The strong apparel sales only made weaker players stand out more.

One of the biggest gains was in apparel sales, up a strong 2.4 percent.

All told, imports account for almost half of American apparel sales.

"A large portion of our profits are going to come from apparel sales."

Women's apparel sales continued to strengthen after many months of flat results.

Those companies that depend on apparel sales had a harder time.

For the last few years, Sears has been using a strategy of increasing apparel sales.

"Unfortunately, you would expect some significant apparel sales for the holiday season, but it hasn't happened."

Amazon gets a commission of about 10 percent on apparel sales, industry executives have said.

Apparel sales make up roughly half of all merchandise revenue.