California Apparel News

The economy seems to be hitting the brakes, but Stuuml;ssy and a handful of other streetwear brands are on the go.

Stuuml;ssy, one of the granddaddies of the burgeoning streetwear fashion movement, will open a Las Vegas store on March 7. The Irvine, Calif.–based label will debut a handful of branded boutiques by the end of 2008. The 28-year-old label seems to be on a streak. The company debuted a high-end menswear line called Stuuml;ssy Deluxe at the recent Project Global Trade Show in Las Vegas.

Other streetwear brands are also rolling out new stores. Los Angeles–based The Hundreds is scheduled to open a San Francisco boutique in March. It opened a Los Angeles boutique in February 2007. Los Angeles–based DCMA Collective is scheduled to open a store March 14 off Los Angeles’ Melrose Avenue.

San Francisco–based line Upper Playground opened four stores during 2007, including a Sacramento, Calif., store in December. It plans to open a Los Angeles store later this year.

Crooks & Castles, another Los Angeles–based streetwear label, opened a store on Melrose Avenue on Dec. 7. The company is currently scouting Las Vegas real estate to open a Crooks & Castles store in late 2008. Another Los Angeles streetwear brand, Dim Mak, will reportedly open a shop in Los Angeles by June.

The reasons for streetwear’s success during a tough economy is both as simple and as hard to explain as why a certain item is deemed a “musthave,” said Scott Terpstra, Stuuml;ssy’s director of sales. “It’s on trend,” he said.

Brand-building

Stuuml;ssy opened a Hawaii store in December and a Washington, D.C., store on Feb. 23. Later this year, it will open boutiques in Philadelphia and Toronto.

It already runs stores in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Stuuml;ssy’s new stores will be operated through partnerships with local retailers. Eddie Cruz, owner of Los Angeles–based streetwear store Undefeated, will manage the Las Vegas Stuuml;ssy store. The partners will be granted a lot of leeway to stock their stores with the Stuuml;ssy fashions best suited to local tastes, Terpstra said.

The 1,200-square-foot Las Vegas store will offer an industrial look with exposed ceilings, concrete floors and raw-metal fixtures.

Evolving market

While streetwear business is riding high, the fashion—which is inspired by work clothes, military uniforms and skateboarding—is bracing for change. Many core streetwear consumers are in their 30s and have started to look for fashion not so closely associated with youth.

Enter Stuuml;ssy Deluxe. The 40-piece collection eschews the wild reggae- and hip-hop–inspired graphics that bought notoriety to Stuuml;ssy in the 1980s.

Instead, Stuuml;ssy Deluxe designer Nicholas Bower gave the collection a certain refinement. Its jeans, constructed out of Japanese selvage denim, have a clean, unadorned look—except for the brand’s label, an embroidered purple dot. Stuuml;ssy Deluxe used cashmere for its hoodies and sweaters. A few of its woven shirts, such as its “Premium Stripe” shirt, look almost preppie. But the collection’s “New Deal” shirt and its “Camo” work pant remain loyal to streetwear’s military roots.

Likewise, Stuuml;ssy Deluxe’s price points are not for kids. The new collection is wholesale priced from $95 to $150 for jackets and $95 to $110 for denim—double the wholesale prices of the Stuuml;ssy line.

Other streetwear labels are also offering clothes for an older demographic. Crooks & Castles debuted its Illuminati line for Fall/Holiday 2007. With prices 25 percent to 30 percent higher than Crooks & Castles fashions, Illuminati features more-subtle, less-extreme graphics, said Crooks Partner and Creative Director Dennis Calvero.

But even as the streetwear market evolves, Stuuml;ssy hopes to control the message with its stores. “We are an image and brand-integrity company,” Terpstra said. “Stores will protect the image and integrity of the brand.”