BoF - The Business of Fashion » Los Angeles

BoF Exclusive | Fashion Film Premiere: The Elder Statesman

Imran Amed, Editor — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 02:02:10 +0000

Today, BoF is pleased to bring you the exclusive premiere of a film by The Little Squares about rising luxury business, The Elder Statesman

LOS ANGELES, United States — “Ever since I was a little boy, I always gravitated towards well made things. Always. It was innately in me,” says Greg Chait, the amicable and charming founder of The Elder Statesman, in For The Record, an editorial newspaper to be distributed during Paris mens fashion week, alongside a new content rich website launching today.

A collection of ultra-luxe essentials — heavy gauge cashmere blankets, intricately shaped buffalo-horn eyewear, four layer cashmere wool hats — The Elder Statesman introduces an understated, laid-back aesthetic to the world of luxury. “About 10 years ago I was given a really beautiful cashmere blanket,” explains Chait. “I then started collecting blankets from France, Italy, Scotland, even Ethiopia, and I wound up with a great collection, but I could never find the one that I really wanted for myself. It had to be utilitarian as well as the ultimate in terms of luxury, so I found a collective in Canada doing handspun wool and they were working a little bit with cashmere and I asked them, ‘can you create a really heavy gauged yarn for me?’”

The Canadian collective said yes. “I didn’t know a lot about yarn at the time, but somehow I figured out that it was ‘about the yarn,’ it has to be about the yarn. It’s the D.N.A. of everything,” he goes on. “So they hand spun a yarn for me, which we then hand knitted into a blanket that weighed ten pounds! I made two of them for myself.”

Greg Chait | Photo: Debra Scherer

After the owner of Maxfield, the legendary Los Angeles luxury emporium, heard about them through the grapevine, Chait took them in for him to see. Maxfield placed an order right away, the blankets sold like hotcakes, and shortly thereafter The Elder Statesman was born.

The business has since expanded into other categories, always with an obsessive focus on the raw materials. “All of the materials I use are quite ancient,” says Chait, explaining the underlying appeal of his products. “They’ve been around long before cotton, obviously: cashmere, wool, gold, buffalo horn; everything, has been used for millennia, so they are rich but old and therefore have their own history. I’m creating a new way, my own way, to interpret them. It’s just what I’m drawn to.”

Leveraging a local base of highly-skilled artisans — “cobblers from Argentina, dressmakers from Paris, and tailors from London” — who originally came to Los Angeles to serve Hollywood, Chait’s products are also exquisitely crafted, with a rough hewn, handmade touch.

The clothes seem like they have been around forever: a pair of shorts to live in all summer, a fine gauge t-shirt that’s light as a feather, a warm cashmere hat which is as much about how it feels to wear it, as it is about how it looks on. They are the ultimate in luxury, but still enable the wearer to blend into the crowd.

What makes this a remarkable business story is The Elder Statesman pricepoint. With cashmere blankets starting around $1,200 and going all the way up to $21,000, wool hats up to $700 and distressed denim shirts costing up to $500, consumers buying these products also require a big bank account, a serious investment mindset.

A quick visit to Hostem — recently praised by the the FT’s How to Spend it Magazine as “the most interesting men’s store to debut in London in the past ten years” — confirms that the business model is working. At least at this small, manageable scale, The Elder Statesman products are selling briskly and sales associates report that everyone from rock stars to young millionaires from the City are coming in, falling in love with products and paying full price to enjoy them. The early success of Chait’s business seems to say that luxury items don’t need to be defined by big logos, from famous brands, available everywhere. Neither do they need to be avant-garde or ‘directional’.

As The Elder Statesman business quietly grows, Mr. Chait may emerge as one of our most compelling tastemakers. We are pleased to bring you the debut of a film that will enable you to get to know him and his luxury philosophy a bit better.

The Elder Statesman will be showing his A/W 2011 collection at The Bristol Hotel during Paris Fashion Week

CEO Talk | Jeff Rudes, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, J Brand Jeans

Imran Amed, Editor — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:14:54 +0000

Jeff Rudes | Chief Executive Officer, J Brand Jeans

LOS ANGELES, United States — While preparing for our FASHION PIONEERS interview with Natalie Massenet over the summer, I had the chance to spend quite a bit of time at the stylish new Net-a-Porter offices. Apart from the funky furniture, bright airy atmosphere and technology, the other highlight of camping out at Net-a-Porter is to see what employees at the most powerful fashion e-tailer are wearing.

Without a doubt, the most ubiquitous piece of clothing at Net-a-Porter over the summer was the Houlihan trouser by J Brand Jeans, known for its low-rise and skinny cut. Everyone from Ms. Massenet herself to scores of others in her team wore the Houlihan like a defacto office uniform. Word on the street was that the Houlihan was the hottest thing running, selling out offline and online, all over the planet, racking up a staggering 200,000 pairs sold.

But of course, this is the era of fast fashion and the days of the hot Houlihan are waning. That’s okay, CEO Jeff Rudes was already thinking of his next signature silhouette ages ago. With thirty years of denim experience he’s the guy to talk to for insights on how the denim industry has exploded into one of the most important fashion categories, recession or no recession.

I caught up with Jeff on a recent trip to New York to get some lessons on the premium denim business and to get his take on where the denim market will go in seasons to come.

BoF: You have a long and distinguished career in the denim industry, in particular in the capital of American denim in Los Angeles. How has the denim market changed over the past 30 years?

Jeff Rudes: In the 30 years since I have been in this business, denim has transformed from simply a moderate price point product into what was called “designer jeans,” and now, “premium denim.” It’s a premium product that has become a fashion staple sold at upscale retailers such as Barneys New York, Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue. And this is down to quality, fabric and wash. We are now also using high performance new stretch yarn innovation that allows more comfort which every woman loves. We really focus on how the fit shapes the body.

BoF: How do women buy jeans today? What are the key purchase decision factors? How does this differ from the way men buy jeans?

JR: What we hear all the time is number one decision making factor for a women is fit. Second is the style and then the wash. Women shop for a new pair of jeans as much as men watch sports. All sports have a season and all jeans have a season. For women, there is almost a ritual in the treasure hunt for the perfect jeans. She tends to shop brands she trusts and retailers where the sales associates are knowledgeable about the product.

Men also shop for fit, but comfort and quality matter most to them. Men also tend to be loyal to a brand once they find one they like.

BoF: When setting up J Brand, what was your strategy?

JR: Our strategy from the beginning was to create the perfect fitting jean which was classic, sophisticated and timeless. Our intention was to make a women look and feel beautiful in her jeans. It’s about her outfit and not about the jean. We are known for our dark, clean and minimalist look which is now part of our DNA.

Our strategy also involves product evolution. In January 2006, while driving in a cab in NY and having so much success with our 912/12-inch pencil leg, and knowing that 10-inch skinny jeans had performed years earlier, I looked at the person who was next to me in the cab and said that we’re going to go narrower in the leg opening, as skinny as we can, and to the ankle. We knew that we needed to create the next best fit in that style, which became our famous 910 style.

When we started J Brand, we also knew that there was a space in the market for a clean, dark jean that she could dress up and dress down. We created our signature “Ink” blue and “Jett” black washes. Now you see women wearing a Chloe top with her dark Ink J Brand jeans and Christian Louboutin pumps. Or you see her wearing a simple white t-shirt with a black Balenciaga leather jacket, and her Jett black J Brand jeans tucked into her Manolo boots. That is how we envisioned her wearing our jeans.

BoF: And what did you think J Brand could become?

JR: Each move we make in building the brand is calculated to meet the expectation and results for which we are looking. Each step is carefully thought out to ensure the same level of integrity our customer experienced when she bought her first pair of J Brands.

We make sure we stay true to our mission across the board, in every product expansion from non-denim to new fabrications and fits. Every decision and choice we make speaks to the integrity of that branding vision.

So what does that mean? It’s about how we are presented in each store; who we are choosing to launch product expansion with; and how we will do it. Because of our careful approach to global expansion and as we are sold in the fashion capitals throughout the world, our customer will recognise our brand whereever she goes in the world, whether on the streets or in the stores.

BoF: Last season you worked with Proenza Schouler to produce a limited edition set of paint- splattered jeans developed with Jack McCullough and Lazaro Hernandez. This season you worked with 5 London designers to do something similar. How do these kinds of young designer collaborations fit into your business strategy?

Our collaborations are not about revenue, they are about creating unique one off exclusive collectors jean with designers which is rewarding and creates an amazing global conversation. It’s about the impact of the collaboration.

We measure our collaborations in five extensions of “giving”:

We are giving the stores something special for their floor that drives traffic.
We are giving our “fashionista” customers a special limited jean that’s only found at these top retailers.
We are giving the press, editors and fashion insiders something interesting to talk about
We give the designers global awareness by creating a unique collaboration and
We are giving our creative team a fun and exciting project.

BoF: Possibly one of the hottest fashion items over the last 12 months has been the J Brand Houlihan trouser which has sold more than 200,000 pairs. How and where did the product get developed and why do you think it was so successful?

JR: We started talking about a skinny cargo concept in April/May of 2009. We have a great luxe twill fabric that had been very successful, and we wanted to play around with different dye and wash methods to achieve a faded vintage look. Mary Pierson, the Design Director, took a trip to Japan in August 2009 and came back with a vintage pair of army pants with the perfect proportions of pockets and details. The design team quickly put protos into work in our skinny fit and within a couple of weeks had the Houlihan developed in 4 different vintage twill washes. It was the perfect paring of fit, fabric, wash, timing and press. The perfect fashion storm. When you are right, you are right.

BoF: You recently took on a majority investment from a consortium of private investors led by CAA. Why did you choose them as partners and how will the investment help you to achieve your business objectives for J Brand?

JR: Our partners are made up of a strategic group that understands our vision in growing J Brand, and they all bring resources and added value in growing our brand. CAA adds another level of resources and value in entertainment, music and sports that will generate exponential results. We have a strategic line-up in areas and advisors that companies of our size do not have available to them.

BoF: What are your top tips for entrepreneurs and designers looking to set up a denim business? How is the denim business different from the rest of the fashion industry.

JR: Don’t oversell, make what you can manage. Most jean companies were established with one style that grew their business. My tip is that it can be done with a great single product. For most companies, they are driven by a core jean, in other words — each brand has that signature jean that helped build their label — get one jean in the market and stay true to your vision. Denim is based on replenishment so stores are relying on their top denim resources to constantly supply speed to market their core selling styles — it is an item driven business.

BoF: Where are premium jeans trends going from here?

JR: Trends have a shorter life in America because when an item is a best seller or top seller in America, everyone chases to make it. That said, skinny and straight legs are not going anywhere and will remain fashion staples as they can be worn with many different accessorised looks. But, wider leg silhouettes such as bootcuts, flares and bell bottoms are coming back into the product mix. If I were to give you more than that, I’d be revealing our secrets and of course, I can’t do that!

Imran Amed is Founder and Editor of The Business of Fashion

CEO Talk is an ongoing series of discussions with fashion entrepreneurs and business leaders. Previous interviews are listed below:

Quotable | Dov Charney on the Declining Fortunes of American Apparel

Imran Amed, Editor — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 12:57:32 +0000

Dov Charney, CEO of American Apparel | Source: Guest of a Guest

“A lot of assumptions that I grew up with are no longer reality. Those were things that we could rely on: that lenders will always be there, that they’ll behave ethically and they’ll always have money, that you can trust that as the sun comes up the consumer will be healthy, that we’ll always be close to full employment in developed nations. Now there are no certainties.”

Dov Charney, speaking to Bloomberg Business Week, on the deteriorating finances at American Apparel, which today reported a $5-7m loss for the second quarter of 2010

First Person | Scott Sternberg says Fashion is Wonderful for an Entrepreneur who is Creative

Chris Wallace — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 14:18:15 +0000

Scott Sternberg at Lego installation at Opening Ceremony | Source: Selectism

Today, BoF brings you First Person with Band of Outsiders’ Scott Sternberg, followed later this week by the exclusive global debut of a new Band of Outsiders film directed by Debra Scherer for The Little Squares.

LOS ANGELES, United States — What made a 20-something junior agent at CAA, with no background in clothing design, think he could just up and create a fashion company and make it a viable business?

“Good question,” says Scott Sternberg, who in 2004 did just that, ditching his desk job to launch the LA-based Band of Outsiders with a limited collection of shirts and ties. Four years in, Sternberg won the CFDA Swarovski award for emerging menswear designer; last year he shared the top award with Italo Zucchelli of Calvin Klein. This September the hip brand, found at dozens stores around the world, will debut its fourth imprint, the entry-level womenswear line, girl.

Viable indeed. A runaway success, more like it.

“It was very clear that I was much more of an entrepreneur than someone who services clients,” Sternberg says now of his time as a Hollywood agent. “I was thinking, what would be a company be if I started it—is it a product or a service? Just sort of soul-searching in my late twenties to see what I wanted to do with my life. I was working with a few entrepreneurs, one of whom started J. Crew, and she encouraged me to consider [fashion] as something to do because the way I approach the creative process is similar to the way a clothing designer would. In a short period of time it became clear that the apparel business is incredibly entrepreneurial—the barriers to entry are really low, probably even more so now. All these stores and magazines are desperate for new, great things. If you have something honest and interesting and personal and cool and relevant and well-made, you can at least get started.”

The first step, Sternberg says, was honing the vision. “It was about being specific. I had such limited resources and such limited knowledge of how to make clothes. So I made what felt right and felt like something I would want—which were shirts and ties at the time—that I could make at the level that I would find that the price and the product would align. It’s a wonderful industry for an entrepreneur who is creative and can make things.”

As interest began to grow and those magazines came calling, Sternberg says he resisted the pressure to act outside of his comfort zone. “It was really about being small and pure and not doing anything if I wasn’t sure what the next step was. From a product perspective, I can make these shirts and ties really well. I have access to the factories and materials that feel right to me and I can get it at a price where there is a market for it. All those steps are set in stone. In terms of business model, there’s rules and margins, and all of that is trial-and-error to some extent, but keeping things small and doing everything myself for so long meant no overhead so I was able to always profitable and never take on outside investors even to this day.”

So, beginning to feel grounded, secure in his new enterprise, the young designer allowed himself to experiment. “There’s a product delivery cycle that’s set,” he said. “You’re gonna deliver Spring at a certain time, you’re gonna deliver Fall at a certain time. You’re going to show at these times—you fall into the groove of that. That structure is liberating. It’s challenging and it never stops but it allows you to fail because there is always another season.”

Spreading his wings with this newfound freedom, Sternberg went on an expedition to Scotland, researched plaid, created a collection informed by his adventure, and picked up the prestigious CFDA hardware for his troubles.

On the marketing side, however, he needed no such incubation period. From the very inception of the brand Sternberg’s deft imaging of the company with the geek-chic Americana of a Hollywood insider has been a sensation, and correlation between that image and the success of the business cannot be overstated, even if it is difficult to quantify.

“Brand image is intrinsically tied to the product,” he says, explaining. “Because it’s your clothes and clothes are about self-image. It’s not just the shirt and the buttons and the fabric. At the end of the day I think, for the loyalty factor, people are entertained by the brand and feel a connection to it. I hope they are coming back because their shirt fits really well and they wear it every other day.”

And Band marches on. The growing business is moving headquarters, and Sternberg has his eye on expansion. “As a creative person, how can you not,” he says. But, as he points out, returning again and again to his touchstone of purity, the new developments are not overreaching.

“The focus now is how to expand—not to rule the world or make tons of money—but to make a bigger business, a more sustainable business. You’re looking at scale. I do a lot of work here, create a lot of product and you want to sell it more places, because it makes it sort of worth it and more interesting. You test: does this have legs? I don’t want to be the Gap or even Ralph Lauren. Women’s was a market that was obviously enticing.”

But that line, Boy., which he launched in 2007, was not a reinvention of the wheel, dropping instead out of his clear concept for the line as a perfectly ripe fruit falls off the tree—when it is ready. “I just had a notion of doing a really focused collection offering everything that women loved about my menswear but couldn’t articulate to women. Meaning, really well-made jackets and shirts. But at this point it is a full designer-, whatever-, collection. I thought there was something there that I could offer,” he says.

And you agree. So crystalline is Sternberg’s vision and his business acumen one imagines that if he were to design a car or a building, not only would he likely pull it off, but it would be immediately recognisable as an entity in the Band brand.

Chris Wallace is an editor and writer based in New York. His work has appeared in Dossier Journal, i-D, Interview and T.

Creative Recreation | Where Suits Meet Sneakers

Guest Contributor — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:06:45 +0000

Creative Recreation Barneys exclusive, spring 09

LOS ANGELES, United States — When the cast of Saturday Night Live flies you across the country to have you design a pair of shoes, you must be doing something right. The specially designed shoes were featured in the finale of the legendary American sketch comedy show’s 34th season.

The Creative Recreation story began in 2005 when Robert Nand and Richard Cofinco set up Creative Recreation in a small office in Orange County, California, benefiting from their shared experience as shoe designers at Vans. Their aim was to go beyond the traditional separation of men’s athletic and dress shoes to focus on the intersection of the two, thereby creating a brand new market segment which has subsequently been targeted by high-end fashion brands including Lanvin, Jil Sander and Pierre Hardy.

Nand and Cofinco developed a series of four standard shoe silhouettes which serve as canvases that can be embraced by distinctive colour palettes and carefully selected materials ranging from leathers, suedes and artificial snakeskins. Over the years, they have developed 23 different shoe patterns, releasing about 200 different styles per season in limited runs, offering something more like a collector’s piece than a mass-consumed athletic shoe. Indeed, many fans of the brand, including young creatives and hip hop stars alike, collect the shoes religiously.

Fans of Creative Recreation also love the aesthetic versatility of the stylish sneakers. A pair of high-top Di Cocco’s in black patent leather can be worn with a tailored suit or with a pair of shorts and a tshirt, with equal panache. And, the shoes are instantly identifiable—not because of an obvious logo—but because their standout design aesthetic is a signature in and of itself.

The market has responded with enthusiasm. In a time when designers are having to compromise and brand’s sales are shrinking, the team at Creative Recreation is doing quite the opposite. in 2006, Barneys New York approached the brand to do a limited release shoe to be sold exclusively at their New York stores, becoming a highly coveted release for Creative Recreation aficionados, season after season.

Kenan Thompson and Andy Samberg

So how did they do it all? The company has grown from a team of about five to 60 in the last three years, in large part due to a formula that can be described as organic and opportunistic. Since the very beginning, the company has attracted a team of dedicated and talented individuals who live, breathe and promote the brand. One such person is Jai Beck, who joined Creative Recreation in 2006 as an active investor, taking on the role of Head of Production. Thus, Creative Recreation inadvertently solved their largest challenge: by joining forces with Beck, whose expertise is in overseas production, they have managed to maintain healthy margins while doing only small runs.

Looking forward to Spring 2010, Creative Recreation is plotting a global product launch for its new Select line, targeting a more mature and loyal clientele who aren’t quite ready to give up the comforts of a high-top sneaker, but are no longer drawn to flashy pink patents or evocative leopard prints.

Perhaps the most interesting lesson that can be learned from the brand is the idea of affordable exclusivity. By keeping both their prices and production runs low, Creative Recreation’s consumers can continue to buy exclusive shoes at a price that won’t break the bank. This means, that die hard fans can rock their favourite sneakers with the confidence that no one will be cramping their style.

Khaleed Juma is the Managing Editor of The Business of Fashion.

Rodeo and Robertson: Build it, and they will come

Imran Amed, Editor — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 17:56:32 +0000

After having checked out some of the more up-and-coming areas of L.A, it was time to visit the king and queen of luxury and fashion here: Rodeo Drive and Robertson Boulevard.

The most remarkable thing about both these streets is that the stores really are an extension of the brands themselves. In Paris, London and even New York, most brands are constrained by existing building facades and building codes which they must work around as they design their stores. In Los Angeles, it appears that the brands have complete freedom in design, and therefore, if done well, every aspect from the sparkling exteriors, the natural lighting, the size of logos outside the building, and even the dramatic entrances off the street are messages about the brand. It was truly impressive.

If Abbot Kinney and West 3rd are streets filled with independent boutiques where young contemporary brands get their start, then Robertson is where they go to open their first flagship stores. Tory Burch, American Apparel, Anya Hindmarch, and Nanette Lepore have all opened shop on the street. These stores are mixed in with some of LA’s most famous boutiques (Curve, Kitson, Lisa Kline). Yesterday, in line with the celebrity focus of contemporary brands, a Paris Hilton appearance at the Kitson store shut down a stretch of Robertson yesterday due to the "lookiloos" who descended to catch a glimpse of the starlet

Nearby on Rodeo, it’s a more distinguished affair (except for the double decker buses using loudspeakers to give highlights to the throngs of tourists from places as diverse as Italy, Japan, and Kentucky). Many stores go all out in trying to draw in the shoppers.

The Chanel store is a glimmering white beacon of sophistication, complete with huge black Chanel logos and digital screens visible from the outside.

Prada takes a more subtle approach. No branding from the outside, but a dramatic entrance and clear Prada signature attracts those in the know using runway highlights from their most recent collection.

Dior Homme uses a 2 story sized image, screaming the last few strains of Hedi Slimane’s swan song.

And even Club Monaco offers Valet Parking, elevating its service level to compete with the luxury big boys.