Sheppard Mullin’s Fashion and Apparel team has firsthand experience working with companies that produce everything from hi-tech synthetic yarns to high fashion, fabrics to footwear, and bricks to clicks.
Fashion is a nearly $500 billion retail industry. It comprises a wide variety of skills and industry sectors, from fashion designers to contract manufacturers, from textile manufacturing to distributors, from financiers to factors. In addition, the major retail chains have a serious influence on the apparel and fashion business. Technology and global markets have rapidly changed how and where apparel is manufactured. Although the vast majority of clothing is sold in the most affluent nations, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, it is generally manufactured in foreign lands—China in particular. Contract manufacturing and outsourcing is booming and import/export trade issues continue to lead to heated debate.
