California Apparel News

Thrift-store art, a pea green leather antique chair, a white shag rug and a 1950s television set are just a few of the unusual furnishings you notice when you step into SoWear’s showroom on the fourth floor of a historic bank building in downtown Los Angeles. It’s not the typical showroom deacute;cor. But then this is not your typical showroom.

The 2,500-square-foot showroom takes a modern yet casual approach to showing designer fashion. It features 12 lines, ranging from eclectic to over-the-top, including Anait Bian, Mandy Black and Moi Et Cat and Nam.

“It’s an atmosphere that promotes and relates to uniquely designed fashion,” said showroom manager Liz Ross, who in some ways serves as a fashion consultant to the showroom’s featured designers by suggesting new concepts and passing on feedback notes from buyers who viewed their lines. “We’re the cushion between the business-oriented buyer and the delicate artist. It’s a good position to be in because we tend to nurture our business.”

The Los Angeles showroom is an outgrowth of SoWear’s New York base. And now, the showroom is set to become a traveling showroom, taking its designer act off the beaten path.

“We’re fashion nomads,” said Ross, whose plans for February include renting a Winnebago with her fashion friends and set a course for a 25-city tour that will begin in New York following market week and move from city to city based on the fashion calendar. Dallas, Atlanta and Chicago are some of the cities Ross plans to fit into her market schedule.

“The traveling showroom was always part of the plan from the start,” said owner and fashion impresario Jason Yang.

SoWear’s West Coast showroom is an extension of the company’s Web site [www.sowear.com], which Yang created three years ago as a fashion collective dedicated to promoting the talents of designers, stylists, photographers, and hair and makeup artists on the Internet. The Web site—which features four components, including a store, magazine, portfolios and resources—gets about 310,000 hits a month, according to Yang.

The Los Angeles showroom opened in November and has drawn a range of buyers from local boutiques.

“Looking at the lines over the Internet is different than actually visiting the showroom,” said Neely Shearer, co-owner of Xin, a contemporary Los Angeles boutique in the Melrose Heights section of the city. Shearer has purchased lines from the SoWear Web site for the past two years.

“I like the idea of independent spaces because it’s really refreshing and you get an independent vibe,” she said. “It’s also a nice addition to the revitalization of downtown Los Angeles and a good sign that there’s going to be a resurgence in arts and fashion.”

Xin carries new and vintage apparel, allowing customers to pair disparate pieces to create their own look, Shearer said, adding that SoWear’s labels fit well in her product mix.

Beginning in January, the showroom will offer immediates and Spring II lines, with some designers offering an early peek at their Fall 2002 collections.

“Many of the collections at the showroom are made to order,” Ross noted, adding that the designer lines are shown at one-month intervals.

“It’s one of my favorite showrooms in L.A.,” said Tina Webb, owner of the Beige boutique, a contemporary store located on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles. “It has a nice variation of interesting and different designers. I think a revolving showroom can work in this industry because people are starved for new and interesting designs to buy. It’s especially good for retailers who are striving to be different in fashion-conscious Los Angeles.”

But many SoWear clients want exclusivity, Ross said, and for now, she plans to be very selective and cautious. She wants to keep her lines exclusive and doesn’t want to oversell to anyone.

“We’re not trying to build brands,” she said. “We want to build specialty-store access to underground fashion...everybody wants to be in-the-know, but not everybody has access to it.”

The SoWear showroom is located at 560 S. Main St., Unit 4S. For more information, call (213) 362-4393.