California Apparel News

Steven Shaul, the 20-year industry veteran who previously propelled Jordache designer jeans and Smash Clothing sportswear, is bringing Kabbalah to the masses.

Shaul has struck a deal with the Kabbalah Centre of Los Angeles to license images from the Jewish spiritual tradition on a new line of vintage-style tops made of Egyptian cotton and French terry. Titled The Red String by Jelessy, the collection will coordinate with Shaul’s premium denim line, called Jelessy.

The Kabbalah Centre will receive an undisclosed percentage of revenue from Red String. Shaul said he will retain complete control of the design, manufacturing and sales. He said he expects to introduce Red String by early summer and sell it in the same stores that carry Jelessy jeans. Red String will wholesale from $34 to $89. Most of the tops will have silk screens, although some will feature embroidery. The Kabbalah Centre already sells baby blankets and necklaces, but this will be the first clothing line affiliated with the nonprofit organization.

Considering that the Kabbalah Centre counts Madonna and other celebrities among its practitioners, Shaul hopes to have the upper hand in the fashion game in which consumers are increasingly fixated on stars and the clothes they wear. “Everything is about who’s wearing whom,” he said.

Denim line Jelessy—a tweaking of the word “jealousy”—is available in more than 60 hues. Shaul said he focused on colored denim because no one else had.

“I want to be the Benetton of the bottoms,” he said. “Any color in the world will be in my jeans.”

Sourcing non-allergenic dyes from Switzerland and Germany, Shaul tints his own denim, which is made in Italy and includes 1 percent Lycra. Shaul said all the clothes made for Jelessy and Red String will be finished in his 80,000-square-foot headquarters in Vernon, Calif.

Available in 7.25- and 8-inch rises, the jeans wholesale for $68. Moreover, Shaul designed capris ($68 wholesale) and 12.5-inch miniskirts with frayed hems ($48 wholesale).

Jelessy also offers jackets and blazers. For Spring 2005, Jelessy will market a stretch blazer in 12 different colors and fabrics such as stonewash denim and cotton piqueacute;, which feels lighter and smoother than conventional piqueacute;. The blazer wholesales for $98 and up and features slits on the sleeves and a cutout center back fitted with 1-to-1 dyed matched ribbing.

Shaul declined to provide a projection for annual revenue, but he said that in the five months following initial shipments of the jeans in July, the company had wholesale volume of $1.8 million. The line is already carried in some 220 high-end and specialty shops, including Planet Blue stores in Santa Monica, Calif., and Malibu, Calif., and Gito in Englewood, N.J.

Shaul said he plans to introduce leather in Fall 2005 and clothes for children and men in Spring 2006. He added that he is in talks with a licensee to manufacture sunglasses and handbags, due out also in 2006.

For more information, call (866) 535-3779.