California Apparel News

Los Angeles designer Sandra McCray has a one-track mind.

The active-sportswear designer has kept the growth of her Sandra McCray Designs label on an even keel by implementing steady, strategic steps.

She has one core concept: attractive, comfortable active sportswear. She has one core customer group: spa and resort shops. And she primarily uses one fabric: a colorfast cotton/poly/Lycra fabric that she imports from Australia.

When she launched the Sandra McCray line in 1997, she started with a single concept: attractive and comfortable knit pants with a fold-over waistband. She expanded the line to include tanks, camis, halters, pullovers and cardigan tops; pant styles including drawstring, cropped and cargo versions; and a few easy skirts. All come in cotton/poly/Lycra flat knit and rib.

McCray credits her success to a flattering and comfortable fit; a durable fabric that does not fade, bag or pill; and a style that steers clear of mercurial trends.

“I never put myself out on a trendy, contemporary edge— that’s not the customer I’m going after,” the designer said. “I want my customer to come back year after year after year.”

And they do. There’s a built-in reorder business as new spa and resort visitors discover her line. And several of her core spa buyers— including the tony Bacara Resort in Santa Barbara, Calif., and Canyon Ranch at the Venetian in Las Vegas—dress their staffs in her line.

The imported fabric helps foster McCray’s reorder business. The knit is piece-dyed, which means it does not fade, according to the designer. The construction helps garments retain their shape without bagging. And there’s color consistency from dyelot to dyelot, which means reordered items match a retailer’s existing inventory.

In addition to Bacara and Canyon Ranch, McCray’s line sells at the Ritz-Carlton, The Sports Club/LA, the St. Regis, The Phoenician and Gold’s Gym. Nordstromalso carries pieces from the line, as do Southern California boutiques Lola Rouge, M. Fredric, Just Us Girls and CJ Rose.

McCray offers an in-stock program of several key styles in black, chocolate and indigo. She has also introduced a few fashion pieces with novelty details, such as ruching, contrast piping and athletic rib trim. For Spring deliveries, McCray offered a group of sea foam French terry styles with pink athletic rib trim.

Wholesale prices range from $26 to $36 for tops and from $40 to $49 for bottoms. A few fashion pieces are a little higher-priced because of the details. And jackets run from $58 to $65.

The line sells “very well,” said Regina Singson, a sales representative in the Spa Boutique at Bacara Resort.

“It sells well because it fits every body type, whether you’re an extra small to an extra large,” she said, adding that the boutique carries McCray’s line in sizes 1 through 4.

The line is also versatile, Singson said. “You can dress it up or dress it down; it can be evening or everyday,” she noted.

The Bacara staff uniform is from McCray’s collection. Singson said she was pleased with how well hers has held up after being worn “eight hours per day, five days per week” for the past six months. She said the color has stayed true, the hems have not unraveled, and the pieces have shown no signs of shrinkage.

New opportunities

After eight years designing active apparel for the spa and resort market, McCray is branching out with new sizes and a new T-shirt collection.

The designer added a new size range—from 1 to 5—to accommodate larger sizes and maternity customers. The larger range and the good stretch and recovery of her fabrics mean McCray’s maternity customers can wear her designs through much of their pregnancies.

The designer added a line of T-shirts in cotton/spandex jersey with contrast top-stitching—thanks to a newly purchased flat-lock machine that has a place of honor in McCray’s Cooper Design Space headquarters. She is clearly having fun with the flat-lock machine, which allows her to add colorful, decorative elements to the T-shirts. The machine also allows her to leave raw edges on the hems and cuffs.

McCray’s Spring colors include sea foam, a bubblegum shade called “holiday pink,” sky blue, sunflower yellow, coral blush, white, black, indigo and chocolate. The seafoam color comes with pink top-stitching, sunflower yellow has coral topstitching, and the other shades have matching top-stitching. There are also a few stripes in black, indigo and chocolate.

Through the T-shirts, the designer is offering her steady customers new items and new colors that work back to her basics.

“If I’m doing great business with spas and resorts, I better give them consistent updates,” McCray said. “With the T-shirts, it opened up so much newness—it’s so fresh.”

For more information about Sandra McCray Designs, call (213) 622-8448, or visit www.sandramccraydesigns.com.

—Alison A. Nieder