Dean Opens at Sunset Junction
Accessories maker Dean has a new location in the rapidly gentrifying Sunset Junction, located in the Silverlake district of Los Angeles. The move from a smaller space in the nearby Echo Park district was prompted by the brand’s rising sales, which have tripled over the past year.
The new space, at 3918 Sunset Blvd., gives the Los Angeles–based watch and handbag maker plenty of room to house a workspace and a retail store.
Necessity is the mother of reinvention, and owner Danny Dean Davis was inspired to create the line after seeing a vintage Seiko watch. “Part of my design belief is that there’s nothing new, just new interpretations,” Davis said.
Dean watches feature wide leather cuffs, many of which fasten with screw posts instead of buckles, and clean, colorful faces. The watches, which are made in Hong Kong and assembled onsite, wholesale for $75 to $85. The company sells about 400 per month, constituting about 65 percent of sales. Handmade whip-stitched handbags wholesale for $60 to $80.
The 4-year-old brand is carried in the Fred Segal stores, Barneys New York, Bloomingdale’s and various specialty stores. Over the past year, Davis has signed distribution deals with Canada’s Who Says, Sweden’s Brandnode and England’s Subranded. The brand’s largest following is in England, and a future U.K. retail store is not entirely out of the question, Davis said.
Davis spent eight years in merchandising for Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie.
“I always knew I’d end up doing something on my own—I just didn’t know what,” he said. “But I saw an opening in the market.”
The store will host a grand opening party at 7 p.m. on April 17. —Christian M. Chensvold
