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NEW YORK -- In 827 days, quotas on apparel and textiles will be lifted among World Trade Organization members, and the sourcing world will begin a seismic shift The question [...]

There are five retailers of outdoor goods that balance the needs of individuals who need specialized shoes as well as those individuals who want to enter this sports arena. These stores are Recreational Equipment Inc. or REI, Blue Ridge Mountain Sports, Track 'n Trail, Campmor and Galyan's Trading. These retailers improved their selling environment by allowing shoppers to try out these boots in the environment in which they would wear the boots.

Shoe companies had a difficult 1997. Nike found itself under scrutiny for its labor practices while Nine West was scrutinized by the government for business practices. Florsheim Group and Stride Rite introduced new licensing agreements with designers and clothing companies. The athletic shoe industry suffered a major loss of business while other shoe companies consolidated., NEW YORK -- A booming stock market and low unemployment drove substantial growth in many industries during the past twelve months, but footwear companies remained locked in a fierce battle [...]

The fierce competitiveness in the shoe industry has changed the role of retail shoe buyers. Buyers now are responsible for keeping tabs on profit margins, advertising, discounting and promotion planning. Some industry players belief the multiplicity of roles has eroded buyers' commitment to what should be their chief duty: finding new merchandise that will appeal to customers., NEW YORK -- The old rules simply don't apply anymore. As stores wage an increasingly cut-throat battle for consumer dollars, the role of the retail buyer has changed radically. No [...]

Footwear vendor-retailer relationships require constant nurturing to be successful. Phone calls must be completed almost daily to ensure that advice and information are exchanged. The best vendors provide incentives and evaluate inventory turnover as well as provide training and evaluate gross margin return on investment. Retailers need to provide performance data., Once upon a time, there was great confusion. Vendors and retailers did not see eye to eye, and they tried to profit at each other's expense. And then, someone, somewhere, [...]

NEW YORK--With $4.23 billion in revenues last year and offices in 40 countries, Hong Kong-based Li & Fung Ltd. has become the powerhouse of international contract sourcing. Company executives estimate [...]

It's been more than eight years since President Clinton signed the NAFTA trade deal, opening the way for free trade between the U.S., Mexico and Canada Much has changed in [...]

Nine West Group Inc.'s stock fell 20.8 percent in the week following the revelation that the U.S. Customs Service had joined the Securities and Exchange Commission in investigating the company. [...]

Partnership can be painful. Discussing the way both sides of the industry relate to each other, retailers and vendors attending FN's Global Footwear Summit here talked about how the relationship [...]

This year's holiday season probably won't go down in the records books, but nonetheless retailers should see low- to mid-single-digit growth, retail analysts and industry observers said. At a panel [...]

Industry executives who wrestle with the complexities of branding and sourcing on an international level at the recent FN Global Footwear Summit here presented a number of different strategies, but [...]

Several shoe companies and retailers are preparing for the year 2000 computer transition. New Balance will work on compliance issues with its retailers and then its vendors. New Balance utilizes electronic data interchange. Sears plans to have a four-digit date code in effect by Dec 31, 1998, and wants its vendors to implement the same schedule so that tests can be conducted during 1999., NEW YORK -- The clock is ticking. Businesses around the globe are scrambling to prepare their computer systems to handle the problem known as the Millennium Bug. It is a [...]

Leading footwear retailers of the 1990s have created their own niches, perfected their strategies and are paying attention to the needs of their customers. Numerous 'influential' retailers, including Davids, Industrial Shoe and Just For Feet, have devised new formats and images to attract customers. In doing this, these retailers have changed the footwear industry's views of retailing., There have been many next-big-things in retailing. Industry watchers have predicted the death of the department store and the rise of the big-box outlet. Many people have said the vertical [...]

Many footwear retailers successfully seek better sales via association with charitible causes. Florsheim Group Inc. gives 2% of sales plus shoes to the needy as part of a promotion program. Several companies give discount coupons for the purchase of new shoes to customers who donate used shoes to the homeless. Carson Pirie Scott & Co., for instance, cooperates with Good Will Industries to provide shoes for the homeless. Other charitable programs by shoe retailers include scholarships awards to high school students., Championing a cause often begins on the sales floor. Increasingly, footwear retailers are using cause-related marketing as part of the ongoing battle to attract and keep customers. While constantly trimming [...]

Byline: Kristi Ellis and Scott Malone Roger Milliken Recalled as Champion of U.S. Industry Roger Milliken, one of the most legendary figures in the U.S. textile industry, was remembered for [...]

NEW YORK -- A solid performance by the Dockers division helped Levi Strauss & Co. register a sales increase and a profit versus a loss in the first quarter. Net [...]

Byline: Ellen Burney and Scott Malone For decades, the rise and fall of hemlines has been the cause of chatter among designers, sociologists and even Wall Street investors, who turned [...]

Byline: Scott Malone NEW YORK -- Bobbi Silten, president of Levi Strauss & Co.'s U.S. Dockers division, will be stepping down from her post in June to take a six-month [...]

Byline: Scott Malone Coming off a year in which the company completed three acquisitions and posted a 19 percent rise in net income, VF Corp.'s top officials saw significant pay [...]

Warnaco Group Inc. on Wednesday named Dwight Meyer to the new post of president of global sourcing. Meyer, 52, last served as executive vice president of global sourcing at Ann [...]

NEW YORK -- Diesel plans to open its first U.S. Diesel Kids store next month in New York's SoHo district. The 1,600-square-foot unit, on West Broadway, will stock clothing for [...]

Byline: Scott Malone NEW YORK -- U. S. textile firms have concluded they can't beat their Chinese competitors, so they're joining them. Fabric and fiber makers such as Invista, International [...]

Byline: Scott Malone NEW YORK -- Any discussion of China's scale involves huge numbers. The country is home to 1.3 billion people, has an adjusted gross domestic product of $6.45 [...]

Byline: Scott Malone For most of their 2,200-year history, the Chinese have regarded their nation as the center of the universe. To understand this perspective, imagine the modern world without [...]

With his latest business venture, Jeff Lubell believes he's found the path to salvation. Sales at his company, True Religion Apparel Inc., surged by a factor of 10 last year [...]

NEW YORK -- After six consecutive years of losses, Marithe & Francois Girbaud's U.S. licensee, I.C. Isaacs & Co., swung back into the black in 2004, reporting a $6.2 million [...]

NEW YORK -- Wilbur Ross is at it again. On Tuesday, his investment group reached an agreement to acquire bankrupt textile mill Westpoint Stevens Inc. 'Westpoint has very good brands, [...]

Byline: Scott Malone NEW YORK -- Two months after World Trade Organization countries dropped quotas on textiles and apparel, the anticipated jubilation of importers instead has turned to figuring out [...]

NEW YORK -- Levi Strauss & Co. returned to profitability in 2004, as company officials said Thursday their focus would remain on boosting cash flow and paying down the firm's [...]

Tommy Bahama has named Brian Awitan as national sales manager for women's at its Indigo Palms Denim Co. division. Awitan is based in Seattle and reports to Don Kerkes, the [...]

Tarrant Apparel Group revised its fourth-quarter earnings forecast, advising investors that its sales missed earlier targets and that its losses would be deeper than anticipated. The Los Angeles-based company said [...]

More than a year has passed since the Bush administration completed negotiations on the proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement, and the trade package is still awaiting final approval. Over [...]

NEW YORK -- He's got hair like Harpo, talks like Chico and -- judging by the worldwide growth of his brand -- is as clever as Groucho. But when Diesel [...]

Michael Silver's latest product spin-off got started in an unusual way. He was at a party in Japan to promote his company's 1921 jeans line when he complimented an attendee [...]

NEW YORK -- In April 1999, Georgetown University economics professor Pietra Rivoli watched a noisy campus protest about sweatshop abuses in overseas apparel factories and was inspired to take a [...]

NEW YORK-The windfall for importers from the end of the global quota system probably won't be as great as originally anticipated, as reported by HFN sister publication Women's Wear Daily. [...]

NEW YORK -- The windfall for importers from the end of the global quota system probably won't be as great as originally anticipated. Most executives predicted that costs would drop [...]

For those who get a chance to tear themselves away from the tents, the Garment District now offers a bit more to see than just trimmings suppliers and sewing machine [...]

Byline: Scott Malone NEW YORK -- Levi Strauss & Co. on Tuesday named Hans Ploos van Amstel as its next chief financial officer. He succeeds Jim Fogarty, a managing director [...]

NEW YORK -- The windfall for importers from the end of the global quota system probably won't be as great as originally anticipated. Most executives predicted that costs would drop [...]

Byline: Scott Malone NEW YORK -- The growing debate over the almost $150 billion U.S. trade deficit with China has domestic manufacturers, lobbyists and two U.S. senators focusing on that [...]

Byline: Scott Malone NEW YORK-Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y, said he will introduce legislation, co-sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., that would apply a 27.5 percent tariff to all imports from [...]

NEW YORK -- There is a theme to Turkish textile companies' strategies for the post-quota era -- avoid going head-to-head with China. Exhibitors at the Turkish Fashion Fabric Exhibition here [...]

Byline: Scott Malone NEW YORK -- As apparel factory owners worldwide consider whether the end of quotas means they will need to move their operations, the shareholders of a knit [...]

Byline: Scott Malone VF Corp. on Wednesday named Stephen Dull to the new post of vice president of strategy. Dull, 46, reports to Mackey McDonald, chairman and chief executive officer. [...]

NEW YORK -- A conflict over counterfeit sneakers may have led to a fatal shooting in Manhattan last week. At press time, police were still searching for the man they [...]

NEW YORK -- Police were searching Thursday for a man they believe fatally shot one worker at a Midtown wholesale store and wounded another. The shooting came in a neighborhood [...]