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I've got a very successful westernwear product that my company manufactures in the United States. Sparkle is very popular and even a necessity with at least some of the line. Our customer is thrilled with the work we've done and is in the process of greatly expanding the line. They can't keep it in stock. The problem is, we cannot locate a better metallic yarn than just your standard Lurex. It's scratchy, yarn breaks are a problem during manufacturing, so profitability takes a hit whenever we use it. We've tried coverd nylon, no improvement. We've tried importing sheen yarn, but...

There has been a LOT of Mittens bashing going on, so I feel compelled to comment. Being from Massachusetts, I think Mittens is great. You should be aware that I've KNOWN Mittens since I was a young kid, and have very fond memories thinking of Mittens while going to school. I can NOT imagine being without. Hovever, I cannot exactly put my finger on things. All in all, though, the extremity of my thoughts on Mittens is very positive. After a warm early-winter, it's finally getting to be quite COLD up here, and I WILL NOT be without my Mittens!...

From stylish boots to high-end denim and contract T-shirts, apparel makers are looking up as consumers crack open up their wallets even though job losses continue. Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH) gapped higher Monday after announcing a $3 billion deal to buy privately held Tommy Hilfiger. A large number of apparel and accessory makers are in the IBD 100 list of top companies based on fundamental and technical factors. 13. Deckers Outdoor (DECK). The maker of Ugg boots busted out to a 52-week high late last month after its Q4 earnings per share — up 29% vs. a year earlier — beat...

Morning Edition, April 28, 2006 · The debate over immigration has been dominated by politicians, pundits, and activists with differing viewpoints -- but rarely from those who hire immigrant workers, particularly in the garment industry. Dov Charney runs American Apparel, the largest single garment factory in the United States. It's not your typical garment factory. There's electronica music playing in the showroom, hip, edgy, sexually suggestive photo ads on every wall, and a thriving team spirit among the workers. And Charney is not your typical garment factory boss. The energetic and wiry 37-year-old regularly stops by each department to greet...

SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands This quiet little American territory, a Western Pacific island that struggled for years to improve working conditions in its sweatshops, now may lose many of its apparel factories to free-market forces. The factories could fall victim to a flood of cheap Chinese clothing that is surging into the United States. And as Saipan's factories close or cut jobs, thousands of workers - most of them Chinese women - are left with a cruel choice: Go back to China's sweatshops and earn a fraction of their current pay or stay in Saipan, where the prospects for legal...

The end of the quotas has triggered what trade experts believe could be one of the largest migrations of production in history, jeopardizing Cambodia's 220,000 apparel jobs. Hundreds of thousands more are threatened in Bangladesh, El Salvador, Lesotho and other countries that prospered under the quota system. The massive manufacturing shift will be a windfall for billions of people, bringing huge savings to consumers and accelerating the transfer of jobs to engines of low-cost production in China and India. But it could cripple economies across Latin America, Africa and Asia. Relative newcomers to the international commerce club risk losing their...

North dons its gay apparel By David Ertischek / Staff Writer Tuesday, December 16, 2003 Usually at 7:50 on a high school morning, sleepy faces struggle to keep their heads up. But last Wednesday at the Newton North Little Theatre, all eyes were focused on four speakers leading a panel titled "Life Outside the Gender Norm." The panel was one of six events occurring during Newton North's Annual Transgender, Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Awareness Day, known as ToBGLAD Day. ToBGLAD Day has sparked protest in the past from some Newton parents who say they're not adequately informed about the day's...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. Artex Knitting Mills, founded in 1926, is on its third product line - winter hats. During a 35-year career in the apparel industry, Frederick Gillette worked for seven companies before landing at Artex Knitting Mills Inc. eight years ago. Not that he is a job-hopper. "They all went out of business," Gillette said of his previous employers as he slipped a spool of black yarn onto a creel on one of Artex's 100 knitting machines, whose humming fills the South Jersey factory. For Gillette, 61, and many of his colleagues who...