California Apparel News

Things are going swell for the Fashion Industry Guild, Dallas’ new showcase of contemporary apparel showrooms. Landlord Brook Partners Inc. has signed a number of key leases and has nearly sold out the space available in the center’s first phase of construction.

As the center prepares for its first apparel show, which will begin Jan. 22, Brook is preparing to gather leases for the second phase of development. The FIG, as it is now called, has so far attracted a number of tenants from the soon-to-beshuttered International Apparel Mart as well as Los Angeles resources such as Terry Sahagen Sales. As most tenants of the Apparel Mart prepare to move to the nearby Please join us at the Gold Thimble Fashion Show Date: Dec. 13 Time: 7:30 p.m.

Grand Theater LATT College Campus For information on day and evening classes, and fashion show tickets, call (213) 763-3640 Fashion Center Dallas complex in the World Trade Center off Interstate 35, Brook will be trying to establish a home for contemporary showrooms in the artsy confines of downtown Dallas.

The FIG will house women’s sportswear, accessories and better menswear. Brook is aiming for a “high-design, hospitality-driven environment” for the project. The showrooms are being marketed as “galleries.” The aim, said Brook President John T. Sughrue, is to “marry the urban with the urbane, location and design with the elite of Dallas fashion.” Lines at the FIG will include West Coast resources Trina Turk, BluJeanious, Paul Frank, Harveys, So Low and Michael Stars among others.

Among those signing leases are Los Angeles–based Terry Sahagen Sales, which will sell Ashley O’Rourke, Tracy Reese, Disney Vintage, Blue Angels and a number of other lines; Peter Rauch (Tommy Bahama); Cynthia O’Connor (Buzz by Jane Fox, Tasha of London and Harveys); Federico Mariel (BluJeanious and Charlotte Tarantola); Finn Kelly (Puma); Imperial Sales (Paul Frank, Fox Racing and Penguin); KLA/Laurie Hasson (Trina Turk and Arleen Bowman/ Chin Chin); Lerner Et Cie (Michael Stars, So Low and Laurie B.), Kathy & Jo (Casting, Parameter and Ario); and S. Collier (Nicole Miller and Margaret M.). So far, 27 leases have been signed with showrooms representing about 200 lines.

The first phase of construction, which involves 41,000 square feet, is 98 percent leased, said Brook principal Kimberly Morton. “We’re taking names for the second phase in the first quarter, and as soon as we get about half of the floor signed, we’ll start construction,” she said.

The FIG is actually the former Southwestern Plaza insurance building in the Dallas Arts District on Ross Avenue. Developer Brook purchased the building after it sat vacant for 15 years and gutted it for a redesign project. After Dallas developer Paul Stell of Stellar Development Co. failed to establish a contemporary mart separate from the Dallas Market Center’s Fashion Center Dallas at the WTC, Brook proposed the FIG project.

The main home for Dallas wholesalers has been the International Apparel Mart, part of the sprawling DMC off I-35. The DMC, in an attempt to inject some life into the Dallas apparel scene, announced a plan to shutter the Apparel Mart and move tenants into the nearby WTC, where a number of gift and home industry showrooms are based. The concept is similar to the DMC’s sister building in Los Angeles, the California Market Center.

A group of contemporary showroom owners opted for the separate FIG venue in downtown Dallas, where urban renewal projects have brought a new flavor to the area.

The five-story FIG building has floor plates of 50,000 square feet and is in the heart of the Arts District near the Neiman Marcus flagship, The Fairmont hotel, the Dallas Museum of Art and the Nasher Sculpture Center. Brook has invested more than $250 million in urban renewal projects in Dallas during the past 10 years.