Other Side of Grass May Be Greener

Grass, a contemporary denim label launched in 2003, has been sold to Larry Hansel, the man who started Rampage Clothing Co. many years ago in Los Angeles.

Kellie Delkeskamp and John Cherpas, the creators behind Los Angeles–based Grass, said the deal closed April 11 after a month of negotiations with Hansel, who stepped in two years ago to buy 50 percent of the company. Delkeskamp and Cherpas owned the other 50 percent.

“There was a fork in the road,” Delkeskamp said. “We had a difference of opinion.”

Cherpas said, “It was either us or him.”

Neither side would reveal the purchase price of the company, which in 2005 generated $2.5 million in revenues. Grass had been selling in such specialty stores as Ron Herman, Fred Segal and Lisa Kline in Los Angeles and Atrium in New York. The denim wholesales for $75 to $120. T-shirts wholesale for $24 to $28.

Hansel, who recently sold his Rampage brand name to Iconix Brand Group Inc. in New York for $46 million and now operates Larry Hansel Clothing Co., said he plans to keep Grass in the contemporary womenswear category.

“I pretty much want to go back to its history and tradition,” Hansel said. “It is really supposed to be a kind of West Los Angeles, rock ’n’ roll, hippie line with a Kate Hudson flavor. That was the original concept, and that’s what I want to stay true to.”

Hansel has moved Grass’ 10 employees to his headquarters in Commerce, Calif. He said he will soon be naming a designer for the line.

This is not the first time Delkeskamp and Cherpas have sold a denim line. In 2001, they merged their Fever denim company with John Paul Richard Inc., a large missy manufacturer in Calabasas, Calif. The designer duo left two years later.

Delkeskamp and Cherpas have not made any definitive plans about their futures. They will, however, part company.

“We are both going to go our separate ways,” Delkeskamp said.Deborah Belgum