Fashion stocks weighted by financial gloom

Dragged by the afflicted stocks markets worldwide,

the FashionUnited Top 100 Index closed down at 1234.48, losing 19.82 points. French Connection was the winning among the international fashion benchmark index, with a hike of over 2%.

Zumiez was other of yesterday's notable stocks in decline, down 1% to $17.29. The S&P was trading at that time at 2.1% lower to 1,149 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading 2% lower to 11,013.

Athletic apparel concern NIKE, Inc. (NKE - 82.68) was smacked with a negative analyst note this morning, after HSBC downgraded the equity to "neutral" from "overweight." What's more, NKE has been exceptionally popular among put players today, with intraday volume already exceeding the stock's daily average. However, digging deeper into the data, it appears one options speculator is employing these typically bearish bets to gamble on a short-term recovery for the stock.

Jumping right in, NKE has seen roughly 6,600 puts change hands so far today, compared to its average single-session volume of fewer than 4,350 puts. Most notably, the majority of the action has centered on the September 80 and September 85 strikes, where the aforementioned strategist initiated a bull put spread on the security.

However and according to China Analyst and despite the so-called Bloody Monday for the international stock markets, there are still apparel stocks with high upside potential, including American Apparel Inc., which has the 1st highest upside potential in this segment of the market. Its upside is 215.8%. Its consensus target price is $3.00 based on the average of all estimates.