![]() ![]() “I wasn’t around when Allen made a huge volume. As long as we put out classic merch in sustainable fabrics with a little bit of a twist, we should be OK.” “You have to be triple sharp, you have to change with the times. A store I shipped $1.8 million gave me back $750,000 plus swaps.”Īnd yet, he’s still hopeful. ![]() “In the last four or five years, all they did was hurt me. ![]() “The department store almost singlehandedly ruined this business, they can’t sell fashion, they get taken in by brands,” he said. He’s happy to pontificate about why he thinks department stores, once his bread and butter, are in trouble. I don’t want to wake up and think because I’m 70, I’m not with it.” “I like the business, I’m an early bird, it’s who I am and what I do,” Schwartz shrugged. He likes to leave early to check out the latest boutiques. “He’s always the first one there,” lamented Bernal. “Hope is not a strategy.”Īt 70, Schwartz still loves fashion. ![]() “That’s why your TJ’s, Ross and Nordstrom Rack are breaking the bank - off of the sloppiness of the manufacturers,” Schwartz continued. “Instead of thousands, which create this off-price market where everything loses its value,” Bernal finished his thought. If we can do better, why not do better?” said Bernal, wearing the brand’s Carmen satin robe coat. And they feel the same, so there is no reason not to use it. “Our fabric mills started developing recycled, regenerated fabrics. (There are currently seven different licensed categories under the ABS brand umbrella, but Schwartz has no involvement in the operations.) It was her idea to incorporate sustainable fabrics into the new Allen Schwartz collection. “All this stuff is coming back we’re using words like ‘trousers,’ which we haven’t used in years,” said Schwartz during the Brand Assembly trade show, dressed in Fear of God plaid pants, a Gucci sweater and sneakers.īernal has been working with Schwartz for eight years, first at ABS heading up the day dress division. Styles include a fuchsia satin crepe blazer with bracelet sleeves over matching trousers, pussy bow blouses and bra-top dresses reflecting a new dressed-up mood. It is designed by creative director Bianca Bernal, the Glassell Park hipster to Schwartz’s West Side garmento. He said his Allen Schwartz concept has been in the works for the past eight months.Inside the VIP Tent at the 2023 Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic The whole dressing up is back,” he observed. And then everybody wanted to be dressed nicely, and then nobody wanted to be dressed nicely. I came into this business when people didn’t wear denim. “In my opinion, this is the single biggest fashion change in the last 40 years. Instead they want a stylish dress or pant outfit that can be worn at work and/or transition to evening. The decades-long observer of fashion, who started ABS by Allen Schwartz in 1982, believes women are tired of dressing down in denim and ripped blue jeans. Schwartz sees a resurgence of the statement shoulder with puffed sleeves for blouses and square shoulders for jackets. She wants beautiful fabric and a clear definition, but she doesn’t want to see this merchandise all over the place.”Įverything under the new Allen Schwartz label will be made in Los Angeles by contractors who are sewing the upcoming Fall/Winter collection of separates populated with prints, silk organza, vintage lace, gabardine, silk blends, lots of twill, two or three different kinds of velvet and faux fur. “You are getting the consumer drifting down from designer labels that are priced prohibitively high. There is a market there with a huge hole that I call ‘advanced contemporary,’” he said from New York, where he was working in his showroom and getting ready to debut the line at Coterie, taking place Feb. He will no longer be selling to department stores but instead concentrating on specialty stores, international retailers and e-commerce. He is changing the nameplate on his store on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica, Calif., and changing the sign on his New York showroom. I don’t want to be caught holding the bag.”įor his latest metamorphosis, the founder of ABS by Allen Schwartz is renaming his company Allen Schwartz and concentrating his designs on “advanced contemporary” clothing selling for $300 to $600 to women between the ages of 30 and 45. One of his favorite sayings is, “We are like the Marines. Allen Schwartz has always liked to be ahead of the curve when it comes to fashion. ![]()
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