By JOSH BOAK and MICHELLE CHAPMAN

WASHINGTON  — A fourth business leader resigned Tuesday from President Donald Trump’s White House jobs panel — the latest sign that corporate America’s romance with Trump is faltering after his initial half-hearted response to violence by white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va.

The parade of departing leaders from the informal panel now includes the chief executives for Merck, Under Armour and Intel and the president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing.

Alliance president Scott Paul, in a tweet, said simply, “I’m resigning from the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative because it’s the right thing for me to do.” Within minutes of the tweet, calls to Paul’s phone were being sent to voicemail.

Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon joined the chorus, saying in a note to employees, “(We) too felt that he missed a critical opportunity to help bring our country together by unequivocally rejecting the appalling actions of white supremacists.”

But McMillon, whose business has customers on all sides of the political spectrum, did not address his own positon on a separate Trump advisory panel.

Corporate leaders have been willing to work with Trump on taxes, trade and reducing regulations, but they’ve increasingly found themselves grappling with cultural and social divides amid his lightning rod-style of leadership. The CEOs who left the council quickly faced his wrath.

On Tuesday, Trump tweeted, “For every CEO that drops out of the Manufacturing Council, I have many to take their place. Grandstanders should not have gone on. JOBS!”

Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier, one of only four African-Americans to lead a Fortune 500 company today, was the first to tender his resignation Monday.

He was assailed almost immediately by Trump on Twitter.

Then came resignations from Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank and then Intel CEO Brian Krzanich.
Austan Goolsbee, the former chief economist for President Barack Obama, said the departures suggest the president’s response to the violence in Charlottesville could alienate those who work for the companies, and those who buy the products and services that they sell.

“It’s certainly a sign that Trump’s more controversial stuff isn’t playing well with companies selling to middle America,” said Goolsbee, now a professor at the University of Chicago.

There had already been departures from two major councils created by the Trump administration that were tied to its policies.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk resigned from the manufacturing council in June, and two other advisory groups to the president, after the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement. Walt Disney Co. Chairman and CEO Bob Iger resigned for the same reason from the President’s Strategic and Policy Forum.

The manufacturing jobs council had 28 members initially, but it has shrunk since it was formed earlier this year as executives retire, are replaced, or, as with Frazier, Musk, Plank, Paul and Krzanich, resign.

Dan Eaton, a business ethics instructor at the San Diego State University Fowler College of Business and a partner at San Diego-based law firm Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek, said that while CEOs may feel it is their civic duty to serve the president, their responsibility ultimately is to their shareholders, employees and customers.

“That’s something that’s always in play, and as a result some companies choose to abstain from getting involved in political roles,” he said.

Eaton said that the potential for a public rebuke from a sitting president is not a concern only to those now on advisory panels, but to all who may be asked to serve in the future.
Already, there is a push on social media lobbying other executives to distance themselves from Trump, and resign.

So far, the majority of CEOs and business leaders that are sitting on the two major, federal panels, are condemning racism, but say they want to keep a seat at the table.

“Our commitment to diversity and inclusion is unwavering, and we will remain active champions for these efforts,” said a spokesman for Campbell Soup for CEO Denise Morrison. “We believe it continues to be important for Campbell to have a voice and provide input on matters that will affect our industry, our company and our employees in support of growth. Therefore, Ms. Morrison will remain on the President’s Manufacturing Jobs Initiative.”

Boeing CEO Dennis Builenburg also will remain.

Lawrence Summers, once the chief economist at the World Bank and senior Treasury official, wondered when more business leaders will distance themselves from Trump.
“After this weekend, I am not sure what it would take to get these CEOs to resign,” he tweeted. “Demonizing ethnic groups? That has happened.”

A British judge has agreed to extradite an Orange County fugitive who appears on the FBI’s most wanted list for allegedly molesting a 13-year-old choirboy from 1998 to 2002.

Untied States and British authorities have been battling for more than three years over the extradition of Roger Giese, 42, who had been a fugitive since 2007 when he fled shortly before his trial in Orange County Superior Court.

He was found in 2014 living in a small town in the English countryside, where he was working for a public-relations firm and living under a different name, according to British tabloids.

British High Court judges previously refused to extradite Giese after determining that his human rights could be violated under a California law that allows sex offenders to be forcibly committed to a mental hospital after they have served their prison time.

But on Monday, a district judge at Westminster Magistrates’ Court ruled that Giese can be returned to the U.S., according to the BBC. He has 14 days to appeal the ruling.

Giese is accused of sexually assaulting a choirboy he met while working as a voice coach for the All-American Boys Chorus in Buena Park.

He is facing charges including lewd acts on a child under 14, penetration by a foreign object, and oral copulation of a person under 18, with a sentencing enhancement for substantial sexual conduct with a child.

California is one of 20 states that have civil commitment laws.

Under civil commitment, a convicted sex offender who has served his sentence can be forcibly committed to a state mental hospital indefinitely if medical experts believe that person is a sexually violent predator likely to re-offend.

Coalinga State Hospital in Central California houses more than 900 such offenders, according to the Department of State Hospitals.

British judges have refused extradition in other U.S. cases on the grounds that civil commitment is a human rights violation.

Giese’s case was renewed last year when U.S. officials launched a new extradition bid under the guarantee that he would not face civil commitment if convicted.

Giese emptied his bank accounts and fled the country shortly before his trial in Orange County.

He appeared on both the FBI and Orange County District Attorney’s most-wanted lists and was thought to have traveled to the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, the United Kingdom and Norway.

Michelle Van Der Linden, a spokeswoman for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, said prosecutors are “continuing to actively and aggressively pursue the extradition of Roger Giese.”

Prosecutors said Giese befriended the boy’s family in 1998, attending church with them and inviting the boy and his brother to his house for overnight visits.

Giese pretended to be a member of the elite military unit Delta Force and molested the teenager under the pretense that the boy could join the unit by providing samples of bodily fluids, prosecutors said.

He was arrested in 2002 and released on bond. He appeared in court until March 2007, when he failed to show for jury selection.

CARCEL GETS ROLLING: Having debuted during Copenhagen Fashion Week, Carcel, the Copenhagen start-up knitwear company, has already shipped its prison-made knitwear to countries.
Founder and chief executive officer Veronica D’Souza is relying on production in a Peruvian prison to try to transform poverty-related crime into fair wages, skills and hopes for a better future. The launch consisted of a crewknit sweater, Milano oversized cardigan and La Bomba A Mano — all of which are made of 100 percent baby alpaca wool. Taking a seasonless approach to fashion, the brand plans to drop new styles throughout the year, depending on production capacity.
The name, Carcel, means “prison” in Spanish and production is done in the women’s prison in Cusco, Peru. That location was chosen based on where Carcel felt it could make the greatest social impact and work with some of the world’s best natural materials. There are 13 women handling production at this point and recruiting will continue as production expands. Carcel starts with a training program based on the individual’s existing skills and experience. The items are solely sold on the company’s site with prices ranging from 120 euros to 1190 euros. “We have flexible production with room for different levels

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REAL SHOE-INS: Graduating from Harvard Business School might cause some to want to kick off the shoes, but two recent alum looked at that tendency as an opportunity for a viable business. Sprung from what started as a school project, Zorpads, odor-eliminating inserts are being launched by cofounders Taylor Wiegele and Sierra Smith. The pair met at Harvard Business School, where both graduated from in May.
The $5 one-size-fits-all items are sold on the Zorpads site, and between 10,000 and 50,000 units are expected to be sold this year, according to Smith. Once stuck to the insole of a shoe, Zorpads are supposed to last for 60 wearings.
Extending the technology for a variety of types of shoes and for the interior of gym bags are areas being considered for future growth. Wiegele and Smith tested earlier versions at HBS, and finished as semi-finalists in Harvard’s New Venture Competition. That ranking helped to attract the attention of Rough Draft Ventures which is supporting Zorpads with funding and mentoring. RDV cofounder Peter Boyce II noted that the resources at HBS has proved to be a powerhouse for helping early stage founders in launching their startups, pointing to Dia & Co. and Rent The

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GOING HOME: Mexx, the Dutch midprice apparel brand, has been acquired by RNF, a holding company that owns fashion, accessories and apparel labels. Terms were not disclosed.
RNF, which is also based in the Netherlands, purchased the chain from Eroglu, the Istanbul-based holding whose portfolio includes casual apparel company Colin’s and the Turkish denim brand Loft.
The transaction also includes Mexx Perfumes, which is operated as part of a licensing agreement with Coty.
Ferry Helmer, RNF Holding’s managing partner, lauded Mexx’s heritage, which dates back to the Eighties, and its strong brand recognition, which RNF said it plans to leverage.
Helmer added that as part of the transaction, Mexx would be incorporated under the RNF umbrella as Mexx International BV, a newly formed company.
Other labels under RNF include Ferro footwear. The company also operates Umbro and Scout under license in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
Mexx is best known for its casual styles and contemporary price points. In 2014, the company, then owned by The Gores Group, went into liquidation, having been hit by the European recession and a rapid decline of its business in Eastern Europe. It began operating again in January 2015, after it was acquired by Eroglu Holding.

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Underscoring the health of the wellness movement, the U.K. sports apparel market will reach 2.5 billion pounds this year — an 8 percent gain from 2016. This compares to a 2.1 percent expected gain in total apparel sales in the U.K., according to a recent report from analytics firm Global Data.
The increase in sports apparel is being fueled by the ath-leisure trend, researchers of the report said, adding that new entrants such as Asos would also boost sales. The firm noted that the increase of sports apparel demonstrates “the extent to which sportswear is outperforming other clothing segments. Indeed, fashion retailers have picked up on the trend for sportswear and will continue to invest as consumer demand for fashion-led sports apparel remains high.”
Asos is rolling out a sportswear launch this November, and will be “competing with more established ranges from H&M, Boohoo, Primark, New Look, Ted Baker, Topshop, Whistles [and] Superdry,” the authors of the report said, adding that sports brands from the Eighties and Nineties “such as Kappa and Ellesse are [also] tapping into market opportunities, due to a resurgence in consumer demand following high-profile attention via Instagram influencers.”

Under Armour’s Eclipse sports bra. 

Despite the crowded field, Global Data said it “expects the

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BANGKOK — A new vocational training institute for Cambodia’s garment workers — the first in the country — aims to augment the industry’s flagging competitiveness in the region, a move that international buyers like H&M and Marks & Spencer welcomed.
Last year, Cambodia produced $7.3 billion in apparel and footwear exports, making the sector the country’s most valuable. But manufacturers often warn that its neighboring countries, Vietnam and Myanmar, are looming regional threats, given Cambodia’s monthly minimum wage of $153, its low productivity, and its lack of skilled labor.
With a $3 million loan to construct its facilities in the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone from Agence Française de Développement, the development body of the French government, the Cambodian Garment Training Institute started offering its first classes in July, attracting more than 80 students from four factories. August classes, which have about 50 students signed up, will focus on quality assurance in the factory and streamlining workplace and decision-making processes.
These classes are for workers in the middle management track of member factories of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, all of which pooled together $700,000 to cover the operation costs of the first three years. This amount will be used to sponsor

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Judges will include designers and collectors such as Ralph Lauren and Ferrari’s Flavio Manzoni.

Jonathan Waxman, Nancy Silverton, and other Michael’s alums will reunite for 1 day only.

After receiving global certification, the new single-engined jet starts landing at airports around the globe.