Mica Closes Its Doors
After spending the last year searching for the right product mix, Denny Rabineau shuttered his dress company, Mica.
The 16-year-old label made misses dresses and sportswear items that were sold at specialty stores as well as department stores such as Nordstrom, Macy’s West and Dillard’s.
Rabineau also left his partnership with young contemporary label Voom. Voom’s founder, Joy Han, said she and Rabineau ended their business relationship in March and she took over her line after less than a year with the apparel veteran.
“Voom was the last hope for Mica,” Han said. “Somehow it didn’t work out.”
Rabineau did not return calls made to his downtown Los Angeles office.
Nisa Zap, Mica’s national sales manager, said she took over Mica’s showroom in The New Mart in June and renamed it Starlite Showroom. She now represents contemporary lines, including Female, Bilingual and Jolie.
Mica sales started to slump several years ago. In 1998, sales were $10.8 million. By 2003, they had declined to $8 million. That same year, Rabineau’s wife, Judy, who had been the principal designer, gave up her post.
Rabineau then hired Andrea Polizzi to revamp the 100-piece collection for Spring/ Summer 2004, shooting for a more contemporary market and concentrating on the company’s specialty store business.
Mica was carried at stores such as Polkadots & Moonbeams Modern on West Third Street in Los Angeles. “It was a fun line with a variety of styles, colors and patterns,” said store manager Kuei Miao.
Rabineau has been in the apparel industry for decades. For 10 years, he was a partner with Steve Maiman in The Great Escape, a Los Angeles juniors denim company.
—Deborah Belgum
