European Fashion

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(1) "USA SNAPSHOT

World's largest exporters of clothing
In 2011, value in billions

China $153.8
Italy $23.3
Bangladesh $19.9
Germany $19.6
India $14.4

Source WTO Secretariat
ANNE R CAREY AND PAUL TRAP, USA TODAY"


Note:
(a) The bar chart appears in left lower corner of page A1 of USA Today, June 26, 2013.
(b) While I have never heard of it, Germany turns out to be a value--as opposed to volume (such as China, Bangladesh and India)--exporter like Italy.

Textiles and Clothing; A large market for fashionable goods and modern technical textiles. iXPOS, undated
http://www.ixpos.de/IXPOS/Naviga ... goods/textiles.html
(section headings: Industry Overview; Our Industry in Numbers)
(iii) iXPOS - The German Business Portal
www.linkedin.com/company/germany ... tal-1414166/product

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(3) Italian fashion | Dropped Stitches; A lack of skilled workers could kill one of Italy’s manufacturing successes. Economist, June 22, 2013
http://www.economist.com/news/bu ... es-dropped-stitches
("Around 86,000 jobs, mostly low-skilled, have been lost in Italy’s textiles and clothing businesses since 2006, and many jobs in shoemaking have also gone, as work has moved to lower-cost countries. This may have given young Italians the impression that there is no longer any secure employment to be had in these industries. However, the shortage of craftspeople is so widespread that some firms have taken to poaching from competitors, much as football clubs try to lure the best players from rival teams"

Note: "one of his latest confections is pictured"

confection (n): "a work of fine or elaborate craftsmanship"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/confection

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(2) Sarah Moroz, 路易·威登的皮包是怎样做出来的？纽约时报中文网, June 26, 2013
cn.nytimes.com/fashion/20130626/c26lv/

, which is translated from

Sarah Moroz, Visiting the Source | A Rare Look Inside the Atelier of Louis Vuitton. New York Times T Magazine, June 20, 2013.

Note:
(a) "Inspired by the style of Gustave Eiffel, it has an airy architecture articulated by steel beams, and though it was completely renovated and expanded in 2005, it retains its original facade and configuration."
(i) Gustave Eiffel (1932-1923; French)
(ii) Louis Vuitton atelier (original, 1959):

Un site vieux de 150 ans. Journal du Net, undated
www.journaldunet.com/economie/re ... s/1-fondation.shtml
("Photo © ARCHIVES LOUIS VUITTON")
(iii) exterior and interior views of the atelier at present:

Adrien Cahuzac, Louis Vuitton inaugure un atelier "vert" dans la Drôme. L'Usinenouvelle.com, June 27, 2011.
http://www.usinenouvelle.com/art ... ns-la-drome.N154568

(b) Les Journées Particulières is published by LVMH.

French_English dictionary:
(i) journée (noun feminine): "day"
(ii) particulière (adj): "particular"  (eg, sans raison particulière: "with no particular reason"; but a business term, disposition particulière, means "special provision")

(c) "Next, the signature Louis Vuitton 'tumbler lock' is put in place."

Louis Vuitton. Voguepedia, undated
http://www.vogue.com/voguepedia/Louis_Vuitton
("1890  Georges Vuitton invents—and patents—the unpickable tumbler lock. Each has a personalized serial number, allowing one key to fit in many pieces owned by the same customer. Several years later, he will take out a newspaper ad challenging the magician Harry Houdini to try to escape from Vuitton’s secure luggage")