Ambiguous Founder Leaves to Start Comune
Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote “There are no second acts in American lives,” but Frank Delgadillo plans to prove there are second acts in the worlds of skate and active apparel.
Delgadillo started new men’s brand Comune after resigning on Aug. 1 as president of well-known skate label Ambiguous, the label he started in his college dorm room in 1996. As president of the line, he eventually placed it in prominent activewear boutiques such as The Closet, Jack’s Surfboards and Active, as well as Nordstrom. Now he is hoping to repeat his success with Comune.
The soft launch for the debut of the Fall 2009 collection is Oct. 17. He said he plans to exhibit at trade shows such as Agenda, Class and the Project Global Trade Show.
Shortly after Delgadillo left Ambiguous, a significant number of the brand’s design, marketing and sales staff— about 25 people—followed Delgadillo in mid-August to his new venture. (Dave Patri, founder of surf brand Split, became president of Ambiguous. A new leader is not the only new direction for Ambiguous. In the past, it was funded by Ray’s Apparel, which was recently shut down by owner Jim Stark. Ambiguous will be owned by Patri’s Life Distribution company.)
Comune is headquartered in a 2,600-square-foot former medical office in Costa Mesa, Calif., the heart of the surf and skate fashion industry. Comune’s head designer is Jacob McCabe, a former designer for men’s line Orthodox.
Delgadillo’s partner in designing the new brand is Los Angeles–based manufacturer Komex International Inc., makers of juniorslabel Bubblegum jeans. Delgadillo said the departure from Ambiguous was amicable but declined to give further details about it. Delgadillo said the focus of Comune will be the inspiration of his designers, and second-guessing the desires of retailers and consumers will be forbidden.
“We want to make a space that is purely creative,” Delgadillo said. “Just as long as we meet deadlines and stay in budget.”
Making a new brand has been on Delgadillo’s mind for a few years. Comune has been an experimental side project for Delgadillo since 2005. It was an incubator for new fashion ideas; however, the only consumers who got to enjoy the brand were Japanese skateboard aficionados and shoppers at The Closet in Costa Mesa. Now he hopes to turn the experiment into a lifestyle brand.
The new line’s retail price points range from $54 to $150. Items will include a motorcycle- inspired trench coat as well as longsleeve and short-sleeve buffalo plaid shirts. There will be seven styles of jeans, including a few styles coated in wax.
While debuting a new brand is tough even in the best of times, Comune is taking its bow in a market filled with minefields—and opportunities— according to veteran surf retailer Dave Hollander. Surf and skate boutiques have long been dominated by a handful of brands such as Quiksilver, Billabong, Hurley, O’Neill and Volcom. Traditionally, it has been tough for new brands to break in. Hollander could only name a handful of brands— RVCA, Insight, O’Quinn and Hinano—for which his six-boutique chain, Becker Surf, has made shelf space in the past few years.
“This year is the easiest it has been in a long time for new brands,” Hollander said. “Vendors are searching for something new. We’d try anything new if there was an indication it was hot.”
However, the weak economy has seriously limited the merchandising choices retailers can make, Hollander said.
Comune will be able to carve out a space in any economy, according to Chris Thomas, the brand’s marketing director. “There’s always going to be the kid who is going to skateboard, and he is going to want to dress a certain way. If we clothe that kid, we’re going to be all right,” he said.
