Malibu Gym Apparel

Malibu Gym Apparel (MGA) is relaunching as a fashion brand for men and women for the 15-year-old Malibu Gym fitness center in Malibu, Calif.

The first incarnation of MGA opened to brisk business in 1995, but shipments failed to meet orders and the business was subsequently closed.

At the beginning of this year, the fitness center’s owner, Armand Grant, licensed the Malibu Gym name after a meeting with MGA’s president, Bruce Kent.

“I became friendly with the owner of Malibu [Gym] because I train at the gym,” said Kent. “He told me the story and I thought it had potential. I had retired in 1999, but this project got my attention and got me back in the game.”

Kent, who has spent 30 years repping such lines as Sara Kent, Hang Ten and Ocean Pacific, will handle merchandising, sales and marketing, while his partner, Raffi Sarkissian, owner of Los Angeles-based Armenco Apparel, a 25- year-old children’s wear manufacturing company, will handle production and financing.

The first collection for the new MGA is Spring 2003, which had a rough launch at the MAGIC International trade show in August, said Kent.

“We made a lot of friends, but didn’t meet our expectations because MAGIC put us in the wrong show,” he said. “We were in the Men’s Casual Lifestyle section [in the Las Vegas Convention Center], and we should have been in the Sands [Expo & Convention Center].”

MGA is primarily a women’s line, consisting of two velour groups, a terry group and denim separates for women, while the men’s collection is tops-driven, with baseball shirts, crew neck shirts, hooded jerseys, fleece shorts and sweat pants.

Kent said that before adding more pieces for men, the company will release the collection and look for market direction.

Despite the connection to the gym, Kent said the women’s collection is more a lifestyle line than workout apparel.

“Activewear for women is almost a costume these days,” he said. “This is more weekend wear than [for] working out. People just want the connotation of Malibu on their backs.”

MGA will be shipped to Nanz and Malibu Beach Club in Malibu, as well as several other boutiques on the East Coast, while targeting better specialty and department stores that the company should have picked up from MAGIC, according to Kent.

“MAGIC set us back a month,” he said. “We’re in the process of adding salespeople around the country and we’re waiting for callbacks for Macy’s West. We’ll return to MAGIC in the spring, but at the WWDshow in the Sands.”

MGA recently opened a showroom in the California Market Center. For more information, call (310) 457-9082. —Darryl James