California Apparel News

In an unassuming brick building in Culver City, Calif., John Moore and his company, Pencil On Paper Studio, are busy giving outsourcing a good name.

Since launching POP Studio in August 2008—“four weeks before the financial world ended,” he said—Moore has helped a diverse client roster outsource everything from new brand launches to seasonal inspiration, hired-gun design and creative direction, branding, marketing, merchandising, website design and site relaunches, development of a corporate identity, and more.

Moore, formerly of Modern Amusement and the executive who brought the Hollister retail concept to life for Abercrombie & Fitch, doesn’t mince words when it comes to explaining how POP Studio manages such a wide range of services. “We have resources the likes of which are unmatched in the fashion space,” Moore said. “We have a vision, management, creative resources, distribution and, most importantly, capital.”

Past and current clients include Quiksilver’s Quiksilver Girls and QSW lines; VF Corp.’s Ella Moss and Splendid; Liz Claiborne’s Mexx and Lucky Brand; Mossimo Giannulli’s new high-end golf glove brand, G-Fore; Modern Amusement (which recently shifted its distribution from specialty stores to solely Pacific Sunwear); Mountain Khakis; and the 15 Minutes space at Fred Segal. And despite Moore’s golden-boy status as a rainmaker for fashion brands with a West Coast vibe, POP Studio’s clients are not limited to the apparel industry. The Beverly Hills Country Club, Amp Energy drink, chef Taite Pearson and Shape magazine are also clients.

“What’s unique about POP Studio is each one of our clients is different, and we tailor our creative resources to fit them separately,” Moore said.Outsourcing by accident

Moore developed the POP Studio concept circuitously. After exiting Modern Amusement in 2008, he shopped around an idea for a hip, new vertically integrated retail project. Imagine a high-end, super-cool Southern California version of The Gap or J.Crew. “But no one had $10 million to give me,” he said.

What investors did have was a need for fresh eyes. “A lot of [potential investors] said, ’Great idea, but we don’t have money for you, kid. What we do have is this broken thing.’ Or they said, ’We want help launching this new thing,’” Moore said.

Seeing an opportunity, Moore shifted his focus and quickly recruited a skeleton staff to open POP Studio. Since then, POP Studio has grown to a staff of 18 employees, but thanks to a “strategic partnership” with one of its early clients, Brand Sense Partners, a brand-management and business-development firm, it functions as a much larger entity.

Since March 2009, the two companies have pooled resources, with BSP President Ramez Toubassy providing POP with day-to-day operations leadership and strategy for long-term growth and Moore acting as BSP’s chief creative officer. BSP, which recently moved into new digs—also in Culver City—acts as an auxiliary home base for Moore and houses the dedicated design staff for Quiksilver Girls and QSW—both of which are entirely conceptualized, designed and branded by POP Studio.

The timing of POP Studio’s launch had much to do with its success, Moore said. “Hard times make for creative ideas.” As the recession struck, brands began looking for creative ways to cut costs—and outsourcing was one way to do that.

That is how the company landed one of its biggest clients, Quiksilver. Kenna Florie, Quiksilver Girls’ and QSW’s vice president of sales and marketing, said the company was looking for ways to bolster its girls’ business (Roxy saw a 14 percent drop in sales in 2008 and a 15 percent drop in 2009) and reposition its young contemporary business. After considering speed to market, an already busy QSW design staff and the cost savings of outsourcing design, the company hired POP Studio to conceptualize and design its new Quiksilver Girls line. One season later, POP Studio was handed design duties for the QSW brand, as well.

Jonathan Saven, president of Ella Moss and Splendid, said he turned to POP Studios after the line between the two brands began to blur. “We needed to take them into new directions, and we felt it was important to have outside eyes and new perspective,” he said. He tasked POP Studio to revisit the logo and demographic for each brand and map out a unique design direction for both Splendid and Ella Moss. POP Studio also helped create a new concept for each brand’s website. Going forward, the concepts POP Studio created for each brand will act as “guard rails” to keep the brands on track as they grow. Splendid, which has opened four stores in the past two years, has plans to open up to eight more in 2011, Saven said.

Mountain Khakis, a Jackson, Wyo.–based maker of men’s outdoor-lifestyle pants, hired POP Studio to help it make the jump into full outdoor-lifestyle apparel for men and women. “They challenged us to think outside the box and blow the lid off of our old habits,” said Jen Taylor, the brand’s public-relations manager. POP Studio, while not involved in design, helped create a branding and marketing strategy for the brand’s Fall 2011, Spring 2012 and Fall 2012 seasons.In-house growth

The strength of POP Studio’s business allows the brand engineering firm to dedicate resources to its own projects, including Penny Stock, the in-house menswear label that debuted in Spring 2010 as a collection of shirts and has grown into a full sportswear collection of shirting, suiting, pants, shorts, sweaters, boardshorts, knit shirts, outerwear and accessories for Fall 2011. The collection, which features a pocket for a penny on nearly every style, sells in top Urban Outfitters doors and specialty stores.

In the works are several additional brands, including Copper Stock, a more high-end line of menswear that, unlike Penny Stock, will include denim and debut for Fall 2011. Made in Los Angeles, the new collection will feature a higher price point and a limited distribution, Moore said. “The idea is that Penny Stock is democratic. It is design and true value for everyone,” Moore said. “Copper Stock will be premium, and the price is commensurate with what it costs to produce domestically. We want to do something to support the local work force. It feels great to work with those in our own backyard—but it costs more.”

Also in the works are several women’s brands, including Pretty Penny, a young contemporary brand set to launch for Fall 2012. Two other as-yet-unnamed women’s brands are also brewing for 2012.

And Moore, who says he’s “in love with retail,” hasn’t given up hope for launching a retail concept further down the line.