Laquette: Charlotte Tarantola's New Luxury Tee Division
Novelty print knit cardigans, cute pointelle knit tops and faceted Swarovski crystal buttons are the cornerstone of Charlotte Tarantola’s definitively girly 10-year-old clothing line, which is slowly growing toward a collection. Tarantola popped the champagne on the 11-year anniversary of her company by launching a new division called Laquette for the silhouette-driven and fabric-savvy fashion customer.
“We really felt like there were several things that we couldn’t do with Charlotte Tarantola that we have the skill set to pursue,” said Tarantola as one reason for Laquette’s launch in Spring 2007.
“The message [of Laquette] is T-shirts, but it’s very designed, very luxurious. You can tell in every detail that it’s all been thought out,” said the Culver City, Calif.–based Tarantola. “I think people like to wear casual clothes, but I think they also want to look dressed.”
Premium fabrics such as Supima cotton/Modal jersey, a cotton/polyester thermal in animal-print burnout and a polyester/Supima cotton/micro-Modal automatic space-dye stripe lend to draping shapes accentuated by pleats and gathering.
The ability to expand into stores outside of the Charlotte Tarantola label’s reach was a top reason that the founder launched Laquette. She elaborated that specialty stores are “more and more territorial about brands” and demand exclusivity, which cuts off the opportunity to grow into multiple doors in one city. And there’s only so many Charlotte Tarantola leopard-print cardigans and floral-print knit tops that one store can buy, Tarantola added. With Laquette, “we are capturing a new customer, but we’re also servicing in some towns the same customer with new product.”
Laquette will be competing with a laundry list of contemporary brands that share a similar aesthetic of luxury designed T-shirts. Tarantola was keen to the competition before diving in and trusts that her company’s reputation and Laquette’s attentive design will set it apart.
“Even though we knew [premium fashion T-shirts] was a very competitive classification, the fact that we had the experience to do it and know it would be right and that it would be on time and it would be fabulous, we thought it would be very successful.”
Wholesale prices for Laquette start at $19 for a Supima cotton/Modal spaghetti- strap camisole and go up to $59 for a Modal/spandex French terry hooded cardigan.
For more information, contact the Charlotte Tarantola and Laquette corporate showroom in suite 403 of The New Mart at (213) 488-0288. —Rhea Cortado
