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US & Mexico Tackle Customs Issues
Page 1

New York Factory Accused of Violating Labor Laws
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Doha Talks 
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UK Junes 
Sales Drop
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Buyers' Best Sellers
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Ask Andy
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Tai Yuen Textiles 
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Queen Victoria's Undies Auctioned 
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Mendes' New Calvin Klein Campaign
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                                    Page 2                    
UK's June Sales Drop
UK retail sales in June posted their sharpest monthly fall since records began - with clothing and footwear sales down nearly 7% on May's figures. 
Total sales volumes fell 3.9% between May and June, the biggest fall since retail figures were first compiled in 1986. 
Meanwhile, textile, clothing and footwear sales dropped 6.9%, their biggest monthly fall since 2002. 
Non-food sales fell 4.5% on the month, while food sales dropped 3.6% - both a record, according to the figures released by the UK Government's Office for National Statistics. 
The falls were expected as consumers continued to feel the pinch from rising energy costs, falling house prices and the credit crunch. 
However, May's figures had provided a shock with a 3.6% increase in retail sales volumes. 
Underlying sales volume growth for the past three months was +0.6%, with non-food sales leading the way with growth of 1.1%. 


13/13  
Wrong Size Bra May 
   Damage Breasts
Women who don’t wear the right type of bra may damage their breasts without even realizing it, health experts have warned. 
The breast biomechanics research team at the University of Portsmouth said that ignorance or embarrassment might be the reason why women choose the wrong type of support. 
The research team from the Hampshire University's Department of Sports Science has tested about 50 bra designs on hundreds of women during the past three years. Dr Joanna Scurr’s research has shown that breasts move up to 21cm (8.26 inches) during exercise and they move up and down, in and out and from side to side. Most bras are designed to limit just vertical movement. 
Scurr believes the speed at which breasts move could be the key to preventing chest pain and damage to fragile ligaments. 
"Most women wear an underband that is too large and a cup size that is too small. Wearing the wrong size bra can cause discomfort and offers reduced levels of support that can lead to stretching and ultimately sagging."
Women experience the most discomfort when their breasts accelerate or decelerate, the scientists found.
“Many women have strong preferences for certain styles of bra and won’t buy anything else,” Wendy Hedger, a researcher with Dr Joanna’s team, was quoted as saying. 
"They won’t even look at anything that doesn’t look like the sort of bra they are used to wearing." 
“In sports bras, for example, many women won’t buy a bra that resembles their everyday bra and does up at the back - they think if it can’t be pulled over their heads like a crop top, then it’s not a real sports bra. 
“But this is not true and many sports bras do up at the back in the same way as a traditional bra and do a very good job of supporting women. “And some women cause breast pain or discomfort by not buying the right-sized bra. 
“There’s a social stigma about certain sizes. Many women don’t want to be seen as too small or too big and buy a bra that doesn’t fit well in order to be what they consider to be a normal size. “Many other women are unaware that they are wearing a badly-fitting bra or unknowingly wear the wrong bra size because they are routinely being sold ill-fitting bras." 
“Some women forget that their shape and size change and they might have to go through several changes in bra size over their lifetime, especially after breastfeeding and menopause,” Hedger added. 
Last year, a British Medical Association conference called for free bra fittings to be offered on the Health Service to cut the number of unnecessary breast 
reductions.
It is thought women tend to overestimate the width of their back, while underestimating their cup size. 
Chaffing from material and wires can also cause discomfort.


5/12          
Fantasy Announces New 
       Yearly Catalog
Fantasy Lingerie, a leader in sensual lingerie for nearly 30 years, has recently announced the launch of their greatly anticipated 2008-2009 Catalog. The new catalog is their biggest to date with over 200 styles. Sean Monahan, National Sales Manager for Fantasy Lingerie reports that a majority of these styles will be new. 
Among the new styles added in this book, there are new additions to their popular “Tease” boxed line, new additions to their best selling men’s “Excite” line & a huge expansion of new styles in their non-packaged goods. 
“We’re very excited about this new Book” reports Sean. “We’ve had many requests for more styles on our boxed lines and I’m pleased that not only do we have many new styles, but perhaps some of our best styles yet”. 
"In our “Tease” boxed line, we’ve long been regarded as having one of the best Schoolgirls & one of the best Nurses “ shares Sean, “but now I think we’ll also be known for one of the best Sailors & one of the best Cops as well”. 
"The Excite line has been reported as one of the stronger selling Men’s lines in the industry. With these new additions, I think we’ll help our retailers see this category grow even further for them. As for our non-packaged hanging styles, we’ve seen a growing demand for sexier & more popular priced garments in recent years. We’ve answered that demand by featuring a larger variety of some of our sexiest silhouettes to date”. As always, we’ve kept to our trademark of offering the softest fabrics while creating great quality garments that will flatter every figure.
To receive a copy of the new Fantasy Catalog, please call: (818) 897-8009 or email: sales@fantasylingerie.net


Sensual Mystique is looking for sales reps. Please contact us
7/24       
 Buyers' Best Sellers  
Attention All Buyers, Boutique
  and Online Store Owners 
McPete Sez wants to know what is your hottest selling garment. What is selling out because McPete Sez readers want to know. Please send an email to info@mcpetesez.com and include your name, your store's name, city and state along with a phone number and email, stating your best seller, and who the manufacturer is. 
If you would rather keep your best selling item a secret..... please just tell us who the manufacturer is.  
If your email is chosen, you will be contacted and your email will be posted in McPete Sez, along with your store information.     


                     "Ask Andy"
Andy Weinstock has been in the fabric and textile business all his life, but professionally since 1969. 
"I love what I do, selling fabrics around the globe. I've met lots of interesting, creative, dynamic folks; some have become dear friends. I love to help new businesses find the things they need to become successful. It works for everyone." 
You can ask Andy questions about Fabrics at
               Andy@mcpetesez.com 


The "Ask Andy" Column is an opinion Column and may not necessarily  reflect the views of  McPete Sez

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      The McPete Sez Mail Bag
                                      
            From our Readers  
           To our Readers
        For our Readers
              Inquiries:
        Some of our readers will have the answer.  
   Remember, our readers are in the same Industry.    
Retailers, Manufacturers and Sales Representatives

Hey Does anyone remember the company Bad Girls of Miami? Are they still in business? If so please email me their new info. There is a company by the name of Emma Savahl that designs clothing very much like them But at a very much higher price.
Please email me at esavillon@yahoo.com

As a designer, producer, educator, and corset enthusiast dedicated for 18 years to bringing top quality tight-lacing custom corsetry and fact-based corset education to market, I write to join my lamentations to those of your reader who complained in your last "McPete Sez" issue about the inferior quality of costumes flooding the market. I congratulate her for including details. This will certainly alert store lingerie buyers (I used to be one when ROMANTASY had a retail lingerie boutique rather than online custom corset business with personal fittings in San Francisco) about specific defects to keep an eye on and discuss openly with sales reps when attending lingerie shows.
I only add my caution to buyers at such shows who may also see samples of what I call "wannabe" corsets of dubious quality, also now flooding the wholesale marketplace, especially during the past two years. I'm not speaking about corsets by Vollers or Axfords, both English manufacturers with long and superior reputations regarding quality of their wholesale corsets. For readymade corsets, theirs seem to have the best possible fit using good-quality English fabrics, and selling at the most reasonable prices.
Of course, I think ROMANTASY's single wholesale corset-cincher, the 
/Simple Pleasures,/ is an even better buy.
I'm complaining about almost illiterate email solicitations I receive 
about two or three times per month and growing, obviously emanating from 
certain non-English speaking countries, touting readymade wholesale 
corsets. I'm always surprised at the obvious lack of research in this 
shotgun approach: it's entirely wasted effort on their part because 
aside from our standard-patterned /Simple Pleasures/ and 
/Point-Counter-Point/ cinchers and one other by corsetiere Sue Nice, 
our team of multiple and multiply-talented corsetieres  have always specialized in made-to-measure corsetry and corsetry ensembles.
I am however, more than surprised when I examine images nearly always appended to these new e-solicitations or marketing pieces, or visit the websites mentioned. In all cases garments are produced in Thailand, Pakistan, and less frequently, in China. I'm certain about my conclusions when I see the actual garments ordered by clueless lingerie buyers for sale in lingerie or specialty stores by equally clueless salespeople, or sold by sister vendors at exhibits I attend.
Not to leave out department stores in my rant. For example, several years ago I saw pictured a lovely corset by designer Stella McCartney, for sale at Nordstrom's, perhaps my favorite department store. I called for details, but the salesperson to whom I spoke was completely flummoxed and had no idea if the boning was steel or rigiline, or what I meant when I used the term "busk". On another occasion upon arrival at my Christmas relief job in the lingerie department of Neiman Marcus, I closely examined a new designer-label "corset" displayed proudly on a manikin, with bones poking out of split seams, edges rolling over, fabric bunching at the waistline, and elastic side gussets obliterating any possible figure-shaping ability of this--gulp-- $1300 "corset"!
To be specific about these ubiquitous so-called "corsets" and so your readers know what else to keep an eye on, I am routinely shocked by: 
(1) inferior, loosely-woven and stretchy fabrics that will soon fray or shred, 
(2) poor quality lining, if any, 
(3) uneven stitch length and wobbly stitch lines creating uneven tension leading to stitches popping, 
(4) wide bone casings permitting bones to turn and dig in during wear (ouch!), (5) inartistic, non-matching vertical lengths of pattern pieces in front or back, also leading to torquing.
Even worse, these "wannabes" nearly always create the ubiquitous "U-shape" at the waistline when worn. Thus, as the generally uneducated and unwitting wearer laces down, the bottom edge presses down on her anterior femoral nerve and sooner rather than later will lead to dangerous numbness in her hips and legs, not to mention the inevitable squishing out and lumping of flesh in the tummy and derriere below the garment's bottom edge.
I might not be so livid about this alien invasion if I didn't know about the conclusive, fact-based, and medically-affirmed advisability of the hourglass corset shape to place even pressure around the entire torso for comfort, safety, and hygiene (less skin wrinkling and trapping of moisture).
And I'm saddened because I know the consumer is the only one to lose in the end--errrr, or, "in the waistline"--since these inferior corsets technically can tolerate no or very little waistline reduction, yet will certainly raise unrealistic expectations of substantial figure shaping, good fit, comfort, and durability that the product will surely not deliver. Because sales are not accompanied by adequate or accurate verbal or written consumer information and full disclosure about the limits of the garment, how it may compare to a real custom corset, or how to properly wear, fit, and care for the garment, sales of "wannabe" corsets perpetuate non-factual, incorrect, and antiquated prejudices against real, custom-fit corsets.
More's the pity because custom corsets, or even high quality, well patterned readymade corsets chosen wisely for fit, will not pinch, dig in, roll over, bunch up, torque, twist, rip, reveal bones, and shred with only a few wearings. 
by Ann Grogan, Proprietress, ROMANTASY Exquisite Corsetry 
www.romantasy.com   inquiry@romantasy.com

*Disclaimer - The McPete Sez Mail Bag is a comment column, and does not necessarily reflect the views of McPete Sez.  Vulgar or offensive language will not be posted.
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