California Apparel News

Emil Rutenberg, founder of his eponymous women’s line, has given his company a facelift. The 23-year-old Los Angeles–based label known for well-constructed bridge-market jackets in novelty fabrics, last year launched People Like Frank, a younger and more directional line.

The People Like Frank line is a full collection, with a strong focus on jackets. The jacket fabrics are understated to allow for rich design details and tasteful embellishment.

A jacket in a cotton/polyamide/metal-blend fabric has multi-tiered layers around the waistline and ruching on the sleeves. A leather trench-style jacket is embellished with hand-cut flower appliqueacute;s on the back and menswear-pleated lining peeks out from under a black tailored jacket. A standout bottom includes a long black architectural skirt that was inspired by Issey Miyake shapes of the 1980s.

“What it needed to recapture was a much more youthful audience, and that’s where we decided to launch this new idea,” said Rutenberg.

Wholesale price points for People Like Frank range from $175 to $360 for jackets and from $90 to $140 for bottoms.

The new line’s success also has influenced the look of the Emil Rutenberg Collection. Though it still offers item-driven jackets in tactile fabrics and clean cuts, details such as raw edges on a jacket or leather trims have been added to give the collection a more contemporary edge.

The cut also has changed to a slimmer fit to match the style.

Robin Lyle, owner of the store Robin Lyle in Sacramento, noticed Emil Rutenberg’s new look when she bought the Spring 2006 line.

“It’s smart of him to make changes,” Lyle said. “Within the tailored market, which I’ve been in for 30 years, you need to give them a reason to buy something.”

Lyle added that the new Emil Rutenberg line does not appeal to more conservative dressers but rather sells to women of roughly the same age who are “more experimental” about their style.

Rutenberg’s shift away from the bridge market comes in the midst of a strong contemporary women’s market. The move also comes at a time when there is little consensus about what the term “bridge” actually means. To some buyers, the “bridge” market represents a price point—falling between the “better” market and the “designer” market. To Rutenberg, “bridge” also defines a more conservative style. Though the wholesale price points for Emil Rutenberg remain roughly the same, from $139 to $199, the slimmer fit and younger details take the line out of the category of the bridge market and into contemporary, the designer said.

Rutenberg predicted the People Like Frank line will develop into an even younger—and more contemporary— collection, and the Emil Rutenberg line will follow a similar trajectory.

People Like Frank is one of several new endeavors for Rutenberg, a co-founder of E.D.J. Denim Purist, which launched in February. The denim collection is a side project of Rutenberg and is not under the Emil Rutenberg company umbrella.

For more information about People Like Frank and Emil Rutenberg, call (213) 489-4374.