California Apparel News

First published 75 years ago from in its then-headquarters at 210 W. Seventh St. in downtown Los Angeles, California Apparel News has served the global fashion industry and local apparel businesses. Launched July 6, 1945, by Joe Osherenko, the publication began during a time when World War II servicemen were returning home to the United States.

From the first Academy Award in costume design presented in 1949 and the Coty American Fashion Critics Hall of Fame winners to Los Angeles Fashion Week and beyond, California Apparel News covered fashion history in the making. The publication featured designs from influential artists including Rudi Gernreich, Patrick Kelly, Karen Alexander, Richard Tyler, TJ Walker and Carl Jones, Michelle Mason and Kentaro Kameyama.

There was also coverage of shifting culture including the local fashion industry’s support of the Equal Rights Amendment during the 1970s, the roots of streetwear in the 1980s and the premium-denim boom of the 2000s.

After Osherenko’s death in April 1970, California Apparel News changed hands a few times and, in 2013, was purchased by TLM Publishing Inc., owned by Terry Martinez, who currently serves as the publication’s chief executive officer and publisher. In December 2019, California Apparel News moved from its 30-year home at the California Market Center to The New Mart, remaining true to its Los Angeles Fashion District roots.

“Our industry has been hit hard, to say the least, by a threefold worldwide crisis—health, economic and societal—but as we come together to reimagine our industry we will emerge better and more successful on the other side,” Martinez wrote in a June 75th anniversary issue. “Thank you for 75 remarkable years.”