Planet Funk: One Step Ahead With Premium Fashion
Planet Funk is on the move. The Los Angeles–based premium contemporary boutique chain is tentatively scheduled to open its 19th store at the exclusive Westfield San Francisco Centre on Feb. 5.
The company will then take its growth spurt south. Planet Funk’s next step will be the expansion of its boutique in Los Angeles’ Westside Pavilion shopping center. The store will grow from 1,500 to 4,000 square feet by the end of the second quarter of 2007.
One of the reasons for Planet Funk’s continuing success, according to Oren Hayun, the principal of the boutique chain, is the continued interest in premium clothing.
In 1997, the first Planet Funk store, on Los Angeles’ Melrose Avenue, made money by selling jeans produced by labels such as Diesel, Miss Sixty and the now-defunct fashion brands Fresh Hype and Todd Oldham.
A decade later, the best-selling items seem to be T-shirts. The top sellers for the week of Jan. 29 were tees by fashion line Harajuku Lovers. The shirts cost $38 each. “Our customers really love the graphics,” Hayun said of the label inspired by the style of pop star Gwen Stefani. “The association with Gwen helps, too.”
Hayun said that another factor in Planet Funk’s growth is staying ahead of customers’ fickle tastes. Planet Funk’s first store offered specifically women’s premium clothing. By early 2004, Hayun felt that men were developing an interest in premium fashion, so he expanded his collection into expensive jeans and tees for guys.
He later thought that kids would want to look just like their premium-outfitted parents.
In late 2005, he introduced the Play@Planet Funk boutiques, which offer children’s premium clothing. Hayun opened the third Play@Planet Funk at the North Park Center shopping mall in Dallas. The fourth Play@Planet Funk will be located in the expanded Westside Pavilion store.
Hayun said he believes that Planet Funk’s universe will continue to expand. He forecast that it will eventually grow into a national chain.—Andrew Asch
