Under Bar

May 1, 2012 - 7:50 PM by Jessica · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Business, design, Entertainment, General, Israeliness, Pop Culture

Bar in her new underwear

Move aside Delta Galil and Tefron, Israel’s longtime underwear makers (albeit private label for companies such as Victoria’s Secret, Calvin Klein, The Gap, Banana Republic and others), it’s time for another Israeli undergarment maker, model Bar Refaeli.

According to blog SheFinds, Refaeli is following the success of her colleagues, Elle Macpherson and Gisele Bundchen, and recently launched her own underwear line, under.me, because “underneath my clothes lies the real me. Nothing else…”

The line includes Under Her (for women) and Under Him (for guys). And soon there will be underwear subscriptions, one would assume so that you never find yourself in holey, tatty underwear ever again, as well as underwear gift certificates.

Finally, to see what the underwear looks like, and what Bar looks like wearing it, watch this video, and women, know that this sports bra will not really work like that for most women.

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Tags: Bar Refaeli, Delta Galil, Tefron, under.me

The Outfitters were here

January 9, 2011 - 4:22 AM by Jessica · 3 Comments
Filed under: Business, design, General, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life

We have H&M, American Apparel, the Gap, Topshop — have I forgotten any other major U.S. or UK retailers gracing our shores? — and of course, I always say shop blue-and-white, it’s overall a better deal for the buyer.

But now Urban Outfitters, that bastion of, yes, urban chic that is perfectly fitted for the city college student and possibly high school senior, is, no, not coming to set up shop in Israel, but came to do their more recent photo shoot on the shores of Tel Aviv. Much as some of our local fashion bloggers would love to have Urban Outfitters selling over here, it’s not quite yet to be. They’re too busy considering buying J. Crew, a label, which, by the way, is often available in stores selling private label items sewn by Delta Galil.

According to their Facebook page,

“We were craving some warm weather, so we headed to sunny Tel Aviv with photographer Marlene Marino to shoot our early spring catalog. Here’s a peek at her beautiful photos as well as some snapshots taken by the models themselves.”

At the beach...

With the hotels in the background...

Against some Bauhaus windows

Looks like the TA Museum of Art

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Tags: American Apparel, Delta Galil, gap, H&M, J.Crew, Topshop, Urban Outfitters

A textile peace

January 15, 2009 - 10:34 AM by Jessica · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Business, coexistence, General

There was a time, back in the days of Oslo and the peace accords, when several Israeli manufacturers thought about establishing factories down in Gaza, in the Karni Industrial Zone, as a way of utilizing Palestinian labor and forging ties of economic cooperation. There weren’t that many Israeli textile companies left by the late 1990s, but at least one, bedding manufacturer Kitan, had a factory in Karni for a short while.

So when the military operation began in Gaza, my editor at Women’s Wear Daily asked me to do a piece about whether the current situation was affecting local textile companies. It was a logical question, given that goods manufactured in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip and shipped to the U.S. are duty free. But instead of manufacturing in Gaza, private label manufacturer Delta Galil, like other Israeli companies, went to Jordan and Egypt instead, where relations were warmer and the commute wasn’t too bad. And that’s where the underwear that it makes for Marks and Spencer, Target, Victoria’s Secret, Tommy Hilfiger, and other companies are actually cut and sewn, after being designed in Israel, thereby working within the U.S. duty free model.

I’ve written about this phenomenon a number of times over the years, in good times and bad. And when I spoke with my contacts at the remaining Israeli textile companies, Delta, Tefron and Bagir, they all said the same thing, “There’s nothing to write about because we’re not affected.”

And they’re not. Delta’s main plant is in the north, where work didn’t stop during the Second Lebanon War either, even with a solid percentage of Arab employees and Katyushas falling nearby. The same went for Tefron, whose Israeli plant that specializes in seamless underwear is located in the north as well, in Misgav. The only real question mark is Bagir, the innovative suitmaker manufacturer that is located in Kiryat Gat, uncomfortably close to the rest of the southern towns that have been hit in this two-week-plus war. But the answer was the same for Bagir as well, even though they’ve had to conduct bomb shelter drills just to be safe.

I wasn’t able to get to Jordan or Egypt to see what things are like right now in the companies’ factories. I’m told it’s just “business as usual,” says Esti Maoz, Delta’s chief marketing officer, because the “Egyptians aren’t such big fans of Hamas.”

Let’s hope the quiet continues on the fabric front.

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