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Tarrant Apparel Group will settle with the IRS for a sum of $14 million for back taxes, penalties and interested owed over a seven year period ending in 2002. The agreement is for Tarrant Apparel Group to pay $4 million immediately and $250,000 per month until the debt is settled.

Tarrant Apparel Group is a private label apparel producer based out of California responsible for such private labels fashion lines by Chicos, Dillards, Federated Department Stores, J.C. Penny, K-Mart, Kohl’s, Lerner New York, Sears, Mervyn’s, Lane Bryant, Mother Works and Walmart.

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I know how scary the thought of cold calling is, but it is a very effective way to build qualified leads and turn them into future store clients….so don’t ignore it.

As in anything with practice comes perfection that holds the same merit when cold calling is the concern in my opinion. In all reality it boils down to how well you accept rejection or how comfortable you are in meeting new people through nothing more than a phone conversation.

With practice also comes more comfort I can’t explain how nerve wrecking it was when first starting out in the fashion industry meeting new people, networking with successful individuals, and calling upon store owners and wanting them to respect me from the beginning with no prior knowledge of who I am, my business or what I stood for.

Below are a few tips for cold calling prospective clients:

Small bobbles of fabric that develop on the fabric surface due to general wear and tear. I know you’ve had an old sweater where the fabric rolls up into the little balls after being washed a few times.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Chilly-o is a clothing brand that was birthed from the stomping grounds of Atlanta, Ga and also part of one of the realist interviews I have ever conducted on Dobizo….this is not a PG-13 interview. So if your ears are sensitive then I wouldn’t suggest you listen to it, but it is definitely one of my favorite because it was much more conversational and not really in an interview format and it made for one of the longest interviews on Dobizo so far at over 1 hour long.

Matters we discussed range from guerrilla marketing and promoting, financing, celebrity endorsement, and what your expectations should be going into starting a clothing line and how most have a tv dream, but not a reality of how much dedication, hard work, and long hours go into a creating a successful clothing business.

The first question is, do you really know your product cost? Have you factored everything into your cost sheet that needs to be in your cost sheet?

Fabric
Trim

• Linings

• Buttons

• Zippers

• Labels

• Tags

• Tickets

Packaging

• Hangers

• Bags

• Boxes

Embellishments

• Screen printing

• Embroideries

• Appliqués

Cutting
Sewing
Working Losses
Damages

TOTAL COST

Once you are sure you know your product cost you then need to know your operating costs.

First what are your billing terms? Are you offering a discount off the invoice price for prompt payment? Are your terms “net” meaning no discount? What does the customer have to pay you on your selling price?

Second, what is going to be the cost of sales? What are you going to pay in sales commissions? What are you going to pay in other selling expenses? (Showroom costs, show event costs, sample costs, and travel costs).

You can read the press release for Dobizo.com through PRWEB by clicking here. It is part of the relaunch of this site and my pursuit of taking it to the next level and get some mainstream attention.

Do whatever you want with it post it on your site or link to it, digg it, bookmark whatever you can do!

Thanks

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Bing Bang jewelry is an accessory and leather goods manufacturer based out of Brooklyn, NY. Their looking for an internship to work within production and discover how a fast paced and growing accessories company operates.

Desired Skills:

• Mac / PC Proficient

• Excel/Word knowledge

• Adobe Creative Suites - In Design, Photoshop, Illustrator

• Jewelry and Leather Goods experience making is a plus

Transportation is provided via Metro transit and a lunch is provided, but this is a non paid internship position. If this position is of any interest to you email a resume and your availability to RachelRuthMarshall@gmail.com

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The fastest growing segment of the apparel industry is footwear, regardless of that fact there is still many barriers to entry and very stiff competition from dominant brands.

Many entering the footwear industry are carving out there own niche, therefore creating specialty footwear brands that cater to certain disorders and consumers. An example is the launch of a footwear collection that provides shoes for diabetic or obese consumers with foot problems or are just on their feet a lot and seek comfortable shoes.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Yes you read it right we’re giving away 1,000 custom business cards to Dobizo Network members. Whatever user has the most combined number of forum post and blog articles will win 1,000 custom business cards meaning front/back, laminated, glossy, thick card stock or whatever your business may desire from the Dobizo Network. The contest starts today and will end on April 1, 2008 at 12pm eastern standard time.

Rules:

• Forum post can be topics or responses at least a sentence long for responses

• Topic starters should be genuine attempts at holding a discussion with fellow members not just simple yes/no questions.
• Blog articles must be at least a paragraph long to count.

What Dobizo needs is genuine attempts at writing a blog or forum topic or response I think you get the picture.The winner will receive 1,000 business cards FREE paid for and delivered to your front door courtesy of Dobizo Networks. Design should be provided by the winner preferably.

Everyone should participate what do you have to lose?

So I’m sitting here trying to figure out what I can do to put the Dobizo Network on a whole other playing field. The first thing that comes to my mind is to get more mainstream coverage on what we have going on over here. You know old media coverage newspapers, tv, and magazines. They should be interested in Dobizo right?

At least I think so in some form or fashion. We have been covered in publications, but not many mainstream like New York Times or USA Today, which I think would do wonders as far as exposure and gaining new professionals to chime in from time to time.

Only problem I can’t think of many ideas or angles to approach the press release with. Of course how to’s, fashion news, and Ceo Audios get us excited, but mainly because we are interested in the fashion industry as a whole. What I’m thinking is that the mainstream will not be as excited about our community unless I can think of an exciting spin to put on the release or highlight some of our accomplishments or what makes us standout from every other web property.

If your reading this site than there is a possibility your customers are part of our community of thousands of subscribers, forum and fashion network members. We are the Number 1 source for entrepreneurship in the fashion industry.

If your business operates within the finance, design, manufacturing, or any part of the apparel industry we would like for you to be part of Dobizo Networks sponsor list.

Send an email to fred@dobizo.com for more information on our rates and traffic/member details. (Please include site to be advertised, company name, and brief bio/history of company)

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This is a rundown of what should be included in a Line Sheet we spoke on this earlier in the blog, but for our new readers who might have missed the first edition and what I’ve learned since that time we’re going to give you the ingredients for an informative line sheet.

What should your line sheet include:

1. Terms of sales accepted (COD, cash and carry, Net…etc)
2. Delivery dates for the season at hand (What is the cutoff for orders to be placed and when will they be delivered)
3. Wholesale and suggested retail prices (Self explanatory)
4. Sizes ranges
5. Colors and fabrication- Different color assortments and fabric content
6. Clothing origin- Where the clothing was manufactured
7. Short description of clothing styles
8. Sketch or photograph (Most use sketches)
9. Minimum orders- Minimum for each style
10. Style name or numbers (Preferably numbers in my opinion)
11. Company name and information

If you haven’t read this article then stop and go there now, before reading on. I’ve been sending out emails through the forum, Global Fashion Network and now here to get a count of how many companies are seriously interested in participating. So therefore I am extending all arms and reaching out in as many ways as possible.

Shout outs to Don Mahmood at Eklectik Genes.

After speaking with him some of the trade shows interested include: AAE @ Cobb, ALPHA1, CMAC, Southeast StreetScene and a few others coming up. These shows are in Atlanta, Charlotte, Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale.

So if you have emailed me about it…so what comment here also, and show us that you’re really interested in this concept. Only a select few will be part of this opportunity depending on many aspects.

So comment with your email in the section below.

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To be honest Donatella Versace would most likely not be as wide known if not for her brother Gianni Versace being gunned down in 1997 in front of his Miami Mansion. A few years after Donatella begin to bring the Versace label into its current prominence in the fashion industry.

Donatella was born in the Italian town of Reggio di Calabria in 1955 the youngest of four children. Her mother a dressmaker to the aristocracy and her father a businessman.(Personal financier)

Donatella followed her brother Gianni who was ten years older to pursue knitwear design in Florence, Italy. She planned to work with her brother as Public Relations, but became more of a muse and valuable for critiquing his work as a designer. Donatella played an important role in the Versace empire coming up with many ideas that has brought it from a fledgling fashion collection in the Eighties. She is responsible for the idea to use celebrities or well known models for the catwalk shows knowing it would bring more press coverage to Gianni Versace’s events.