From a Seedy Street, an Avant Fashion Scene Grows
Them Atelier
A graffiti-scarred bridge underpass in Los Angeles’ Echo Park neighborhood looks foreboding, like a crime scene waiting to happen. But for designers Brian Kim and David Hershberger, this no-go zone is perfect to build an avant-garde fashion scene.
This year, Kim opened fashion studio Them Atelier at 1160 Glendale Blvd., which is a couple of storefronts away from the underpass of the Echo Park’s Glendale–Sunset bridge. In this tough, urban environment, Them Atelier designers Kim and Olga Nazarova built a serene refuge to design fashion with an alternative edge. In their minimalistic Japanese-style loft, these designers craft simple-looking jeans from novel fabrics such as undyed denim.
Adjacent to Them Atelier, Hershberger designs up-and-coming contemporary label Endovanera. Hershberger and design partner Mitch Moseley have been working under the bridge since 2007. Kim hopes more designers will put down stakes on this dead-end block. “It’s like a sewing circle,” Kim claimed. And this definitely is not Kansas.
The street also is an unlikely candidate for retail, due to the growing popularity of another neighbor, the Echoplex nightclub. Before and after the late nights of performances of new rock bands and DJs, Echoplex revelers cruise boutiques Haute Olive, located at 1176 Glendale Blvd., and Front Street boutique at 1154 Glendale Blvd. Kim and Hershberger run Front Street and sell indie labels such as Cavern, Scout and Nortwick at their shop.
Them Atelier’s retail price points seemingly are way over the means of this block. Jeans start at $75. So why would anyone with pricey merchandise move into a tough-looking place, especially at a time when the commercial real estate in conventionally nice neighborhoods is so cheap? Well, that’s taking the proverbial beaten path, and that’s not in the playbook, according to Kim.
“We’re not a mainstream company,” Kim said. “We don’t do things in the traditional sense. It’s more about working in a creative environment and community, creating our own path together”
