California Apparel News

Shifting its focus from design studios to showrooms, the Cooper Design Space welcomes the Los Angeles Fashion Market on Oct. 20 with a renovated fifth floor. The fifth floor, newly filled with designer and contemporary showrooms, joins the second and fourth floors as the latest level to be reinvented as showroom space.

Since June—when Richard Luna opened his accessories showroom, Richard Luna & Associates—the fifth floor lighthas seen a flurry of construction. Now there are 10 showrooms, including the high-end Scatola and the first-ever Trina Turk and Robert Rodriguez showrooms.

Also on the floor is a combination of East Coast transplants and first-time proprietors. Ling Sue Chin, owner of the Planet Blue retail chain, opens Movement, her new contemporary showroom, on Oct. 20. The space will be packed with dresses from Erica Davies, Development by Erica Davies, Tysa and Diab’less. Marimiliano Boital, a veteran of The Bank showroom in The New Mart, opened Society, a multi-line showroom for contemporary knits, wovens and premium denim.

New York–based showrooms Cynthia O’Connor, which sells Botkier handbags and Tracy Reese shoes, and Denise Williamson, which reps brands Sass & Bide and Rag & Bone, chose the floor for their first Los Angeles outposts. Brand Equity and Proper Fools round out the floor’s showroom roster, with contemporary brand Lotta retaining the sole design studio.

The building’s remodel has been a work-in-progress. “We started on the second floor, and we’re going floor by floor. It seems like a big push, but the growth is organic,” said Mona Sangkala, the building’s leasing director.

Now at capacity, the Cooper Design Space houses 77 showrooms and 48 design suites. Each of the building’s 11 floors offers approximately 32,000 square feet of space.

To make room for the new showrooms, the building offered designers with expiring leases studio space at 719 S. Los Angeles St., a building also belonging to Cooper owner Steve Hirsh. “It’s a block away and still convenient if they have a showroom in the building,” Sangkala said.

Hirsh owns three other buildings downtown at 656 S. Los Angeles St., 122 E. Seventh St. and 1206 S. Maple Ave.

Digging the new digs

The building’s newest tenants are going all out. Modernist architect Barbara Bestor created a unique 3,000-square-foot showcase for Trina Turk’s sunny designs, which include Mr. Turk, a new men’s line bowing for Spring. Bestor, who this summer published “Bohemian Modern: Living in Silver Lake,” tore down walls and installed a floating glass display case. Glass spheres hang at alternating heights from the ceiling.

Down the hall at Movement, dresses of every shape and color hang from the ceiling in clusters, and a table anchored to a column swings in a circle. Designer Robert Rodriguez installed a slatted wood wall and chandeliers made of hundreds of hanging globe crystals.

“We feel like this will be the new trendy floor. The vibe in the Cooper is great,” said Christina Apostolidou, Movement’s manager.

Several showrooms are feteing their grand openings with parties.

As the fifth-floor tenants settle into their new homes, other showrooms continue to pop up elsewhere in the building. James Jeans, Ever and Showroom Seven are adding newness to the second, third and mezzanine levels, respectively. “The mezzanine is next; it’s a natural progression,” Sangkala said.

The mezzanine, decidedly the most in need of a cosmetic touchup, is primed for revival with the new Showroom Seven and the promise of more of the same.

Showrooms clambering for space in the Cooper reflect the robustness of the local apparel industry, said Ilse Metchek, executive director of the California Fashion Association in Los Angeles. “Clearly, it is because L.A. is the place to be. Our market share for denim and contemporary apparel in the United States is 55 percent,” she said. “Across the board, we are increasing our market share, so buyers have to come out here.”

Despite the demand for showroom space, there is no concrete plan yet detailing just how many of the Cooper’s studios will be converted. The 11th and eighth floors will remain wide-open spaces to house the Designers & Agents market shows, which drive plenty of traffic into the building. Floors seven and up will continue to house the building’s design studios.

“We like having designers in the building,” Sangkala said. “They are always busy, and they bring a great energy.”