Apparel

The Great Recession had a dismal effect on the U.S. economy, including the apparel wholesaling industry. With decreased discretionary spending in 2008 and 2009, retailers offered deep discounts to consumers to retain sales. Due to weak downstream demand, wholesalers were left with excess inventories and slashed their own prices to move stock. In their ongoing quest to cut expenditures and sustain profit margins, powerful retailers set low prices, causing wholesalers to engage in fierce competition with each other.

"While industry revenue fell during the recession, it has been slowly recovering since 2010," says IBISWorld industry analyst Caitlin Newsom.

American Apparel CEO Dov Charney was in New York recently and we got a chance to speak to him. We wanted to know what he would do to fix JCPenney.

There are similarities between JCP's situation and AA's. Like JCP now, AA's sales a couple of years ago were in a downward spiral. Like JCP, the company was losing cash and needed a ton of new financing to avoid bankruptcy.

Charney, of course, engineered a turnaround at American Apparel and the company is now profitable and growing topline sales. Notably, he did so without changing or rebranding the company.

Many Americans show tribute to those impacted by the Boston Marathon tragedy by wearing running shirts.

With summer on the horizon, however, tees and tanks have been hard at work conditioning (supposedly with Mark Wahlberg's trainer). Fans are sure they'll reclaim the title as the everyday essential, and with the right style knowledge, you can take advantage of their victory

Many gyms now offer members apparel, food and gear for everyday life. Here's how to get in on this logo-heavy market.

Seattle-based SanMar Corporation, a leading industry supplier of apparel and accessories, announced 22 new additions to its Sport-Tek brand, including products in a variety of sizes and colors to outfit the whole team.

Irwindale, California-based Tri-Mountain, a leading supplier of promotional apparel, announced its 2013 Spring and Peak Performers collections in a colorful new catalog.

Apparel manufacturers and exporters are considering increasing prices of their products by 10 percent to 15 percent in the coming weeks to get partial relief from rising raw material prices. They are, however, worried if this will dampen demand.

Prices of cotton and cotton yarn have increased significantly over the past two months. While cotton prices have gone up by 14 percent, cotton yarn rose a staggering 22 percent in the past two months alone.

Clothing brand Alternative Apparel has chosen to consolidate and expand its headquarters at Indian Brooks business park in Norcross, Ga., having signed a long-term, 131,000-square-foot lease renewal.

As of May 1, Alternative Apparel will start occupying the new space and will vacate the 85,000 square feet it holds in two industrial buildings within the office park. The company will consolidate its operations under one roof at 1650 Indian Brook Way. The expanded space will serve as the hub for distribution of Alternative Apparel's clothing lines as well as provide office space for customer support, operations, finance and other administrative functions.

General strikes in Bangladesh continue to raise concerns among apparel manufacturers. In particular, will foreign buyers shift their orders to other countries if shipping deadlines aren’t met?