Sunday Rocks: Premium but Price-Conscious
Angela Locke has seen the sun rise and set over many trends in the clothing business. Before she had a driver’s license, she learned the ropes of her parents’ apparel company, C-Ya in California, which hit a high in the early 1990s selling baggy MC Hammer–style pants. She launched her own surf-lifestyle brand, named Envae, and held the license for the embellishment-heavy line Sterling Williams.
Locke’s newest venture, Sunday Rocks, strips off the bells and whistles and goes back to basic T-shirts with a twist.
“We wanted to keep the line premium, in the best doors, but keep the line open to be price-conscious,” said the 24-year-old Locke. Wholesale prices range from $16 to $24 so that retail prices hover below $60.
Locke launched Sunday Rocks in 2009 with men’s tees in drapey bamboo fabric. The slim, body-conscious and semi-sheer tops became one of the top-selling T-shirt lines at Kitson.
“The price points, fabrics, styles were missing in the market at that time. It was the right time to do it,” Locke said. Raw-edge trim on the collar, sleeve openings and hemline provide differentiation from the competition.
“It’s really surprising how a small detail like that [raw edge] can change the whole style of your garment,” Locke said.
Since the company launched women’s tees, the women’s portion has taken over to account for 80 percent of Sunday Rocks. It has expanded from just basics to more fashion bodies in the silky bamboo fabric that the company has come to manipulate expertly. Sunday Rocks practices vertical manufacturing in Southern California—with a mill in Vernon, finishing in Commerce and warehouse in Cypress—so that Locke can keep an eye on every step of the process.
“Bamboo is one of the most difficult fabrics to work with because it grows, shrinks. ... We knit and finish the fabric, print it. It’s not only coming up with new designs; the major thing is we’re able to develop new fabrics, new blends, knitting the fabric in different ways to give it new textures.”
Locke has earned a reputation among her stores as someone who can fill Immediate orders quickly because of local production.
“If someone needs something in a week, you could definitely turn it around in a week here,” Locke said.
For more information, call the Sunday Rocks corporate office at (213) 627-2472.—Rhea Cortado
