Story and Photos by Kathleen Gasperini and Tom Wallace

The flurry of fashion trade shows in Las Vegas from February 12-15, 2012 bring with them a diverse angle of what’s taking shape in fashion from a wide spectrum of genres particularly in the United States. While we mostly concentrate on youth culture influences, including [...]

Hours after posting the initial story about the potential Billabong takeover, last night came more news as Billabong and Nixon announced the partial sale, or 48.5% of Nixon, to Trilantic Capital Partners (not to be confused with Texas Pacific Group which put in a bid earlier in the morning for Billabong for $766 million). [...]

While MAGIC fashion trade show and all of the surrounding shows in Vegas from February 12-15, 2012 bring out some of the best in new fashion brands, buyers and trends, one aspect that has quickly caused a ripple effect actually came from Sourcing and the seminar “China, the Dragon in Transition: Sourcing From and [...]

Ever since Billabong’s horrid December 2011 financial report of a drop of 44% for an all-time record low on December 19th, the surf brand has been under a microscope among financial advisors as to what’s next for the troubled action sports company. After the December report, Goldman Sachs announced a structure review, with [...]

Vegas fashion trade shows are currently in full swing as the world’s top fashionistas, buyers, exhibitors, media, and celebs have come to America’s biggest shows of the year from February 12-15, 2012 to check out the latest from MAGIC, Project, Workroom, (capsule), S.L.A.T.E., Street, Pool, and others. From our perspective of youth culture trends, we [...]

The usage of QR codes has again come into play in a unique fashion when it comes to increasing brand awareness, this time with the legendary shoe brand Fluevog and the introduction of QR codes on the heal that allow buyers to watch a video clip of how their shoe was made.

John [...]

No matter how artificially pumped-up mainstream fashion media says things are going economically speaking, the reality is that sourcing problems, new trends in discounting, and an entirely new generation of youth culture consumers who have spent their teens living in a recession, are changing the game of the industry. Stay tuned for more about this [...]

On February 3, 2012, Antenna Magazine posted not on their front page but rather, on their tumblr account, that they were done.

“After five years filled with traveling, amazing people and more laughs than should ever be allowed in a work environment, we’re sad to say that ANTENNA has been folded. We are proud of [...]

The beleaguered American Apparel, one of the most high-profile vertically integrated manufacturer, distributor, and retailer of branded fashion basic apparel in the world, and a top favorite among youth culture, announced preliminary sales for the month ended January 31, 2012. The company reported total net sales increased 14% to $41.4 million. For the same period, [...]

Puma’s relationship with BMW since 2004 has been one an interesting example of a unique collaboration of a sneaker/apparel brand with automotive. Both have gained exposure in cross-pollinating their consumer bases by being involved with each other’s brand strategies and marketing. And now, Puma and BMW Motorsport has announced a massively extended partnership.

In this [...]