Nzania Concept Studio
Nzania Concept Studio (NCS) is an Irvine, Calif.–based company launched in 2001 as the licensing division of 10-year-old Nzania Manufacturing. The first licensed apparel collection is Stage 28, combining Disney characters with funky graphics for juniors and tweens.
According to Jimmy Duval, NCS’s creative director, Stage 28 has been in development for 18 months to come up with a “hipper Disney for juniors.”
“It took a while to figure out what worked,” said Duval. The trick, he discovered, was to merge the allegiance to vintage with current fashion trends. “We sought content first and then fashion, but now we’re focusing on fashion,” Duval said.
According to Duval, Stage 28 Spring ’03 is “very ’vault inspired,’ meaning we’ve got a lot of vintage graphics involved, taking old Golden Book designs or vintage posters of the Mickey Mouse Club original sketches and then trying to marry that idea with what’s happening from a tops trend.”
NCS’s license from Disney is currently exclusive to tops, featuring ruffled sleeves, flocked printing on stripes and suede ties. Duval added that NCS is working on new ideas for sleepwear in juniors and tween sizing for better department stores and is getting into fleece, which it perceives to be an area of expansion.
NCS also plans to expand its licensing ventures with other cartoon characters. “Our focus has been on Disney, but we just launched a Strawberry Shortcake line—the ’80s icon for girls,” said Duval.
Stage 28 currently sells to better specialty and department stores, including Urban Outfitters, Hot Topic, Gadzooks and the Limited.
For more information, call (949) 221-8633. —Darryl James
