fell
Prices rose as unemployment fell in January, according to the Labor Department. Consumer prices rose 0.2 percent in February...
Consumer Confidence Shot Up In March
Consumer confidence shot up in March to 110.2 from 95.0 in February, according to the Conference Board. The New York-based research firm credited the increase to confidence in business and the labor m...
The Journey to the Summit: Making T-shirts Different
Jerry Salem is not content to let things be....
Hollywood Nights: Style-O-Rama
The fashion show didn’t start on time, but it didn’t matter to the crowd that arrived fashionably late and then stayed ...
Discounters' Hot Streak Continues in February '02
February sales were a refrain of those from the month before—but with a few high notes. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other discounters once again achieved impressive gains, while most dep...
Flattery Will Get You Everywhere
The champagne had barely gone flat before two local designers had selected their favorite Academy Awards gowns and begun work on reinterpreting them for a wider audience....
Friday, March 22
Making the Leap
Stylist Sydney Zekley makes a connection with her designer impulses by creating new line Pinky Starfish ...
Vans Has Branched Into the Music Business
Vans has branched into the music business. The Santa Fe Springs-based footwear and apparel maker has been sponsoring the Warped Tour, an annual alternative music festival, for six years and has partnered with...
Interest Rates Remained Unchanged
Interest rates remained unchanged after the recent Federal Reserve policy meeting, and the group hinted that rate hikes may be on the horizon. It described the current monetary policy as “accom...
Jones Is Acquiring Gloria
New York-based apparel giant Jones Apparel Group announced plans to purchase Gloria Vanderbilt Corp. in a deal valued at $138 million. The acquisition adds both the Gloria Vanderbilt and the Glo labels to Jon...
Pellegrini Moves to Five
California Mart showroom owner Gregg Pellegrini has moved to a new 3,000-square-foot space in suite A-511 in ...
Brisk Launch for ASR Back2Skool
ASR Back2Skool, a new trade show from Action Sports Retailer Trade Expo (ASR), debuted in Huntington Beach, Calif., March 19–20 and got off to a brisk start, with many buyers using th...
Local Fashion Incubator Matures With Expansion
The Fashion Business Incubator (FBI) in downtown Los Angeles is bursting at the seams. Now, with the help of two city grants from the City of Los Angeles and the Department of Water and Power (DWP)...
Cal Mart Adds Kids, Juniors, Footwear to Urban Suburban
The California Mart recently announced the addition of kids, juniors and footwear to the fourth installment of its Urban Suburban trade show, set for March 25–27. Previously, the Cal Mart’s in...
Justwin Rolls Out New Web-Based Software
Justwin Technologies Inc., a New York-based supplier of collaborative product commerce (CPC) software for the apparel industry, has launched a new product that brings its existing product dev...
Past Perfect: On the Hunt for Vintage Couture
Contrary to popular convention, aged and weathered looks are often no obstacle to a good Hollywood comeback. ...
Wal-Mart Is Headed for Japan
Wal-Mart is headed for Japan thanks to an alliance with Japanese retailer Seiyu that will give the Bentonville, Ark.-based retail giant an option to buy up to two-thirds of Seiyu over the next five ye...
The U.S. Trade Deficit Grew
The U.S. trade deficit grew in January, indicating a continued reliance on imported goods. The trade deficit increased to $28.5 billion in January from $24.7 billion in December, according to the U.S....
Erica Dee Show Draws Crowd
Several local designers dropped by the Erica Dee fashion show held recently at the contemporary boutique in Corona Del Mar, Calif. ...
Changes Afoot at Beverly Center
The quest for newness is a never-ending pursuit for shopping centers, and the Beverly Center in Los Angeles, which already enjoys strong retail sales, is no exception....
Vionnet's Low-Slung Pants Are on the Move
It’s not all about low-rise denim at Vionnet, the year-old store on North Robertson Boulevard in Los Angeles. Sure, Seven is checking (where isn’t it?). But, Delia low-slung pants are sellin...
The Economic Downturn May Be Ending
The economic downturn may be ending—that’s the word from the National Bureau of Economic Research, a nonprofit group that monitors the U.S. business cycle’s highs and lows. The group found that the impro...
Liz Claiborne's Angela Ahrendts
Liz Claiborne’s Angela Ahrendts has been promoted. The current senior vice president of corporate merchandising and group president for Laundry by Shelli Segal, Lucky Brand Dungarees, the company’s men’s...
New Beverly Hills Boutique Bows
Paris-born retailer Laurence Sager recently hosted a party to celebrate the grand opening of Laurence et Surabaya, a 700-square-foot European boutique located on Brighton Way adjacent to Rode...
FBI Hosts Local Civic Reception
International trade and the possibilities for apparel will be on the agenda at a reception hosted by the Fashion Business Incubator for the “World Trade Through L.A.” r...
Levi's Considers Path to Discounters
San Francisco-based Levi Strauss & Co. chief executive officer Phil Marineau said he has no intention of selling the company’s red-tab label to discount stores. However, the company may co...
Friday, March 15
From the Silver Screen to Silk Screen
Creating promotional products for movies is not a new idea. However, the last decade has ushered in a move from simple promotional T-shirts to full clothing lines connected with some of the most popul...
CMC Sees Stock in Cal Mart Name
The new managers of the California Mart—now known as the California Market Center (CMC)—don’t intend to do away with the Cal Mart name for now, despite an ongoing influx of gift and hom...
Sweetees by Mellies
Sweetees by Mellies president Melody Kulp hit upon an innovation when she first decided to incorporate a form-fitting bra into her tank tops for a cute and sexy 1980s look, but when she decid...
Los Angeles Will Have a New Magazine
Los Angeles will have a new magazine. Los Angeles Confidential will bow this month with an Oscar issue featuring Nicole Kidman on the cover. The magazine is published by Ni...
Unemployment Fell in February
Unemployment fell in February to 5.5 percent (from 5.6 percent in January), according to the Labor Department. Analysts said that the drop in unemployment may signal the end of layoffs and the beginni...
Guilford Mills Plans to Shift Gears
Guilford Mills plans to shift gears to become primarily a manufacturer of automotive fabrics as part of the company’s reorganization strategy. The Greensboro, N.C.-based mill filed for Chapter 11 bankr...
Bella Dahl Novelty Tees
Bella Dahl, the Sun Valley, Calif.-based junior contemporary label, has come out with a trendy line of novelty T-shirts that feature the same design sensibility as the current Bella Dahl coll...
Ruby Rox
Caroline Rocky hopes to bring dresses back to the forefront of modern party fashion with junior line Ruby Rox, which launched at the end of 2000....
Karl Lagerfeld Inked a Deal
Karl Lagerfeld inked a deal with Italy-based Diesel to create a line of jeans for the Paris designer’s most recent Lagerfeld Gallery collection. The collection is limited to only a few styles and washe...
Textile Exec Kroner Dies
Longtime textile industry executive Marvin Kroner died March 7 in Los Angeles from cancer-related complications. He was 83....
Audi Has Bowed Out of Sponsorship
Audi has bowed out of sponsorship for Los Angeles Fall 2002 Fashion Week in April but has expressed interest in the Spring 2003 shows, set for November 2002, according to Designer Collections of Los A...
Scott, Mackie Critique at Otis
Designers Bob Mackie and Jeremy Scott recently shared their designer know-how with students at Otis College of Art and Design’s “First Fittings” projects....
Consumer Extreme Sports Show to Bow
The Extreme Action Sports Show (EAS), a brand new event similar in theme to the Action Sports Retailer Trade Expo (ASR), will roll into the Long Beach [Calif.] Convention Center Ju...
Kmart Will Close 16 California Stores
Kmart will close 16 California stores as part of a company-wide scale-back that will shutter 284 Kmarts nationwide, the company announced. The Troy, Mich.-based discounter sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy...
John Paul Richard is Headed For China
John Paul Richard is headed for China. The Calabasas-based manufacturer plans to open 200 retail stores as part of a partnership deal with Chinese firm Hempel Fashion Corp. JPR’s first store is slated ...
Surf Expo BTS West Bows
Surf Expo BTS West, one of two new Back-to-School shows scheduled to run on the West Coast this month, got off to a slow but promising start at its March 11–12 run at the Anaheim Conv...
Attendance Up 10 Percent at the Miami Swim Show
Attendance was up 10 percent at the Miami Swim Show last month, according to organizers, who declined to give the exact number of buyers who turned out for the biannual show at the Miami Merchandise Mart. The...
Friday, March 8
Rich Joins Members Only Revival
Members Only is back.The classic 1980s brand still sells in mass-market discounters, but now it’s gearing up for a fashion revival under the design direction of New York designer Richie Rich....
The Grove Gears Up to Join Retail Fray
If the retail sector continues to show weakness, then developers should brace themselves for some shopping mall wars between three closely situated centers in Los Angeles....
Richard Tyler is Going Contemporary
Richard Tyler is going contemporary. The designer will launch a new line called Tyler in April during Los Angeles Fashion Week. The new line will be priced competitively with other designer contempora...
Loy and Ford's Latest
Loy and Ford designers Frank Ford and Stefan Loy were on hand to introduce their latest collection—an ethereal mix of feminine lace, masculine suitings and second-skin jersey—at a party in their Chinat...
Panty Raid
When we think of underwear or intimate apparel, we tend to visualize it as being one of two things: sexy and provocative or basic and matronly. It’s either Victoria’s Secret ...
Non-Manufacturing Business Increased Last Month
Non-manufacturing business increased last month, indicating a recovering economy, according to the Institute of Supply Management (formerly the National Association of Purchasing Management). The Inde...
State, Dyers Fight for New Energy Contracts
As bankrupted energy giant Enron Corp. continues to be scrutinized by the federal government, local apparel and textile dyers are using Enron’s bankruptcy filing as a way to escape long-term a...
Burberry's Rose Marie Bravo Honored
Burberry’s Rose Marie Bravo was honored by the Wall Street Journal Europe as the most successful woman in European business. Bravo shared the top spot with Nokia Network’s Sari Baldauf. The newspaper noted the ...
Hollywood & Highland Debuts With Bumpy Start
The curtain has risen on Hollywood & Highland, but problems have already crept up behind the scenes at the shopping and entertainment center....
Federal Court Rejects Claims Against Forever 21
Dismissing the notion that a retailer is the ultimate employer in the apparel supply chain, a Los Angeles federal court has rejected a case by 19 plaintiffs who sued Forever 21 for wage and l...
Strong Sales, Turnout From Calif. Resources at Coterie
It was a California show at the Feb. 24–26 run of Fashion Coterie at the Show Piers in New York. The contemporary show, which typically includes many California resources and...
Sean Jean's Latest is Blue
The New York-based music mogul and menswear maker launched an upscale denim line called Blue at MAGIC. The collection, which targets a more mature customer than the Sean Jean line, launched with three fits—sli...
Material World is Now Biannual
The 2-year-old fabric trade show has set a date for its first spring run—March 17–19, 2003 at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Fla. The show will continue its fall run in October 2003, also in ...
Sedlik Joins LAEDC
Barry Sedlik, former manager of economic and business development for Southern California Edison, has joined the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. (LAED...
Surf Expo, ASR Head Back to School With Back-to-Back Shows
Two specialty trade show organizations have put together Back-to-School shows for the action sports youth culture in response to manufacturers’ requests for a show geared toward the Back-to-School mark...
Nike Presto Taps Reynolds
Jarrett Reynolds, founder of Los Angeles-based junior and young men’s label Tokyo 1, will head to Oregon to join the design team at Nike as the Beaverton-based shoe giant exp...
L.A. Trade-Tech Set for Redesign
Los Angeles Trade-Technical College is ready to embark on an ambitious campus redesign that will expand the fashion school and other departments as well as improve general aesthetics and logi...
MAGIC International Shuttered Its International Kids Fashion Show
MAGIC International shuttered its International Kids Fashion Show in New York to focus on its other trade shows—namely MAGIC, Femme and the International Fashion Fabric Exhibition. The children’s appare...
Textile Exec Sisselman Remembered
Longtime textile executive Richard Sisselman was recently remembered by family and coworkers for his irreverent sense of humor and his dedication to the textile industry....
Unifi to Host CBI Seminar in L.A.
The Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA) passed two years ago but there are still questions regarding what it takes for Caribbean region–produced apparel to qualify for duty-free status....
Friday, March 1
Cherokee Inc. Extends Retail License With Zellers
Van Nuys, Calif.-based Cherokee Inc., maker of men’s, women’s and children’s apparel, footwear and accessories, announced plans last week to extend its Canadian licensing agreement for ...
Online Shoppers Spent $32.6 Billion
Online shoppers spent $32.6 billion last year, marking a 20 percent increase from online sales in 2000, according to a recent Commerce Department survey. And the last quarter of 2001 saw online sales ...
Robbins to HeadSelf Esteem Licensing Department
Los Angeles-based Self Esteem is attempting to take its junior sportswear label to higher plateaus by forming an in-house licensing department and moving full speed into brand-building territ...
Consumer Confidence Slipped
Consumer confidence slipped in February after two months of increases, according to the New York-based Conference Board, which compiles the Consumer Confidence Index. The Index dropped to 94.1 in Febr...
Brisk Buying atMAGIC, StrongStart for New Shows
Organizers went through growing pains and exhibitors played musical chairs at the Feb. 19–22 run of MAGIC International in Las Vegas as the trade show went through its biggest reorganization since the...
Bisou Bisou Debuts Footwear and Accessories at MAGIC
Los Angeles-based women’s contemporary apparel maker Bisou Bisou is continuing to build its manufacturing base with new licensing deals while it reorganizes its retail business....
Warner Brothers Studios Stores
Warner Brothers Studio Stores are headed for Thailand. The Burbank, Calif.-based retail division of Warner Brothers Consumer Products has inked a deal with BEC-TERO Entertainment Co. Ltd. to open seve...
The U.S. Economy is Improving
The U.S. economy is improving but at a modest pace, according to Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, who submitted testimony on Feb. 27 to the House Committee on Financial Services. Greenspan sai...
Difficult First Quarter, Recovery on Horizon
The first quarter of 2002 still finds California’s economy struggling with a full plate of challenges, according to Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development C...
Nike Buys Hurley International
Beaverton, Ore.-based Nike Inc. recently acquired surfwear manufacturer Hurley International, creating a relationship that will facilitate international growth of the Costa Mesa, Cal...
Kellwood Co. Struck a Deal for Sag Harbor
Kellwood Co. struck a deal for Sag Harbor handbags and leather goods with Westlake Village, Calif.-based Koltov Inc. for Fall 2002. The deal is part of Kellwood’s plans to expand the Sag Harbor brand i...
May Department Stores Co. Acquire Stake in Knot
May Department Stores Co. acquired a stake in the Knot to bolster the St. Louis-based department store’s bridal business. May’s 19.5 percent stake allows it access to the Knot’s online wedding-planning Web site....
