Stories for November 2004

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Friday, November 26

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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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....

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 ...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

Friday, November 19

Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: A Friend of Mine

Kelly Marshall paid homage to “The Stepford Wives” with some classic silhouettes during her...

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...

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 ...

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...

Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Meghan Fabulous

Los Angeles–based Meghan Fabulous, born Meghan Noland, found inspiration for her

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 ...

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...

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...

Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Erica Rose

Designer Erica Rose returned to the P. Ka Bu lineup for the third season,

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....

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

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. ...

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...

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...

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....

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...

Friday, November 12

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...

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...

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

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

Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Billabong

Billabong brought a little Hawaii to Los Angeles Fashion Week when it staged a runwa...

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...

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....

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: Hurley

The 1980s returned to Hollywood’s Falcon nightclub on Oct. 28, when Hurley International presented its Spr...

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: Davies

Erica Davies turned to rich, soft colors and draped jerseys and tunics for her Davies Spring col...

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: 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: Rachel Pally

Summery, flirty and clean describes

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: 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

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...

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 ...

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....

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...

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...

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....

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...

Local Company Brings Die Cutting In-House

Tarina Tarantino found a new helper for her studio....

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...

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 ...

Gerber Names New President

Tolland, Conn.–based Gerber Technology Inc. has named John R. Hancock as its new president....

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...

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...

Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Rami Kashou

Mercedes-Benz honored Rami Kashou by sponsoring his

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 ...

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 #039;05: Hurley

The 1980s returned to Hollywood’s Falcon nightclub on Oct. 28, when Hurley International presented its Spr...

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. ...

Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Ella Moss

Pamella Protzel went big on stripes, comfort and femininity for her Ella Moss Spring collecti...

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 ...

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: 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 '05: Shakti by Jacquelyne Love

The Lake Tahoe, Nev.–based headquarters of the