Pendleton Woolen Mills have made a huge strategic move in partnering with Humberto Leon - a designer to use the Pendleton designs in new styles.

Mort Bishop III, the fifth generation to lead his family's business, celebrated Pendleton Woolen Mill's 100th anniversary this year. "We've learned something about fit through these collaborations," Bishop said of the Opening Ceremony line. "The draping of that fabric -- we'd never thought of that. Isn't that fabulous?"

Pendleton celebrated its 100th anniversary this year with a rebirth of sorts, watching its iconic Navajo prints -- well-known to many Oregonians as the blanket slung over the family room couch -- revamped this fall as miniskirts and tailored coats with price tags starting at $400.

Pendleton, one of the nation's oldest operating mills, has partnered in recent years with Nike ACG, Adidas and Vans. Yet in 2009, much smaller and more upscale fashion brands came calling, including Opening Ceremony and Comme des Garçons, a Japanese label that snips and sews patches of corduroy, canvas or leather onto Pendleton shirts that sell in Paris for $1,600.

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"MacGyver" fixes Nike

One of BHD's senior Techs, Paul Jones, recently attended the Honolulu Marathon, in Honolulu, HI, where he assisted Nike with their retail sales in the event center.

During the event the Internet went down in the event center. Our network remained up our router was functioning, just no internet, which means 'no credit cards'. Nike did not order phone lines for backup. I used my cell phone to get internet on my laptop, then used internet connection sharing and plugged the NIC of my laptop into the WAN port of the Router. This gave all 20 registers internet, and we were back up and running credit cards.

We ran Credit cards over my cell phone internet conection for 30 minutes while the Convention center fixed their internet problem in the building. 'MacGyver' fixed Nike!!

Tandy Leather Sales UP 10% !

Since 1919, Tandy Leather has been providing leathercrafters with quality leather, tools, kits, hardware, conchos and teaching resources. They offer products to hobby leather crafters, wholesale businesses, professional leather workers, manufacturers, institutions and youth organizations.

This merchant of leather and leather craft supplies had an increase in sales of 10% worldwide last month ! Congratulations to Tandy Leather for their success!

Three cheers for our Pam Elliot!

As a sales rep for BHD, Pam Elliot spends her days and most evenings working diligently to provide leading brand technology to retail organizations. In some ways, Pam saves the business life of retail stores. The technology she provides dramatically impacts the viability of a store. Recently Ms. Elliot had the opportunity to impact a real life too.

In November, during her morning commute- driving through a neighborhood normally not taken, Elliot observed a young boy lying next to his bicycle with 1 other assisting him. She pulled over to investigate and help direct traffic around the incident. As the person attending him said to the 911 operator, "he stopped breathing", Familiar with CPR, Pam ran to assist and conduct CPR with the other person. Elliot and partner continued CPR until the ambulance crew arrived to take the boy the hospital.

Elliot and her husband Doug continued to monitor the boy's health via the boy's family. It was discovered that the child has a heart defect which causes him to lose consciousness. Unless the child received life saving surgery he would not survive. Today, doctors confirmed that the child successfully completed the life saving surgery that gave him a one in a million chance for survival and is expected to live a normal life.

Pam Elliot saved a life.

Three cheers for our Pam Elliot!

She is our HERO.

SPORT AND SPECIALTY SPORT RETAILERS REPORT STRONG BLACK FRIDAY

On Monday, November 30th Leisure Trends Group conducted an on-line survey among its retail panel, which represents over 2,300 retail doors, to gauge consumer buying in the Outdoor, Snow, Paddle, Running, Scuba and Cycling Industries over the Black Friday weekend. Responses were received from retailers representing 536 doors in 42 states. While trends vary from industry to industry the overall results are upbeat with 40% of retailers reporting increased sales compared to 2008!

Sales:
Most retailers report Black Friday weekend sales that were above or equal to last year.
40% of retailers report increased sales.

Traffic:
Looking at in-store traffic within sport and sport specialty channels, most retailers' expectations were reached or exceeded on Black Friday weekend.
37% of retailers report better than expected traffic.

Outlook:
These results leave retailers optimistic regarding the remaining weeks of the holiday season.
52% believe this holiday season will be better than last year.

How did sales this past Black Friday weekend compare to last year?
Outdoor, UP 78%
Snow Sports, UP 4%
Cycling, UP 35%
Running, UP 76%