California Apparel News

The Los Angeles area already offers a retail bonanza, but that doesn’t stop hungry entrepreneurs with keen fashion eyes from proffering their wares. Even in this troubled economic milieu, a number of proprietors have forged ahead, undaunted and ready to educate shoppers about their signature items.New stores in our midst include:

Catwalk Affaire 395 Santa Monica Place, #218 Santa Monica

Yoga classes, motivational speakers, tips on “model walking” and a 12-foot-long runway are part of the unorthodox features of the Catwalk Affaire boutique, which opened Dec. 15 in the Santa Monica Place mall. The store, which plans to hold monthly fashion shows, represents a total departure from the retail mold in an effort to lure the ever-fickle teen shopper and provide her with self-improvement strategies, said owner Alisha Lalji.

“The theme of the store is to feel like a star,” Lalji said. “Everyone can audition for the fashion shows and they can arrive by limousine, have their pictures taken and enjoy celebrity treatment.”

Stocked in the 2,000-square-foot boutique are Playboy and Hustler T-shirts and purses, belts and accessories. Gift items include frames, candles, perfumes and watches. The store plans to add more clothing and launch its own private-label T-shirts and accessories, Lalji said.

While trying to be inclusive, the store will offer exclusivity to premier customers. Those who qualify for the “Platinum Club”—based on points accumulated through purchases—will have access to a roped-off salon featuring sofas, tables and snacks.

Other ways to entice shoppers to extend their stay include computer access to the Internet, karaoke afternoons, the “Pump It Up” arcade dancing game and periodic musical outbursts by the workers a la Johnny Rocket’s.

Fiori1119 Montana Ave., Santa Monica

Linda Park has kept the name of her former home furnishings store and transformed the operation into an apparel boutique.

“This is definitely up my alley more than antiques,” Park said.

Park hopes to bring a youthful edge to the yuppie-saturated stretch of Montana Avenue, where cafes, home stores and gift boutiques abound. She said her store will differ from avenue mainstays A. Mason and Sara by showcasing up-and-coming local designers at more affordable prices, adding, “We want to cater to the 18- to 35-year-old with clothes that are a bit more sexy—not trashy—and elegant.”

Her 1,000-square-foot store opened in late November and, so far, is meeting expectations, she said. Along with staple Fever jeans, she’s carrying local designers Nikolaki, Boris Chertok, Iskander and Black Halo. Their looks are often sensual and body-conscious, from Nikolaki’s upscale denim to Black Halo’s feminine, flirty dresses.

Park plans to begin carrying Heatherette, a New York-based line of flashy, punk-inspired clothing from slashed tanks to denim hot pants, already a hit with celebrities Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani and Pamela Anderson. Prices will range from $100 to $500.

Park is cautious about her first-year expectations—she says $500,000 would be “amazing”—and rather than focusing on sales projections, hopes to make a customer service imprint with her clientele.

“I want to cultivate repeat customers by paying very specific attention to them and remembering who they are,” Park said. “As a shopper in L.A., I go to boutiques and am very unhappy with the service and the attitude. I don’t want to be put in that same category.”

Mooks Clothing Co.126 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles

Sales—at first tepid—have picked up at the 1,000-square-foot, two-story store since it opened four months ago, according to marketing manager Christian Ablang.

“Traffic on La Brea was silent for two months after the September [11] attacks, but the holidays have really helped,” Ablang said.

The unit, featuring maple flooring and stark white walls, is the first in the United States for the Melbourne, Australia-based company and the 12th for the company worldwide. This store, like three others, is licensed, and the owner is Wayne Parnell, who converted his Suburban store into Mooks.

“L.A. was the right choice—it’s very colorful and very lively and that’s the feel of our line,” said Ablang, who added that New York is also an option for expansion.

Aimed at 18- to 35-year-old street sportswear enthusiasts, Mooks offers men’s and women’s graphic-heavy T-shirts, denim and cotton twill pants, coats, accessories, footwear and a recently launched optics line. Prices range from $24 for a T-shirt to $125 for a jacket.Mooks also sells to Urban Outfitters, Vice stores, the Closet in Huntington Beach, Calif., Villains in San Francisco and the Stackhouse in New York but doesn’t plan to infiltrate department stores.

“We want to stick around awhile,” Ablang said dryly.

Tokyo A Go-Go 441 Gin Ling Way, Los Angeles

Sisters Julie Fisher and Jana Turner said they took a chance on their new Japanese-only designer store and location in Chinatown, but they haven’t looked back yet.

“We don’t think there’s anything that comes close to what we’re offering and this area is still so new and fresh and growing,” said Turner, who is also a registered nurse.

Fisher got the idea for the store after spending two years teaching English in Tokyo, where she shopped the Pink Dragon boutique run by Yamazaki, a former musician with the ’80s rock band the Black Cats.

“I loved the store, and when I came home, everyone always loved what I was wearing,” Fisher said.

The two opened Tokyo A Go-Go earlier this month, and the store is the exclusive United States distributor of the clothing. The pink-and-red 1,000-square-foot store carries bright mohair sweaters, logo T-shirts and long-sleeved knit tops by Miracle Woman; jackets and sweatshirts by Cream Soda; Jingo T-shirts designed by Japanese journalist Nobuhide Hamada; and Shin & Co.’s three-dimensional wallets, purses and belts.

Despite the store’s Chinatown location, prices are similar to those found on such Los Angeles retail strips as Melrose Avenue and Robertson Boulevard, starting at $50 and going up from there, including $60 for a Jingo T-shirt.

The sisters say they hope to capitalize on the growing interest in the Chinatown community, which has seen a proliferation of art galleries and events on its Chung King Road, attracting affluent Angelenos to the area.

“There’s some cool stuff going on here and it’s only going to get better,” Turner said.

Frank 165 1/2 S. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles

The economic slowdown hasn’t affected sales of belts—especially those that fall into the $290 to $500 range—which is adding up to a $300,000 business for Beth Frank, who began making the showy accessories in January and has now branched out as a retailer as well.

She’s opened a 1,300-square-foot space in the last month, housing her studio and store where her 15-person team churns out about 125 vintage buckles a week attached to painted leather straps.

Frank’s vintage, Western, gothic, hippie and medieval buckles—some of which display cameos and brooches detailed with glued-on rhinestones—sell at Barneys New York, Saks Fifth Avenue and Colette in Paris, and they debuted at Neiman Marcus in December. No two are alike, and that’s fueling the frenzy, Frank said.

“People are looking for something to connect to and this is something that is the antithesis of mass-produced merchandise,” Frank said.

The business is growing with the addition of vintage leather handbags adorned with pressed flowers and ’70s leather jackets tarted up with acrylic paint. The handbags have sold at Ron Herman/Fred Segal nearby on Melrose Avenue, and Frank plans to wholesale the jackets later this year.

Not bad for the former theater consultant and TV comedy writer who earned her master’s degree in dramaturgy at the University of California, San Diego.

“I really learned about the visual picture and the concept of semiotics—how your mind reads what your eye sees,” Frank said.

She says those skills have helped her out in the business, which she expects to hit $1 million in sales this year