Friday, September 29
C&B Goes for Fashionable Golfers
Seattle-based upscale sportswear company Cutter & Buck has launched a contemporary menswear line under the CBUK label. The new line, pronounced “see buck,” is for men “who enjoy golf ...
New York Fashion Week: Monique Lhuillier
Known for her beautiful gowns and pretty dresses, Los Angeles designer Monique Lhuillier did not disappoint with her Spring ’07 fashion show Sept. 12 at Olympus Fashion Week....
Kellwood Co. Acquires Contemporary Brand Vince
Vince, the Los Angeles contemporary sportswear brand, has been bought by Kellwood Co., a $2 billion manufacturer of branded and private-label apparel based in Chesterfield, Mo....
New York Fashion Week: BCBG Max Azria
Los Angeles–based BCBG Max Azria went with the flow at its Sept. 8 show during Olympus Fashion Week. The contemporary brand showed flowy frock after flowy frock in a variety ...
Samantha Chang Finds Perfect Intimate Space With Boutique Lingerie Show
Samantha Chang started the Boutique Lingerie trade show for the same reason that many designers start their own clothing lines—to fill a personal need for something in the market. As a lingeri...
Retail Overdue: Westfield S.F. Centre Debuts
San Francisco is not a mall city, according to its residents and real estate executives. But California’s legendary European-style city may have to change its ways....
P. Ka Bu Postponed
Los Angeles independent runway event P. Ka Bu has been postponed until next season, according to show organizer Jose Angel....
New York Fashion Week: Max Azria
Launched last season at New York Fashion Week, BCBG Max Azria’s designer line Max Azria showed its Spring ’07 collection Sept. 11 at Olympus Fashion Week. R...
Coterie, D&A and The Train: New Shows, New Venues, New Fashion
New York was hopping as retailers, editors and manufacturers traversed the city for the latest Spring offerings at Fashion Coterie, Designers & Agents, The Trai...
World Denim Bar Set to Open in L.A.
For those who think the denim bubble has burst, think again. American Rag Compagnie’s founder and chief executive officer, Mark Werts, is planning to open a 5,500-square-foo...
Filipino Imports Stopped at Port
Thousands of boxes of apparel and textiles imported from the Philippines are being detained at the airports and seaports around Southern California in a crackdown on transshipping goods from China....
Fashionable Fakes
Italian police seized more than 650,000 counterfeit handbags bearing the labels Gucci and Louis Vuitton in a raid on a Prato, Italy, factory allegedly owned by Chinese businessmen, according to a Reut...
CK in India
New York–based Calvin Klein Inc., a division of Phillips-Van Heusen Corp., has inked an exclusive distribution deal and retail store agreement for India with Murjani India Ltd., the 76-year-old company that launched Gloria Va...
Vanessa Williams at Dallas Fashion Awards
Singer and actress Vanessa Williams will be among the celebrities paying tribute to designer Carmen Marc Valvo at the 31st annual Dallas Fashion Awards on Oct. 28 at the Dallas Marke...
2(x)ist Soy Collection
Benefits of soy can now be enjoyed inside and outside the body with the arrival of fabrics made from the soybean plant. For Fall 2006, the New York–based men’s underwear company 2(x)ist, a divi...
Guess Who's Going to Mexico?
Los Angeles–based denim maker Guess? Inc. has struck a joint venture agreement with Mexican firm Grupo Axo. Guess will retain a majority share of the joint venture, which will produce and distribute Gu...
Lavande SWK
Stacey Walker King had been inside many a closet as a personal shopper for private clients such as high-net-worth executive women. But under her clients’ chic designer clothing exterior were less-than-...
New York Fashion Week: Michon Schur
Los Angeles–based young designer Stephanie Schur sent a bevy of party-perfect cocktail dresses down the runway at her Sept. 13 fashion show during Olympus Fashion Week in New York. H...
California Designers to Reach Out to Teens
Some of the most recognizable names and brands in fashion will convene Oct. 27–29 in New York City for Teen Vogue Fashion U, a three-day seminar...
Calif. Container-Fee Bill Vetoed
Apparel importers were relieved that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a containerfee bill that would have charged $60 for every 40-foot container going through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach...
Fashion Week Design Suites to Take a Break
After five seasons accompanying the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios, the Design Suites will be taking a break during the Spring 2007 shows set for Oct. 15–19....
Etnies' Undies
SKATER GIRL: At skate brand Etnies, team riders come first. The Lake Forest, Calif.–based company launched a petite offering of girls’ underwear for Holiday 2005 and Spring 2006, including a bra and panty set inspir...
New Manager at Palm Springs Mall
Karen A. Wagner has been named manager of the Palm Springs Mall in Palm Springs, Calif. The mall was acquired in June by Irvine, Calif.–based Hopkins Real Estate Group, which is set t...
Bebe Bows New Footwear Concept Store
For Bebe, the next chapter in its retail growth may be walking on shoes....
Honeydew Intimates Does the Rumba for Breast Cancer Awareness
In commemoration of Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, Los Angeles–based Honeydew Intimates is launching a limited edition style of their signature...
Shapely Shadow Releases SizeUSA Forms
Shapely Shadow Inc. of Malibu, Calif., has debuted a new line of dress forms that incorporate 3-D sizing data from TC2’s national sizing survey. It will be sold under the Fit...
Out With the Gothic, Says Brentwood Retailer
New times require a new look.Just ask Emma Murmuridis. When she opened her designer boutique Gaia in 2003 at the Brentwood Gardens shopping center in Los Angeles, the store ...
Friday, September 22
New York Fashion Week: Chaiken
San Francisco designer Julie Chaiken hit the Olympus Fashion Week runway on Sept. 12 with her Spring 2007 collection, which incorporated her penchant for clean, sophisticated looks that are e...
Mauritius Trade Pact
The United States and Mauritius signed a trade agreement on Sept. 18 to expand business between the two countries. Mauritius, located in the Indian Ocean off Madagascar in Africa, exports textiles and...
High-tech and recycled fabrics are beginning to take fashion forward
High-tech and recycled fabrics are beginning to take fashion forward....
Subdued Holidays
The National Retail Federation is predicting that retail sales during the holidays will increase only 5 percent over last year. Spending should total $457.4 billion this season. In 2005, Holiday spend...
Juicy Asia
Los Angeles–based Juicy Couture, which is owned by Liz Claiborne Inc. in New York, is going to be distributed in China exclusively by the Lane Crawford Joyce Group, known for its upscale Lane Crawford ...
Levi's European Woes
Levi Strauss & Co. officials said they planned to stop selling Levi’s discount Signature clothing brand in Europe next year. Signature will continue to be sold in Asia and North America, where it was introduced in 2003 to...
Dream Weavers
The world’s top fiber and fabric trade shows expand their offerings From seminars on color trends to the future of performance fabrics and “smart” clothing, the world’s top textile trade shows offer every...
Who Will Be the 'Project Runway' Winner?
NEW YORK—“Project Runway,” the cable television show that has taken the fashion world by storm, hit the runway again for the filming of the Season 3 finale....
Business Groups Take Aim at Proposed Container Fee at L.A. Ports
If you want to see people get really angry, talk about charging a fee for anything they do....
L.A. Fashion Awards Closes N.Y. Fashion Week
NEW YORK—The L.A. Fashion Awards lit up Times Square during the Nasdaq stock market closing bell ceremony on the final day of New York Fashion Week....
New York Fashion Week: Rock & Republic
Rock & Republic took its tale of reinvention east to New York for Olympus Fashion Week. On Sept. 9, the Culver City, Calif.–based clothing label produced a 56-look show where it e...
DMC Hires Contemporary Merchandising Executive
The Dallas Market Center is adding a streetwear section to its wholesale venue, and has hired an executive to manage its growing contemporary resources....
Bebe's COO
Bebe Stores Inc. has promoted CFO Walter Parks to chief operating officer. He will retain his financial duties and will be additionally responsible for investor relations, planning and allocations, di...
Third Season of Milano Unica Brings European Crowd, Some U.S. Cos.
MILAN—The third season of Milano Unica, the large European textile trade show, drew a crowd of European attendees, as well as a smattering of American buyers....
New York Fashion Week: Grey Ant
Los Angeles designer Grant Krajecki brought his Grey Ant collection to the New York Fashion Week runways with a Sept. 14 show at the Altman Building as part of a weeklong e...
Surf Expo: Fashion Focused
ORLANDO, Fla.—Buyers attending Surf Expo homed in on a mix of fashion-forward styles to lure more style-conscious consumers into core shops....
L.A. Patternmakers Form Alliance
A Plus Patterns Inc. and MKP Development, two Los Angeles–based production companies that specialize in computerized pattern-making, sample-making and other pre-production services, h...
Haute on the Heels of H&M
Other cheap-chic stores scout U.S. as fast-fashion retailer bows in Pasadena ...
New York Fashion Week: Jeremy Scott
Leave it to designer Jeremy Scott to find shock value in teddy bears. The Los Angeles–based designer showed his latest collection of men’s and women’s apparel on Sept. 15 at the Altman...
Petro Zillia Opens House on Retail Division
Whimsy and hard-nosed business are but two reasons designer Nony Tochterman opened her first House of Petro Zillia boutique in Los Angeles on Sept. 20....
Fred Segal to Host Cancer Research Fund-raiser
Fred Segal Fun Santa Monica and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center are joining forces for Design A Cure, an Oct. 5 celebrity fund-raising event aimed at raising awareness for breas...
Friday, September 15
New York Fashion Week: Daniel Franco
Designer Daniel Franco of Los Angeles was the first to get “auf’d” from Season 1 of “Project Runway,” but he was the only one to make a comeback on Season 2. And you can ...
Apparel and Textile Imports Grew Slightly in July
Apparel and textile imports grew by 4.8 percent in July—or by 207.5 million square meters equivalent (SME)—compared with July 2005, according to the Commerce Department’s Office of Textiles and Apparel....
New York Fashion Week: Jenni Kayne
Jenni Kayne’s Spring/Summer 2007 collection was meant to evoke summer, but it’s a summer look colored by the dream-like qualities of the Italian movies of the 1960s and ’70s, according to the 24-year-old Los Ang...
New York Fashion Week: Scanty
Mickey Sills’ star is rising. The founder of Los Angeles–based Scanty loungewear recently won the Elle magazine–sponsored Mercury Milan Style A...
New Trade Bill
Rep. Robin Hayes (R-N.C.) has introduced a bill that would restore ambassador rank to the U.S. Trade Representative’s special textile negotiator. Lobbying from the National Council of Textile Organizat...
Personal Shopper Site MyShape.com to Debut
MyShape.com, a new shopping Web site aimed at helping women find proper-fitting garments, will debut Sept. 30 with its first stock of apparel, mainly from...
H&M in the Mideast
The Swedish retailer H&M is quickly building up a presence in the Middle East. The fast-fashion chain opened two stores this week in malls in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The company is scheduled ...
Surfwear Turning Green
In 1996, Patagonia Inc. began using organic cotton to produce its entire sportswear line. At the time, the move seemed risky, but 10 years later, it is clear that the Ventura, Calif.–based com...
New at Liz
Michele Parsons is Liz Claiborne Inc.’s new president and chief merchandising officer for its apparel division. She will assume her post on Sept. 25. Parsons will oversee all design and merchandising a...
Sue Wong Plans to Hit 'Big Apple'
Los Angeles–based eveningwear designer Sue Wong has announced the opening of her first New York showroom and the addition of two new sales executives to her team....
Americana Stores
Los Angeles real estate developer Rick Caruso unveiled the first phase of stores for his Glendale shopping center, The Americana at Brand, a $320 million mixed-use project now under development. Stores will i...
Cruisin' for Couture: Los Angeles' Beverly Boulevard Is Taking On a Designer Look
Any move is tough. But when Diane Merrick moved her established fashion boutique to Beverly Boulevard in May, one of her concerns was whether a new location would be like starting a business from scra...
Minimum Wage
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sept. 12 signed into law legislation that eventually will raise the minimum wage from $6.75 to $8 an hour. More than 1.4 million workers will see a 75 cents an hour increase in J...
Reiss, True Religion to Put Down Stakes on Robertson
Robertson Boulevard in Los Angeles will welcome another British designer....
Pluto Controversy Sparks Online T-Shirt Fad
Now that the prestigious academic International Astronomical Union has demoted poor little Pluto to less-than-planet status, you might find it interesting to know what that’s been doi...
Couture Designer to Debut L.A. Headquarters
In a sign that Los Angeles’ Beverly Boulevard should remain safe for couture, renowned French designer Lloyd Klein will be opening his headquarters in a few months on the venerable street....
Crossover Brands Create Energy at ASR
SAN DIEGO—Exhibitors and retailers reported high energy and plenty of newness at the Action Sports Retailer Trade Expo held Sept. 8–10 at the San Diego Conve...
The Future in Denim Is Far From Blue
Cone Denim is the world’s largest denim producer, supplying scores of blue jeans manufacturers internationally, from Levi Strauss & Co. to Gap Inc. In recent years, the d...
Yunique Solutions Relocates Headquarters
New York–based software firm Yunique Solutions Inc. has relocated its headquarters to 552 Seventh Ave. in New York. The company had been operating at another New York address....
International Textile Merges With Auto Unit
Wilbur Ross’ textile empire continues to grow....
International Firms Flock to Show
Visitors to the second edition of Material World New York, which runs Sept. 26–28 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, will be greeted with a more diversified exhibition...
Perry Ellis Gets Nano-Tex
Fabric treatments continue to gain favor with menswear brands for their stain- and water-resistant qualities....
A New Solution for Local Manufacturing
Full-package production is a concept more prominent in Asia and Latin America, but a new company, La Fondamenta, is now offering it in downtown Los Angeles....
Unifi Debuts Eco-Friendly Yarns
Unifi Inc. of Greensboro, N.C., and Canadian mill Consoltex Inc. have teamed to launch a line of earth-friendly performance fabrics. Featuring four styles, the new line will be sold...
'Big-Box' Bills Head to Governor
The California Legislature sent two bills concerning “big-box” retailers to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has until Sept. 30 to veto or sign the measures....
Life and Death Joins Blue Holdings
When Philippe Naouri and Alexandre Caugant, designers of Antik Denim (a division of Blue Holdings), launched a line of knits earlier this year, they said the venture would be complet...
Friday, September 8
Op to Launch New Direction for Juniors
In recent years, the focus of juniors lines in the action sports market has skewed increasingly toward fashion-forward styles. Surf and skate companies have trotted out tweed trousers, faux-fur jacket...
MAGIC Leads the Pack in Crowded Vegas Show Scene
LAS VEGAS—When the MAGIC Marketplace opens, the satellites feel it. That was the scenario once again in Las Vegas during the Aug. 28–31 run of MAGIC and the concurrent trade shows....
Container Fees Suggested for Local Ports to Combat Pollution
A bill that would charge a $30 fee per 20- foot container entering the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is awaiting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s signature....
FIG Dallas Names New Director
The Fashion Industry Gallery (FIG) showroom building in Dallas has named veteran Nordstrom executive Shelli Mers as its new director, replacing Gavin Smith, who was promoted to creat...
Leonard Leaving CITA
Jim Leonard, chairman of the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements, an interagency group chaired by the U.S. Department of Commerce, is leaving the department. Leonard, who had been w...
Fashion District Building Owners on Expansion Track
Two owners of major wholesale complexes in the Los Angeles Fashion District are expanding their real estate holdings elsewhere in the state....
Retail, Industrial Real Estate Buck Trends
Despite abnormally high fuel prices, a falling housing market and high levels of debt, commercial real estate held its own through the first half of the year. According to real estat...
S.F. Designers Struggle to Find Good Resources
SAN FRANCISCO—When it comes to discovering good patternmakers, sample makers and sewing contractors, up-and-coming fashion designers in San Francisco go to extreme measures to root them out....
Apparel Seized
U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized $14 million in textiles at the Savannah (Ga.) Port of Entry because the goods had false country-of-origin documentation. According to Customs, the seized goods—nearly ...
VF Goes to India
Greensboro, N.C.–based manufacturing powerhouse VF Corp. is going to India. The company, which produces apparel under several labels including Lee and Wrangler, has struck a joint venture deal with Arv...
Stylefile: Falling Forward
With a scorching summer sun bearing down on Las Vegas, buyers gathered inside the Las Vegas Convention Center during the Aug. 28–31 run of the MAGIC Marketplace to view a sampling of exhibito...
Fire Destroys Fashion District Stores
Two Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters are recovering from injuries sustained in a Sept. 1 fire that destroyed four wholesale/retail apparel stores in the Los Angeles Fashion D...
Heat (Presented by WWDMAGIC and ISAM)
The latest looks to be shown off by the pool and on the beach were on the runway at “Heat (Pre...
Levi's Open Call
San Francisco–based jeans giant Levi Strauss & Co. is on the hunt for college students to appear in an upcoming ad campaign. The “Levi’s Style Search” will kick off with a tour of several co...
Retail Sales Dip in August '06, But Rebound on Horizon
Retail sales for chain stores slipped in August, according to the New York–based International Council of Shopping Centers, but the organization’s economic researchers argued that the ...
SuperTarget Comes to Calif.
Stoneridge Towne Centre in Moreno Valley, Calif.—a new “power center” under development in the Inland Empire—will be the home of California...
Surfing a Crowded Paradise
The sandy shore around Hermosa Beach, Calif., should be something of a surfer’s paradise. It offers five miles of beach—more than enough room for everyone to catch a wave, according to Richard O...
MAGIC Marketplace's 'Vision' for Spring 2007
The MAGIC Marketplace presented a glimpse of the newest trends in its runway show “Vision: Men’s and Women’s Contemporary Collections Spring 2007” during the Aug. 28...
Friday, September 1
San Francisco Fashion Week '06: Genevieve Primavera
Fairies and couture were the inspiration for designer Mary- Elizabeth Primavera’s Spring 2007 creations, which had a certain pixie feel to them. For 10 years, Primavera worked as a graphic designer, but fashion was al...
San Francisco Fashion Week '06: Oda
Three Dartmouth alumnae—twin sisters Angie and Maggie Kim and long-time friend Mandalyn Begay—used their ethnic roots to create a line steeped in Korean and Native American details....
True Designer
True Religion Apparel Inc. in Los Angeles continues its executive hiring spree. Its latest hire is Zihaad Wells, who has been named to the newly created position of design director. He reports directly to Jeff Lubell, the co...
San Francisco Fashion Week '06: Pink Elf
Designer Kaushie Adiseshan had style and subtle elegance in mind when she developed her Spring 2007 collection, but she didn’t skimp on color and glamour. Adiseshan, whose roots are in Bombay, India, t...
San Francisco Fashion Week '06: HisByHer
Clean, simple lines with a 1930s flair was the idea behind the HisByHer’s Spring 2007 collection, which had unique accents to spice it up....
San Francisco Fashion Week '06: Richard Hallmarq
It was three years ago that Sacramento-based designer Richard Hallmarq launched his first men’s and womenswear collection, which has become known for its cutting edge when it comes to style and fabric. In his Spring/...
San Francisco Fashion Week '06: Tamiece
Sheena Borja and her sister Pam are young designers who started their line Tamiece last year to create clothing for what they feel is the forgotten woman, those under 5-foot-4....
San Francisco Fashion Week Spotlights Couture Creations and New Designers
A new location marked the third season for San Francisco Fashion Week, organized to bring more awareness to Bay Area designers....
San Francisco Fashion Week '06: Katherine Noyes
Old-fashioned glamour is one of the key themes to the line that designer Katherine Noyes launched last year. “I think of the starlets in Hollywood and what they are wearing and put new twists to it. I...
San Francisco Fashion Week '06: Kelly B.
Designer Kelly Barry has hopped on the natural-fabric bandwagon to clothe the contemporary woman in soft bamboo and organic cotton jerseys shaped into dresses, hooded tunics and kimo...
San Francisco Fashion Week 2006: Colleen Quen
Elegance was in the air as veteran San Francisco designer Colleen Quen showed an array of evening gowns, evening suits and cocktail dresses that had Asian touches with bright-red silks and black moire...
San Francisco Fashion Week '06: Gypsy and Loc
Husband and wife team Gypsy Rader and Loiuml;c Massias started their career designing womenswear, but when they evolved into men’s casual wear, they knew they had a winner and dropped women’s fashions...
San Francisco Fashion Week '06: Donna Lou
Before creating her own line, designer Amanda Lefebre was designing clothes for the Los Angeles label Bat’s Daughter for a little more than two years. Living in Santa Cruz, C...
San Francisco Fashion Week 2006: Erin Mahoney
Silk was the fabric of choice for Erin Mahoney, showing her Holiday 2006 and Spring 2007 collections, which were reminiscent of a lavish costume party. Her designs centered on cocktail and garden dres...
Hartmarx Buys Los Angeles Company
Hartmarx Corp., the Chicago firm known for its men’s suits and tailored clothing, has acquired Los Angeles–based
Denim Lady
The Warnaco Group Inc., the New York–based company that makes sportswear, bras and swimsuits, has hired Patricia Royak as president of its Calvin Klein Jeans division. The veteran apparel executive will be ove...
Textile Copyright Case Has Document Problem
L.A. Printex Industries Inc., a fabric design house and printer that has filed at least 29 court cases in nearly three years accusing fabric printers, clothing manufacturers and retailers of ...
San Francisco Fashion Week '06: Besnik
Drama and skimpy looks are what Albania-born Besnik is all about. The 30-year-old designer, who has lived in this country for 19 years, formed metallic fabrics into baby-doll dresses tied up with a big bow, w...
San Francisco Fashion Week 2006: Lily Samii
Designer Lily Samii’s background is in French dressmaking, but her skills were enhanced even more by apprenticing with fabled Hollywood designer Edith Head and noted couturier James Galanos. The result is a so...
San Francisco Fashion Week 2006: Cari Borja
Opulent is the only word to describe the fashion presented by Cari Borja in her 2007 collection, which had 44 looks. TheOakland, Calif., designer has a soft touch for anything with ruffles, as seen by her fan...
San Francisco Fashion Week 2006: Emerging Stars
Fifteen fashion students from The Art Institute of California–San Francisco, the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in San Francisco, ...
San Francisco Fashion Week 2006: Wee Scotty
Childrenswear designer Lynne Gallagher, who has a shop on San Francisco’s Union Street, went all out in her Spring 2007 collection, which embraced fashions from almost every era from the 1900s and into...
Brisk Business at MAGIC, Project and Satellites
Pool prepares to move to LVCC lot ...
San Francisco Fashion Week '06: Dichotomy
This was the debut collection of designer Teresa Romero, an Oakland resident who based her line on a contradiction of elements within a single piece. The line started out with a dark color palette of mostly b...
San Francisco Fashion Week '06: Anazara
Croatia-born Ana Paunovic launched her swimwear line in her homeland in 2003 and has finally brought it to the United States. Her mostly two-piece creations, made out of Lycra and nylon, come in brigh...
L.A. Designer Seeks Award Recognition
For designers, placing their fashions in front of the right audience can be crucial. It’s important enough that Mickey Sills, founder of Los Angeles–based sleepwear label Scanty, signed up to g...
P. Ka Bu Returns to the Runway
Independent runway show series P. Ka Bu will have a new Fashion District location for its next run at Los Angeles Fashion Week in October....
Lanz Sleepwear Founder Dies at 90
Werner G. Scharff, one of the founders of Lanz, a women’s dress and sleepwear line, died Aug. 17 at his home in Santa Monica, Calif., after suffering from Parkinson’s disease. He was 90....
Expansion at Doneger's L.A. Office
The Doneger Group, the New York–based retail buying office and trend forecasting service, has added two new market analysts to its West Coast office in Los Angeles, which opened last year....
Brand Power
The Iconix Brand Group in New York has inked a deal to license lingerie under the Badgley Mischka label, which the company owns. The licensing deal was sealed with Ariela-Alpha International Inc. in N...
BCBG Maxes Out
Los Angeles apparel manufacturer BCBG Max Azria Group Inc., which owned 30 percent of New York–based retailer Max Rave LLC, has acquired the other 70 percent. Max Rave, which operates 488 stores under ...
Disappearing Ghost
The new owners of London-based Ghost, the contemporary label founded in 1984 by British designer Tanya Sarne, are planning to close its Los Angeles store on Robertson Boulevard, as well as its New York store,...
