Fashion Industries Guild Announces Dinner Honorees

The Fashion Industries Guild announced that its 2011 honorees for its 55th annual charity dinner dance will be the executives behind juniorswear manufacturer Big Strike Inc., maker of the Heart Soul and Soulmates labels.

Lars Viklund, Kevin Talbot and Jodi Sundberg will be honored Oct. 1 at The Beverly Wilshire Hotel, raising money for The Fashion Industries Guild’s endowed fellowship in pediatric neuromuscular diseases. The fellowship will help the Department of Pediatric and Cedars-Sinai Regenerative Medicine Institution investigate and develop new treatments for devastating neurological diseases affecting children.

Viklund and Talbot met in 1985, two sales reps hanging out at Chicago Market Week. Later, they took $500 and invested in their own showroom at the California Market Center, representing a number of lines such as B.U.M. Equipment and Steel Jeans. They later started their own manufacturing company in Gardena, Calif.

Jodi Sundberg joined the company in 1996 after working at Rampage Sportswear and La Belle Fashion.

The Fashion Industries Guild of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is made up of apparel professionals who raise money for special programs at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Now entering its 55th year, FIG has raised $21 million since 1956.

For tickets, which are $400 a person, call Steve Marienhoff at (213) 627-2151 or Eileen Ellis at (818) 704-1853.—Deborah Belgum