California Apparel News

Ecotex owner Raphael Javaheri is launching a new contemporary apparel brand beginning with a luxury knits collection that will officially bow in August at Project Womens (formerly called ENKVegas) in Las Vegas.

The Beginning Of … is Javaheri’s new American-made line, created to fill a need for fashion essentials primarily priced under $100 and available for quick-turn deliveries.

“The name means a lot to me,” said Javaheri, who launched Ecotex, his textile business, in 1993 and expanded to private-label garment production in 2006. “I have gone through a number of metamorphoses since I started. It’s the beginning of a new chapter for our company.”

The launch collection features three luxury knits groups, an entry-level collection made of 100 percent Pima from Peru; a mid-price group of fashion basics made from a Modal/Pima slub fabric, which is also from Peru; and a luxe line made with a Modal/cashmere blend sourced from Hong Kong.

“For Fall, we’ll do 100 percent cashmere and heavier blends, but for Spring/Summer, 10 percent cashmere gives it that extra-luxurious feel and light weight,” Javaheri said.

There are also a few soft dressing pieces made from diaphanous Tencel fabrics in the initial collection as well as a group of Modal tops featuring digital prints on silk panels. Going forward, the line will expand to include Tencel wovens, woven Pima cottons, woven silks and linen knits.

“I call it fashion basics,” Javaheri said. “It has a fashion aspect to it. It’s the fabric, it’s the garment dyeing, it’s the hand processing, it’s the attention to detail and finishing touches.”

To create the line, Javaheri hired designer Ayumi Williams, whose career has included designing for LA Made, Chan Lu, For Joseph, Max Studio and Graylin. Suzie Hart and Lisa Ozur, owners of the Niche showroom in Los Angeles, are representing the line.

Javaheri bumped into the two showroom owners at Artisan House, the downtown Los Angeles restaurant he founded with developer Alexander Moradi.

“We starting talking about the marketplace and brought up what we believe is white space in the market,” Hart said. “We’ve never had a really great T-shirt line for our person, one that fits a real woman’s body.”

Niche’s other collections include CJ by Cookie Johnson, the denim collection designed by Magic Johnson’s wife; Acrobat sweaters; Lysse leggings; Skinny Tees camis; Fate contemporary fast fashion; contemporary collection La Fée Verte; Tassells accessories; and Kaya di Koko, the secondary collection designed by Single’s Galina Sobolev.

“We have such a broad customer base,” Hart said. “Lisa and I sell to everyone from Neiman Marcus to HSN [the multi-channel, consumer-direct retailer formerly called the Home Shopping Network].”

Hart and Ozur said their showroom caters to what Nordstrom describes as a “trend adapter” customer. “She wants to look contemporary and current,” Hart said. “You want to sell to the schoolteacher, the bank teller and the real estate agent. The true working person.”

Sized from 1 to 4, the launch collection for The Beginning Of… includes “the perfect tee” that “can work into any woman’s wardrobe,” Hart said. “You’re going to buy it and then want to purchase it in four colors.”

The fit is contemporary but forgiving, Ozur said. And the necklines “fall at the right point,” Hart added.

The graphic tees feature pretty botanical imagery. “Our lady doesn’t always do graphics. She’s a little more arty and sophisticated,” Hart said. “You won’t see her wear a T-shirt that says, ‘selfie.’”

Hart and Ozur previewed The Beginning Of… at Los Angeles Fashion Market in June, showing it to a few of their key retailers. In addition to filling a need for fashion essentials, Hart and Ozur said they appreciate the line’s easy price points, which range from $38 to $98 wholesale, with a few pieces, such as a Tencel dress and a cashmere cardigan, priced a little higher.

“There’s huge pressure for under-$100 retail,” Hart said.

Also, there are no minimums for the collection, and the company is setting up a restock program to allow retailers to quickly refill strong items.

“With other T-shirt lines, [retailers] have to make a large commitment upfront,” Ozur said. “This has no minimums, easy entry and there’s going to be an in-stock program, so [stores] can replenish inventory at their own pace.”

Plus, Javaheri’s access to a wide selection of fabrications means the collection can expand into new categories according to retailers’ needs.

The Beginning Of… will offer its own colors, which range from easy-to-mix neutrals to pops of color such as army and garnet. But retailers can also request their own color palette.

“Because we already own the PFDs, cut-and-sew and garment dye is easy,” Javaheri said. “We can get it done from cutting to shipping in less than 30 days.”

Evolution of Ecotex

This is not Javaheri’s first branded line. An earlier branded collection launched in 2006 but soon became a platform for his private-label business.

“The textile business has changed,” Javaheri said. “There are hardly any secrets left.”

Suppliers become competitors, and large customers often source directly from the mill, especially for commodity fabrics. Javaheri’s fabric customers are looking for novelty textiles, but developing novelty fabrics takes time and money.

“And sometimes the bulk orders are smaller than the sample orders,” he said. “That’s not to say it’s not a viable business, but it’s not what it used to be.”

Javaheri’s private-label business proved to be successful, but it wasn’t a brand.

“I’m a third-generation textile company, and I have 21 years’ experience [with Ecotex] in fabric development, fabric procurement [from the U.S.], Peru, Turkey, Korea, China, Japan and Taiwan,” Javaheri said, adding that his private-label experience includes garment production in the U.S., Peru, Turkey and China.

“What do you do with all this experience and knowledge? Naturally, I thought the best thing to do is to be in charge of my own destiny by creating our own brand,” he said. “The value is in brand building.”

In addition to offering in-stock goods, Javaheri said he’s taking a position on fabrics he believes in “to control the production cycle from yarn to dyeing and finishing to garment production to the end.”

That way, he can realize savings along the supply chain and pass those savings on to stores and consumers.

A teaser website for The Beginning Of… will launch later this summer with an interactive contest. Visitors will be asked to complete the phrase “The Beginning Of….” The best response will be turned into a T-shirt, and the winner will receive a prize. Javaheri is also putting together a board of brand ambassadors.

“I’m looking for people who have inspiring stories—they’re self-made and they’re becoming big players,” he said.

For more information about The Beginning Of…, contact the Niche showroom at (213) 955-8088.