Enze To Abbot Kinney
An independent boutique, Enze, recently opened on high end retail street Abbot Kinney.
Abercrombie & Fitch's New Concept Store
Abercrombie & Fitch's new concept store took a bow at Westfield Century City mall on Aug. 25. A&F promises that it will be more fashion in a smaller space.
Pool Provides a Showcase for Up-and-Comers and Indies
Trade Shows
UBM’s Pooltradeshow has always been a venue for independent and up-and-coming apparel and accessories brands. The Aug. 14–16 show at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center returned to its prime location next to Project near the shuttle bus drop-off.
Project: Big Show Drives Biz Through Small “Neighborhoods”
Trade Shows
During a time of great change for retail, Project continued to be a big show.
Liberty Expands Quest Section
Trade Shows
Change was on the mind of Sam Ben-Avraham, founder of Liberty Fashion & Lifestyle Fairs.
Capsule; New Styles, New Floor Layout
Trade Shows
High-end streetwear, fashion, denim and environmentally sustainable fashions for men and women were among the categories on display at the Aug. 14–16 run of Capsule at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas.
Agenda: Show Floor Debuts & With Look To Future
Trade Shows
The Aug. 14–16 run of Agenda at the Sands Expo and Convention Center featured debuts and some new fashion styles. There also was a promise of change, said Aaron Levant, the show founder.
E-Com Exec to Run Macy’s Stores, 100 Jobs Cut
Retail
A desire to make Macy’s department stores even more tech-friendly led to the hire of its new chief.
Footwear Brand Sanuk Slides Into Apparel
Sanuk
After more than two decades of making flip-flops and footwear for the surf and beach crowd, the Sanuk brand is trying apparel.
Beverly Hills Tells Shops to Stay Open Late
Retail
The city of Beverly Hills has been encouraging boutiques to keep doors open after most stores call it quits for the night.
Costume Designers Talk at Beverly Center
Red carpets are scheduled to be rolled out Sept. 17 for the 69th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. Beverly Center held a panel of nominated costume designers Aug. 16.
E-Com Exec to Run Macy’s Stores, 100 Jobs Cut
A desire to make Macy’s department stores even more tech-friendly informed the hire of its new chief.
Michael Costello’s Boutique Takes A Bow
After a career of dressing the likes of Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, and starring on Project Runway in 2010, Michael Costello put his name in concrete...with a L.A. Fashion District store.
Olivia Culpo’s PrettyLittleThing Party
UK brand PrettyLittleThing’s mission is to bring runway and celeb fashions to women at a low price. On Aug. 17, it produced a Los Angeles party for its capsule line PrettyLittleThing X Olivia Culpo.
Magic Kingdom Takes Best Fashion Picture at LJIFFF
La Jolla International Fashion Film Festival has maintained its independence since it was founded in 2010. Last month, more than 700 people attended the event’s parties and film festival. The Best Picture Award was handed to Magic Kingdom.
LA Swim Week Starts on Irreverent Note
LA Swim Week
For its second run at the Skirball Cultural Center in West LA, the Los Angeles Swim Week fashion shows started on an irreverent note.
Orders Despite Uncertainty at Las Vegas Trade Shows
LV Trade Shows
The apparel industry headed to Las Vegas on the hunt for new trends and new business at the many apparel and sourcing trade shows spread across the city.
Rodd & Gunn Takes a Bow at Westfield Century City
New Zealand’s Rodd & Gunn clothiers are taking a wider gamble on California. The third Rodd & Gunn store in California opened Aug. 10 at the Westfield Century City mall, which neighbors affluent enclaves such as Beverly Hills and West Los Angeles.
Debbie Harry X Obey Comes to Melrose
The Debbie Harry X Obey Collection lands in a pop-up shop on Los Angeles' Melrose Avenue.
Bread Gets Money for E-commerce Payment Program
Technology
Bread is a New York–headquartered finance technology company that lets merchants give their customers the option to pay for items in several installments over time.
Le Box Blanc’s Neighborhood Store in DTLA
Retail
For the past two years, Le Box Blanc has been delivering contemporary fashions to people all over America from its e-commerce shop .
Reef Founder Aguerre Brings Wild Style to Waterman’s
Waterman’s
Reef brand founder Fernando Aguerre ushered in the irreverent sartorial style of the annual Waterman’s when he arrived at the inaugural event in 1993 wearing a sarong and a 1920s-era vintage dinner jacket.
Agenda Festival to Return
Trade Shows
Agenda Festival, the consumer day of the streetwear-focused Agenda trade show, made an inaugural run last month.
Westfield Century City Announces New Stores
Retail
Westfield Century City recently announced another slate of retailers scheduled to join the sprawling mall, which is undergoing a $1 billion remodel.
Odain Brand Opens 1st Shop
Retail
Odain Watson relaunched his Odaingerous brand in 2016, and on Aug. 17 he is scheduled to open a shop, also called Odaingerous, at 719 S. Main St. in downtown Los Angeles. It will be the emerging brand’s first shop.
Japan’s Edwin Denim brand to Unveil Adriano Goldschmied Line for US
Edwin Denim
In its 70th anniversary year, Japanese denim powerhouse Edwin Co. Ltd. opened a U.S. creative studio and is bringing in jeans legend Adriano Goldschmied to design a collection for the U.S. market.
Patrick DiLascia Launches Patrick Brand
Patrick Brand
A new bricks-and-mortar store is the center of Patrick DiLascia’s new fashion venture.
Callaway Hopes for Hole-in-1 With TravisMathew
Manufacturing
Callaway Golf Co. recently announced that it had acquired Huntington Beach, Calif.–headquartered apparel brand TravisMathew, LLC for $125.5 million in an all-cash transaction.
Selectiv: Post-Corporate Business Casual
Selectiv
After spending years working in corporate environments, specifically digital departments for entertainment companies, Daniel Sakai and Calvin Lim came to a conclusion: Men’s office clothes had become a dull uniform, even in the era of business casual.
Wvs Brgde: Minimalistic Action Sports Aesthetic
Manufacturing
Pastels and neon colors might as well be white noise to Brian Boles.
Menoh's Sewing Machine Music
Ask Lun*na Menoh, there’s a rock ‘n’ roll song in the sound of the sewing machine.
Wool & Thimble’s Summer Launch party
Made in Los Angeles, Wool & Thimble constructs high end T-shirts, wovens and sweats for men. Reggie Marshall, the brand’s founder and creative director, produced a launch party for its Summer ’17 collection on Aug. 8.
Bathing Ape to make a Los Angeles Comeback
High end Japanese streetwear brand Bathing Ape is making a return to Los Angeles after closing down an emporium near Melrose and Fairfax avenues in July 2010.
J!nx for Gamers
J!nx is a San Diego-headquartered brand that makes clothes for gamers; the people who can’t be pried away from their video, Internet, X-Box, you name it-games.
Fred Segal Announces Flagship Shop-in-Shops
Retail
Fred Segal is moving along toward a fall 2017 opening—perhaps in mid-September—for its new flagship in West Hollywood, Calif., located near the Sunset Plaza high-end retail enclave.
69 Brand Pops
Gender neutral fashions are having a moment. Los Angeles brand 69 is making a statement for the look at a pop-up shop
July Sales Up, But Results Mixed
Retail
July sales beat forecasts, according to market-research firm Retail Metrics.
Quiet August Market in LA Yields Immediate Orders, Out-of-Town Business
Trade Shows
August market in Los Angeles is typically a quiet affair, with exhibitors and buyers navigating a crowded trade-show schedule that includes the massive Las Vegas trade shows later in the month.
NetSuite Takes Cloud On Road
Technology
Oracle NetSuite, the San Mateo, Calif.–based, cloud-based enterprise resource planning and omnichannel commerce software owned by tech giant Oracle, has been hitting a number of apparel trade shows this year. The most recent was Agenda in Long Beach, Calif., in July.
Reyn Spooner’s New Direction, New Leadership
Manufacturing
Heritage aloha brand Reyn Spooner has been traveling a steady course for decades, but its new creative and executive team plans to steer it toward bigger things.
South Coast Plaza Buys Sears Land
Retail
Sears has run a department store and an auto center at the northeast end of luxe retail center South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, Calif., for 50 years.
Lucky Brand X Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
Lucky Brand recently unveiled a collaboration line with country music performers Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. They’ve been really big deals in the world of country music for more than 20-years, and are currently in the midst of their long Soul2Soul tour.
Snake Oil Provision’s Long Beach Reopening
After trying different sites in Long Beach, Calif., Ben Neuhaus and Miranda Malloy think they have found the right spot for Snake Oil Provisions. It’s in the historic Lafayette building in Long Beach’s East Village Arts District.
RVCA Returns to Ron Robinson
Fifteen years ago, Ron Robinson was one of the first boutiques to take a chance on RVCA. On July 27, RVCA made a return to Ron Robinson with its limited collaboration line RVCA + Moblow.
Intermezzo Unveils Consumer-Friendly Vintage Show
Trade Shows
Trade-show giant UBM is getting in on the consumer-facing show action this August when its Intermezzo Collections unveils its Vintage@Intermezzo. The New York show, set to bow during the Aug. 6–8 run of Intermezzo, will be UBM’s first market open to consumers.
Alternative Apparel & An Inconvenient Sequel
Alternative Apparel is stating its case in the climate change crisis.
Blast Cult’s Merch Lifts Off
Fashion’s festival styles have been featuring band T-shirts for years. Here’s a new angle; how about T-shirts from musical instrument makers?
Angel Biotek On Abbot Kinney
Venice’s Abbot Kinney Boulevard has changed greatly over the past decade, causing many to complain that the street doesn’t have any more room for new brands or even the secret sauce that made it special in the first place. Venice area designer Angel Biotek hopes to prove those people wrong.
Balmain to Melrose Place
French fashion house Balmain opened its first West Coast flagship on Melrose Place in West Hollywood, Calif. this month.
ChicCartel Launches ‘Shop Locally’ Site
Technology
The slogan “grown locally/buy locally” resonates for fashion, said the cofounders of e-commerce platform ChicCartel, a new market that promises to connect savvy fashion consumers with independent designers from their city and region.
