California Apparel News

Los Angeles-based young men’s apparel company YMLA is looking for small companies for possible acquisition in the wake of its recent announcement to merge with Pacific Coast Apparel Company Inc., a publicly traded company based in San Francisco.

YMLA recently shut down a two-year-old YMLA junior division and the company plans to launch a new junior label that will be a part of the overall company but will have its own name and its own identity, according to co-founder Larry Block, who, with Shirley Fong, launched YMLA 10 years ago.

Block said YMLA is now searching for smaller companies in the junior business to absorb into their future junior company.

“Hopefully, we can have a great junior company that might need some of the infrastructure that we have,” he said. “I always see YMLA as a stable of brands, where we can combine our efforts. You have all these little guys, who could never really be equipped to do business with a big store or get offers.”

Pacific Coast Apparel, which controlled the U.S. license rights to the Aca-Joe (until 1998) and Cotton Stuff brands (until 1999), has ceased its apparel business operations but still held great value to YMLA because of its existence as a public shell company with no lines of business, Block said.

“There’s no business that they have [currently] operating that we would be continuing,” he said. “[They have] a lot of connections and sourcing abilities to help us do what they used to do. If we want to use some of those tools, they are experienced and knowledgeable.”

The Pacific Coast Apparel deal affects only the YMLA portion of the company’s business. YMLA also produces young men’s apparel under several labels, as well as private label menswear for several retailers including Sears, Big 5, Oshman’s and J.C. Penney’s. The company’s YMLA label is carried in retailers including Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, May Company, Nordstrom, the Buckle and Gadzooks. Block said YMLA currently represents $30 million in sales. Block declined to identify how much sales volume the company’s other labels represent.

The merger will afford YMLA the opportunity to become a public company and expand its holdings by acquiring other companies and by leveraging the purchases against stock as opposed to cash or credit. According to Block, the market for acquisitions is prime because business has recently slowed down for a number of small companies.

The deal will also allow YMLA to restructure itself and re-enter the junior market.

“The junior market is pretty tough,” Block said. “What we were doing for menswear as far as club [wear] wasn’t translating into junior.”

Block said he was surprised that the junior label failed to take off; the company had established a quick-turn production operation for its young men’s label, which the founder noted is unusual for the menswear business since it typically has a longer production cycle than the junior business.

“I like to think that we’re a junior company in the menswear business,” said Block, “because the junior companies are all quick-turn, and we’re like a quick-turn in the menswear business.”

YMLA’s quick-turn capabilities have helped the label establish a name for itself in the young men’s clubwear category, but the YMLA name didn’t seem to translate well for the junior line, Block said.

YMLA does approximately 80 percent of its sourcing domestically, which provides for a quick-turn of its products, according to Fong. Block said the company’s turn time is so quick that “the stores are not fast enough for us.”

“They don’t know how to do it,” he said.

The challenge is to encourage the retailers to keep funds open in season for late-emerging fashions, Block said. The company does this by stressing its product as trend-driven fashion items, rather than basics, he said.

“If everyone is talking about it,” said Fong, “then it is already too late.”

YMLA launched in 1991 after Block, a former sales representative for Gazelle Swimwear, Dev Imports and Everlast, met Fong, who owned a contracting company. Today, Block handles the sales and merchandising of the line and Fong handles production of the line.

Block said the combination of each partner’s expertise could be a much-needed asset to a smaller company—one of the “little guys” YMLA is looking to acquire.

“Hopefully, there are a lot of little guys who don’t have the tools to get off the ground,” he said.

YMLA Retail Debuts at the Beverly Center

Los Angeles-based young men’s apparel line YMLA will open its first retail store this spring, fulfilling what Larry Block, co-founder of the label, called a long-time dream to “present the full story of YMLA in a concept store.”

The 1,200-square-foot store at the Beverly Center in Los Angeles will provide enough space to present the complete YMLA line, Block said.

“The other retailers only buy a portion of the line, but never tell the whole story,” he said. “We get to create an entire environment and the Beverly Center is the perfect place.”

The store, which is scheduled for a June opening, will feature a high-tech interior with a floating register counter and after-hours video screens.