California Apparel News

After three months of negotiations, Calabasas, Calif.-based John Paul Richard Inc. has merged with Indigenous Group, maker of the Josephine Loka, Fever Jeans and John Cherpas labels, to form a new group, Indigenous LLC.

John Paul Richard Inc., an updated missy private label manufacturer, will have controlling interest in the company, but the profits will be split 50/50 between both parties, said Richard Hirsh, JPR co-chief executive officer.

Indigenous Group owners and designers John Cherpas and Kellie Delkescamp said the company will continue to design the better contemporary women’s line Josephine Loka, as well as John Cherpas, a better contemporary men’s collection, and Fever Jeans, a basic denim line.

Los Angeles-based Indigenous Group will relocate to John Paul Richard corporate offices in Calabasas. JPR will assist the company with administration, production and shipping.

Indigenous Group’s attorney, Mark Brutzkus, a partner at Azra, Brutzkus & Grubner, said all of the parties agreed not to disclose details of the merger, however he did say that the deal was not a high-paying acquisition, rather more of a development deal for Indigenous Group.

“This is not an Earl Jean deal, where the company is getting paid several million [dollars] to merge with a larger manufacturer; Indigenous is not as established as Earl Jean even though they are parallel in their visions and where they want to be [in the market]. What the deal does provide is resources to take it to that level in the market-place and to build the trademark and develop value in the trademark.”

Indigenous Group reported the Josephine Loka label, which is sold at better department stores and boutiques, shipped close to $3 million last year; John Cherpas menswear, which is sold at American Rag and Rolo in Los Angeles, Untitled in New York and Joyce of Hong Kong among other venues, shipped about a half million dollars. The Fever Jeans line shipped more than $1 million in Japan, where the denim line’s popularity has recently skyrocketed.

“When we were in Japan we saw a billboard with a Japanese musical group wearing our clothes,” Delkescamp said. “It was the best feeling in the world, the shock that someone wants to wear your clothes.”

Right now, Delkescamp said, the three-year-old company plans to nurture its glam rock-inspired denim line, which began shipping in the U.S. last January. The line is currently available at Nordstrom, Saks, Bloomingdale’s and Fred Segal.

The company is also negotiating product placement at the House of Fraser in London and, Indigenous is also planning to open boutiques dedicated to Fever products next year in Los Angeles and Japan. Delkescamp said early projections as a result of the merger indicate Indigenous LLC has the potential to sell about $30 million over the next three years.

Indigenous Group began exploring its options to expand three months ago and inquired about potential mergers with Jeffrey Kapor, an attorney at Buchalter, Nemer, Fields & Younger, who represented JPR in the deal. Kapor said he told Cherpas and Delkescamp about JPR, who, at the time, was open to acquiring a high-fashion, better womenswear product.

“We were impressed with [Delkescamp and Cherpas],” Hirsh added. “What they’re designing right now is a hot category to be involved in. What Indigenous does is hot in the marketplace and they’re plugged into a segment of the market that [John Paul Richard] wanted to be a part of.”

Delkescamp said the two designers are equally excited to be working with John Paul Richard’s Hirsh, who has a long-standing history in the apparel industry.

“We’re in awe of [Hirsh],” Delkescamp said. “This is a man who used to airbrush jeans in his Laurel Canyon garage in the ’70s and now he runs a multi-million-dollar business.”

Cherpas and Delkescamp are members of the Coalition of Los Angeles Designers (CLAD) and have presented their lines in group fashion shows with the local organization. Josephine Loka and John Cherpas fashions were featured in Gen Art’s Fresh Faces in Fashion show in 1998–99. In 2000, the two staged a solo fashion show at the Mak Center at the Schindler House in West Hollywood, Calif.

For the past year a small part of Indigenous Group’s business has been designing collections for celebrities and musicians through WearItAll.com, a Los Angeles-based company that represents designers for studio/entertainment services. The duo has designed outfits for Christina Aguilera, Steven Tyler, Nicholas Cage, Lenny Kravitz, Tom Cruise and “Ally McBeal” co-star Portia de Rossi.

Delkescamp said the newly signed deal with JPR may also branch into a Josephine Loka knits collection as well as licensing accessories and cosmetics for the Fever line.