Tarrant Plans American Rag Retail Rollout
American Rag CIE, which has a flagship store on La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles, is going national.
The company plans to open three to five new stores by the end of 2005 in New York, Chicago and Miami.
The decision to branch out beyond California comes nearly one year after the Tarrant Apparel Group—a major Los Angeles apparel company that designs, merchandises and sources blue jeans and other casualwear for major retailers and specialty chains—paid $1.4 million for an equity right to the American Rag label. The deal gives Tarrant the exclusive right to design, manufacture and distribute apparel.
Last August, Tarrant began distributing a casual sportswear collection with the American Rag label to 180 stores owned by Federated Department Stores Inc. Those stores include Macy’s, The Bon Marcheacute;, Burdines, Goldsmith’sand Lazarus.
Gerard Guez, chairman and chief executive officer of Tarrant Apparel, said his company will have a 45 percent stake in the new retail stores, which will be about 12,000 to 15,000 square feet in size and will carry a mixture of merchandise beyond the American Rag label.
In Los Angeles, American Rag is a popular shopping haunt for fashionistas looking for trendy and vintage apparel. Guez said the 10,000-square-foot La Brea store generates about $1,000 per square foot in sales.
If the new American Rag stores take off, another three to five stores will roll out in 2006.
Mark Werts, a longtime friend of Guez, created American Rag 20 years ago, opening his first multi-brand and vintageclothing store in San Francisco in 1984 and the flagship store on La Brea Avenue in 1985. —Deborah Belgum
