California Apparel News

Suki Kim’s industry background is in mass production, producing apparel for department stores and chains, but she always dreamed of launching her own brand.

In 2013, Kim closed her private-label business and moved into her garage to launch Terra, an updated misses collection featuring distinctive, washable fabrics, unusual details and attention to fit.

“My heart belonged to this brand, but I was always overseas doing mass production,” Kim said. Her private-label business took her around the world, producing in China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Guatemala.

For the launch of Terra, Kim sourced her fabrics and production from Korea. At first, it was a challenge to move from the high volume of mass production to the 80 units per style when the collection first launched, Kim said.

As the company quickly grew, Kim began air shipping finished goods from Korea to meet the reorder demand. She also moved out of her garage to a small space near her LA home. Now she’s beginning to look at producing part of the collection domestically.

Sales for the first four months of the year exceeded last year’s business, said Kim’s assistant, Ashley Anderson.

“March was three times more than last year,” Kim said. “For Spring 2016, we plan to produce 30 percent made in USA.”

Kim said she understands what the misses customers want. For example, they don’t want to show their upper arms or their stomach. A good design has lots of color detail and a silhouette that frames the face, such as Terra’s featherweight cotton shirts, which have beome the line’s signature style. The woven shirts feature a collar with wire inside.

“The wire collar emphasizes the face,” Kim said. “And she can wear it up or down—and it stays there.”

For Fall, Kim carried the wired-collar detail to cozy woolen fabrications, some with faux-leather trim.

“It has an elegance to it,” Kim said.

With wholesale prices starting at $32, the line also

includes embellished sweaters and jackets as well as a mixed-fabric tweed coat that was a hit with buyers, said Fred Postal, who represents Terra in his Fred Postal & Associates showroom at the California Market Center in Los Angeles.

Terra is carried in stores nationwide. Among the California stores that carry the line are Mischief Women’s Fashion in Santa Barbara, Past & Presence in La Jolla, Adornments in Del Mar, Molly B. in Berkeley, Eve & Me in Modesto, Chanel 910 in San Francisco, and Pati-Ells Boutique & Skin Care and BB One, both in Palm Desert.

“The reorder response has been beyond believable,” Postal said. “I’ve been in this industry for the last 40 years—all my life—and I’ve never had reorders as healthy and fast as this line.” Kim said she wants to “do justice to the independent store. They are so loyal. That’s definitely something you don’t see in mass production. In mass pro- duction, everything was so price point–driven. Now I get to do a lot more with better control. I haven’t had this much fun in years.”

For more information about Terra, contact the Fred Postal & Associates showroom at (213) 629-2133.