California Apparel News

Caleb Lin, the executive vice president, buying director and men’s buyer of prominent retailer American Rag Cie, announced in a Nov. 4 email that he would be leaving the high-end, influential fashion company.

After a four-year stint with American Rag, Lin marked his last day with the company on Nov. 8. In the email, he said that he will follow “personal pursuits.” He also introduced the company’s new men’s buyer, Berlin Nicholas.

In the chatty email, Lin wrote that his exit came with the “full blessing and support of our leadership.” He also made no bones about his next moves. “In full transparency, nothing right now, just a trip to Japan and Korea for some true R&R and inspiration. There’s no doubt that I’ll still be seeing most of you—fashion is in my blood and I have the same sickness some of you are cursed with also, where we catch ourselves studying the collar length on someone’s coat in a movie or judging the design of uniforms during sporting events,” he wrote.

During his tenure at American Rag, Lin worked on opening the retailer’s first shops in China, and he continued the retailer’s focus on new and emerging brands. Mark Werts, American Rag’s founder, said that Lin has been a part of the store’s evolution. “We love him. We wish him success in any endeavor in his life. We are drinking pink champagne as he sails off into the sunset,” Werts said

American Rag started business in the 1980s when it opened a San Francisco shop, and in 1985 it introduced an emporium in Los Angeles’ Mid-City section. In 2006, it opened another shop in the Fashion Island retail center in Newport Beach, Calif. The retailer has been working to expand overseas. It has opened stores in Asian cities Shanghai and Bangkok. It has opened another concept, Industrie Denim, in Turkey. Industrie Denim shuttered after the Turkish chief executive officer left for other pursuits. The Shanghai store closed earlier this year due to nonpayment from the venture’s Chinese partners, Werts said.