California Apparel News

How far can Kitson go?

In the past 18 months, the Los Angeles–based premium-denim boutique licensed its name for jeans and childrenswear labels, which join Kitson’s footwear line, forecast to earn more than $20 million worldwide in 2007, according to owner, Fraser Ross. On March 15, Ross announced that he was going to take an extra step with his retail business.

By the end of June, he will open an as-yet unnamed boutique for men’s and women’s accessories, footwear and clothing at 142 N. Robertson Blvd. The 2,500-square-foot store will be his fourth boutique on the highprofile retail street. The accessories and footwear emporium with also cement Kitson’s place as one of the biggest presences on Robertson, according to Ross.

With the addition of the new store, Ross will control more than 12,000 square feet of retail space on Robertson, which is known as a street to spot celebrities and the latest in premium-denim lifestyle fashions.

Aside from the retail space at other Kitson stores—which includes Kitson Kids, located at 108 S. Robertson; Kitson Men, at 146 N. Robertson and Kitson, at 115 S. Robertson— Ross said he controls an additional 5,000 square feet of space around the street, which he uses for offices and warehouse space for his e-commerce operation (www.shopkitson.com). The new boutique’s space was formerly occupied by the George Smith furniture store.

The next-largest boutique owner on Robertson is Lisa Kline, who operates two stores, including the 2,500-squarefoot Lisa Kline Men store at 143 S. Robertson Blvd.

More than 800 square feet of the new store will be dedicated to footwear, and more than 60 styles of Kitson footwear will be showcased there. Ross also promised that the footwear section will offer other shoe brands at a variety of price points, from $75 Jeffrey Campbell ballet flats to $400 Missoni shoes.

The store’s other 1,700 square feet will be devoted to handbags, wallets, belts, jewelry, hats and other clothing lines. Ross did not disclose what clothing labels would be carried in the new store.

“We’ll try to have this store for launching new lines,” Ross said of his new venture, which he forecast will earn more than $3 million in its first year of business.

Kitson may be better known as a place for premium denim and T-shirts. But devoting a new store to footwear and accessories is not out of the retailer’s brand boundaries, provided that Kitson clients can make the connection between the new venture and the familiar product, said Richard Giss, a business analyst and partner in the consumer business practice of the Los Angeles office of Deloitte & Touche LLP.

“There isn’t a natural limitation on a brand,” Giss said. “But there is a limitation placed by customers. Once they don’t understand what a brand means, opportunities close down.”

The first Kitson store on Robertson, which opened in 2000, offers footwear and handbags, as well as a potpourri of other items ranging from fragrances to products with a clever pop-culture sensibility, such as cookies baked in the shape of nominated actors for the 2007 Academy Awards.

The debut of the new store may put a halt to the expansion of Los Angeles Kitson stores for the near future, but overseas expansion of Kitson is growing at a fast rate.

By the end of April, Dubai-based Cartoon Fashions Ltd. is scheduled to open a Kitson boutique at the luxurious Mall of the Emirates, located in the oil-rich sheikdom. The store will offer many of the same lines available at Kitson on Robertson Boulevard.

The Kitson name also is spreading throughout Europe. Kitson footwear is sold at high-profile English retailers such as Harrods, Selfridges & Co. and Harvey Nichols, as well as locations in France and Germany. The brand also is sold in Japan and Latin American nations such as Panama. —Andrew Asch