Todd Rosen’s Rich In Clothing: A Bid for the New Normal
In the fashion wor ld, where eccentric clothing details are championed by designers and stylists, Todd Rosen felt the only way to break away from the pack was to make clothes with a look and fit that could best be described as “normal.”
Rosen debuted Los Angeles– based T-shirt label Rich In Clothing—its first shipment was in January—as a boutique line of T-shirts that would find a place in a stylish middle. RIC T-shirts are not as slim-cut as hipsterloving American Apparel, and they’re not as loose-fitting as Hanes T-shirts, which are often sold in mass-market retailers.
“It’s simple and comfortable,” Rosen said of his label’s crew necks and V-neck shirts. “It’s not too baggy and not too tight. We call it normal.” The color scheme is kept simple, too—just the basics of white, gray and black. Colors other than the basics must be requested through a special order, Rosen said. Eventually, he hopes to expand the line to other clothes such as jeans and jackets.
The normal act does not entirely fit the RIC label, however. They are sold in three-packs, packed in cloth bags constructed from T-shirt fabric. The T-shirts are treated in a proprietary wash to make them soft to the touch. Rosen dubbed the treatment “the Butter Wash.”
He hoped the T-shirts would serve as clothes for all situations—garments that could be worn under woven shirts at the office, for example. After work, the shirts could be worn alone at the nightclub or the bar.
RIC is made in America and has been sold at boutique chains Kitson and Planet Blue. Wholesale price points range from $22.50 to $24.50. The label is Rosen’s first attempt at men’s clothing. He helmed two women’s fashion lines in the past. From 2005 to 2007, he ran Lipstick Bandits, a fleece line that was sold at Macy’s. It was purchased by Stony Apparel Corp. in 2007, according to Rosen, and turned into a contemporary juniors line called Born Famous, which was sold at Hot Topic. In 2010, Rosen parted ways with Stony Apparel to create a new company.
Both Lipstick Bandits and Born Famous were graphically driven, and Rosen hoped to make a permanent break from graphics with RIC. “I did graphics for six years. I had enough,” he said. But he will take chances with the line in the future. “Stripes, yes. Graphics, no,” he quipped. For more information, email info@richinclothing.com. —Andrew Asch
