Porridge Finds Fashion in Simplicity
Tank tops were nothing more than a quick way to finance a trip to Spain in April 2003 for Laura Stang. But a little more than one year later, making the tops turned into a serious business for the designer.
The first stores to sell Stang’s debut collection, Porridge, were top boutiques such as Kitson on Los Angeles’ fashionable Robertson Boulevard and Fred Segal Fun in Santa Monica, Calif. Stang’s success, however, was not a case of beginner’s luck, according to Kitson’s buyer, Christina Minasian.
“She knew what she was doing,” Minasian said. “It’s very Los Angeles, and it fit well in our store. It’s comfortable, but it’s fashionable, and our customers gravitated to it.”
Stang’s designs—which also include thermal shirts, housedresses and scarves—exemplify comfort. Fashion comes with the line’s fabrics, such as the vintage materials of the tank tops’ flower-shaped appliqueacute;s. Every top features a different vintage fabric, according to Stang, so each garment can be defined as a one-of-a-kind piece.
Stang also injected personality into the traditionally bland thermal-shirt category with her print designs: artsy sketches of tiny flowers. For Spring 2005, the shirts come in color combinations including nude/blue and brown/purple.
Wholesale price points are $24 for tanks, $20 to $45 for thermal tops, and $48 to $84 for skirts and dresses.
Although becoming a designer was not a concrete goal when she started her career, Stang has always focused on the fashion industry. She earned an associate’s degree in product development from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in 2000. She later got a job managing and buying for Market, the boutique in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles where she tasted her first design success.
After selling out of the tank tops in one day at Market, Stang decided to see if she could reproduce her luck after her trip to Spain. Kitson was one of her initial stops because Minasian had occasionally shopped at Market. Other shops followed, including Fred Segal Fun, Erica Dee in Corona Del Mar, Calif., and Modern Romance in Newport Beach, Calif.
Stang’s company began in earnest in August 2004, when she got a $15,000 loan from her uncle, Mario Antoci, a retired banker with American Savings Bank, an institution that was purchased by Washington Mutual in 1996. Antoci also gave the designer tips on how to run a financially sound business, according to Stang.
Her success allowed her to quit her managing job at Market and work one day each week at the boutique. It also allowed her to hire her friend Karina Sanchez, a manufacturing degree candidate from Los Angeles Trade- Technical College, as her design assistant.
Stang reported good sales at the Designers & Agents show in Los Angeles, held Oct. 29–Nov. 1. Stores including Active Endeavors, based in Chicago; LuvCharlie.com, based in Rego Park, N.Y.; and Ethel in Santa Monica, Calif., wrote orders at the show, Stang said.
The designer said she hopes others will agree that beauty can be found in simplicity.
“It’s all about being comfortable in what you’re wearing,” she said. “Comfort brings confidence, and that will bring out your beauty.”
For information, call (213) 236-9260. —Andrew Asch
