Apparel

Last year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized 25,000 shipments of counterfeit goods that were making their way into the country. The total value of that loot: $178.9 million.

Many companies profit off of selling counterfeit products, whether knowingly or not, but the risks of peddling knock-off merchandise are equally high. From MP3 players to watches, CNNMoney takes a look at the 10 most frequently faked products and tells you how to spot them to make sure you don't get caught selling something illegal.

Click the link below to read the full story on CNNMoney.

Gildan Activewear revealed Wednesday that the company had a net loss of $46.1 million for the first quarter of 2012. The drop, which was anticipated in last year's fourth-quarter announcement, is only the second quarterly loss since the company went public and began reporting results in 2012.

Vantage Apparel has hired G. Spencer Ritchie, CAS for the position of national sales manager for Vantage Apparel Canada. With more than 20 years of promotional sales experience, Ritchie brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the position.

American Apparel Inc. reported that for the month of January, 2012 total net sales increased 14 percent to $41.4 million. For the same period, comparable store sales increased an estimated 15 percent on an estimated 11 percent increase at retail stores and an estimated 39 percent increase in online sales. For the month wholesale net sales increased an estimated 21 percent.

Avery Dennison Corp. has announced plans to permanently close its manufacturing facility in Greensboro, N.C.

The manufacturing unit at Summit Avenue in Greensboro is part of Avery Dennison's Retail Branding and Information Solutions arm that manufactures apparel tags and graphic tickets.

This will lead to retrenchment of 59 employees beginning in March 2012. Meanwhile, about 78 employees from Summit Avenue facility will be transferred to another company unit, also in Greensboro, where the firm plans to run a quick-response production facility for printed fabric labels to cater to U.S. apparel brands and retailers.

Major global brands have more work to do to close the gap between their performance in the marketplace and their citizenship, according to the inaugural Global Corporate Reputation Index, released by Burson-Marsteller, Landor Associates, Penn Schoen Berland, and BrandAsset Consulting.

The apparel industry shows the largest gap between citizenship and performance indicating continuing concerns about how its products are manufactured.

Using a proprietary model, the Global Corporate Reputation Index identifies 25 consumer companies with the best reputations, based on 40,000 consumer interviews regarding the qualities consumers associate with nearly 6,000 companies in six countries.

Electric blue jeans. Hot pink shoes. Lime green skivvies. Wear it like it's 1985. These are the colors the fashion industry wants you to add into your wardrobe this spring.

Retailers are rolling out an electrified color pallet hoping it'll add cheer to the racks and suggest a brighter outlook for a dull economy.

Retailers are trying to make the new normal of slow economic growth feel better, according to Eric Beder, a retail analyst at Brean, Murray, Carret & Co. So, it's in with the 1980s-inspired fluorescent colors and out with the greys, blacks and neutrals.

More intriguing menswear trends, plus some promotional product bundling advice from an industry supplier.

For Editor's Picks first birthday, we went back through the past editions and selected our favorites.

The International Oeko-Tex Association will offer a free online presentation on Wednesday, February 15 at 12:00 noon EST that provides information on the Oeko-Tex Standard 1000 certification for eco-friendly textile production facilities. This Oeko-Tex webinar is offered free of charge to textile products manufacturers, brands, retailers and members of the media.