New Tradition in Rich Town
Westlake Village, Calif., is called the Beverly Hills of Ventura County, and the nickname fits. The median income is more than $94,000, and the Los Angeles suburb is home to the exclusive Sherwood Country Club, where sports icon Jack Nicklaus recently designed a new golf course. If it seems to be a place that would not welcome a boutique offering irreverent and urban-friendly streetwear clothes, retailers Andrew Kline and Jason Gaines beg to differ.
They opened Tradition, a 1,200-squarefoot streetwear boutique on the suburb’s main drag, Agoura Road, on Nov. 24. Although both Kline and Gaines worked more than eight years at Fred Segal Santa Monica, one of the leading boutiques for new fashions in the Los Angeles area, they decided to open a store in the area where they grew up.
“There’s too many stores in Los Angeles that are doing what we are doing,” said Kline. “The market is saturated; we had to take it out to a place that is a little more suburban.” (Kline is no relation to boutique retailer Lisa Kline, who owns the influential Lisa Kline boutiques based in Los Angeles.)
Tradition’s Kline said he believes that his store will find customers among the wealthy kids of Westlake as well as among people from Santa Barbara and the San Fernando Valley.
The streetwear boutique sells sneaker brands for both men and women as well as men’s apparel brands that have proved popular at Los Angeles streetwear boutiques such as Undefeated and Supreme.
Tradition’s sneaker brands include Nike, Creative Recreation and Marc Jacobs Vans.
Apparel lines include Fresh Jive, Gonz, Crooks & Castles, Undrcrwn and fashion brands such as Warhol Factory X Levi’s. Boutique price points range from $38 to $200. Kline said another reason why they built a streetwear store off of the beaten path was the need to address exclusivity. They wouldn’t be in competition with other stores for exclusive brands. “Nike was the hardest brand to get,” Kline said. “If you want to be a sneaker store, it’s a brand that you need.” —Andrew Asch
