California Apparel News

Any trip to Affliction Clothing’s Seal Beach, Calif., headquarters will be action-packed. Martial-arts fighters spar in a company gym. Artist John Moss customizes motorcycles in a company workshop at the 70,000-square-foot compound. But the biggest flurry of activity for the lifestyle brand in 2011 will be found on the concrete of retail streets.

Affliction will be rolling out flagship boutiques for its core following of aficionados of tattoo culture, heavy rock music and mixed martial arts, which mixes boxing and other fighting styles. The company will debut a 2,500-square-foot flagship in the former gym area of the headquarters by the end of February. (Affliction also owns a 90,000-square-foot compound across the street from its headquarters.) It plans to open five more flagship stores in American metropolises such as New York and Chicago, as well as debut a store in Hong Kong and a location in South Africa in 2011.

These stores will join a handful of Affliction stores, which the company began opening in 2008 when it debuted a store at 7811 Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles. In 2009, Affliction opened locations at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, as well as a store in Miami and one in Moscow, as well as a store at Camarillo Outlets, located an hour’s drive northwest of downtown Los Angeles. In 2010, the company opened a store at Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, N.J.

The new stores will create a higher profile for the 6-year old fashion label, which aspires to grow, according to Tom Atencio, vice president of marketing for Affliction. “We are a good-size company,” he said. “Are we a Tommy Hilfiger? Are we a Versace? No.”

The private company employs more than 90 people and made $150 million in 2009, according to Atencio. The line has sold at retailers such as Nordstrom, The Buckle and Metropark. It made a splash when it debuted in 2005, mostly with T-shirts featuring the graphics of Eric Foss, the label’s creative director. The graphics often depicted skulls and fleur de lis shapes. An upside-down fleur de lis continues to be the brand’s logo.Celebrity culture

Atencio made sure the label’s T-shirts were on the backs of prominent rock acts such as Buckcherry and Ozzy Osbourne. However, the label made a big impact on mixed-martial-arts fighters. Athletes such as Randy Couture and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson were photographed wearing Affliction.

Atencio trained in mixed martial arts and made Affliction one of the prime sponsors of the sport’s fighters. In 2010, the label sponsored more than 60 mixed-martial-arts fighters. The number has dropped to more than 30 fighters, whom Affliction supports with clothes and cash per fight.

Affliction created a stir when it briefly got into the mixed-martial-arts promotion business in 2008. More than 14,000 people attended a match between Fedor Emelianenko and Tim Sylvia at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., which was witnessed by 100,000 people on pay-per-view.

The label successfully produced another fight and then got out of the producing biz in 2009, when fighter Josh Barnett tested positive for steroids and the event was cancelled 10 days before it was scheduled to take place. Atencio said his label could get the same marketing buzz from sponsoring athletes without the headaches and the financial losses from producing matches.

Affliction continues to be wildly popular with fight fans, said Dave Contreras, president of Budovideos, a Garden Grove, Calif.–based e-commerce store for mixed-martial-arts goods. His company does not offer Affliction, but many designers pitch their lines as Affliction-like when they meet with Contreras. ”When tough guys want to wear nice clothing, they wear Affliction,” Contreras said.Move to lifestyle

Another reason Atencio wanted to open more stores was to show consumers the full range of Affliction styles. They include premium denim, leather jackets and woven shirts as well as lines for women Sinful and Affliction Women. These lines feature halter tops made out of a faux leather material.

At the Project trade show in Las Vegas this month, Affliction is debuting its new American Custom line, which is inspired by the style of the custom motorcycle industry. It will feature graphics different from the typical Affliction looks and will wholesale for $32 to $38 for a T-shirt. To further develop as a lifestyle brand, Affliction will continue to mix fashion with looks rooted in tattoo culture, rock and extreme sports.

“You can wear it going out and at dinner and still be true to yourself,” Atencio said of his brand.