Friday, December 29
Grail: Second Time's the Charm
Denim has led designer Peter Ross on a winding road. From fetching coffee for denim maven Blue Holdings’ Paul Guez to purchasing denim for Quiksilver and selling denim textiles to den...
Penney Lane
Catherine West, named as one of Fortune magazine’s most powerful women in 2006, was terminated from her position as executive vice president and chief operating officer of J.C. Penney Inc. on Dec. 28. West had worked as presi...
Technology Opens Up New Avenue of Product Placement
Executives of action-sports brands usually take heed when it comes to marketing to their core customers because they are young, wary and tend to turn their backs on extensive commercialization. Howeve...
Law Firm Launches Fashion/Apparel Division
Los Angeles law firm Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP has launched a fashion/apparel division, which will focus on serving the industry in all areas of business on both coasts....
Steady Steering
Government officials in China announced they would keep the country’s currency at a stable level and try to curb investment growth. The United States sent a delegation to China recently to try to pressure the ...
Anti-Dumping Duties
The U.S. Department of Commerce has imposed duties of 4.4 percent to 44.3 percent on certain types of polyester staple fiber coming from China. The fiber is used for filler in ski coats and other prod...
Defunct Textile Firms Sued Over Pension Plans
A California trim company and a New York textile firm were sued by the U.S. Department of Labor for allegedly not forwarding more than $100,000 in employee contributions and loan repayments to a compa...
Apparel Contributes to Record Traffic at Local Ports
The apparel industry has been a major factor in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach receiving a record number of cargo containers this year....
Glamorous Store Bows on Punk Street
Los Angeles’ Los Feliz neighborhood has been one of the centers of bohemian and streetwear fashions in Southern California. But that changed when Octavio Carlin decided to open a glamorous women’s eveningwear boutique ...
Four More Weeks of Holiday Shopping
“It’s not over until it’s over” may be the slogan for the 2006 Christmas retail season....
Merger Puts American Apparel on Major Growth Plan
With a proposed merger to become final in 2007, American Apparel founder Dov Charney is revving up expansion plans to add more retail stores, grow a recently acquired knitting factory and hir...
Pathway: Street Brand Partners With Skate Legend
Designer/musician Danny Drake, who founded the streetwear brand Drifter, takes a punk-rock attitude when it comes to designing and marketing Pathway, his year-old line of better contemporary knit tops for m...
P.J. Salvage Celebrates 10-Year Anniversary
The Irvine, Calif.–based loungewear company P.J. Salvage toasted its 10-year anniversary with a nostalgic reminiscence of its original best-selling styles. For this year’s holiday season, P.J. Salvage ...
Slow Go
Manufacturing in the United States may slow considerably in 2007, compared to its revved-up pace in 2006. The National Association of Manufacturers forecast that industrial output would grow by only 2.8 percent, comp...
TALA's Holiday Tradition
About 140 guests arrived on buses at this year’s Textile Association of Los Angeles annual holiday party, courtesy of Los Angeles City Councilmen Ed Reyes and Jose ...
ASR Announces Holiday Edition Dates
The Action Sports Retailer Trade Expo announced its 2007 ASR Holiday edition will run May 23–24 at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, Calif. The two-day event was l...
Co-owner of Directives West Leaves After More Than a Decade
As of Jan. 1, there will be only one Sandy at Directives West....
Becker Bows in Encinitas- First New Store in Four Years
Since 1962, Hansen’s Surfboards has dominated the market for surfwear in the boardsports mecca of Encinitas, Calif. But the venerable surfshop will soon be getting some competition....
Store Within a Store
The men’s boutique LASC, also known as the Los Angeles Sporting Club, is putting its weight behind European denim....
Windsor Experiments With New Prototypes
In 2007, “less is more” could be the new rule for Vernon, Calif.–based Windsor Fashions Inc....
Surf's Up
Podium Venture Group Inc., an apparel, media and publishing holding company in Portland, Maine, plans to acquire all of Erino Clothing Co., a surflifestyle apparel firm in Cape Cod, Mass. The acquisit...
Friday, December 22
Apparel Makers Thinking Twice About Vietnam
Vietnam is being touted as the newest frontier for making affordably priced clothes, and it will become even more attractive after it joins the World Trade Organization on Jan. 11. But Califo...
2006 Year in Review
Real estate development, mergers and acquisitions, and retail rollouts—2006 was a year of expansion...
Chicago Gets Religion
Los Angeles– based premium denim brand True Religion Apparel Inc. announced plans to open a True Religion store in Chicago’s upscale Lincoln Park neighborhood. The 1,028-square-foot True Religion store will carry the entire Tr...
Frederick's Announces Merger With Publicly Traded Vendor
Frederick’s of Hollywood is on a growth spurt. On Dec. 19, America’s No. 2 retailer of women’s lingerie announced a merger with one of its vendors, Movie Star Inc., which has b...
Sunset Millennium Sold for $100m
Palo Alto, Calif.–based investment group Broadreach Capital Partners has acquired the Sunset Millennium office and retail complex on the Sunset Strip from New York’s Apollo Re...
New Head at CITA
After a nearly three-month vacancy, a new director has been found to head the U.S. government organization that imposes apparel and textile quotas on foreign-made goods....
Chaus and Steffe Split
New York–based manufacturer Bernard Chaus parted ways with designer Cynthia Steffe, and the contract between the company and the designer will be allowed to expire at the end of the year. Chaus has owned the b...
Evisu Looks to North America
Premium-denim brand Evisu promoted Nick Starsmore to chief executive officer and president of global retail for the New York–based company. He was previously Evisu’s director of retail. In his new position, Starsmore w...
American Apparel Confirms Sale to New York Company
American Apparel Inc. formally announced on Dec. 19 that it has entered into a merger agreement valued at $383.5 million with Endeavor Acquisition Corp., a specified-purpose acquisition comp...
2006 Year in Review, Part 2
October...
MB Fashion Week Sets Dates
The Fall 2007 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios is scheduled for March 18–22, according to Jason Powell, media operations coordinator for the event’s producer, IM...
Licensee Sues Rusty
San Diego–based surf brand Rusty and its new Australian owners are being sued by longtime Rusty apparel licensee and owner of more than 40 percent of the brand, C&C Partn...
Promotions at Koret
Oakland, Calif.–based Koret, owned by St. Louis–based Kellwood Co., promoted 18-year Koret veteran Mary Hinson to chief operating officer, a title she will hold along with her current title, executive vice pres...
Friday, December 15
2006 Retrospective: Department Stores: Federated, Gottschalks
The final chapter is being written on the 2005 Federated Department Store merger with the May Co. It had the reputation of being history’s biggest department store merger, an...
D&A and ENK Shift January Dates
Designers and Agents and ENK International’s Intermezzo Collections and Accessorie Circuit have changed their New York show dates in New York. ...
There's Silver in Them Basics
David Hayes used to drift off to sleep when his father, an astrophysicist, gave him long, complex explanations to his math and science homework. But when the 25-year-old entrepreneur told his father that he w...
2006 Retrospective: Specialty Chains: Pacific Sunwear, Chico's
Pacific Sunwear is on the rebound, according to many Wall Street analysts. Yet the rebound follows an uncharacteristically tough year for the surf-and-skate retailer....
Chenault: Fashion for the Modern Missy Woman
Linda Chenault isn’t afraid to say her line of better separates, Chenault, is for the missy customer. The term is often associated with a matronly style, but, according to Chenault, when she u...
Stunning Shapewear
Hanesbrands Inc.’s “What Lies Beneath” event at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills spotlighted award show–destined gowns and i...
New at Blue
Commerce, Calif.–based Blue Holdings Inc. named Larry J. Jacobs as its new chief financial officer, succeeding Patrick Chow, who will leave the company at the end of the year to pursue other opportunit...
2006 Retrospective: Hot Boutique Market Drives Up Retail Rents
The proliferation of clothing boutiques and manufacturers entering retail has contributed to 10 percent to 20 percent jumps in rents in prime Los Angeles retail markets, said Philip Klaparda,...
People's Liberation Heads East
Los Angeles–based People’s Liberation Inc., maker of premium apparel under the People’s Liberation and William Rast brands, signed two distribution agreements for its brands with German distributor Unifa...
Bridget Hansel Andrews, 43
Bridgette Hansel Andrews, a major executive in the Los Angeles apparel industry since the 1980s, died on Dec. 12 at her home in Santa Monica, Calif., of a heart attack. She was 43....
Caring Neighborhood, Streetwear Fashions
Hours after a major business disaster, Lara Dean-Fernandez realized that she loved San Diego’s Hillcrest neighborhood....
2006 Retrospective: Textiles Take a Dip, Apparel Manufacturing Jobs Maintain Status Quo
After several years in decline, California’s manufacturing jobs held steady in 2006, according to the most recent data available from the California Employment Development Department (EDD). Textile mills, whic...
New Cargo Inspection Facility at Local Ports Could Affect Traffic
Port of Los Angeles officials are making waves to build a multi-million dollar container-inspection facility near the docks to examine cargo containers that pose a high sec...
Cate Adair: Stylish Handbags for the Real World
While Cate Adair’s costumes may be the perfect look for the ladies of Wisteria Lane, her handbags are designed for the ladies of real life. The Emmy Award–nominated costume designer for...
Subway Sect
More than two decades ago, boutiques on Los Angeles’ Melrose Avenue buzzed with a creativity fueled by punk rock music and new fashion design. On Dec. 1, retailer and designer Cody Varona hope...
Taking U.S. Designs to China
China is the next frontier for U.S. designers....
2006 Retrospective: China's Gains Aren't as Dramatic as in 2005
No one needed a crystal ball to predict that China would be the top textile and apparel exporter to the United States in 2006....
Lockheart: For the Love of Handbags
Last year when Trang Huynh and Jennifer Tash left Isabella Fiore, the successful accessories company that they co-founded, the plan was to pursue lazy beach days and alternate artistic endeavors. But...
Jerry Leigh Spins 'Web'
The Los Angeles–based apparel manufacturer of Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Lovers apparel line has inked a deal with another licensor, E.B. White novel–turned–feature film “Charlotte’s Web...
2006 Retrospective
“Steady” was the word that best described 2006 business for the apparel industry....
On the Move With Nisa
First it was the Mission District. In July it was the Noe Valley retail section. Contemporary label Nisa San Francisco Inc. has been opening new stores all over San Francisco....
L.A. Urban Fashion Week Events Set
The sixth edition of Los Angeles Urban Fashion Week will take place Dec. 29–31 with a slate of fashion shows, a trade show, seminars and parties....
United Trade Show Joins Las Vegas Lineup
Another player will emerge on Las Vegas’ trade show calendar. The United Trade Show is scheduled to debut Feb. 13–15 at the Alexis Park Resort in Las Vegas. Founder R...
TALA Scholarship With Lisa Kline
The Textile Association of Los Angeles gathered once again to recognize student design talent at its 50th-annual scholarship luncheon, held Nov. 30 in the Fashion Theater of...
Forecast for 2007
The steady business of 2006 bodes well for the prospects of 2007. California Apparel News editors caught up with several industry executives to get their take on 2006 and their forecast for t...
CMC Plans Fire Drill, Holiday Schedule
The California Market Center and the Los Angeles Fire Department will conduct a floor-by-floor fire drill at the wholesale center in downtown Los Angeles on Dec. 20 between 8:30 a.m. and noon...
Congress Passes Trade Bills Before Changing of the Guard
Christmas came early for apparel manufacturers producing overseas....
Halmos and Shipley Leave Trovata
After five years, Trovata co-founders Jeff Halmos and Sam Shipley are leaving the contemporary brand they launched as a foursome with Josia Lamberto-Egan and John Whitledge....
New Tradition in Rich Town
Westlake Village, Calif., is called the Beverly Hills of Ventura County, and the nickname fits. The median income is more than $94,000, and the Los Angeles suburb is home to the exclusive She...
Ling Joins Saks
Saks Inc. named Dennis Ling as senior vice president and treasurer of Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises, and in May 2007, he will assume the post of senior vice president and treasurer of Saks Inc. Ling’s ...
American Apparel Expands on 'Green' Initiative
When American Apparel executives looked to overhaul the lighting system for its 800,000-square-foot factory off Alameda Street in downtown Los Angeles, it did so with a green approach....
Call for Submissions for Fashion Showdown Contest
The collaborative clothing line and Web community Citizen Fashion will hold a fashion showdown contest in conjunction with men’s clothing line Mobius Lounge, a...
Timoteo Boutique Closes in West Hollywood
The boutique for Los Angeles–based menswear label Timoteo will close on Dec. 31 after five years of business on the 8700 block of West Hollywood’s Santa Monica Boulevard....
Reinis Joins Steptoe Firm
Attorney Richard Reinis has joined Los Angeles–based Steptoe & Johnson LLP, where he will provide transactional and litigation services to the international law firm’s clients....
Christy's Crown Series
HEAD OF THE CLASS: Dorfman Pacific expands its reach in the headwear market with the launch of Christy’s Crown Series, a license of the classic British headwear brand Christy’...
Tresics: Trendy Basics
Tresics knows that sometimes the best path is the simple and straightforward route. From basic designs to streamlined production, the company is efficient all the way to the name of the line,...
Tanenbaum Exits Metropark
Orv Madden’s Metropark stores are on a growth spurt. But the company will have to move on without its founding president, Lawrence Tanenbaum. The 38-year-old entrepreneur quietly left the Industry, Ca...
Defiance's Fashion Lab
For the past three years, Defiance USA’s creative director, Christopher Wicks, wholesaled his English Laundry and Fender labels to retailers such as Nordstrom, Macy...
Rails: The Intersection of Basics and Fashion
There will always be a market for basic T-shirts and hooded sweat shirts, Jeff Abrams thought. However, is there room for another basics line? The 27- year-old designer will soon find out....
Friday, December 8
San Diego Bans Big Box Stores
San Diego’s City Council voted 5–3 on Nov. 28 to ban stores of more than 90,000 square feet from opening in the city, a move that would affect stores like Wal-Mart, Target and...
Jem Sportswear: Into the Spotlight
Jem Sportswear, the 35-year-old maker of licensed and private-label T-shirts that stock the racks of retailers from discount giant Target to Los Angeles contemporary boutiqu...
Black Friday Caps Volatile November '06
November ended with a bang. But it would not have happened without the help of Black Friday, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers....
Project Global Trade Show
California Apparel News spoke with Sam Ben-Avraham, president of Project, about what to expect for the next show, which will be held February 14–16 at the Venetian Hotel. ...
MAGIC to Add Prints Show
Textile and surface design show Printsource New York will join the lineup in Las Vegas, thanks to a deal struck between the New York–based textile show and Woodland Hills, Calif...
Kellwood Goes to Hollywould
St. Louis–based Kellwood Co. acquired New York–based shoe label Hollywould Inc., founded by Holly Dunlap in 1999. The deal helps Kellwood with its strategy to expand its portfolio to include higher-prof...
Guatemala's Apparel Sourcing Show Takes the Early-Bird Approach
For the first time in recent memory, the Apparel Sourcing Show in Guatemala City, Guatemala, will be held in April instead of May....
Sourcing@MAGIC
California Apparel News spoke with Camille Candella, marketing director for MAGIC International, about the growing Sourcing@MAGIC show. ...
Falling Vacancies Push Up Rents for Warehouse, Retail Space
Apparel manufacturers, importers and distributors looking for warehouse and office space may not find the falling prices that are being realized in the housing market. Strength in international trade ...
Timberland Buys Howies
The Timberland Co., based in Stratham, N.H., acquired active-sports brand Howies Ltd. The brand, founded “for the inspired action- sports and outdoor customer” seeks to convey an environmental a...
BCBG in Carrefour Deal
Paris-based retail giant Carrefour has inked a deal with Vernon, Calif.–based BCBG Max Azria for a new ready-to-wear collection set to bow for Fall/Winter 2007 in France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Portuga...
Inside Las Vegas
If you think Las Vegas became the world’s trade-show capital because it offers convention-goers myriad entertainment options after working the show floor, think again. After all, how many other cities ...
GMAC Completes Majority Share Sale to Cerberus
Private investment firm Cerberus Capital Management LP and other investors completed the purchase of a 51 percent stake in General Motors Corp.’s financial unit, GMAC, for about $14 b...
Selling Value
Value City Department Stores is on the auction block. Store executives announced to their top ranks on Dec. 6 that the parent company, Retail Ventures Inc. in Columbus, Ohio, has retained Financo Inc. and CIBC World Markets ...
Style Gets Hitched
The Style Network, the fashion sister network of Los Angeles–based E! Networks, struck a programming and marketing agreement with online wedding site The Knot. Together the two sites will produce special programming b...
CFO Leaves Charlotte Russe
Dan Carter, the chief financial officer of Charlotte Russe Holding Inc. announced Dec. 6 that, after more than eight years, he would leave the San Diego–based retailer....
2006's Influential 25
There are some who say a decade’s prevailing look does not become evident until the decade is more than halfway over. That axiom seemed to ring true for this decade when the much-anticipated change in ...
New Lingerie Trade Show for Gerry
Empty spaces in the Gerry Building don’t stay empty for long on the happening lingerie floor....
Headhunter Sues Ed Hardy for Fraud
Carlson-Thomas Personnel in Los Angeles has filed a fraud and breach-of-contract lawsuit in California’s Superior Court against Don Ed Hardy Inc. in connection with its hiring of Henr...
N.Y. Label Vermani Relocates to Orange County
Designer label Vermani Collezioni has relocated from New York’s bustling garment district to the suburban sprawl of Irvine, Calif., in a move made to speed up its production pipeline....
Tarrant Buys Canadian Rival
Tarrant Apparel Group, the long-time Los Angeles clothing company best known for its private-label blue jeans and its American Rag label sold at Macy’s and other Fed...
TALA to Hold Holiday Party Dec. 15
The Textile Association of Los Angeles will hold its 62nd-annual holiday party for inner-city children on Dec. 15....
Friday, December 1
Holiday Wish List
Online service
Where Does Fashion Fit in Black Friday?
Black Friday has been called the Super Bowl of shopping. But is the Friday after Thanksgiving, the traditional start of the Christmas shopping season, specifically a fashion event?...
Signs of Slowdown?
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke sounded a note of caution during a recent speech to the National Italian-American Foundation in New York. The Fed chief said inflation remains “uncomfortably high,” addi...
Jamison Buys Long Beach Medical Property
Los Angeles–based Jamison Properties, which owns the California Market Center in Los Angeles, has purchased a 150,000- square-foot medical building in Long Beach, Calif., for...
Henry III: Focusing on Fit and Philanthropy
Getting the right-fitting pair of jeans has always been a challenge for retailers and their customers. The designers behind Dallas-based Henry III Generation think they have found a solution....
Retail Cheer: Tips for a Profitable Holiday
These are the times that can make or break a retailer....
Quiksilver's Trip to Mexico
Huntington Beach–based surf giant Quiksilver has formed a joint venture with PBM International to market, sell and distribute Quiksilver- and Roxy-branded merchandise in Mexico. The joint venture will ...
Chaps Taps Cunningham
New York–based Warnaco Group named David Cunningham president of Warnaco’s Chaps division, where he will oversee the design, development, merchandising, marketing and sales of the Chaps brand in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Cunningham was previously with Los Angeles–based Paul Davril Inc.,...
Fifth Round in U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement Talks Start
Apparel and textile groups are hoping that the next U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement negotiations will iron out a few disagreements between the two countries....
Turnaround Experts Take On Outdoor Label
Marty Weening has the cool look of a beat musician or of an avant-garde painter. His hair is parted in the middle and tumbles toward his shoulders....
New Looks for Metal Sounds
It’s Black Sabbath versus the mutant Iron Men....
Villains Bets on the Dinosaur
Randy Brewer thought he had seen it all when it comes to T-shirts in the more than nine years of working as general manager/buyer for San Francisco boutiques Villains and Villains Va...
Jared Gold Plans National Retail Rollout
Designer Jared Gold celebrated the opening of his third and fourth Black Chandelier retail stores in Salt Lake City with a pre-opening runway show and party held Nov. 17 at ...
Bebe's Neda Mashouf Resigns
Neda Mashouf, vice chair of the board of Bebe Stores Inc. and one of the majority shareholders of its stock, recently resigned from the board and from the company, which is headquartered in t...
Levy-Tsedek Joins IDB's L.A. Branch
Mordekhay “Moti” Levy-Tsedek has been named vice president and manager of the Israel Discount Bank’s downtown Los Angeles branch on Figueroa Street....
Loehmann's Comes to Burbank
Brooklyn, N.Y.–based off-price retailer Loehmann’s has signed a lease to occupy a 25,000-square-foot store at the Burbank Town Center next spring, reported center owner Crown ...
