Apparel

Layering your clothes is one of the hottest trends for this fall. Plus, it's easy and practical for a variety of different situations (work, school, social events). Here are a few suggestions on what works best for layering.

1. Choose pieces of clothing that are a variety of sizes and shapes, some tighter or more fitted, others loose.

2. Use different fabrics and textures: cotton, denim, velvet, silk.

3. Begin at the bottom — that's your base.

Target's Web site came crashing down on Tuesday as Missoni-loving fashion devotées invaded, scrambling to buy the high-end Italian designer's clothes for a song.

With its limited-edition Missoni for Target line, introduced Tuesday, and other low-price designer collections, Target has been trying to position itself as the chicest of the discount stores. Missoni's clothing usually costs in the hundreds or thousands of dollars, but it had designed a number of cheaper items for Target, like a $40 skirt in its signature zigzag design and a $600 patio set. However, the limited-edition fashions were more limited than Target might have wanted.

H&M was the biggest user of organic cotton worldwide last year according to Textile Exchange, a global organization designed to promote the growth of organic cotton and producer of the Global Sustainable Textiles Market Report each year. The report provides the organic cotton and sustainable textile market with estimates for the preceding year, while identifying trends and market leaders and providing market projections for the year to come.

In 2010 H&M used around 15,000 tons of organic cotton—a marked increase from previous years.

The previously reported talks of American Apparel negotiating with various investors in order to restructure its debt have advanced beyond the point of rumor. Bloomberg reported that the company has been approached by several investors since its sales have improved, and that the discussions have included the possibility of CEO Dov Charney stepping aside as chairman in order to focus on day-to-day operations of the company.

For more details on the article, click through to Bloomberg.com.

Broder Bros., Trevose, Pa., announced it is taking its "Selling What Sells" educational series on a three-part, nationwide tour of events focused on educating customers about sales presentations and selling more apparel. Beginning the week of September 6, 2011, the first part of the tour will feature Alpha, Broder and NES staff along with representatives from Bella and Canvas and some of the industry's biggest mills in 15 cities across the country. These full-day events will consist of product presentations and sales seminars based off of the "Selling What Sells" catalog and Bella + Canvas Sellers Guide.

The months of barbecues, beach days and hair-frizzing humidity are over. You've already sent out your back-to-school promotions and now you're focusing on the shiver-inducing task of selling outerwear. 

When author Robert Greene wrote his bestselling book "The 48 Laws of Power," his win-at-all-costs message turned him into a cult hero with the hip-hop set, Hollywood elite and prison inmates alike.

Crush your enemy totally, he wrote in Law 15. Play a sucker to catch a sucker, he said in another. Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit.

Greene's warrior-like take on the quest for power, written more than a decade ago, would eventually attract another devotee: Dov Charney, the provocative chief executive of Los Angeles clothing company American Apparel Inc.

Need to spruce up your wardrobe? When that "Bazinga!" T-shirt just will not cut it anymore, maybe some interactive augmented-reality attire could be for you.

Augmented-reality app specialist Zappar and private-label clothier Hybrid Apparel announced a line of 20 T-shirts with Threadless-esque designs that come to life through AR. In the video below, we see an example of augmented-reality fashion via a T-shirt named "Mars Attacks." Using the free Zappar app (available for iOS and Android devices), a person using the iPad's touch screen and rear camera defeats a large robot projected on the T-shirt by zapping it with lasers.

In just five months' time, on 1 January 2012, the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act will go into effect. This will require large retailers and manufacturers doing business in the U.S. to disclose their efforts to eradicate slavery and human trafficking from their product supply chains.

Companies impacted by the legislation will include apparel and footwear retailers and manufacturers with annual worldwide gross receipts of more than $100 million—who must make the required disclosures on the home page of their corporate websites.

An estimated 3,200 companies worldwide will be affected by the new law, which must address five areas.

Today is August 31. Summer is over. Though the start date of fall is September 23, the school bells, holiday promos and fall fashion lines suggest otherwise. In a way, the cooler weather is good. The more clothing end-users have to wear, the more you can sell your clients.