The end of Children's Business Magazine

This was one of the few magazines I knew of that covered specifics in the Children's Business. I am unsure when this occurred - certainly in the last year or so - but Children's Business has ceased publication. Children's Business was published by Fairchild, the same company that publishes Women's Wear Daily (WWD).

The decision is puzzling because children's boutiques have seen a recent upswing. Parents are interested in outfitting their kids in designer duds - forgoing the mass market apparel. I know that Children's Business gave away many free subscriptions. The manufacturers I worked for in the past received about 2-3 subscriptions - having never signed up in the first place. I am sure they lost a lot of potential income not to mention the competition from the net.

WWD now expects their former subscribers to catch children's related news in their regular magazine. WWD focuses too much on celebrities (actors, celeb designers and the like), gossip, and style info for women. I rarely check out their magazine, nor would I want to wade through most of it. With the easy access of news on the net, perhaps the best place on Children's Business news is James Girone - although it is full of slow-loading ads.

You CAN manufacture in the US!

So many companies have moved off-shore to manufacture in China. Those that moved to Mexico in the early 90's have even made the move to China. The word manufacture nearly equals China. With all of the talk about China and the near non-existance of apparel manufacturing in the US, you would think manufacturing will never return here. The few remaining factories in the United States, owned by small companies, produce little volume.

And then a suprise in the latest Newsweek magazine (6-26-06) about American Apparel. Here is a company located in Los Angeles that employs about 3,500 people and pays them $8-$18/hour! They produce about 90,000 units a day. On top of that their sales were $250,000,000 in 2005. Yes, you can manufacture in the US!

One thing is clear - you CAN manufacture in the US!

2019 note - American Apparel has had some financial struggles. Their financial woes have been in part dealing with lawsuits from the previous CEO's behavior toward his employees. There have been other issues because American Apparel not only manufactured but retailed their own product. Thus the company had to compete with cheaper imported products at the retail level. Regardless of their struggles, apparel manufacturing is returning to the United States. Many contractors are maxed out in capacity and are not able to take on more work even though there is a demand. There is high demand for qualified pattern makers, graders, technical designers, and sewing contractors.

Making a dressform pt. 6 : More dressform pictures!

I realized I should have posted picts of what my form looks like under the dress. So here they are. At this stage I was still trying to figure out the top cap piece. All that is left is adding the tape to indicate the waistline and ankle. These pictures aren't great. In the top one, it looks like the shoulders are uneven. I think the form was still swinging when I snapped the shot. In the second, it looks like the form's legs are angled toward it's support. I think I was holding the camera at a funny angle. It does hang straight and even....