WHAT'S IN STYLE

Urban Outfitters frequently is criticized for making offensive clothing and for ripping off the work of independent designers without much in the way of consequences. But it may have picked the wrong fight with the Navajo Nation. Urban Outfitters and the group have been locked in a legal battle since February 2012, when the Navajo…

As recently as 1960, 95 percent of clothing that was sold in the United States was made in New York City’s historic garment district, a once sprawling microcosm and beating heart of the American fashion industry on the West Side of middle Manhattan, boasting 7.7 million square feet of manufacturing space and home to more…

Have you ever wished you looked more like a stock ticker? Well, now there's a smock that lets you scroll a custom message down its front, lit up like a marquee. Then there's a dress that uses special ink and sensors to change color based on the weather. Welcome to the brave new world of…

High style and the Olympics do not always make comfortable bedfellows—just ask the Norwegian curling team—but the podium look for spring/summer 2016 is unmistakably athletic. Expect to see tracksuits, vests and bright diagonal stripes, as Rio 2016 fever takes hold of fashion-aware wardrobes. The starting pistol was fired at Paris Fashion Week, where the French…

A late surge in shopping and pent-up demand for women’s clothing gave a boost to holiday sales, according to early spending figures. U.S. retail sales, excluding cars and gas, rose 7.9 percent between Black Friday and Christmas Eve, with women’s apparel and furniture seeing the biggest gains, according to figures from MasterCard Advisors. For all…

A Bangladesh court has accepted murder charges against 41 people, including the owner of the Rana Plaza building that collapsed in 2013, for their roles in the disaster that killed more than 1,100 workers. Investigators initially had said the accused would be charged with culpable homicide following charges Dhaka police filed in June. However, more severe…

Old Navy customers are blowing their tops. Angry shoppers are painting Twitter red in response to girls’ shirts the retailer reportedly is selling that say “Young Aspiring Artist” with the word “artist” crossed out and replaced with “astronaut” or “president” instead. Critics complain that the slogan turns children away from pursuing creative endeavors. “Seems @OldNavy…

Sportswear giant Nike Inc. and upstart brand Under Armour Inc. emerged as clear winners this year in the ultracompetitive athletic apparel marketplace. Both companies wowed investors with steady, impressive growth in 2015 and established ambitious financial targets for 2016—and beyond. Nike still has a stranglehold on the sports apparel market, but it’s taken Under Armour…

In most years, it isn’t too presumptuous for retailers to stock up on cold-weather clothing to sell as temperatures drop through the fall in the Northern hemisphere. But this year’s unseasonably warm weather is wreaking havoc on that game plan, on both sides of the Atlantic. In the U.S., two different weather-focused consultancies, Planalytics and…

With complex supply chains that stretch overseas, even companies that vow to keep a close eye on their main suppliers often fail to eradicate human-rights violations at all levels of production. Worse, these abuses (child labor, abominable working conditions and wage theft to name a few) often are ignored until a tragedy occurs. Afterward, there…