California Apparel News

^Nordstrom announced that it would stop selling items made with animal fur and exotic-animal skins by the end of 2021 throughout all of its nameplates including its full-line Nordstrom stores, e-commerce stores, off-price Nordstrom Rack and Last Chance stores, said Teri Bariquit, Nordstrom’s chief merchandise officer.

Hohenstein, a Germany-based research-services provider and founding member of the textile-certification organization OEKO-TEX, recently announced the introduction of its new Digital Fitting Lab. It will join Hohenstein’s patternmaking experience and fit development with 3-D digital-design technologies. An organization statement said that its digital fitting lab could make apparel production more efficient—cut material waste, shorten development times and develop more accurate fits.

GOAT Group, the Los Angeles–headquartered online reseller, announced that it closed a Series E founding round of $100 million from D1 Capital Partners. “As GOAT continues to grow its core business and expand into new categories, it is rapidly emerging as one of the best-positioned next-generation, global e-commerce platforms,” said Dan Sundheim, founder of D1 Capital Partners. The funding will accelerate the company’s growth across product categories, said Eddy Lu, the reseller’s co-founder and chief executive officer. “We will utilize this new round of funding to capture the significant market opportunities in sneakers, apparel and additional categories through technological innovation and by building even greater scale across our verticals,” Lu said.

Amazon announced a new program for its upcoming Prime Day, which is scheduled for Oct. 13–14. The Climate Pledge Friendly program will make it easier to identify sustainable products in grocery, household, fashion, beauty and electronic products, said Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and chief executive officer. “With 18 external certification programs and our own Compact by Design certification, we’re incentivizing selling partners to create sustainable products that help protect the planet for future generations,” Bezos said.

Macy’s Inc. announced that it will be partnering with the Nashville, Tenn.–based nonprofit Clothes4Souls in the eighth annual “Buy a Coat and We’ll Donate One” campaign. From Oct. 7 to Oct. 11, the department-store giant will ask its customers to buy a coat online at macys.com. For every coat purchased online, Macy’s will donate a new coat to Clothes4Souls. Since 2013, the Macy’s Clothes4Souls campaigns have distributed 270,000 new coats, according to a Macy’s statement.

Gap Inc. recently announced plans for holiday hiring. The new hiring efforts will support a digitally led business, according to a statement from the San Francisco–headquartered retail giant. Gap Inc. is looking to fill jobs that will include packing, assembling merchandise and working with customers through customer contact centers. Additional staffing also will be sought out for contactless services such as curbside pickup. Gap Inc. will be hiring for its in-person shops for its Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, Athleta, Intermix and Janie and Jack divisions as well.