Modern Love: Juniors Dresses From Former Hot Kiss Team
Moshe Tsabag, who sold his Hot Kiss label in 2008, has only been out of the juniorswear business for a few years, but he couldn’t stay away for long.
The veteran Los Angeles apparel maker is launching a juniors dress line called Modern Love, which starts delivery in April.
“I think you can see in the streets and everywhere you go that girls are wearing dresses,” said Tsabag, who has started and sold several apparel labels during his nearly 30 years in the clothing business.
Modern Love, whose logo is a broken heart stitched together, is a mix of clubby dresses, maxi silhouettes and frilly day dresses that wholesale for $12 to $18.
“We’ve cranked out about 60 different dresses,” said Ben Kaczor, Modern Love’s vice president of sales.
Modern Love seemed the perfect next step for Tsabag, who launched a contemporary women’s line called Velvet Heart in 2009 after selling the Hot Kiss name to Bluestar Alliance in New York for $20 million. Even though Velvet Heart is carried by 750 specialty stores, Tsabag felt contemporary apparel has a limited reach.
“The contemporary world is small and tight, and the smaller stores are hurting for credit,” he said. “I come from a background of doing business with the bigger stores.”
So in December, Tsabag reconnected with Kaczor, who had been head of sales at Hot Kiss and Tsabag’s previous company, Yes Clothing Co., another juniorswear line sold in 1995.
The two felt the time was right for juniors dresses, with an eye on expanding to a full range of sportswear. Already, they have gotten favorable responses from retailers such as Hot Topic, Wet Seal, Nordstrom and Mandee on the East Coast, Tsabag said. And they are going to pursue several department-store accounts such as Macy’s and Dillard’s.
Under the guidance of head designer Lynda Harriman, the Summer 2011 collection is incorporating a number of colorful animal, ethnic, tribal and romantic prints as well as polka dots and color blocking.
Fabrics include hammered satin, crinkled georgette, silky chiffons, rayon jersey and accents in lace.
Black and white are two colors that play a predominant part in the Summer collection as well as reds, greens, pinks and blues.
About 50 percent of the line will be manufactured in Vietnam, with the rest made domestically.
For more information, call (213) 488-8400, Ext. 121.—Deborah Belgum
