loose threads

October Retail-Sales Drop Worst Since ‘92; Prada Launches Cheaper Bags

• October’s 2.8 percent decline from the previous month in retail sales was the worst monthly decline since 1992. [WWD]

• Men’s dress-shirt sales tumbled 7 percent in the year ending August 2008. Dress-shirt manufacturers plan to thwart these numbers by offering different shirts in different geographic locations. [DNR]

Prada just launched a new line of bags called Prada Special Stones, retailing at under $1,000 apiece. How au courant. [Nylon]

• Husband-and-wife design team Swaim and Christina Hutson’s inspiration for their Obedient Sons label is a seventies commune where the leader had fourteen wives. [DNR]

• Designers from Mulberry, Jasper Conran, and others are encouraging the British government to invest more money in fashion colleges. [British Vogue]

October Retail-Sales Drop Worst Since ‘92; Prada Launches Cheaper Bags