Friday, November 26
From Moss to Mossimo
Santa Monica–based Mossimo Inc. hired Vicken Festekjian as chief financial officer. Festekjian was most recently with Southern California accounting firm Moss Adams LLP, where he spent about three years prepar...
MODAC Gala Postponed
The Museum of Fashion Designers and Creators (MODAC) has postponed its “Second Decade” fund-raising gala until May 21, 2005. The event was originally scheduled...
CMC to Host January Glow
The California Market Center said it will host a new trade show focusing on lifestyle products during the same week it sponsors the Los Angeles Gift & Home Mark...
Overseas Competition Reverberates Within L.A. Textile Industry
First, it was the energy crisis, and now it is the stepped-up competition from overseas apparel factories....
O'Neill Taps Ward
Irvine-based surf manufacturer O’Neill Clothing has hired Steve Ward as national sales manager of core accounts. In the new position, Ward will focus on specialty stores carrying surfboards and wet suits. A longtime m...
Calif. Labor Official to Speak at CFA Event
Jose Millan, under secretary for the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, will address the challenges facing the state’s apparel manufacturers at an up...
Uncertainties Abound as WTO's 2005 Deadline Looms
Next year, there may be quotas on blue jeans and T-shirts coming from China, a reinstatement of import quotas on Chinesemade bras, and a scarcity of container space for goods coming from Asia. Then ag...
American Apparel S.F.
Los Angeles–based T-shirt manufacturer and retailer American Apparel confirmed it will build three more stores in the San Francisco Bay area by March 2005. The stores, ranging from 3,000 to 6,000 square feet, will be ...
Levant Buys Out Agenda Partner
Aaron Levant, partner of Los Angeles–based Agenda LLC, has purchased the 50 percent share of his business partner, Luis Pulido. Levant is now the sole owner of the company, which prod...
Los Angeles Contemporary Resources Shift Fall '05 Market Dates to March
Contemporary and designer representatives announced plans to move the Fall ’05 Los Angeles Market Week dates to March 20–24 in an effort to boost business and increase participation....
PVH to Buy Arrow
New York–based Phillips–Van Heusen Corp. has struck a deal with the Cluett American Group to buy the Arrow dress-shirt and sportswear brand for $70 million. PVH’s holdings include the Calvin Klein, Van Heusen, I...
Haims Exits Wet Seal
Foothill Ranch-based retail chain The Wet Seal Inc. announced that Allan D. Haims, president of Wet Seal stores, has resigned. The news follows the recent resignation of Chairman and Chief Executive O...
Pony Endorsement
World-champion heavyweight boxer James “Lights Out” Toney has signed on to endorse Santa Barbara–based streetwear brand Pony International. Toney will be featured in the company’s 2005 ad ...
This Pass Says Go
The recent congestion at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach is now just a bad memory for port officials....
Online Meetings Become More Affordable With New Technology
Online meetings have become an increasingly popular way for technology companies and their apparel industry clients to conduct training sessions and impromptu gatherings. High costs and slow technolog...
Friday, November 19
A&F's $40 million Settlement
New Albany, Ohio–based specialty store chain Abercrombie & Fitch agreed to pay $40 million to settle a class action suit filed by Latino, African American and Asian applicants and employees who sai...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Szulika
Los Angeles designer Szulika culled inspiration from the ’70s for her
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Anett Schneider
German designer
Hot Topic Reports Decreased 3Q Earnings
Hot Topic Inc.'s net income and samestore sales decreased for the third quarter, ending Oct. 30, company officials said during a Nov. 17 conference call. The company’s net income dropped to $1...
SF Style
The San Francisco Chronicle debuted a new section called Style in the Nov. 14 issue. The new section covers fashion, trends and society. Among the planned columns and features: “Style ...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Deborah Lindquist
Los Angeles–based designer Deborah Lindquist used the corset as the foundation of her namesake collection, now in its third season. It was familiar territory for Lindquist, who had co...
Rip Curl Gets Into PLM
Surfwear maker Rip Curl Australia Pty Ltd. has purchased product lifecycle management (PLM) software from Canadian software company Geac Computer Corp. Ltd. ...
Agave Denim Takes a Holiday
Premium-jeans manufacturers are eternally searching for new markets, and Jeff Shafer has found a category that is often ignored in fashion: 25- to 45-year-old men....
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Erica Rose
Designer Erica Rose returned to the P. Ka Bu lineup for the third season,
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Luis Diaz
Luis Diaz, who has spent years working as a patternmaker, got a taste of what it is like to be a fashion designer at his first...
Apparel Cos. Seek Tech Edge at FIDM
As a new world order free of quotas approaches, apparel manufacturers and retailers are warming up to technology to gain an edge. Their interests were evident during a Nov. 11 technology con...
Kmart and Sears Merge
Troy, Mich.–based discount retailer Kmart bought Hoffman Estates, Ill.–based department store chain Sears, Roebuck and Co., creating the country’s third largest retailer with combined annual revenues of ...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Meghan Fabulous
Los Angeles–based Meghan Fabulous, born Meghan Noland, found inspiration for her
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Hippie Chick Style
Designer Patricia Bosse often goes by the Spanish nickname “Vida,” or “Life,” because one would never classify her as a shrinking violet. She has been featured on...
Apparel Ventures Buys Waterfront
Apparel Ventures Inc., a nearly 30-year-old Los Angeles swimwear company, has acquired the assets of Waterfront Design Group LLC, a smaller and younger Los Angeles swimwear ...
Dress Barn Picks Up Maurices
Suffern, N.Y.–based specialty store chain The Dress Barn has signed a deal to acquire Duluth, Minn.–based specialty store Maurices. The 73- year-old Midwestern chain has 464 stores in 38 states and cate...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: A Friend of Mine
Kelly Marshall paid homage to “The Stepford Wives” with some classic silhouettes during her...
Barneys and Jones
New York–based Jones Apparel Group inked a merger deal with retailer Barneys New York for approximately $400 million. The merger brings Barneys’ 21 Barneys New York stores, four Co-Op Barneys New York a...
Uncertainty in the Air About CAFTA
California companies that have invested in Central American apparel and textile factories are curtailing their expansion plans in that region until a free-trade agreement is in place....
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Uriel Saenz
Green is the new black for Uriel Saenz. The Los Angeles–based designer presented plenty of contrary designs during his 19-look P. Ka Bu...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Sew Down
In the dark, empty pool at the Hollywood Athletic Club, 15 up-and-coming designers strove to make a splash with their whimsical collections as part of...
Friday, November 12
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Sheri Bodell
The 1960s were back at the
Portions of Santee Court Go Up for Sale
Real estate in the Los Angeles Fashion District appears to be ripe for the picking....
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Junker Designs
A good Junker Designs piece is one with a checkered rock ’n’ roll past....
Byer Shutters SoCal Production Facility
San Francisco–based Byer California announced plans to close the production sewing department of its Alfred Paquette division in early January....
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Grey Ant
Grant Krajecki showed his
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Eduardo Lucero
Designer Eduardo Lucero set a glamorous tone with the tiedyed gown that opened his Oct. 29
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Naqada by Octavio Carlin
Octavio Carlin revealed his
Project Joins Las Vegas Line Up
New York–based Project Global Trade Show will take its contemporary menswear show to Las Vegas, staging its event concurrently with MAGIC International’s next run in February....
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Shay Todd
Glitz and glamour pervaded the
Ann Taylor Promotes Krill
Kay Krill has been named president of Ann Taylor Stores Corp. and has joined the company’s board of directors. Krill, who has been with the company since 1994, has been with Ann Taylor Loft since it wa...
PacSun 3Q Profits Up 30 Percent
Net income for Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. shot up 30 percent during the third quarter to $31.9 million, Chief Executive Officer Greg Weaver said during a Nov. 8 conference call with r...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Rock & Republic and Susan Holmes Swimwear
It takes the right ingredients to spice up a Rock & Republic ru...
Health Care, Sales Tax Propositions Defeated in Polls
Southern California’s apparel industry reacts to Nov. 2 election results...
Petro Zillia's Tochterman Tapped for Panel in France
Nony Tochterman, designer for Los Angeles–based label Petro Zillia, has been selected for a panel discussion organized by Espace Textile, the Lyon, France–based trade group that repres...
Rates Raised
As anticipated, the Federal Reserve raised short-term interest rates a quarter point to 2 percent, citing an improving economy and noting the recent favorable employment figures. The latest rate incre...
AAUSF in NY
San Francisco–based Academy of Art University hosted its “Academy Day and Fashion Show” on Nov. 5 in New York. The event was designed to build awareness of the design school, its program and its faculty,...
Turning a New Paige in the L.A. Denim Market
Former fit model Paige Adams-Geller spent years helping top denim makers finetune their products. Now, she is using her eye for fit and fashion to launch a new line, Paige Premium De...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Oligo Tissew
Los Angeles designer Christopher Enuke opened his
Billy Martin's on the Move
Los Angeles–based Western lifestyle retailer Billy Martin’s USA Inc. announced plans to expand the brand beyond the company’s Los Angeles and New York retail locations. Chief Executive Officer Doug Martin, who co-founde...
Bebe Moves to Century City
Bebe Stores Inc. vacated its design studios at the Cooper Design Space in downtown Los Angeles and moved into its own building, located at 10345 Olympic Blvd. in Los Angeles. The company is officially based i...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Frankie B.
Designer Daniella Clarke usually turns an eye toward her closet when creating looks for her Frankie B...
No Europe for ASR
Action Sports Retailer has canceled its 2005 European trade show because it failed to secure a date and location that would satisfy retailers and manufacturers in the surf and skate industrie...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: MartinMartin
MartinMartin designers Eric and Diane Martin have flirted with color before, but this season they took it up a notch by injecting their Japanese-inspired minimalist collection with bright tur...
Wet Seal Attempts to Avoid Bankruptcy With Cash Infusion
The new executive at the helm of troubled teen retailer Wet Seal Inc. believes the company has to react faster to trends and change merchandise more rapidly to survive....
Luxury/Specialty Stores Report Stellar October '04 Sales
October’s sales chased away the retail blues of September and August, and the companies with the right stuff to wipe out the sluggish business trends were luxury and specialty stores....
Jack Star Jeans-Premium and High-Rise
To make a mark on the premium denim market, Angie Furlong is hitching herself to a star: Jack Star Jeans....
GWC Report Studies WTO, Jobs
The Los Angeles apparel industry faces a crisis as more production shifts overseas and companies prepare for the termination of World Trade Organization apparel and textile quotas in...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Louis Verdad
Louis Verdad, known for his dramatic 1940s style, revealed a softer, more wearable collection during his Oct. 29...
Cambodia Hopes to Benefit from WTO Membership
What might be bad for China could be good for Cambodia....
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Maggie Barry and Barrymoore
Los Angeles designer Maggie Barry took a trip down the Sunset Strip—with a detour down Silver Lake Boulevard—for her...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Society for Rational Dress
Designer Corinne Grassini presented her second Society for Rational Dress collection in a...
Strong Economy Should Boost SoCal Holiday Sales
Christmas 2004 should be a merry one for Southern California retailers, according to Jack Kyser, chief economist of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. ...
Howe Homme: My Home, My Store
Up-and-coming rock band West Indian Girl performed by the kitchen, and a premium-denim boutique opened for business in the living room. That’s the way Jade Howe turned his re...
Honeywell Sells Performance
Performance Fibers Holdings Inc., an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners Inc., announced an agreement to purchase Honeywell International’s Performance Fibers business for an undisclosed sum. The company...
Designers, Organizers Look at Future L.A. Fashion Week Dates
Fashion is much like politics. Both are tied to perfect timing....
TopButton.com Is First-Class
New models for selling clothes online have been few and far between this year. The story has mostly been about refinement and consolidation...
Rodriguez Introduces Cuban Concept Store
Ernest Hemingway’s lean prose and the tangy refreshment of mojito cocktails sparked America’s obsession with Cuba more than 60 years ago. Now, Cuban-American retailer Eddie Rodriguez hopes to turn this...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Shawn
Designer Yohanna Logan returned to the familiar territory of the ’80s silhouette for her
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Juan Carlos Obando
Unveiling his very
Living Wage Rule for L.A.'s Finest
The Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved on Nov. 9 an anti-sweatshop law that will affect $3 million in annual garment contracts for police uniforms and other apparel and footwear worn by gov...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: California Market Center
Feminine floral looks and Southwestern earthy colors framed the California Market Center’s...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Fashion Business Inc.
Cardona’s presentation was preceded by a
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Bat's Daughter
The glamour girls of the 1940s and 1950s had a serious influence on the fashions shown by the young designer behind the...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: David Cardona
After a year of cross-continental commuting as the design director of Italian brand Cerruti, Los Angeles designer David Cardona kept it simple at the presentation of his...
Friday, November 5
Galey & Lord Sale Approved
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia approved the acquisition of textile maker Galey & Lord Inc. by Patriarch Partners LLC. The company is expected to emerge from bankruptcy prot...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Karanina
Santa Barbara, Calif.–based designers Kara Smith and Nina Firestone showed how inspirations from the 1950s and 1970s blossomed into the Spring 2005 styles of their...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Kate O' Connor
Kate O’Connor returned to the runway after a two-season hiatus to show her Spring/Summer ’05 collect...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Denim & Diamonds
Judith Ripka and Cotton Inc. presented red carpet–worthy looks during “Denim & Diamonds,” a special event that took place on Oct. 26 at Mercedes-Benz Fashio...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Davies
Erica Davies turned to rich, soft colors and draped jerseys and tunics for her Davies Spring col...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Rojas
Styles from the New Age and the Reagan era usually conflict, but they shared space at the Rojas runway sho...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Sue Wong
Sue Wong carved her reputation with intricate detailing and vintage styling. But the designer’s taste for the exotic took her dresses far beyond their building blocks of silk and bead...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Billabong
Billabong brought a little Hawaii to Los Angeles Fashion Week when it staged a runwa...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Rachel Pally
Summery, flirty and clean describes
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring ’05: Hurley
The 1980s returned to Hollywood’s Falcon nightclub on Oct. 28, when Hurley International presented its Spr...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Shakti by Jacquelyne Love
The Lake Tahoe, Nev.–based headquarters of the
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: True Meaning
Marc Bohbot, creative director of Los Angeles–based True Meaning, kept the caftan shirts and bottoms of the label’s...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring #039;05: Anand Jon
Colonial tea and cocktails were served to guests at Indian couture designer Anand Jon’s Spring/Summer ’05 runway ...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Ella Moss
Pamella Protzel went big on stripes, comfort and femininity for her Ella Moss Spring collecti...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring #039;05: Hurley
The 1980s returned to Hollywood’s Falcon nightclub on Oct. 28, when Hurley International presented its Spr...
Porridge Finds Fashion in Simplicity
Tank tops were nothing more than a quick way to finance a trip to Spain in April 2003 for Laura Stang. But a little more than one year later, making the tops turned into a serious business for the des...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring ’05: Anand Jon
Colonial tea and cocktails were served to guests at Indian couture designer Anand Jon’s Spring/Summer ’05 runway ...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Rami Kashou
Mercedes-Benz honored Rami Kashou by sponsoring his
Port Bottleneck Leads to Shipping Surcharges
With ships waiting as long as one week now to unload their cargo at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, seven shipping lines announced they will start charging a congestion surcharge fee on cargo...
Gerber Names New President
Tolland, Conn.–based Gerber Technology Inc. has named John R. Hancock as its new president....
Showdown! at the Schindler House
When they looked into the night sky, the fashionistas and artists gathered on Oct. 23 at the Schindler House in West Hollywood, Calif., could see ...
Strong Sales At L.A. Market
Traffic was heavy and business was brisk during the Oct. 29–Nov. 2 run of Los Angeles Market Week—despite the uncertainty during the last days of the presidential election and the ongoing finan...
Local Company Brings Die Cutting In-House
Tarina Tarantino found a new helper for her studio....
Noun Adds Dresses to Spring '05
Noun (pronounced “noon”), a contemporary tops line from France that is gaining notoriety for its bold prints, is expanding into dresses, tunics and skirts for Spring ’05....
Capricio Headlines Fashion for a Cure
The fashions of Sterling Capricio took top billing when fashion met philanthropy at the Fashion for a Cure fund-raiser for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer...
Metropark's First Hurdle
The hard part of retailing just started for Metropark, Orv Madden’s new concept store headquartered in City of Industry, Calif....
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Heike Jarick
Heike Jarick offered a mix of airy fabrics and toughed-up looks for Spring ’05 during her “Savage Gypsies in the Urban Lagoon”...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Iron
Iron, launched only a year ago, debuted its
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Pegah Anvarian
Designer Pegah Anvarian turned to the desert for inspiration in creating her
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Custo Barcelona
Custo Barcelona designer Custo Dalmau offered the crowds at Los Angeles Fashion Week a lightened, brightened version of his signature style....
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Editte Keshishyan
Editte Keshishyan showed her colorful
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Coco Kliks
American nostalgia and the optimism of the ’50s permeated the room as Coco Kliks debuted her second collection on Oct. 27 during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios in Culver City....
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Jenni Kayne
Jenni Kayne delivered a smart, sophisticated
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Petro Zillia
Nony Tochterman’s
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Cesar De La Parra
Fashion designers have long pondered what makes a woman beautiful. Los Angeles–based Cesar De La Parra contributed his ideas with a...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Single
Designer Galina Sobolev highlighted fabrics, colors and cultures from Thailand to the Cocirc;te D’Azur for the...
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Gen Art
The seventh installment of
Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Ashley Paige and Ash by Ash
Who would have thought that Ashley Paige would cover up midriffs and bust lines? Paige isn’t going prude. The coverups are part of her new sportswear line, Ash by Ash, which ...
Sketch Artists
Otis College of Art+Design’s School of Fashion held its Otis Draw Down event and fundraiser in the lobby of the California Market Center on Nov. 1, where students, faculty and designe...
Candie's Badgley Mischka Deal
New York–based shoe and apparel maker Candie’s Inc. struck a deal with Escada U.S.A. to purchase B.E.M. Enterprise Ltd., the holding company for the Badgley Mischka brand. The deal covers the designer brand, two licens...
Urban Fashion Week Launches Third Season
L.A. Urban fashion Week begins its third year with the theme “Let’s Ride,” exploring how urban fashion has migrated into people’s cars. The event, which ends Nov. 7, will explore ...
Laundry Heads to Miami
Vernon-based Laundry by Shelli Segal, a division of New York–based Liz Claiborne, opened a store in the Aventura Mall in Miami. The company has three other stores in New York, Los Angeles and Costa Mes...
CMC Owners Confirm Sale
California Market Center owners said they have accepted an offer of close to $135 million to sell the 3-million-square-foot wholesale center to Los Angeles real estate firm Jamison P...
Jared Gold, Retailer
Dark Dynamite, the Salt Lake City–based parent company of Jared Gold’s Black Chandelier brand, announced plans to open a seasonal Black Chandelier Renegade Retail boutique in the Trolley Square Mall in Salt Lake City. ...
Trina Turk, Live in Dallas
Los Angeles designer Trina Turk kicked off Dallas Market Week at the new Fashion Industry Gallery showroom complex with an appearance before fans and buyers on Oct....
