Joseph and Stephanie Koret founded the firm in 1938. Koret was acquired by Kellwood in 1999. Koret of California, a Kellwood subsidiary, manufactures women's apparel under the City Blues, Koret, and Francisca brand names for distribution to department stores in the US. Koret of California, which operates within Kellwood's women's sportswear segment, generates a large portion of revenue for its parent. Koret's apparel is sold in major department stores, such as Beall's, Catherines, Dillard's, Gottschalk's, Federated, Old Pueblo Traders, and others. Its products are also sold online at shopkoret.com

La Senza's panties are much more significant than the "little nothings" their name suggests. The company targets women age 18 to 35 with its underwear, loungewear, and sleepwear, which are sold through La Senza and Silk & Satin stores. The manufacturer and retailer caters to the 'tween market with its La Senza Girl stores and Web site. Overall, La Senza owns and operates more than 300 stores in Canada, and licensees run another 500 stores in 45 other countries. The company was sold to Limited Brands in early 2007. Founded in 1966 as Suzie Shier, the company became one of Canada's best-known lingerie retail chains after it went public under the La Senza name.

Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&CO.) strives to provide the world's casual workday wardrobe, inside and out. LS&CO., a top manufacturer of brand-name clothing globally, sells jeans and sportswear under the Levi's, Dockers, and Levi Strauss Signature names in more than 110 countries. It also markets men's and women's underwear and loungewear. Levi's jeans -- department store staples -- were once the uniform of American youth, but LS&CO. has been working to reconnect with the niche and expand outside the US. It has transformed its products portfolio to include wrinkle-free and stain-resistant fabrics used in making some of its Levi's and Dockers slacks. The Haas family (relatives of founder Levi Strauss) owns LS&CO.

Levi's wants to be just as riveting and indispensable to its customers overseas as it is to those in the US. Levi Strauss Europe, Middle East and North Africa (LSEMA) is a regional arm of Levi Strauss & Co. The apparel firm designs and manufactures men's and women's clothing, including its various brands of Levi's jeans, Dockers slacks, and Levi Strauss Signature items. It distributes and sells its clothing through big-box stores, department stores, and specialty shops. The company operates some 10 sales offices and 10 production and distribution centers. President Paul Mason left the firm in February 2006; Armin Broger took the same position a year later.

Li Ning Company is one of the leading sportswear companies in China. Products include footwear, apparel, and accessories, primarily sold under its LI-NING and KAPPA brands. The group has an extensive distribution and retail network in China, in which Li Ning Company manages its own stores, as well as supervising franchised LI-NING retail outlets. In addition, Li Ning has a joint venture with the France-based AIGLE International that includes a 50-year exclusive right to manufacture, market, distribute, and sell AIGLE outdoor sports products in China. Chinese gymnast and chairman Li Ning founded the company in 1989. Li won three gold medals in the 23rd Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984.

Life certainly sounds good for brothers Bert and John Jacobs, who went from living in their van and subsisting on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to running a $100-million-plus company in just a few short years. The Life is good co-founders sold T-shirts to college students up and down the East Coast before creating the firm's stick-figure mascot, Jake. Life is good got its official start in 1994 and, today, the unconventional company makes casual apparel (T-shirts, lounge pants, boxers) and accessories, caps, backpacks, jewelry, pet gear, and home goods through a handful of company stores, its Web site, and through some 4,500 specialty and sporting goods stores in the US and more than 25 other countries.

Since 1965 Life Uniform has put the shirt on the backs of vets, doctors, dentists, and nurses with those crazy-colored scrubs that can sport bears and hearts. Life Uniform sells its products under the Dickies, Barco, Landau, Cherokee, and NurseMates brands. Since scrubs-buying has changed in recent years, the company caters to clients and their employees, who sometimes pay for their work apparel themselves. Life Uniform operates retail stores, a Web site, and also visits the workplace for increased convenience. In mid-2006 the company acquired rival Uniform City, which sells uniforms through a catalog and in stores. Life Uniform is a division of Healthcare Uniform, owned by Sun Capital Partners.

Liz Claiborne, Inc. (LizClaiborne), incorporated in January 1976, designs and markets a global portfolio of retail-based brands, including JUICY COUTURE, KATE SPADE, LUCKY BRAND JEANS and MEXX. It also have a group of department store-based brands with strong consumer franchises, including the LIZ CLAIBORNE and MONET families of brands, MAC & JAC, KENSIE and DANA BUCHMAN and the licensed DKNY JEANS, DKNY ACTIVE and DKNY MENS brands. The three segments of the Company are Domestic-Based Direct Brands segment, International-Based Direct Brands segment and Partnered Brands segment. On January 17, 2008, the Company entered into a license agreement with Kohl’s Corporation (Kohl’s), naming Kohl’s as the exclusive retailer of its DANA BUCHMAN brand. In April 2008, the Company completed the sale of substantially all of the assets and liabilities of the Ellen Tracy brand.

Local Motion wants to spread the joy of Aloha shirts beyond the backyard barbeque. Designing and manufacturing the classic Hawaiian shirts since 1937, the company's Kahala brand is the one that springs to mind when one considers Aloha shirts. The colorful shirts feature tropical scenes of plants, flowers, and people and are designed by artists. Local Motion distributes to retailers worldwide. The manufacturer and retailer operates about a dozen stores in Hawaii and sells its apparel across the the US, as well as internationally in the likes of Japan, Norway, and Spain.

Louis Vuitton North America is the North American operations subsidiary of French luxury goods giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, which boasts more than 60 luxury brands including Clicquot, Dom Pérignon, Moët & Chandon, Christian Dior, Givenchy, Donna Karan (DKI), Sephora, and TAG Heuer. The firm specializes in wines and spirits, fashion and leather goods, perfumes and cosmetics, watches and jewelry, and duty free shopping. Louis Vuitton North America operates more than 540 stores -- including a four-story emporium on New York's Fifth Avenue -- throughout the US and contributes more than 20% of its parent company's sales.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.