NEWS
Inside the Industry
Macy’s national Believe Week benefiting the Make-A-Wish Foundation, a nonprofit that grants wishes to critically ill children, is encouraging people to send letters to Santa online at macys.com/believe or drop them off at Macy’s stores. For every letter received, Macy’s will donate $1 to Make-A-Wish, or up to $1 million. A final deadline to submit a Believe letter to Macy’s is Dec. 24. Pledges will be doubled to $2 for every letter collected by Dec. 5. On Dec. 8, Macy’s and Make-A-Wish will realize the wish of Kennise, a 5-year-old leukemia patient from Brooklyn, N.Y., who wished to stay in a castle, which will be constructed in a portion of the retailer’s downtown Brooklyn store.
Foot Locker Inc. recently announced that Lauren B. Peters, the retailer’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, is retiring. Peters is scheduled to step down in April 2021. Foot Locker will be working with Crist Kolder, an executive-search firm, to look for a successor. Richard Johnson, Foot Locker’s chairman and CEO, said Peters helped to drive a period of growth at the company.
MarketTime, a Dallas-based B2B software-as-a-service provider, recently announced an agreement with the Brussels Trade Mart, which is Europe’s only permanent wholesale market center. The Brussels Trade Mart will work with MarketTime’s proprietary platform to link buyers and sellers. The Dallas Market Center uses MarketTime’s platform. The Brussels deal will help develop the first global omni-channel marketplace, according to a statement from Cindy Morris, the DMC’s president and CEO. “Our shared goal is to broaden the reach of tenants in Dallas and Brussels to open new accounts with buyers around the globe and provide access to quality merchandise to help retailers thrive,” Morris said.
The Garment Worker Center and a number of other Los Angeles labor organizations joined Dolores Huerta, a pioneering activist for labor and civil rights, in signing a letter asking President-elect Biden to appoint Julie Su as the U.S. Secretary of Labor. Since 2019, Su has served as secretary for the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency. The Garment Worker Center’s Marissa Nuncio said that Su has built a track record fighting apparel-industry sweatshops. “In 1995, Julie’s groundbreaking advocacy for garment workers trafficked and forced to work under armed guard in an apartment complex in El Monte helped expose and catalyze the fight against modern-day sweatshops,” Nuncio said.
GQ magazine announced its 2020 Fashion Awards in its December issue, and California fashion was among several honorees. The Los Angeles boutique Union was named Store of the Year for its new focus on fashion labels made by People of Color. Stüssy, based in Irvine, Calif., was named Comeback Brand of the Year. Stüssy, which celebrated its 40th year of business in 2020, gained notice for partnerships with Our Legacy Work Shop for a collaboration that used dead-stock fabric. San Francisco designer Evan Kinori was named Breakthrough Designer of the Year.
