S.F. Knitwear Designer in N.Y.
Margaret O’Leary tested boundaries in knitwear and found success. Last month, the San Francisco– based designer took on Manhattan.
A 1,000-square-foot Margaret O’Leary store opened Oct. 7 at 1100 Madison Ave. in New York. The boutique, outfitted with pink velvet curtains, stocks her signature form-fitting zip hoodies and scrunchneck T-shirts. Her retail store also takes a different direction than most designer boutiques.
Instead of limiting the inventory to her line of products, she also sells clothes from Los Angeles designers such as Rozae Nichols and Blur, denim from Tag + Jeans, as well as jewelry and accessories.
The choices highlight O’Leary’s interest in a diverse inventory and points to some of her plans for expansion. She said she’d do her own line of bags and shoes, and perhaps home and kids’ divisions in the future. She tested a menswear division in 1999 and dropped it in 2000 after concluding that California men prefer jackets over sweaters.
At the present time, her 15-year-old company, which earned $17 million in 2004, maintains eight stores, including the New York location. She said she was considering building two new stores in the next few months: one in Chicago, another in Los Angeles.
O’Leary also said that trends in knitwear are changing. “Now everything follows the shape of the body as much as possible. But it seems like trends are turning,” she said. “They’re going back to bigger sweaters.” —Andrew Asch
