California Apparel News

In the midst of a seemingly endless economic downturn, when sales can be sluggish and ambitions limited, people take note of any bit of good business news. It was hopeful news, indeed, when Nally & Millie, purveyors of the trend-tracking contemporary line of mainly drapey fashion tops, recently took over a 42,000-square-foot factory in downtown Los Angeles with the aim of expanding the already burgeoning production and opening up new opportunities.

“I must say, it’s a bit of self-satisfaction after being a tenant all these years,” mused James Park, who, along with wife Nally, co-owns the fashion house. “It’s a good time to have our own place. You can fix it up, you know.”

There’s also satisfaction—and a minor miracle—that success should come without stepping one foot outside the U.S. borders, not for cheaper fabric, not for cheaper labor.

The Parks take justifiable pride in the fact that everything made by Nally & Millie is made in the U.S.A., and much of it, including fabric, right in downtown Los Angeles. For two native South Koreans, both of whom immigrated here as children, it seemed the natural thing to do. “Even though I was raised here, I still see the U.S. from the sense of the outsider a bit,” James said. “When I grew up, made in the U.S.A. meant it was the best. People born and raised here don’t actually realize what they have.”

The Parks’ accomplishment with Nally & Millie evokes something else unique to the U.S.—the all-American success story. It was 1992, and James was not long out of the Navy and brief stints in the personal computer industry and with a South Korean trading company. With another economic downturn, this one in the early 1990s, he began looking for something else to do. He knew someone in the apparel industry and decided to take a dive into a downtown L.A. storefront business selling purses across the street from the California Mart (now the California Market Center). It didn’t go well.

“I was having a difficult time, actually,” James recalls. “I had never run a business like that, and being in downtown, it’s not the typical retail environment. It was a very trying learning period.” Nally, who had worked successfully as a salesgirl at Judy’s and Contempo Casuals and then at Bullock’s Wilshire, decided it was time to step in. “Thank God she came,” James says. “To be successful in business, you have to be able to sell your product. Nally wasn’t a technically disciplined designer out of school, but she was a good merchandiser and fashionable herself. She became a big asset for us.”

Nally had spent her youth putting embellishments and layers on the hand-me-downs from her two older sisters (the “Millie” in Nally & Millie is her older sister). Nally had an eye for big, bold color and a tasteful bit of bling. Being in a retail environment stoked her creative juices, and in 1997 she started buying basics from the locals and embellishing them. One of her items, a ’70s-style embellished bra top, was noticed by Seventeen magazine, which did a spread on it. She did two- and three-layer stretch denim capris, creating a skirt effect with embroidered silk fabric. She started working with feathers, lots of them, hand sewn on tops. Dallas and other Southern states took note. “We did pretty decent business,” James said.

As the business grew, the Parks made some critical decisions, all with the aim of staying small and in control. “Major stores we stayed away from,” James said. “We were just starting out, learning manufacturing. We always somehow focused on independent boutiques. A lot of our customers know that, and that’s why we have a loyal following.”

Another key choice was to keep all production local. Nally & Millie do everything in-house, except dyeing. “I had some sense that the import business is very volume driven—how cheap it is, how much they can make,” James explained. “You have to commit, tie up your funds, and what happens if you don’t sell the stuff? It didn’t make much sense to me. It is easy to get greedy in this business and overstep certain boundaries. I never go after volume. Fashion is all about being something different and how fast you can turn it over. Reliability, delivery, less strain on my cash flow—those are more serious matters to me.”

One last important decision the Parks made: Keep the price points low. Nally & Millie’s tops and skirts retail for $44 to $96 and dresses from $75 to $195. Nally’s innovative, on-point design is all about comfort, drape and good fit. Prints exclusive to Nally & Millie, often artworks done by Nally’s surfer brother, are important design elements, as is color, which continues to be big and evocative in such shades as wasabi, custard, French toast and shell.

As the Parks settle into their new digs, the future remains local. “We get e-mails saying things like, ’Thank you for keeping your business in the U.S.A.,’” James said. “All of us in the garment business should pay more attention to what we can do here. We grew organically, you might say. But here we are, growing.” —Carol A. Crotta