California Apparel News

Get ready for more Nasty Gal.

On the heels of the Nov. 21 debut of the hip e-commerce emporium’s debut of its first physical shop at 8115 Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles, it’s getting ready to open another boutique. The second shop will be located at 1254 Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, Calif. It was the former site of a MNG by Mango.

Jay Luchs, executive vice president of NewmarkGrubbKnightFrank,represented Mango during the deal, which took place mid-year. He said Nasty Gal took out a long-term lease on the space. Nasty Gal did not reply to an email requesting comment.

The new physical stores are just the latest chapter for the Los Angeles–headquartered Nasty Gal, which seems to be riding a new wave of prominence. Earlier this year, Nasty Gal founder Sophia Amoruso published her memoir, #Girlboss, which details her wild youth (including a confession to shoplifting) as well as her rise to be the chief executive officer of what she said is a $100 million fashion company.

Nasty Gal is more than a personality cult for Amoruso. Soon after starting as an eBay store selling vintage in 2006, it minted a new look, said Laurie Brucker, a stylist and chief of LaurieBStyle. “It was all about the torn denim shorts; the oversized, see-through, silk blouses; and the Jeffrey Campbell lace-up booties,” Brucker said. “It grew into a persona and evolved into so many stylistic looks. But it kept that rebellious, ‘devil-may-care, I’m gonna rock it’ style.”

It also gave a new, affordable look to a generation seeking an identity, said Kelsi Smith, the founder of fashion marketing company Stylesmith and the director of the LA Fashion Council, which provides a platform for emerging Los Angeles fashion designers.

“[Nasty Gal] appeals to the millennial generation in a unique way. They created a trend-driven e-commerce site for affordable fashion that wasn’t Forever 21,” Smith said. “It filled that millennial niche. There wasn’t anything around when it launched.”