California Apparel News

More than 30 years ago, Mukesh and Rajni Jain launched a Los Angeles accessories company called Jainson’s International, which eventually expanded into clothing imported from a family-owned factory in India.

Now the second generation of Jains is making its presence felt with a new line of boho contemporary clothing that launched this summer and is already being sold at Bloomingdale’s stores and online.

The forces behind the new RahiCali line are Neha Jain, daughter of the company’s founders, and her sister-in-law, Reneta Jain. The two young women tapped into their Indian heritage and their California roots to develop a line for women who are passionate about adventure and traveling while embracing their bohemian spirit.

The dresses, tops and outfits are made in the Jains’ three factories in Noida, India, near New Delhi, where about 1,000 people are employed.

“We are both passionate about this new line,” said Reneta, who graduated from the University of California, Irvine, with a bachelor’s degree in business economics. “It seemed natural for us to create such a new brand. We wanted to create something that used a lot of color, had embroidery, and was about romance and travel.”

Neha Jain, whose bachelor’s degree is in architecture from the University of Southern California, envisions creating a fashion powerhouse at the family company. “The RahiCali brand has gotten great momentum, and our goal is to bring it to a higher and higher level every single time,” she said.

The third person involved in the new brand is Amit Jain, the brother of Neha and husband of Reneta, who heads up sales. The 3Jains, as they call themselves, took RahiCali to the WWDMAGIC show last August in Las Vegas and got some strong responses to the new line, which wholesales for $20 to $50. “It was at the right place at the right time,” Reneta said.

Bloomingdale’s spotted it and bought pieces for the Spring 2017 collection, which is in stores now and at the Bloomingdale’s online site. “They saw us again at Coterie in New York and went deeper into the buy,” Neha said, noting they also will be shipping Summer pieces to Bloomingdale’s.

RahiCali is a name that comes from a mixture of two words. In Sanskrit, Rahi means traveler and Cali stands for California. The brand is made for a woman between the ages of 20 and 35 who feels a bit like a free spirit amd loves to travel. The collection is strong with dresses and sets made of tops and shorts or tops and skirts. “Embroidery is the No. 1 identity of the brand,” Reneta said.

Fabrics are also important with cottons, rayons and textures making up most of the collection for Spring/Summer.

RahiCali is also being sold at ShopBop.com, Asos.com and Planet Blue. It is the third label launched by Jainson’s International in the last few years. The company also makes the Dizzy Lizzy brand, which is a fast-fashion juniorswear line carried byCharlotte Russe, Forever 21, PacSun, Tilly’s and Bebe.

The company’s other label is New Friends Colony, a chic, dressier line that launched two years ago and is heavy on beaded embellishments.