For over 40 years now Llovet Sales Company has been distributing and selling products to the apparel industry. Quick response is the driving force behind Llovet Sales. "We have built our business on the personal contact with our customers and the ability to ship from a strategic locations" says Jim Jackson, President of the company. "Our service out of Nashville, Tennessee, Medley,  Florida, San Pedro Sula, Honduras, San Salvador, El Salvador, Torreon, Mexico, enables our customers to keep minimum inventory at their locations. Our customers can depend on Llovet Sales Company to ship their orders as promissed". Along with their large inventory of PCC interlining, Industrial Fabrics, Buttons, Thread, Tearaway and Cutaway Embroidery Backing. An now we carry Durkee Tubular Hoops, Needles, Bobbin Cases, Trimmers, and Cleaners for the Embroidery shops. see more of their products in this site LLOVET.

U.S. women's apparel retailers wilt in July heat

Thu Aug 3, 2006 1:18pm ET

By Chelsea Emery

NEW YORK, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Women's apparel retailers wilted in July's extreme heat as shoppers avoided going out, with companies including AnnTaylor Stores Corp. (ANN.N: Quote, Profile, Research) posting disappointing sales.

Gap Inc. (GPS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) gave a disappointing second-quarter forecast after heavy markdowns to clear the floors for fall shipments, and Limited Brands Inc.'s (LTD.N: Quote, Profile, Research) namesake chain said sluggish demand for its pants and denim fashions caused July sales to decline from a year ago.

"It was so hot that it was hard for most people to get excited about sweaters and jackets," said Pacific Growth Equities analyst Christine Chen.

This July was one of the hottest months on record.

AnnTaylor, which owns women's clothing chains Ann Taylor and Loft, said more customers bought full-priced merchandise but its 5.1 percent gain in same-store sales missed analysts' average forecast of a 9.1 percent gain.

And Chico's FAS Inc. (CHS.N: Quote, Profile, Research), known for its clothing for women over 35, reported sales at stores open at least a year rose a less-than-expected 4.9 percent.

"The missy segment disappointed in July, reflecting a tepid response to sales on uninspiring summer merchandise," said analyst Lorraine Maikis in a Merrill Lynch research note. "As most spending is focused on kids for back to school, we think adults will only begin to shop for fall mid- to late-August."

Indeed, teen clothing retailers such as Bebe Stores Inc. (BEBE.O: Quote, Profile, Research) that rushed in the latest styles for their fashion-conscious clientele reported sales that blew away analyst forecasts. Bebe reported a 10 percent gain in July sales, more than double analysts' average forecast.   Continued...

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NARROW FABRIC COATING

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Labor and Education: Why didn't these dogs bark?

Trainability is not the same as education

The reason we do not have to wait for significantly different educational systems is that today's  workers around the world can be trained on the job to achieve much higher labor productivity, even to a level close to global best practice in many cases. Twelve years ago, the biggest economic question was the performance of the U.S. economy relative to Japan and Germany. The conventional wisdom at the time was that the U. S. economy was going down the drain. The poor skills of the U.S. workforce were often cited as one of the primary reasons. U.S. managers complained regularly about the inability to hire workers who could read, write, and do arithmetic. U.S. high school students scored poorly on standardized international tests in science and mathematics. Public officials in Europe and Japan labeled the U.S. workforce lazy and incompetent.

It came as a great surprise to everybody, both in the United States and abroad, when our early work showed in industry after industry that the U.S. workforce achieved higher labor productivity than anyplace else on earth. The only exceptions were a handful of manufacturing sectors where Japan had the global lead. How could this be? Well, of course other factors such as more capital, or more technology, or bigger scale, or better organization of operations could be offsetting a labor disadvantage in the United States. In general, the United States did not apply more capital, did not have access to different technology, and did not build operations on a larger scale. The primary U.S.  advantage was better organization of operations. These better organizations are usually more demanding of workers. The U.S. workforce was able to work in ways that were more productive.