California Apparel News

Vernon, Calif.-based swim label Sirena Apparel Group is beginning the breakup of its brands.

New York-based A.H. Schreiber Co. has purchased the Sirena trademark and certain assets of the company from Los Angeles-based Foothill Capital, the majority shareholder of Sirena Apparel Group.

The deal gives A.H. Schreiber access to the Sirena brand and its private-label business for retailers such as J.C. Penney and Sears. The company has already re-designed the Sirena line and has shown it to buyers, according to Joel M. Schreiber, president and chief executive officer of the company.

The company also purchased Sirena’s Wear Abouts cover-ups business, which it is in the process of selling to an undisclosed buyer.

A.H. Schreiber will be showing the new Sirena line at the International Swimwear and Activewear Market in Los Angeles in October. Paul Luksa, formerly with Jantzen swimwear, has been named vice president national sales manager, and Holly Berman Schwartz, formerly with Sirena Apparel Group, will remain as sales manager for the Sirena label.

The label will join the company’s other swim labels Longitude by Robby Len, Delta Burke Plus and Beach Native. Schreibshy;er said the company was interested in acquiring the Sirena brand to expand its department store distribution. “Sirena is a label we thought could be revitalized given the correct design and merchandising,” Schreiber said. “It’s a 50-year-old label with a wonderful history behind it.”

Sirena Apparel Group currently holds the license for Liz Claiborne swimwear, which includes swim labels Liz Claiborne, Elizabeth, Villager and Crazy Horse, but sale of that license “is in the future,” according to Brien Zientek, chief executive officer of Sirena Apparel Group.

Executives at New York-based Liz Claiborne Inc. declined to comment.

Sirena Apparel Group emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2000, about one year after first seeking the protection in the wake of a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation. The company hired Zientek in 1999 to turn it around.

“Sirena Apparel Group came out of bankruptcy successfully and all assets of Sirena Apparel Group will be sold,” said Zientek. About 50 people are employed at the Vernon facility, according to Zientek, who said that some of those employees would be transferred to the new licensor.

Zientek plans on remaining with Sirena Apparel Group until the end.

“I will wrap this thing up and sell off the remaining assets and look for another opportunity,” he said.