California Apparel News

JANUARY

• Ace Hotel takes a bow in downtown Los Angeles. Many hope the boutique hotel will be the catalyst to bring high-end retail to downtown’s Fashion District.

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The National Retail Federation comes out in opposition to a call to raise the minimum wage in President Obama’s State of the Union address. It sets the stage for a national discussion of the issue.

• With unique merchandising, Little Tokyo’s Popkiller store opens a sister boutique called Pop. T-shirts are merchandised like vinyl LPs.

FEBRUARY

• Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance, Calif., starts a major redevelopment wherein the north side of the sprawling mall was closed to build a new two-level mall and a Nordstrom, which will open in fall 2015.

• Gap Inc. shutters its 1969 denim studio in downtown Los Angeles.

• The Fashion Bookstore at the California Market Center was acquired by the bookshop’s longtime employees Rina Castro and Yolanda Bragg.

• Gap Inc. announces that it will raise its minimum wage to $9 in 2014, then to $10 in 2015.

MARCH

• Japanese retailer Muji is known for making fashion and other goods with a design philosophy of an elegant simplicity. On March 5 it announced that it would move into a space that formerly housed a Patagonia store on Main Street in Santa Monica.

APRIL

• LA fashion comes to Las Vegas. Kitson opens a 12,000-square-foot shop at The LINQ in Las Vegas.

• Desert Hills Premium Outlets, near Palm Springs, Calif., bows a major 146,000-square-foot expansion for its designer outlets center.

• Wet Seal Inc.

shutters its young contemporary Arden B. division. Arden B.’s 31 stores were scheduled to be turned into Wet Seal Plus stores.

• Influential LA clothier and career Fred Segal retailer John Eshaya opens his first freestanding JET boutique on Los Angeles’ Beverly Boulevard.

MAY

• Los Angeles’ fashion district’s Scandinavian connection grows stronger. Sweden’s Acne Studio makes headlines by opening a boutique in the district in late 2013. In May, Swedish design house Austere opens a sprawling 5,000-square-foot space a block away from Acne.

• Forever 21 bows a new concept, F21 Red, at the new Azalea mall. F21 Red promises to be cheaper than the cheap-chic Forever 21.

• Azalea, a new mall, debuts in South Gate, a predominately Latino, blue-collar city 13 miles south of downtown Los Angeles. The mall is forecast to power an economic boost for the city.

• Westfield Group

unveils designs for the open-air retail center The Village at Westfield Topanga in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley. The $350 million development is scheduled to open in fall 2015.

• H. Lorenzo

bows a new look for its women’s store in West Hollywood, Calif.’s Sunset Plaza retail district.

• Luxury Jones opens a shop on Los Angeles’ Melrose Avenue for its made-to-measure streetwear for women.

• Fred Segal names Paul Blum to be its chief executive officer. He is charged with helming the expansion of the venerable boutique’s stores.

• The Gypsy 05 brand bows its first boutiques, one off of Los Angeles’ Robertson Boulevard, another in Malibu.

• The fur ban in West Hollywood survives a court challenge and is deemed constitutional. It is the only municipal ban on new fur clothing in the United States. In September, West Hollywood officials note that the fur ban will be amended to make the law more clear to retailers.

• Zara bows a 27,000-square-foot flagship at Figat7th in downtown Los Angeles.

• Boutique retailers of the landmark 500 Broadway building of Fred Segal Santa Monica are ordered to vacate to make way for construction of a new structure.

JUNE

• The Amour Vert label puts eco apparel into the spotlight with its first boutique. It is located in San Francisco.

• New York–based streetwear line SSUR opens its LA-area flagship in West Hollywood.

• Pacific City

breaks ground in Huntington Beach, Calif. The mixed-use center will offer boutique retail, restaurants and a hotel adjacent to one of Southern California’s popular surfing beaches.

• Keith Hufnagel, founder of the skate brand Huf, confirms that his brand will open a boutique on Fairfax Avenue.

• Steve Birkhold resigns from his job as chief executive officer for Bebe Stores Inc. Jim Wiggett is appointed as the interim CEO for the mall-based contemporary retailer. In December, Wiggett is named as the permanent CEO.

• Phenomenal Threadz boutique opens in Inglewood, Calif., to sell independent brands for women.

• Bonobos Guideshop opens at District La Brea. The physical shop/showroom for the formerly pure-play e-commerce brand offers a different take on omnichannel shopping.

JULY

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In a district increasingly dominated by branded stores, the independent In Heroes We Trust boutique opens in the Abbot Kinney area of Venice.

• Love Culture, a c heap-chic retailer founded by Forever 21 alums Jai Rhee and Bennett Koo, files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

• Tengram Capital Partners announces that it has made an investment in Active Ride Shop to fuel expansion for the action-sports and streetwear chain.

• Hail Mary, a business that mixes boutique retail and a wholesale showroom, opens in Santa Monica, Calif.

AUGUST

• Call it a loss for the main drag in Los Angeles’ Arts District. Guerilla Atelier moves a mile or so from its former home at 821 E. Third St. to 427 S. Hewitt St. Hipsters follow the new location for its art shows, parties and high-end fashion.

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The Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, Calif., announces a major renovation with a facelift for the mall’s common area and an open-air shopping area. It will take a bow in 2015.

• Fred Segal Collective takes a bow at the SLS Las Vegas. It is Fred Segal’s first store outside of LA County.

• Australian-based surf giant Billabong sells Swell.com, an Irvine, Calif.–based e-commerce surf emporium, to a group of investors that include the founders of SurfStitch, an Australian e-commerce group.

• The Outlets at Tejon, an outlet center 90 minutes north of Los Angeles, takes a bow. It offers stores from Gap, Brooks Brothers and Calvin Klein at off-price.

SEPTEMBER

• High-fashion designing twins Dean and Dan Caten open their DSquared2 flagship on Rodeo Drive. It is their first American flagship.

• After taking the runway at many Mercedes-Benz Fashion Weeks in Miami, the LA–based Wildfox label opens its first flagship in West Hollywood’s Sunset Plaza district.

• The University of Southern California commits $650 million to USC Village, a mixed residential and retail center. The 1.25-million-square-foot district promises to reshape the university, according to a USC statement.

• Uniqlo opens a handful of highly anticipated stores in Southern California malls such as South Coast Plaza and Beverly Center.

• Ed Thomas rejoins beleaguered retailer The Wet Seal Inc. as its chief executive officer. He vows to return the retailer back to profitability.

•

In a boost to social-media commerce, San Francisco–headquartered Twitter unveils a “buy” button.

• Macy’s Inc

1. announces new developments in its omnichannel strategy, including same-day delivery and accepting the Apple Pay payment platform.

• Austin, Texas–based men’s boutique Stag opens on Abbot Kinney Boulevard.

• Harper’s, a Corona Del Mar, Calif., store, closes its physical boutique and offers a “VIP drop-off” service from its e-commerce store.

• Boot Barn

Inc.

, an Irvine, Calif.–headquartered Westernwear emporium, files for an IPO.

OCTOBER

• A.P.C., the French tailored basics line, produces a star-studded party for the debut of its Melrose Place store. Fashion muse and provocateur Kanye West appears at the gala. A.P.C. also has scheduled to open a boutique in downtown Los Angeles.

• The Skingraft label opens its highly anticipated boutique in downtown LA.

• H&M’s refined sister store, COS, opens its first U.S. location in Beverly Hills.

• Gucci unveils a remodel of its Rodeo Drive renovation.

• Salvatore Ferragamo opens a boutique at Los Angeles’ Beverly Center.

• Glenn Murphy, Gap Inc.’s chairman and chief executive officer, announces his resignation from the world’s biggest specialty retailer.

• Bob McKnight, founder of Quiksilver Inc., announces his retirement as the surf giant’s executive chairman.

• American Rag

, a Los Angeles retail pioneer, confirms that it is opening stores in China.

• AltHouse

, a new downtown Los Angeles boutique, is opened by Jennifer Althouse, an American Rag alumna.

• The City Council of Redondo Beach, Calif., votes to write a new environmental impact report for The Waterfront, a proposed district of boutiques and restaurants. The writing of a new EIR could delay the project for one year.

• Barneys New York unveils its redesign for its high-end Beverly Hills department store.

NOVEMBER

• Quiksilver’s Boardriders boutique moves into a Pasadena, Calif., space that once housed a location for Val Surf, a pioneering surf shop.

• Eva Franco, a whimsical dress brand, opens its first standalone boutique in Los Angeles’ Los Feliz neighborhood.

• Hyden Yoo, a downtown Los Angeles brand, opens its first standalone store on Abbot Kinney.

• Diane Von Furstenberg opens a handful of boutiques in the Los Angeles area. The first one opens in the Santa Monica Place retail center.

• Amber Fredman-Tarshis is hired as the chief marketing officer for Pacific Sunwear. It is a new position at PacSun, a mall-based retailer

of surf, skate and action-sports brands.

• E-commerce brand Nasty Gal opens its first physical boutique, on Los Angeles’ Melrose Avenue. It’s in a space that formerly housed a boutique for the contemporary chain Madison.

• Tankfarm

and Schott NYC join The Americana at Brand retail center.

• Christopher Bailey, Burberry’s chief creative officer, accepts a Rodeo Drive Walk of Style plaque the same weekend that Burberry unveils a flagship on the designer fashion street.

• Westfield Santa Anita, located in Arcadia, Calif., unveils a $20 million renovation.

• M.Fredric opens a new location at the Collection at River Park retail center in Oxnard, Calif.

• After 40 years in boutique retail, Ron Robinson opens his first standalone Ron Robinson boutique in Santa Monica, Calif.

• Caruso Affiliated closes escrow on 2.8 acres in Los Angeles’ ritzy Pacific Palisades neighborhood. Rick J. Caruso later holds a town hall–style meeting in Pacific Palisades to discuss plans for his Palisades Village retail district.

DECEMBER

• Coach debuts the remodel of its flagship store on Rodeo Drive with a gala party.

• Downtown Los Angeles’ string of debuts of high-end boutiques takes a turn when Gap Inc., the largest specialty store on the globe, opens an off-price Gap Factory store near Los Angeles’ Fashion District.