SoSik: Fast, Affordable Fashion For Juniors
There’s a phrase that young people use to describe something as “fantastic” or “over the top.” That phrase is “so sick.”
With that in mind, Mark Cywinski recently launched a new juniors line called SoSik, a slight spelling adjustment on the phrase that has become so popular.
“A juniors label has to have meaning,” said Cywinski, whose experience in the juniors business dates back to when he started a juniors T-shirt line in 1996 called Weavers. That company eventually earned $60 million in annual sales, Cywinski said, before he sold it in 2002 to Unger Fabrik in Los Angeles. Cywinski worked with Unger until the end of August, when he left to start SoSik with a group of fellow fashion-industry investors.
In about one month, they cobbled together a collection of tops and dresses that rely on unique prints to make it distinctive.
“Our concept is fast, fast fashion for young people at an affordable price,” said Cywinski, president of the line. Wholesale prices for tops range from $4 for basics to $8.50 for tops with more accents. Dresses wholesale from $16 to $18.
SoSik has the financial backing of Panglobal Brands Inc., a new publicly traded company in Los Angeles exploring investments within the fashion world. Earlier this year, Panglobal acquired the denim line Mynx. That line, which wholesales for more than $100 and is carried at 180 denim stores and at Saks Fifth Avenue, recently debuted at Fashion Coterie in New York. The company is also the force behind a contemporary dress line called Nela. A line of moderate contemporary dresses, called Tea and Honey, looms on the horizon.
One of the key ingredients for SoSik is European-designed fabrics manufactured in China. “All the prints and artwork come from Italy, France, Germany and Switzerland,” said Stephen Soller, chief executive of Panglobal. “They are developed exclusively for us.”
For Spring ’08, knit tops have woven accents as well as Lurex and eyelet trims. Lettuce-leaf edges on some tops offer a fun, flirty option. A bubble collar accents a few of the knit tops. Dresses, many with smocked backs, sport many of the vibrant fabrics that SoSik designed in Europe.
The company’s goal is to grow as quickly as Weavers did. “We want to become a leading brand,” Cywinski said. The company has hired Nikos Batanides as its sales manager to make that happen.
For more information, call (310) 562-4375.—Deborah Belgum
