INDUSTRY ISSUES
The Desktop Revolution: How xTool is Democratizing Industrial-Grade Apparel Printing
| May 1, 2026
In the traditional apparel manufacturing landscape, the bridge between a creative concept and a finished garment has long been guarded by high entry barriers, complex industrial workflows, and prohibitive costs. However, a seismic shift is occurring. xTool, which has rapidly ascended to become the world’s second-largest DTF (Direct-to-Film) brand by GMV, is dismantling these barriers.
Design Options Revamps
Los Angeles–based trend-forecasting service Design Options has revamped the look of its trend materials, unveiling a new logo and adding new features, such as removable yarn skeins, to help de...
Urban Apparel Makers Tailor Strategies for Growth
Despite some recent hiccups, the urban-apparel market is riding another wave of growth fueled by endorsements from the country’s leading rap and hip-hop artists, and by a spate of retooling among the m...
Jak & Rae Label to be Dropped
Two months after announcing a refreshed vision and hiring designer Coco Kliks, Jak & Rae, the better contemporary label started by Los Angeles juniorswear manufacturer Hot Kiss, ...
Levi's Enters Growing Tummy-Flattering Denim Market
When Not Your Daughter’s Jeans debuted its Tummy Tuck line of jeans with reinforced belly panels for the over-40 set in 2005, the company’s sales hit $7 million in the first year. And, despite focusing on a v...
Blue Marlin Parts Ways With K-Fed, Shutters Gerry Space
San Francisco–based sportswear firm Blue Marlin Corp. is following the lead of Britney Spears and severing ties with aspiring rapper Kevin Federline, who helped endorse the company’s F...
Buxbaum Group Adds Exec
The Buxbaum Group, the more-than 30-year-old company in Calabasas, Calif., that started out as a liquidator and appraiser of retail and wholesale inventories, has hired Ned Tomasevic as a fin...
Defunct Textile Firms Sued Over Pension Plans
A California trim company and a New York textile firm were sued by the U.S. Department of Labor for allegedly not forwarding more than $100,000 in employee contributions and loan repayments to a compa...
Apparel Contributes to Record Traffic at Local Ports
The apparel industry has been a major factor in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach receiving a record number of cargo containers this year....
Grail: Second Time's the Charm
Denim has led designer Peter Ross on a winding road. From fetching coffee for denim maven Blue Holdings’ Paul Guez to purchasing denim for Quiksilver and selling denim textiles to den...
Merger Puts American Apparel on Major Growth Plan
With a proposed merger to become final in 2007, American Apparel founder Dov Charney is revving up expansion plans to add more retail stores, grow a recently acquired knitting factory and hir...
Apparel Makers Thinking Twice About Vietnam
Vietnam is being touted as the newest frontier for making affordably priced clothes, and it will become even more attractive after it joins the World Trade Organization on Jan. 11. But Califo...
Licensee Sues Rusty
San Diego–based surf brand Rusty and its new Australian owners are being sued by longtime Rusty apparel licensee and owner of more than 40 percent of the brand, C&C Partn...
New Head at CITA
After a nearly three-month vacancy, a new director has been found to head the U.S. government organization that imposes apparel and textile quotas on foreign-made goods....
American Apparel Confirms Sale to New York Company
American Apparel Inc. formally announced on Dec. 19 that it has entered into a merger agreement valued at $383.5 million with Endeavor Acquisition Corp., a specified-purpose acquisition comp...
American Apparel Expands on 'Green' Initiative
When American Apparel executives looked to overhaul the lighting system for its 800,000-square-foot factory off Alameda Street in downtown Los Angeles, it did so with a green approach....
