Apparel

Not For Sale, a non-profit watchdog group that monitors human trafficking and modern-day slavery, released a revealing report this week on slavery in the apparel industry, featuring supply chain ratings for more than 300 brands.

World Emblem International has recently launched new digital print emblems for uniforms and apparel. The patches are available in standard and intricate laser-cut shapes and can include a merrowed border or be borderless. The patches can all be heat sealed onto apparel or those with a merrowed border have the option of being sewn onto apparel. The patches themselves are very thin and flexible, allowing for a high degree of comfort and versatility. Quick turn-times and competitive pricing allow Digital Print Emblems to be a frontrunner.

Textile and apparel imports into the US fell by 1.3 percent in September as retailers planned conservatively for the upcoming holiday season, with year-on-year declines in seven of the top 10 supply countries.

Official figures from the Department of Commerce's Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA), showed total textile and apparel imports slipped to 4.8bn square metre equivalents (SME) during the month.

Outsourcing manufacturing has become a fact of life in the business world. The consensus is that American or European manufacturing cannot provide the scale and low cost of factories and work forces in places like China. A new company based in Brooklyn, New York, however, is betting that - at least in the apparel and accessories space—that reality is coming apart.

Makers Row is a web-based factory sourcing service that helps companies find manufacturing solutions within the United States. Founders Matthew Burnett, Tanya Menendez and CTO Scott Weiner feel that apparel brands that are outsourcing the production of their goods

Macy’s, the second-largest U.S. department-store chain, is feeling the pressure to drop Donald Trump-branded apparel after the billionaire recently launched political attacks against President Barack Obama in the election campaign.

A petition, started by Angelo Carusone, has collected almost 500,000 names to date. Macy’s maintains its merchandise and marketing do not represent any political position; meanwhile, others are questioning the validity of Carusone’s petition.

American Apparel Inc. released financial results for its third quarter ended Sept. 30, 2012. Chairman and CEO Dov Charney weighed in on the company’s encouraging performance.

He looks forward to the future as American Apparel improves store productivity and makes aggressive moves to grow its online and wholesale businesses.

Click on Mitt Romney's campaign website and you'll read part of the GOP presidential nominee's gracious "thank you" message to supporters.

But the site no longer takes you to his many position papers, speeches, news releases, bio or tax documents. Visitors to mittromney.com are now led to a merchandise page, where they can buy Romney swag.

The official Romney-Ryan unisex T-shirt and baseball cap are available for $30 each. Campaign buttons go for $3. The red, white and blue rubber bracelets proclaiming "Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, America Can't Lose" are available for $10. 

In the past two presidential elections, Barack Obama merchandise proved an enduring cottage industry. Mitt Romney merch, not so much: Even before Election Day, “Romney stuff was harder to move,” said Bob Levine, marketing director for Madco Printing & Advertising, a St. Louis printer that sold about 400 of its $30 T-shirts to the Romney campaign in Missouri. Now, he says, they may go for much less. “I don’t see a major market for this stuff,” he says.

Win or lose, campaign T-shirts generally don’t appreciate in value because collectors are more interested in pins and buttons, says Don Ackerman

FesslerUSA, an apparel manufacturer and decorator based out of Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania, has closed down after 112 years operations. In an interview with the Associated Press (AP), owner Walter Meck cited the recession, increasing overseas competition and difficulty obtaining loans as reasons for the business's closing.

Relative strength is a good thing to consider in any market.

The RS line shows how a stock is doing vs. the S&P 500. A rising line means a stock is either gaining more or losing less than the index.

One group showing strength is apparel manufacturers. Six stocks in the Apparel-Clothing Manufacturers group have Composite Ratings of 93 or better.

RS lines are at or near 52-week highs for five of the six stocks. Two appeared in Thursday's Stock Spotlight screen - Michael Kors Holdings (KORS) and G-III Apparel (GIII).

Why should apparel stocks be doing well in this sluggish economy?