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TheSeventhLetter Flagship Opens; One Partner Is Agenda's Aaron Levant
With more than 1,000 people waiting in line to get inside the flagship store and art gallery of TheSeventhLetter at 346 N. Fairfax Ave. in Los Angeles on Dec. 7, the debut looked more like a movie premiere.
The night also was the first foray into retail by Agenda trade show founder Aaron Levant. Agenda operates three trade shows devoted to streetwear, action sports and fashion, which run biannually in Long Beach, Calif.; New York; and Las Vegas. The Long Beach show is considered the dominant streetwear and action-sports trade show on the West Coast.
Agenda is a dominant trade show for streetwear and action sports, said Sarah Owen, an editor for trend-forecasting group WGSN, based in New York City. “From the buying perspective, it’s one you can’t miss if you’re in the game,” Owen said
There are no plans in the near future to build more TheSeventhLetter flagships, Levant said. “We like to think of it as a museum with a gift shop,” Levant said of the 5,000-square-foot flagship, which features more than 150 paintings and installations from street artists such as Shepard Fairey. Levant was trained as a graphic artist and has occasionally curated galleries of street art. The flagship’s art is for sale, and the objets d’art can retail for $300 to $16,000.
The flagship will sell T-shirts, fleece and caps from TheSeventhLetter. Retail prices for the brand’s apparel range from $25 to $75. It also will offer products from the label’s collaborations from other popular streetwear brands such as RVCA, The Hundreds and Rook.
TheSeventhLetter moved into a site that had been vacant for more than five years. The partners in the brand—Levant; Bill Hebner, formerly of pioneering streetwear brand Fresh Jive; and TheSeventhLetter founder Casey “Eklips” Zoltan—completely renovated the building. Levant declined to say how much the building’s renovation cost. “It was very expensive,” he said. “A high-end retail place is not cheap.”
Zoltan designed the look of the store. It has a black exterior juxtaposed with an all-white interior.
