Independent Style Fuels Glitz Customer

Glitz, the contemporary line from Kik Wear Industries approaching its one-year anniversary, has gotten off to a promising start.

Seeing opportunity for growth in the contemporary market, Kik Wear launched the line in April of 2003. Fueled by the success of Kik Wear’s juniors street-and-skate line, Kik Girl, the new line has opened doors in many core boutiques, including Lisa Kline in Los Angeles, Sharon Segal in Fred Segal Santa Monica, Bryan Lee in Santa Barbara, Calif., House of Field in New York and Villains in San Francisco.

The 15-piece collection is unique, vintage- inspired and “kind of kitschy,” according to head designer Liza Gutierrez. Pieces are made in or accented with unusual colors, including chartreuse, burgundy and mustard.

Gutierrez, who heads up design for both Kik Girl and Glitz, said Glitz targets the 23- to 38-year-old age group.

“It’s for the woman who has her own sense of style,” she said. “I hopefully give her the options to be able to make up her own individual style.”

Gutierrez, who designed for JNCO before joining Kik Wear in 2001, likes to offer items that can be mixed and matched with existing pieces in a woman’s wardrobe. She said she hopes women will buy pieces from the line and add their own personal twists by mixing in a great handbag or pair of shoes. “I pay attention to the trends, but they don’t dictate the line,” she said.

Gutierrez pays extreme attention to details by adding unique buttons, contrasting trims and linings to her designs. For Fall, look for herringbone wool jackets, skirts and pants sets, vintage-washed corduroy jackets and trousers, muted, rustic plaid jackets and trousers, and faux mohair sweaters with Peter Pan collars, puffed sleeves and cropped bodies.

Wholesale prices for the line run $48 to $69 for trousers, $39 to $69 for skirts, $89 to $120 for blazers, and $39 to $59 for shirts and sweaters.

For more information, call (213) 746- 5317. —N. Jayne Seward