Apparel

For most of the year, Dr. Tamara Khidoyatova treats patients as a doctor at a hospital here in this picturesque, old Silk Road city. But for a few weeks every autumn, she is forced to pick cotton, for which she is paid little or nothing.

Throughout the fall, when the cotton harvest comes in, the government drafts about a million people, primarily public-sector employees and professionals, to work as cotton pickers, helping bring in the harvest for the world's fifth-largest cotton exporting nation.

High-end yoga-wear retailer Lululemon Athletica Inc. named Lauren Potdevin as its chief executive and said founder Chip Wilson will step down as non-executive chairman.

Lululemon has been looking for a new CEO since June, when Christine Day said she would step down once a replacement was found.

Potdevin will take over in January 2014 from Day, who was behind Lulu's blistering growth rate and its transition from yummy mummy niche to broader, multi-sport appeal. Potdevin joins from TOMS Shoes and has earlier worked with Burton Snowboards and LVMH.

Charities like Goodwill sell or give away some of the used clothes they get. But a lot of the clothes get sold, packed in bales and sent across the ocean in a container ship. The U.S. exports over a billion pounds of used clothing every year—and much of that winds up in used clothing markets in sub-Saharan Africa.

On today's show, we visit a giant used-clothing market in Nairobi, Kenya to see what happens to American clothes (including, presumably, some Planet Money T-shirts) after Americans are done with them.

I heard whisperings of this many weeks ago, but was hesitant to believe it. After all, Sarah Van Aken seemed fearless, determined to bring some of the industrial luster back to the city, once a major manufacturing hub. Her flagship boutique, SA VA, sold well-constructed garments (all designed and manufactured in her on-site design and garment center, crammed with tables and sewing machines and swatches and rolling racks). Her clothing line, while not necessarily envelope-pushing in its design, was wearable, comfortable, made of easy-wearing fabrics that draped and folded and flattered.

We've been through enough winters to know that picturesque snow won't last. Take advantage of this brief window of beauty by selling robes and loungewear.

The Indian apparel industry should expect $60 billion in exports in the next three years. The surplus in exports is due to the resurgence of importing in the United States and Europe, which are the two biggest markets for Indian textiles and apparel.

April through October 2013 saw a 15.5 percent increase in apparel exports. Experts expect further increases in the years to come when U.S. and European exports are combined with exports to Israel, Russia, Brazil and Japan.

Pantone chose Radiant Orchid as the color of 2014. Here are nine ways to use the floral hue in the New Year.

For more than five years, Eric Martin made a habit of feeding material, non-public information about Carter’s, the Atlanta manufacturer of babies and children’s apparel, to hedge funds and a consultant who tipped off hedge funds.

As the director, and later, vice-president, of Carter’s investor relations department, Martin was in a good position to know about earnings results, a corporate merger and even a financial restatement, before the company publicly released the information. Even after Carter’s terminated Martin, he continued to get his hands on market-moving information about Carter’s and provided it to hedge fund investors.

Employees of SanMar, a leading industry supplier of apparel and accessories, raised over $96,000 in money, clothing and goods for seven charities. SanMarathon events, hosted at each of the company's seven distribution centers around the country and corporate office, allowed employees to run, walk or cheer their way to the final donation.

Fersten Worldwide, the Champlain, New York-based apparel supplier and exclusive licensee of FILA Golf, recently announced the promotion of Jonathan Epstein to director of sales. Epstein will be responsible for all internal and external sales staff for Fersten Worldwide/FILA across North America.