California Apparel News

Diffusion lines, a popular method for designers to pave avenues to new customers and retailers’ doors, have become so common that some brands are taking on a life of their own.

When Los Angeles designer Michelle Mason’s line was being squeezed by big-name designer labels, she felt the need to appeal to a different customer base to stay in business.

“The designer market is very narrow and you’re competing with giant companies like Gucci and Prada,” said Mason, who launched her eponymous high-end line in 1997. “It was a lot to ask for people to fork out that much money for an almost-no-name designer,” she said. Mason’s designer label retailed from $800 to $900.

Enter Mason, a contemporary diffusion line with a lower price point and a similar aesthetic. Launched in 2000, the line appealed to a wider audience.

“The customer could get the sensibility of the main collection but not pay the designer price point,” Mason said. With retail prices topping out at $450, the diffusion line Mason retained some special items but was mainly sportswear driven.

The two lines hung together until 2004, when Mason phased out the designer line to focus on the diffusion line. The role reversal was a product of the market, the designer said.

“We were competing against each other,” Mason said.

The diffusion line “turned into a monster,” she said, and eventually won the fight.

Retailers were picking up both lines, but consumers were opting for the more moderately priced version.

“The average consumer didn’t understand why two similar pieces by the same designer had such different prices,” Mason said.

The nuances of quality and fabrication escaped them and consumers made their decision with their pocketbook.

These days, she designs with sales in mind, Mason said.

“Michelle Mason was the embodiment of my aesthetic,” she said. “I never worried about how much something would cost or how well it would sell. With Mason, I have to compromise. I have to think about the consumer.”

Trickle-up theory

Not all diffusion lines go from high to low.

Jak & Rae, a 1-year-old high-end contemporary brand that appeals to 20 to 50 year olds, is an unlikely secondary brand from junior label Hot Kiss.

With vintage-inspired styles and price points as high as $600, the line sells in stores probably not frequented by most Hot Kiss customers.

And that’s the point, said Stacia Diamond, the brand’s cofounder and a Hot Kiss alumnus.

“It’s a completely different market,” she said. “There are a million differences between the brands—from the design to the fabrics to the sewing and construction.”

Hot Kiss benefits from the line because it reaches a whole new client base, and Jak & Rae tracks hot trends for the junior brand.

“We report to them what our best bodies are, what’s selling well and they take that information and interpret it for their customer,” Diamond said.

Hot Kiss, which manufactures offshore, generally has the reworked styles in stores in one or two seasons.

To reach the customers between the high-end contemporary and junior price points, Jak & Rae launched its own diffusion line, Emphasis, in October. With all of its pieces retailing for under $200, Emphasis is a volume-driven line that hangs in many of the same accounts as Jak & Rae.

“It’s sellable, more understandable,” Diamond said.

Emphasis, with its higher price point and edgier design, has more potential to steal away more Jak & Rae business than Hot Kiss. But while the derivative line touches on similar themes, the company is careful to keep enough “lag time” between it and Jak & Rae to avoid stealing business away from itself.

“There are never two similar pieces hanging at the same time,” she said. “Timing is everything, and you have to be very focused on keeping your customers separate.”

Name game

Diffusion lines also represent a potential bonanza for retailers.

“There is definitely an appeal for retailers,” said Alisa Loftin, co-owner with Los Angeles designer Cynthia Vincent of Aero & Co., a high-end boutique that is known for championing upand- coming brands. “Diffusion lines carry more weight because of their name recognition than other young designer or contemporary brands,” Loftin said. “Invariably, the line will be attached to the designer brand and customers will be more aware of it. Other brands have to start from scratch.”

Loftin said customers may love a designer dress they can’t afford but are more than happy to buy a piece or two from the diffusion line.

“They feel like they’ve bought into the whole idea of the brand,” Loftin said.

Brands such as Harajuku Lovers, a moderate lifestyle brand from Jerry Leigh Entertainment in partnership with singer/designer Gwen Stefani; Love From Ya-Ya, a contemporary line from Los Angeles–based designer brand Ya-Ya; and Heatherette, a new young contemporary brand from the avant-garde New York–based design house of the same name, are banking on their name recognition.

“We have a tremendous following from the upstairs line,” said Shelley Epstein, Heatherette’s vice president of sales.

The Heatherette collection and the diffusion line have the same name.

The younger Heatherette line isn’t very derivative of the designer line—there are no fancy frocks or crazy get-ups— but it does have categories that appeal to the younger demographic, Epstein said. Short shorts, cute jackets and quirky graphics tap into the hot trends of the younger set.

Sales for the line, which begins shipping June 30, have been excellent, with such stores as Up Against the Wall and Kitson scooping up the line in a big way, Epstein said.

Harajuku Lovers is unique in that it draws inspiration from Stefani and her music but not necessarily from LAMB, Stefani’s line of designer clothing.

“The overlap is Gwen,” said Sara Scargall, design director of Jerry Leigh.

While diffusion lines tend to ring up more sales, Loftin said specialty retailers like her will never abandon the designer brands.

“Having designer brands hanging in the store is important because it elevates the perception of the store,” she said. “Designer pieces give you prestige and weight. People like to see it hanging.”

Fashion roulette

The broader market and built-in customer base enjoyed by diffusion lines do not always result in a recipe for success.

“There’s always the chance the lines can compete with each other,” Loftin said.

Diffusion brands can fail to create an identity of their own.

Such was the case with Grey Antics, an experimental diffusion line from designer Grant Krajecki’s popular Grey Ant line, Loftin said.

“It just didn’t seem to settle into a comfortable price point” and the design changed a couple times, she said. The line has since been discontinued.

“Stores are finding it harder and harder to figure out the right mix,” said Mason, who added that the sluggish economy dictates that retailers spend their dollars on lines with a fast turnaround—sometimes edging out the designer brand.

And if the lines are too similar in look or price, they can ultimately dilute their appeal and weaken their own sales.

Designers Kara Smith and Nina Firestone of Santa Barbara, Calif., have been thinking of launching a diffusion line for Karanina, their line of high-end contemporary clothes.

They’re hesitant to do it, however, for fear of poaching their own customers or having to lower their manufacturing standards. To avoid that conflict, the pair is considering venturing into maternity wear for young, hip mothers or, perhaps, children’s apparel.

Like many brands that launch diffusion lines, Karanina’s ultimate goal is to be a lifestyle brand