Stories for August 2017

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Thursday, August 31

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Christopher David’s Debut Soiree at Ramos Carreon Salon

At the Ramos Carreon Salon, it’s a tradition for any assistant in the salon to do a final soiree of his/her own before becoming a full-time hairstylist on the salon floor.

Retail Healthier than Many Think, Research Group Says

Retail

IHL Group, a partner of National Retail Federation, the Washington, D.C.–based trade group, released a paper on Aug. 30 that said that tough times for retail have been greatly exaggerated.

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Designing the Look of “This is Us”

Designing the Look

Members of the cast of “This Is Us” were on hand for an Aug. 28 event at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, amid the costumes of the 11th annual “Art of Television Costume Design” exhibition.

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Westfield Shopping Centers Hook Up With Uber

Retail

Now there's a way to avoid the parking lot at Westfield shopping centers in style.

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Textile Design Winner

Hank Pola Scholarship

Megan Weitz, a textile design student at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, received the Hank Pola Scholarship at an Aug. 28 reception at the design school’s FIDM Museum and Galleries in downtown Los Angeles.

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Serious Retailers Turn Out to Write Orders at Fashion Market Northern California

FMNC

The August edition of the Fashion Market Northern California trade show is always the smallest of the event’s five annual shows because it is held just days after the humongous apparel trade shows wrap up in Las Vegas.

Who Will Be the Winners and Losers This Season in Holiday Shopping?

Retail

Back-to-School shopping is barely over, but retail gurus are already making predictions for the holiday shopping season.

OC Fashion Week Starts

Runway

Orange County Fashion Week will aim to balance trade, consumer and glitz when the biannual fashion event unveils a series of shows Sept. 5–9. OC Fashion Week’s Spring/Summer 2018 shows will be held in venues around Newport Beach, Calif.

Shafer Exits Agave

Manufacturing

Jeff Shafer, the founder of Agave, a premium-denim line that has been sold at retailers such as Nordstrom, recently announced that he was leaving the label after a 15-year run.

Kitson Founder Files New Lawsuit

Legal

Retailer Fraser Ross filed a lawsuit in July against its former executive Christopher Lee, lender Salus Capital Partners LLC, HGI Asset Management Holdings LLC and Spencer Spirit Holdings LLC.

Obituary: Paul Schnell, Designer for Don Loper, Ernst Strauss, Da-Rue of California, 90

Fashion

Designer Paul Schnell died earlier this year at the age of 90. Best known as the designer for Ernst Strauss, a Los Angeles–based manufacturer of high-end women’s apparel in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, Schnell’s last job in the industry was as designer at Da-Rue California Inc., the maker of upscale updated apparel.

FBI’s Harder Among the New Team at Yonduur

Technology

Frances Harder has a new gig. The founder and president of Fashion Business Inc., the fashion nonprofit that recently shuttered after nearly 20 years, has joined the board of advisors at Yonduur, an online marketplace for closeouts, overstock and excess inventory.

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Nifty Genius: Menswear and Retail for All Seasons

Nifty Genius

The Nifty Genius menswear label takes the term “lifestyle brand” very seriously.

Groceries Apparel Looks to Build a Natural Dyehouse in Southern California

Manufacturing

In a rapidly changing fashion market, Matt Boelk and Rob Lohman basically want to build a new segment from the ground up.

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Z Supply Taps Maui and Sons for Icons of Culture

Icons of Culture

After taking a look at classic surf heritage brands Ocean Pacific and Gotcha, Irvine, Calif.–based Z Supply LLC has unveiled the next brand in its Icons of Culture series: Maui and Sons.

Wednesday, August 30

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Lucky Brand Expands Into Home Collection

Retail

Lucky Brand is offering a home collection that sells at Macy's.

Tuesday, August 29

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AG Parties for its Fall 2017 Looks

At an Aug. 28 party for its Fall 2017 collection, the AG brand decamped to Skybar in West Hollywood.

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ComplexCon Announces N.E.R.D & Gucci Mane in Concert

ComplexCon returns the weekend of Nov. 4 – 5 in Long Beach, festival goers will be treated to sounds from hitmakers such as Pharrell Williams' N.E.R.D and Gucci Mane.

Monday, August 28

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Enze To Abbot Kinney

An independent boutique, Enze, recently opened on high end retail street Abbot Kinney.

Friday, August 25

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Abercrombie & Fitch's New Concept Store

Abercrombie & Fitch's new concept store took a bow at Westfield Century City mall on Aug. 25. A&F promises that it will be more fashion in a smaller space.

Thursday, August 24

Pool Provides a Showcase for Up-and-Comers and Indies

Trade Shows

UBM’s Pooltradeshow has always been a venue for independent and up-and-coming apparel and accessories brands. The Aug. 14–16 show at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center returned to its prime location next to Project near the shuttle bus drop-off.

Sourcing at MAGIC: Focus on Vietnam

Trade Shows

At the vast Sourcing at MAGIC show, held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, it was around the world in more than 2,000 booths, not around the world in 80 days.

Offprice: Even Discount Retailers Feeling the Pinch

Trade Shows

Bargain hunters should feel right at home at the Offprice show in Las Vegas, held Aug. 12–15 at the Sands Expo and Convention Center.

WWDMAGIC: A Trade Show with a Party Ambience

Trade Shows

Attending WWDMAGIC, held Aug. 14–16 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, is much like going to a disco nightclub. The cacophonous vibes of various soundtracks emanate from booths displaying the latest in juniors and young-contemporary fashions.

WWIN: Retailers From Across the Country Crowd into the Show

Trade Shows

Visitors at the Women’sWear In Nevada Show at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino were greeted by a long hallway lined with displays of women’s fashions being represented at the biannual show.

Project: Big Show Drives Biz Through Small “Neighborhoods”

Trade Shows

During a time of great change for retail, Project continued to be a big show.

Liberty Expands Quest Section

Trade Shows

Change was on the mind of Sam Ben-Avraham, founder of Liberty Fashion & Lifestyle Fairs.

Capsule; New Styles, New Floor Layout

Trade Shows

High-end streetwear, fashion, denim and environmentally sustainable fashions for men and women were among the categories on display at the Aug. 14–16 run of Capsule at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas.

Agenda: Show Floor Debuts & With Look To Future

Trade Shows

The Aug. 14–16 run of Agenda at the Sands Expo and Convention Center featured debuts and some new fashion styles. There also was a promise of change, said Aaron Levant, the show founder.

Bustling at Stitch

Trade Shows

For the second season, Stitch, UBM Fashion’s show for upscale women’s apparel and accessories, was located next to Project Womens at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. The location proved to be ideal for many of the exhibitors at Stitch, who were steadily busy throughout the Aug. 14–16 show.

Curve Las Vegas Showcasing Swim, Lingerie

Trade Shows

The Manhattan Beachwear booth at Curve Las Vegas, held Aug. 14–16 within Project Womens at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, was a flurry of activity with appointments and drop-by traffic for the company’s swim, activewear and resortwear collections.

Coeur x Project Debuts in Las Vegas

Trade Shows

This season introduced a new section at Project Womens, Coeur x Project, a partnership between Project owner UBM Fashion and Coeur, the 6-year-old trade show focused on lifestyle lines, accessories and gifts.

Spring Orders at Project Womens

Trade Shows

Buyers placing orders for Spring merchandise turned out at a steady pace at the Gentle Fawn booth at the Project Womens show, held Aug. 14–16 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.

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Signs of Spring in Las Vegas

Signs of Spring

The recent run of apparel and sourcing trade shows in Las Vegas offered a glimpse into an industry in transition. Many exhibitors at the nearly 20 trade shows running concurrently noted a lighter-than-usual buyer turnout.

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Screen Style: FIDM Celebrates Emmy-Nominated Costume Design

Screen Style

Costume designers, fashion designers and other fashion-industry insiders turned out to celebrate the art of costume design at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, where the 11th annual Art of Television Costume Design exhibition recently bowed at the FIDM Museum & Galleries.

E-Com Exec to Run Macy’s Stores, 100 Jobs Cut

Retail

A desire to make Macy’s department stores even more tech-friendly led to the hire of its new chief.

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Footwear Brand Sanuk Slides Into Apparel

Sanuk

After more than two decades of making flip-flops and footwear for the surf and beach crowd, the Sanuk brand is trying apparel.

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Beverly Hills Tells Shops to Stay Open Late

Retail

The city of Beverly Hills has been encouraging boutiques to keep doors open after most stores call it quits for the night.

How Sourcing Managers Are Re-examining Vietnam After the Demise of a Free-Trade Agreement

Import/Export

Six or seven years ago, Steve DiBlasi of Lanier Clothes decided to shift a fair amount of his company’s apparel production from China to Vietnam.

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COS Opening in DTLA

Retail

COS, launched by H&M 10 years ago, has few stores around the United States, but one is opening in downtown LA on Friday, Aug. 25.

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Space Style for a New Age

The world got a first look at the new SpaceX uniform thanks to Elon Musk’s Instagram account.

Wednesday, August 23

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Levi's Whips Up Collection for Skateboarders

Taking blue jeans to the skateboard world.

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Wrangler x Peter Max

Wrangler is about to roll out its latest collab with Pop Art icon Peter Max.

Tuesday, August 22

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Costume Designers Talk at Beverly Center

Red carpets are scheduled to be rolled out Sept. 17 for the 69th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. Beverly Center held a panel of nominated costume designers Aug. 16.

Monday, August 21

E-Com Exec to Run Macy’s Stores, 100 Jobs Cut

A desire to make Macy’s department stores even more tech-friendly informed the hire of its new chief.

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Michael Costello’s Boutique Takes A Bow

After a career of dressing the likes of Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, and starring on Project Runway in 2010, Michael Costello put his name in concrete...with a L.A. Fashion District store.

Friday, August 18

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Olivia Culpo’s PrettyLittleThing Party

UK brand PrettyLittleThing’s mission is to bring runway and celeb fashions to women at a low price. On Aug. 17, it produced a Los Angeles party for its capsule line PrettyLittleThing X Olivia Culpo.

Thursday, August 17

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Z Supply for All

Contemporary basics line Z Supply is going to the dogs (and cats). The Irvine, Calif.–based company recently launched a pet line featuring many of the same fabrics from the Z Supply line.

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Magic Kingdom Takes Best Fashion Picture at LJIFFF

La Jolla International Fashion Film Festival has maintained its independence since it was founded in 2010. Last month, more than 700 people attended the event’s parties and film festival. The Best Picture Award was handed to Magic Kingdom.

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Zimberg Launches Luxe Men’s Leather Line

Zimberg

Designer Arnold Zimberg and his brother Bruce Zimberg debuted their new men’s leather jacket collection under the label Jakett/Arnold Zimberg at the recent run of Liberty in Las Vegas.

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LA Swim Week Starts on Irreverent Note

LA Swim Week

For its second run at the Skirball Cultural Center in West LA, the Los Angeles Swim Week fashion shows started on an irreverent note.

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Orders Despite Uncertainty at Las Vegas Trade Shows

LV Trade Shows

The apparel industry headed to Las Vegas on the hunt for new trends and new business at the many apparel and sourcing trade shows spread across the city.

Denim Defines the Clothing Trends for Back-to-School Apparel

Retail

Consumer spending on clothes and other items should definitely be in positive territory this fall as shoppers are feeling more confident about their economic condition and rising housing prices make people feel wealthier.

Retail Sales Show Solid Gains in July

Retail

Online sales took a giant 11.4 percent step forward from last year as shoppers let their fingers do the buying. Of all the categories broken out by the National Retail Federation, it was the winner in the NRF’s monthly tabulation of retail sales.

Price and Value Are Driving Retail Business

Retail

A recent survey by the International Council of Shopping Centers shows that the majority of U.S. adults are loyal to brands and retailers because of price and value.

Differential Brands Sees Sales Grow in the Second Quarter

Manufacturing

Differential Brands Group—the Los Angeles company whose labels include denim label Hudson, Robert Graham and SWIMS—reported net sales growth for its second quarter but a net loss.

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Janie Bryant of "Mad Men" Creates Collection for Unique Vintage

Fashion

Costume designer Janie Bryant designs 12-piece collection for Unique Vintage.

Wednesday, August 16

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Demi Lovato Pairs Up With Fabletics Again

Athleisure

The singer has a collection with 12 pieces.

Tuesday, August 15

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Rodd & Gunn Takes a Bow at Westfield Century City

New Zealand’s Rodd & Gunn clothiers are taking a wider gamble on California. The third Rodd & Gunn store in California opened Aug. 10 at the Westfield Century City mall, which neighbors affluent enclaves such as Beverly Hills and West Los Angeles.

Monday, August 14

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Debbie Harry X Obey Comes to Melrose

The Debbie Harry X Obey Collection lands in a pop-up shop on Los Angeles' Melrose Avenue.

Thursday, August 10

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Get Your Game Shirt On

A Tokyo and Worcester, Mass.-based company has designed a sensor-enabled shirt to optimize your time spent in the virtual world—and the real one.

Bread Gets Money for E-commerce Payment Program

Technology

Bread is a New York–headquartered finance technology company that lets merchants give their customers the option to pay for items in several installments over time.

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Denim Designers Debut First Collection With Pottery Barn

Design

Emily Current and Meritt Elliott debut first collection for Pottery Barn.

Apparel Decorating Solution Precise Software Joins Open Systems Business Solutions Software

Technology

Precise Software, a Minnesota-based company that provides software solutions to the decorated apparel market, has merged with Open Systems, a provider of business software solutions such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer-relationship management (CRM).

Billiam Jeans: Building High-End Denim One Jean at a Time

Manufacturing

On a recent weekday afternoon, denim loyalists trickle into a small store in a nondescript strip shopping center in Greenville, S.C. They’ve come to be measured and fitted for custom-made jeans or they are anxiously waiting to pick up their finished product.

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Fair Trade Fashion Event Raises $31,000 for Anti-Trafficking Organization

Fair Trade Fashion

The Fair Trade Fashion Show, held July 29 at CTRL Collective in downtown Los Angeles, raised $31,000 for Free the Slaves, an international nonprofit organization that helps anti-trafficking efforts in Haiti, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Nepal and India.

DSTLD Plans Second Round of Crowd-Funding, Pop-Ups and Other Events Planned

Retail

DSTLD, the direct-to-consumer contemporary brand for men and women, is preparing to open up its second round of crowdfunding.

CFA Breaks Down Intellectual Property Landscape

Legal

The California Fashion Association broke down an ever-widening field of intellectual-property issues for a group of apparel manufacturers and retailers at a recent strategy session featuring several legal and insurance experts.

New Non-profit Twice New Aims to Turn Event Waste Into Charitable Opportunity

Events

Crystal Ortiz and Christina Rosenberg spent years planning and producing large-scale, big-budget events such as corporate parties at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and South by Southwest. With their latest project,—the nonprofit organization Twice New—the two are focused on the less-glamorous side of event planning: what to do with all that food and other items left over after the guests have gone home.

Le Box Blanc’s Neighborhood Store in DTLA

Retail

For the past two years, Le Box Blanc has been delivering contemporary fashions to people all over America from its e-commerce shop .

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Reef Founder Aguerre Brings Wild Style to Waterman’s

Waterman’s

Reef brand founder Fernando Aguerre ushered in the irreverent sartorial style of the annual Waterman’s when he arrived at the inaugural event in 1993 wearing a sarong and a 1920s-era vintage dinner jacket.

Agenda Festival to Return

Trade Shows

Agenda Festival, the consumer day of the streetwear-focused Agenda trade show, made an inaugural run last month.

Westfield Century City Announces New Stores

Retail

Westfield Century City recently announced another slate of retailers scheduled to join the sprawling mall, which is undergoing a $1 billion remodel.

Odain Brand Opens 1st Shop

Retail

Odain Watson relaunched his Odaingerous brand in 2016, and on Aug. 17 he is scheduled to open a shop, also called Odaingerous, at 719 S. Main St. in downtown Los Angeles. It will be the emerging brand’s first shop.

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Japan’s Edwin Denim brand to Unveil Adriano Goldschmied Line for US

Edwin Denim

In its 70th anniversary year, Japanese denim powerhouse Edwin Co. Ltd. opened a U.S. creative studio and is bringing in jeans legend Adriano Goldschmied to design a collection for the U.S. market.

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Patrick DiLascia Launches Patrick Brand

Patrick Brand

A new bricks-and-mortar store is the center of Patrick DiLascia’s new fashion venture.

Callaway Hopes for Hole-in-1 With TravisMathew

Manufacturing

Callaway Golf Co. recently announced that it had acquired Huntington Beach, Calif.–headquartered apparel brand TravisMathew, LLC for $125.5 million in an all-cash transaction.

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Selectiv: Post-Corporate Business Casual

Selectiv

After spending years working in corporate environments, specifically digital departments for entertainment companies, Daniel Sakai and Calvin Lim came to a conclusion: Men’s office clothes had become a dull uniform, even in the era of business casual.

Wvs Brgde: Minimalistic Action Sports Aesthetic

Manufacturing

Pastels and neon colors might as well be white noise to Brian Boles.

New BCBG Owners Outline Their Plans for Moving the Brands Forward

Manufacturing

When Michael DeVirgilio and Cory Baker were figuring out whether they wanted to acquire the BCBGMaxAzria label and its sister brands, they quizzed retailers about whether they were still willing to carry the decades-old brands in their stores. They were happy to find that the labels weren’t on life support yet.

Prana Chief Executive Leaving in Mid-August

Manufacturing

After being with the company for nearly nine years, Scott Kerslake is leaving Prana as its chief executive to take another job.

Hollywood in Focus at WWDMAGIC’s Event Lineup in Las Vegas

Trade Shows

WWDMAGIC, the trade show for women’s apparel and accessories, has a big lineup of activities for its Aug. 14–16 event at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

ILWU Officially Votes to Extend Labor Contract by Three More Years

Import/Export

It’s official. Some 67 percent of the members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union have approved a three-year extension to their five-year contract with the Pacific Maritime Association, which means their contract won’t expire until July 1, 2022.

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Klarety: A Clear Vision for Womenswear

Klarety

Shortly after graduating from the University of Southern California, Tina Lo used her degree in economics and communications to immerse herself in the corporate world as a commercial insurance underwriter.

Bachrach Men’s Stores to Exit Bankruptcy Soon

Retail

Only four months after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Bachrach men’s stores is expected to emerge from bankruptcy by the end of August with 15 stores intact.

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Menoh's Sewing Machine Music

Ask Lun*na Menoh, there’s a rock ‘n’ roll song in the sound of the sewing machine.

Wednesday, August 9

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Wool & Thimble’s Summer Launch party

Made in Los Angeles, Wool & Thimble constructs high end T-shirts, wovens and sweats for men. Reggie Marshall, the brand’s founder and creative director, produced a launch party for its Summer ’17 collection on Aug. 8.

Monday, August 7

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Bathing Ape to make a Los Angeles Comeback

High end Japanese streetwear brand Bathing Ape is making a return to Los Angeles after closing down an emporium near Melrose and Fairfax avenues in July 2010.

Thursday, August 3

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Cruise 2018 in Miami Beach

Miami Cruise 2018

The Cruise 2018 collections bowed on the runways in Miami at events produced by Swim Miami, Funkshion and Art Hearts Fashion.

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Bebe Launches New Campaign With New Direction

Fashion

The look still appeals to the girl who likes fancy clothes and likes to party.

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J!nx for Gamers

J!nx is a San Diego-headquartered brand that makes clothes for gamers; the people who can’t be pried away from their video, Internet, X-Box, you name it-games.

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Fred Segal Announces Flagship Shop-in-Shops

Retail

Fred Segal is moving along toward a fall 2017 opening—perhaps in mid-September—for its new flagship in West Hollywood, Calif., located near the Sunset Plaza high-end retail enclave.

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69 Brand Pops

Gender neutral fashions are having a moment. Los Angeles brand 69 is making a statement for the look at a pop-up shop

July Sales Up, But Results Mixed

Retail

July sales beat forecasts, according to market-research firm Retail Metrics.

Cotton Prices Holding Stable as China Continues to Sell Off Its Reserves

Textiles

Cotton prices should remain on a level playing field and even decline a bit next year as farmers around the world plant more acreage.

YuniquePLM’s Latest Release Includes Added Functionality, Configurability

Technology

The latest release of YuniquePLM’s product lifecycle management software, YuniquePLM 7.1, includes new features and additions to streamline the design process.

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Dress For Success S.F. Raises More Than $100,000 at Fashion Gala

Events

The recent gala hosted by Dress for Success San Francisco featured San Francisco brands Everlane and Margaret O’Leary on the runway, San Francisco chefs offering special tastings and a live auction as well as a silent one.

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Quiet August Market in LA Yields Immediate Orders, Out-of-Town Business

Trade Shows

August market in Los Angeles is typically a quiet affair, with exhibitors and buyers navigating a crowded trade-show schedule that includes the massive Las Vegas trade shows later in the month.

NetSuite Takes Cloud On Road

Technology

Oracle NetSuite, the San Mateo, Calif.–based, cloud-based enterprise resource planning and omnichannel commerce software owned by tech giant Oracle, has been hitting a number of apparel trade shows this year. The most recent was Agenda in Long Beach, Calif., in July.

Reyn Spooner’s New Direction, New Leadership

Manufacturing

Heritage aloha brand Reyn Spooner has been traveling a steady course for decades, but its new creative and executive team plans to steer it toward bigger things.

South Coast Plaza Buys Sears Land

Retail

Sears has run a department store and an auto center at the northeast end of luxe retail center South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, Calif., for 50 years.

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Outdoor Retailer Hosts Last Show in Salt Lake City, Prepares for Move to Denver

Outdoor Retailer

There were mixed emotions at the July 26–29 run of Outdoor Retailer. For the past 20 years, Salt Lake City has been home to the biannual show, but in January 2018 Outdoor Retailer will move to Denver. Some were sad to be leaving Salt Lake City, while others were excited to head to Colorado next year to start a new chapter.

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Sourcing & Fabric: Textile Trends

Sourcing & Fabric

Textile Trends

Tuesday, August 1

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'Frida''s Quinceanera in DTLA

Style Inspiration

La Plaza de Cultura y Artes threw a fashionable quincenera to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the release of "Frida."

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Fire in the LA Fashion District Near Santee Alley

Incendiary

Nearly 100 firefighters show up to put out a blaze in the LA Fashion District.

New Owners Take Over BCBGMaxAzria and Other Labels

Manufacturing

On Aug. 1, Marquee Brands announced it had acquired the entire portfolio of brands once owned by the BCBG Max Azria Group, the Los Angeles fashion house that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Feb. 28.

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Lucky Brand X Tim McGraw and Faith Hill

Lucky Brand recently unveiled a collaboration line with country music performers Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. They’ve been really big deals in the world of country music for more than 20-years, and are currently in the midst of their long Soul2Soul tour.