California Apparel News

Los Angeles fashion label Gypsy05 made waves with its eco-friendly clothes and production methods, and, after nearly 10 years selling its clothes at retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue, American Rag and Revolve Clothing, Gypsy05 will be rolling out its own branded stores.

On June 1, Gypsy05 is scheduled to open boutiques in two high-marquee shopping areas, Robertson Boulevard in Los Angeles and Malibu Country Mart in Malibu, Calif., said Osi Shoham, co-founder of Gypsy05. She hopes that the two Los Angeles County stores will be the first in a handful of branded stores spread across the United States. The brand is scheduled to open a location in Orange County, Calif., in June, but real estate negotiations have not been completed.

Shoham, along with her brother, Dotan, also co-owns Los Angeles–headquartered dyehouse and wash house compounds Pacific Blue Inc., where they have worked with premium-denim and fashion clients such as Paige Denim, Theory, True Religion, Juicy Couture, Helmut Lang, Dickies and Guess.

Gypsy05’s new retail will give both the fashion public and the brand’s wholesale partners the full picture of the boho-chic brand, Dotan said. “This is the wow factor. Now I get the full experience. Fasten your seatbelts,” he said.

Both boutiques will be more than 800 square feet. Gypsy05 will move into a space that briefly held a shop for the Babakul brand at 8811 Alden Drive, on the corner of Alden and Robertson. At the Malibu Country Mart, it will move into a space adjacent to the Mr. Chow restaurant.

The spaces were designed by the Shohams with materials deemed to be eco-friendly. The exteriors will be covered in reclaimed wood. The walls will be coated with a ground limestone plaster.

The store’s core retail price points will be $90 to $450, Osi said. It also will sell third-party products such as books, candles and jewelry. It will offer furniture that was designed by the Shohams, as well as Gypsy05 handbags and accessories, bikini line Gypsy Sand and their footwear collection, Gypsyz, which combines the comfort of a sock with the sole of a shoe.

The Gypsy05 look is a classic bohemian look with a modern angle, said Laurie Brucker, a Los Angeles–based stylist who runs the LaurieBstyle company. “Their look is so distinct,” Brucker said. “It’s a washed, draped silk. There always is a great maxi dress with a bias here. It is the ultimate in bohemian. It is not cheap, but it is perfect for the boho-loving fashionista.”

For the Spring/Summer 2014 line, Gypsy05 used Indian- and Moroccan-inspired prints. “Everything is colorful and beautiful,” Osi said. “It’s drapey, natural fabrics, and it is easy for the summer when it is hot.”

The stores are the next step in the company’s efforts to raise the profile of the brand. In 2011 and 2012, Gypsy05 produced big runway shows at Style Fashion Week in downtown Los Angeles, where it exhibited more than 70 pieces during the shows.

Eco mission

Gypsy05’s environmentally conscious stance extends to its dyehouse business. In 2010, the Shohams covered more than a third of the roof spaces of the Pacific Blue compounds with solar panels, which generate 60,000 kilowatt hours of energy and are said to reduce global carbon emissions by 48 tons annually.

(The company looked into doing the same for the new stores, Dotan said, but the municipal permitting process for solar proved to be too cumbersome and lengthy. “It is something for us [going] forward. It is something that we are looking into,” he said.)

Pacific Blue also is looking at ways to conserve energy by reusing and conserving heat generated by the facility’s dryers. It also is figuring out how to save energy by heating water by solar panels instead of gas heaters. Incremental changes such as these can help improve the world’s environment, Dotan said. “If each one of us looks at climate change as responsible members of our society—if each one of us does something small—we can make a change,” he said.