IT Jeans Finds a Home in Vernon
IT Jeans is on the move.
The company has recently relocated its headquarters from Los Angeles to nearby Vernon, Calif., where it has purchased the historic General Electric factory building.
The nearly 100-year-old facility, where workers once assembled aircraft engines, has been gutted and renovated to house IT Jeans’ administrative, design, marketing and sales operations. The company manufactures most of its garments overseas.
Chief Executive Kimmy Song has incorporated a sort of Zen corporate culture into the framework of the renovation to produce a working place aimed at inspiring ideas and productivity.
The idea was to transform and generate, she said.
The lobby of the building, located at 5251 S. Santa Fe Ave., is decorated with massive modern sculptures made from tin cans as well as colorful abstract oils, all done by one of the company’s employees. The company maintained some of the old lockers as well as the massive roller racks from GE’s operations as a memento from the previous industrial boom that hit Vernon in the 1940s and 1950s.
At the center of the facility is a winding staircase that provides access to all three floors of the building. The middle floor houses a “think tank” area with modern Lucite tables and no chairs, an area designated for brainstorming five minutes at a time. Nearby is a yoga/Pilates studio where classes are led by a company employee who happens to be a certified instructor.
On the upper floor is a state-of-the art kitchen where the former chef of Boa and AOC restaurants in Los Angeles serves up mostly organic fare to the company’s 60 employees as well as buyers and other trading partners who stop by often. (The company’s showroom is also based in the building.)
The fresh, clean aesthetic is part of the makeup of the company’s philosophy, said Song, who founded the company in 2003. The company’s line is now sold in Nordstrom, The Buckle, Von Maur, Fred Segal, M.Fredric and other specialty stores.
The company is known for its mid-tier retail price points pegged at about $75 as well as its five different jeans bodies, catering to customers of varying fits.
Relocating to Vernon will also help the company save energy costs, as the city has its own energy sources as well as its own fiber-optics network, which provides a savings of 15 percent to 40 percent below that of the big utility companies.
Vernon is also home to brands such as True Religion, BCBGMaxAzria and Tadashi. —Robert McAllister
