Friday, July 28
CFDA's Vogue Finalists
The Council of Fashion Designers of America has narrowed the competition for the CFDA/ Vogue Fashion Fund to 10, including the design team behind Pasadena, Calif.–based Rodarte. In addition to Rodarte’s design team, siste...
Eight at Guess
Los Angeles–based Guess? Inc. named Kay Isaacson-Leibowitz to the company’s board of directors, bringing its total membership to eight, including five independent directors. Isaacson-Leibowitz, who also will serve on t...
Basic Instinct
While other denim brands opt for novelty, Red Engine sticks with the basics ...
BCBG Heads to the Web for New Sales
BCBG Max Azria Group of Vernon, Calif., is finally joining the e-commerce wave and is expected to have a new shopping site online early next year....
Miami Runway Report: Rosa Cha by Amir Slama
Fairytale dreams and World Cup wishes—that’s what Rosa Chaacute;’s Resort ’07 collection was made of. Amir Slama designed the collection after envisioning what a princess might wear if sh...
Miami Runway Report: Parke & Ronen
New York–based retailers-cum-designers Parke Lutter and Ronen Jehezkel showed the only all-menswear line at the swim shows. The Parke & Ronen show on July 17 offered bikinis, 4- a...
Governor Visits Inland Empire Distribution Center
The real estate maneuvers of the apparel industry have captured the interest of even Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger....
Ferragamo on the Move in O.C.
On July 28, Calypso Christiane Celle signed a lease to open a boutique at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, Calif. The New York–based ethnic-inspired luxury line has mo...
Life & Death
The two designers behind Antik Denim are at it again....
Miami Runway Report: Norma Kamali
The tent was packed for the July 18 Norma Kamali show, which didn’t disappoint. The iconic designer showed her 2007 swimwear collection, and it was classic Kamali. From the moment the first gold metallic ...
Pool Show Bows in N.Y. With Project by Its Side
NEW YORK—The oppressive mid-July heat meant that New York’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center was an absolute haven of cool—in every sense of the word...
People's President
Los Angeles–based label People’s Liberation, makers of apparel under the People’s Liberation and William Rast labels, named former Rock & Republic exec Ted Houston president of the company. Houston w...
Boutique Takes 'Green' Fashions to Freeway Crowd
Delilah Snell came tantalizingly close to owning a captive audience when she opened her environmental lifestyle store The Road Less Traveled on July 15....
Japanese Streetwear Label Takes Melrose Location
Los Angeles’ Melrose Avenue gained added cachet as a designer district when Marc Jacobs and Paul Smith opened stores there more than one year ago. But the fashion thoroughfar...
Crispin & Basilio: A New Obsession
The first question posed by a member of the press to menswear designer Donny Barrios after his first fashion show in 2000 was: “When are you going to design womenswear?” Six years and se...
Ending the Year With Quota to Spare
U.S. quotas on Chinese apparel and textiles won’t be used up this year ...
Three Girls and A Guy
Los Angeles–based premium-denim line Three Girls Running has named Robert Rackear brand director for the company. He will oversee sales in Los Angeles and New York, including in the company’s New York showroom,...
Miami Runway Report: Becca by Rebecca Virtue
Rebecca Virtue took buyers and editors on a walk through her “Garden of Virtue” on July 17 for the showing of her 2007 Becca collection. Models strolled a runway strewn with flowers, ca...
Miami Runway Report: ANK by Mirla Sabino
For a line that launched only a year ago, ANK created a splash on the runway. The collection, shown July 17, is co-designed by Brazilians Clecia Basso and Mirla Sabino, the exclusive interna...
Miami Runway Report: Swimwear Association of Florida
A four-pronged runway allowed attendees of the July 17 Swimwear Association of Florida’s fashion show at the Jackie Gleason Theater of the Performing Arts in Miami Beach to take in fo...
Miami Runway Report: Shay Todd
Los Angeles designer Shay Todd closed the swim shows with her most comprehensive collection to date. Showing swimsuits, handbags and coverups that crossed the line into ready-to-wear, Todd’s Americana-...
American Apparel's Second Life
When American Apparel chose to unveil its new denim line, it headed for a somewhat obscure Web site called Second Life (
Apparel Demand Up, Yet Spending Is Flat for Back-to-School
Shopping for apparel should be on the consumer’s mind during the upcoming Backto- School season, according to a survey released July 24 by the market research firm NPD Group Inc. ...
Gerber Opens Cutter Assembly Plant in China
Tolland, Conn.–based Gerber Technology is stepping up a program to build cutting room equipment in China. The company recently opened a cutter assembly center in Shanghai with partner...
Miami Runway Report: Red Carter
“Unrelenting cuteness” is an accurate way to describe designer Red Carter’s eponymous 2007 Resort line, which bowed on the runway July 16. Heavy on retro good-girl, bad-girl and nautical themes, ...
Miami Runway Report: Xtra Life Lycra
Lycra, the fabric that helped revolutionize swimwear, celebrated the 60th anniversary of the bikini with a fashion show in Miami Beach. Lycra parent company Invista presented the show to tout...
AAFA to Host RFID Summit
The American Apparel & Footwear Association and RFID Journalwill host the first major conference and exhibition on radio frequency identification for the apparel industry Aug. 1...
Downtown Development
Uri Harkham, Moshe Aflalo and Efrem Harkham are planning a new retail development in downtown Los Angeles called The Plaza at 12th and Wall. Located at 12th and Wall streets, The Plaza is expected to ...
Miami Runway Report: Inca
New York–based designer Stephanie Hirsch added men’s swimwear to her line of Inca swimwear, which was featured on the Miami Beach runway July 15. Strutting alongside their female counterparts, male models show...
Miami Runway Report: Gideon Oberson
Gideon Oberson, the creative director for Tel Aviv, Israel–based Gottex, played with texture and color for his 2007 Resort collection. Flowers cut from a bright floral print were layered on a ...
Complex Magazine to Honor ASR Exhibitors
Complex magazine, a national men’s publication for 18- to 35-year-olds who dig action sports and hip-hop, will launch the Complex Design Awards at the Action Sports Retailer ...
Chico's and the Woman
At various times over the past century, there’s been talk of the “new woman.” That time may very well be here again. For how else would you describe today’s woman over 40, who’s fit, trend-...
Friday, July 21
Forever 21's Superstore
When Donald Chang launched his first clothing store in 1984 on Figueroa Street in Los Angeles, it was a mere 900 square feet....
Hot Styles Dominate Miami's SwimShow
MIAMI BEACH, Fla.—There was plenty of newness to entice buyers at the Swimwear Association of Florida’s SwimShow 2007 July 15–19 at the Miami Beach Convention Center....
Nielsen Lands Carole Hochman Design Group
New York–based Carole Hochman Design Group is staking a permanent presence on the West Coast and has struck a deal with independent sales representative Jennie Nielsen to carry the torch....
Police Seize Counterfeits in Fashion District
Los Angeles police detectives raided several clothing stalls along Santee Alley in the Fashion District on July 19 and seized an estimated $10 million worth of counterfeit apparel, k...
FBI, AIMS Help New Workers Get Up to Speed
Los Angeles–based Fashion Business Inc., with assistance from the U.S. Department of Labor, has launched a new program aimed at training a more computer-literate apparel industry work...
Chiari
As a designer for Playboy’s pink-label lingerie line, Chiari Coffey has spent years spinning the signature rabbit-head print with a novelty twist season after season. With her own lin...
Suisse Organique by Longing International
Environmentally conscious customers are flexing their spending power to effect change, and manufacturers have perked up to the requests....
True Arbitration
Los Angeles–based premium-denim house True Religion Apparel Inc. announced that a ruling has been reached in arbitration proceedings between its subsidiary Guru Denim Inc. and Indigo Group USA, a garment contractor based in G...
City National Partners With Bank of East Asia
Beverly Hills–based City National Bank has formed a joint business alliance with Hong Kong–based Bank of East Asia in an effort to provide more flexible services to U.S. companies doin...
Tsubi, Tsubo in Trademark Case
Can a premium-denim label survive a change in its brand name?...
Sexy Pretty Things
Intimate apparel is a booming market. American consumers spent nearly $10 million on intimate apparel between June 2005 and May 2006, according to the NPD Group, a research firm in P...
Nippies
UNDERCOVER: To Christine Benidt and Danielle Beck, the co-founders of Los Angeles–based Nippies, fashionable lingerie doesn’t stop at bras and underwear. Nippies brings sassy style int...
More Buyers, Fewer Orders at Hong Kong Fashion Week
HONG KONG—Rising fuel prices and political strife in the Middle East had many apparel manufacturers at the Spring/Summer 2007 Hong Kong Fashion Week worried that sales would be adversely affec...
Rochas No More
Beauty and consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble announced plans to shutter French fashion house Rochas, headed by designer Olivier Theyskens. The designer, who has been with Rochas since 2002, received c...
Artificial Flavor
HE WEARS SHORT SHORTS: Though the choices of stylish sportswear abound for the hip contemporary man, John Vitti found that the options for what to wear underneath those perfectly distressed, ...
Haute Couture and High-Tech
Attendees at the World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing in Toronto were treated to a fashion show July 13 that featured designer fashions of a compostable fabric made from corn sugar. All the de...
Beating Summertime Blues
Retailers Find Ways to Thrive as Consumer Spending Slows...
2006: So Far, So Good, but Uncertainty Ahead
California’s apparel and textile makers made it through the first half of 2006 in relative health, according to many industry watchers, but the second half of the year is still shrouded in uncertainty ...
Loehmann's New Owner
A United Arab Emirates–based investment house has acquired discount retail chain Loehmann’s from Atlanta-based private equity firm Arcapita Inc. for approximately $300 million. Arcapita has owned Loehmann...
From Asia With Style
HONG KONG—Fashions from all over Asia graced the catwalk at Hong Kong Fashion Week, held July 11–14 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre....
DVF in at CFDA
The Council of Fashion Designers of America has named Diane von Furstenberg as its next president, succeeding Stan Herman, who served as head of the organization for 15 years. Von Furstenberg’s term begins in ...
CMC Revs Up Efforts for Gift/Home Sector
The California Market Center’s gift and home section has been hit by vacancies and a stagnant marketplace, but the CMC’s owner is revamping its offerings for the sector....
Now Capital Business Credit
New York–based financial services firm Capital Factors LLC has changed its name to Capital Business Credit LLC in an effort to underscore the range of services the company provides fo...
Friday, July 14
Exodus' Music Series
Temecula, Calif.–based Exodus Clothes is sponsoring a Thursday night concert series at the Temeku Theatre in Temecula....
Nano-Tex Names CEO
James P. Curley was appointed president and chief executive officer of Emeryville, Calif.–based Nano-Tex Inc., a provider of textile finishes and coatings....
So Cal's Eyes On the Ports
On a clear day, Capt. Manny Aschemeyer and his crew have a sweeping view of the nation’s busiest port complex and a 180-degree vista of the blue-gray Pacific Ocean down below....
Warehousing Way Off-Site
The days of checking inventory with a quick visit to the warehouse may be numbered as more retailers and apparel manufacturers shift to a new business model when it comes to logistics....
New Clients for ApparelMagic
Glendale, Calif.–based Murphy & Associates has signed on four new clients to use its ApparelMagic business management software system....
Online Apparel Sales Keep Clicking Along
E-tailing is expected to exceed $200 billion this year, according to the recently released
Getting an Early Start on a Fashion Career
For Kaleng Taing, launching a career in fashion design was part of a domino effect that started when she was a teenager. Her job, as assistant designer at childrenswear brand Matti ...
Arbor's Apparel: Keeping It Green
Arbor believes in slow growth—and environmental responsibility....
Lucy's La Jolla
Portland, Ore.–based active-lifestyle specialty retailer Lucy’s opened a store June 30 in La Jolla, Calif., with an opening celebration planned for July 13. Ten percent of the day’s proceeds will be give...
Parisian, Montgomery
Birmingham, Ala.–based Saks Inc. announced plans to open a Parisian store in Prattville, Ala., a suburb of Montgomery, in spring 2008. The one-level, 80,000- square-foot department store will anchor Prattville...
New Pool Chief Expects No Big Changes
When Ronda Walker, founder of the Pool Trade Show, officially left the organization on July 3 to pursue new business ventures, the responsibility for leading the funky, unique show, ...
Toasting Bread
With a tagline as bold as “Truth, Freedom and Bread,” designer Jason Ferro’s new line of premium denim has a lot to live up to....
City Finds New Life in Old Street
Hot rods are what attracted Irene Guzman and her family to quiet Monrovia, Calif., some 24 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles. But the flash and sizzle of the classic car shows at the city’s Library Park ...
Sage's New Man
Los Angeles–based investment bank The Sage Group LLC announced that Rockwell “Rock” Schnabel, former U.S. ambassador to the European Union, has been named chairman of its board of directors. The Sage Gro...
Seaton Finds Sales Reps, Seeks Retail Real Estate
Seaton has gone national. The Los Angeles–based casual brand with a surf twist announced July 12 that The Liric Group, a New York fashion sales company, would repres...
Erica Dee's Street Life
With top-rate shopping centers a stone’s throw away in Newport Beach, Calif., it would have been a natural for Erica D. Thomas to dream about opening her Er...
Mash Note
Los Angeles–based Sub-Urban Brands Inc., owners of the Whiteboy label, has launched a new line, Mash Culture Lab, targeting the 13- to 29-year-old youth market with a more-mass-market streetwear collec...
City of L.A. Approves New Wholesale Mart
The city of Los Angeles has given the green light for more showroom space near the Los Angeles Fashion District....
New Exec Needed for Old Navy
Gap Inc. announced that Jenny Ming, president of Gap’s Old Navy division, would leave the company in the fall after 19 years with the San Francisco–based retail chain. Ming got her start in Gap’s merchandising division ...
Friday, July 7
Keeping Main Street USA, Minus the Traffic
To park or not to park? That is the question California officials are asking retailers as they explore turning prime outdoor shopping streets into pedestrian-only zones where cars are off-limits....
CAFTA Gains One More Member
Now that Guatemala has become the fourth country to join the Central American Free Trade Agreement, that leaves only Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic left to sign on....
China Trade
U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab appointed Claire E. Reade as chief counsel for the USTR’s China Trade Enforcement initiative. Reade will coordinate USTR efforts to ensure China’s compliance with inter...
New Line to Launch With CMC Fashion Show
Los Angeles designer Franco Martinez will launch his Four60couture collection of contemporary womenswear at a fashion show at 7:30 p.m. on July 14 in the California Market Center Fas...
Stock Analyst Lukewarm on PacSun as Company Plans New Direction
A Wall Street analyst lowered her stock recommendation from buy to hold for Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. in a June 29 research note, just as the highly successful retailer of s...
Nasdaq Warning
Innovo Group Inc., the Commerce-based maker of Joe’s Jeans, received a warning June 30 from the Nasdaq stock exchange that because the company’s stock had dipped to below $1 for 30 consecutive trading days, it ...
Outgrowing the Denim Bubble
With dire predictions of a pop in the denim bubble, premium-denim makers are taking steps to add more sizzle to their lines so they don’t fizzle....
More Truckers Upbeat About Ports' Gate Hours
A recent survey of truck drivers servicing Los Angeles’ port complex shows that a majority support a nearly yearold program that keeps the terminal gates open late at night and on Saturdays....
True Religion Hires Investor Relations Adviser
Los Angeles–based premium-denim maker True Religion Apparel Inc. has announced the appointment of PondelWilkinson Inc. as its investor relations adviser. Th...
Retail With a Vibe
Alex Mouracade and Darrel Adams know “edgy.” In their previous careers as DJs, the duo kept finicky party people glued to dance floors by playing new music that had rarely been heard on ...
June '06 Brings Sunny Results for Retailers
Many retailers avoided the traditional June gloom, reporting increases in comparable-store sales particularly in the luxury and specialty-store sectors....
J. Crew IPO
J. Crew Group Inc. closed its initial public offering with the sale of 21.6 million shares of common stock. The company intends to use a substantial portion of the net proceeds to reduce borrowings under its ...
Levi's Goes Green
The granddaddy of all denim brands isn’t changing its trademark red tab to a grassy green, but it is taking a new eco-friendly approach to blue jeans. Starting with the Fall 2006 collection, L...
Executive Shuffle at Advanstar, Pool
Nearly one year after Pool trade show was acquired by Advanstar Communications, founder Ronda Walker has left the streetwear trade show. When Pool joined Advanstar,...
Local Author Looks Deep Into Her Closet
Los Angeles writer Adena Halpern lives her life through her clothes, or at least that’s how she tells it in her first book, which is all about the culture of fashion....
Wet Seal Probe
Executives at The Wet Seal Inc., Foothill Ranch, said they received a written notice from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission indicating it would take no action regarding an investigation over the company...
Urban Fashion Week Gets Sponsors
Pepsi Clothing and Randy Moss Clothing are the new sponsors of Los Angeles Urban Fashion Week, set to take place at various venues July 15–19. ...
Los Angeles Police Bust Counterfeit Denim Operation
Three people are awaiting prosecution for their suspected involvement in a Los Angeles– based counterfeiting ring. It allegedly imported and inten...
Marika Change
Former Mervyn’s sales executive Scott Kallmann has been named president of The Marika Group Inc., the 24-year-old San Diego fitness and yoga clothing resource....
FIDM to Showcase Television Costume Design Exhibit
“The Outstanding Art of Television Costume Design” will be featured July 10–Sept. 9 at the FIDM Museum & Galleries in downtown Los Angeles. The free exhibit will display cost...
Levi's CEO to Retire
San Francisco-based Levi Strauss & Co. announced that its top executive, Phil Marineau, will retire at the end of the year. Marineau has held the chief executive officer position for the past six years. The compa...
Von Dutch Goes to Court, Again
Los Angeles–based apparel maker Von Dutch Originals is embroiled in another legal tussle....
O'Neill Adopts Web-Based Order Processing
Irvine, Calif.–based O’Neill Clothing is moving closer to a totally paperless environment for order processing....
Hollywood Isn't the Only Three-Ring Circus
Academy Award–winning costume designer Colleen Atwood ran away and joined the circus....
Sleek Design Crafted From Bloomingdale's Old Looks
Bloomingdale’s Inc. is exporting its remodeling program at its New York flagship store on 59th Street to Southern California....
