California Apparel News

Designer Pegah Anvarian is in the middle of a major shake-up of her brand.

Anvarian, whose eponymous contemporary brand features flat-out sexy silhouettes in a cashmere and silk jersey blend, has halted production on her Fall 2006 line.

Dispelling rumors that the brand has closed shop, the Los Angeles–based designer said the move came after she let her local manufacturing staff go and moved production of her line to Italy.

She said problems arose when the timing was less than perfect and the lead time with her overseas manufacturer proved to be an insurmountable obstacle.

“We started too late and we wouldn’t be able to ship Fall on time,” Anvarian said. “The fabrics were late, the samples were late, everything was late. No one would have wanted to accept the collection when we could ship it.”

The designer also credits the brand’s growing popularity with overwhelming the company.

“We grew too quickly and it was almost overnight,” she said. “We have a staff of 20, but it was too much work. We just couldn’t do it.”

The brand, which sells in such upscale specialty shops as Fred Segal, Satine and Des Kohan, has cancelled all Fall orders and will skip the season entirely.

Anvarian said she hopes to offer something for Spring 2007. When the brand reemerges later this year, it will do so with an entirely new and decidedly couture focus.

“We’re done with the contemporary world, we’re going to be much more on the couture end. We’ll be using the best fabrics and mills in Italy,” she said.

The brand’s sexy, slouchy aesthetic will remain the same, but new high-end fabrics, including leather and cashmere, and a new logo will push Pegah Anvarian in a new direction.

With higher wholesale price points starting at $300, Anvarian said the brand’s distribution would also change.

“We’re going to keep it really small and exclusive,” she said, adding that the higher price points will put it out of the reach of most of its current retailers.

The move from contemporary brand to couture runs counter to the current trend of diffusion lines with more modest price points. Designers, including local gown designer Alan del Rosario, as well as couture brands such as Marc Jacobs, Prada and Chloeacute;, in recent years have introduced diffusion lines to extend their customer base. But Anvarian said going high-end will ultimately be less stressful for her.

“It’ll be more focused,” she said.

In the meantime, the designer is looking to move her headquarters out of the Cooper Design Space to a smaller location by July.

—Erin Barajas