Until then, prices for their women's wear range from $50 to $450.

But he gradually left the women's wear field because it was too competitive.

It acquired its current name some time later, and included a small feature about women's wear.

What is not doing so well, he said, is women's wear.

They added that sales of women's wear had not fared as well.

Nearly half the overall total came from women's wear.

"The women's wear industry has been really glamorized," he said.

He started to "trade up" his women's wear and offer higher style garments.

He also worked on the editorial staff of Women's Wear in 1919 and 1920.

My mom sold women's wear at a department store.

Women's Wear Daily predicted it would be a major success.

Women's Wear Daily has long been the bible of the fashion industry.

The women's wear and Brittania jeans divisions, which both lost money last year, are in the black, company officials said.

In two generations, the company has gone from designing primarily women's wear to becoming an international brand.

Its offerings, once all men's wear, are now 65 percent women's wear.

Ms. Karan said that designing women's wear was much easier for her.

Nautica has sales this year of almost $900 million, of which 10 to 15 percent are in women's wear.

"It will also enable us to move more quickly into women's wear, which is Bill's dream and our dream."

Women's wear companies are more sensitive to the whims of fashion and may produce four to six lines a year.

In 1992, Kim created a women's wear label called Product.

Ms. Bravo decided to concentrate on the women's wear first, she said, because it had no fashion image.

"There's also something about the quality of men's wear that women's wear tends to miss."

He added that he still felt the brand was "just beginning to tap the potential of women's wear."

This meant killing time in women's wear divisions of assorted marts.

"In the case of Women's Wear Daily, business has never been better," he said.