Drifter
Gerry BuildingSuite 906(213) 627-1561regina@drifter.comwww.drifter.com
When Bada Kim started his menswear label Drifter in 2001, he hoped it would be financially successful, yet continue to confound fashion expectations like the best underground designers.
By 2002, the 25-year-old chief of Torrance, Calif.–based Drifter found a good vehicle for his aspirations. It was his company’s top-selling garment: the double-layered T-shirt. “It’s simple but complicated,” Kim said. By nature, T-shirts evoke simplicity, but Drifter complicated the matter by layering two sheer T-shirts to make a single unit of fashion.
The extra cloth was provided as more space for the label’s Victorian and science fiction–like graphics. He started selling the garment at Fred Segal boutiques, and his company became a proverbial success story. In 2002, Drifter shipped 5,000 units monthly; by 2006, the company is shipping 50,000. He believes his company will continue to grow. In 2005, it made $6 million in gross sales. By 2006, he forecast that the company would make $10 million in gross sales.
Kim used to spread the word on Drifter through road sales and trade shows. In January 2006, he opened a 1,200-square-foot showroom decorated in a style meant to be as freewheeling as the image of his fashion label. Animal antlers are hung adjacent to a copy of the famed 18th-century painting “The Blue Boy.” Wholesale price points range from $24 to $50 for Drifter tops. For the Fashion Coterie trade show in September, Kim will debut Drifter Black Label, a casual line with a higher price point. —Andrew Asch
