LOS ANGELES — Jonathan Simkhai is living the California dream. A little over a year after becoming bicoastal, the founder and creative director of his namesake label has moved his entire company to the West Coast and opened his first flagship store smack in the middle of the city at 653 North La Cienega Boulevard in West Hollywood.
“I didn’t want to be downtown, I wanted to be inspired every day and live the California life,” Simkhai said. “My brother [Joel, founder of Grinder] moved to L.A. when I was a senior in high school and I would come visit him all the time. I always felt liberated coming here; I would push myself with fashion. I guess maybe escaping New York always gave me that boost of confidence.”
Located across the way from Melrose Place and a block north of Melrose Avenue in a two-story, 5,000-square-foot space that used to house Naked Princess and Catherine Malandrino, Simkhai’s store — opening on July 25 — and headquarters reflect his softer L.A. aesthetic and his vision for creating a homey work environment where he can gather direct customer feedback while designing.
Related Galleries
The 1,200-square-foot store, with its two-story ceilings, large windows and white fixtures, is merchandised by color story rather than category. Jeans mix with swimwear and cocktail dresses.
“The more I spent time here, the more I realized L.A. was where we wanted to be and I slowly started convincing the team members to move out here — about 15 people across all areas,” said Simkhai, whose cutting, pattern-making and sewing space is next door to retail, while finance, e-commerce, customer service and marketing are upstairs. His design studio and showroom, designed like a living room around a marble fireplace, are in the rear of the first floor, where he can just as easily pop onto the sales floor or onto the back patio for a meeting.
“This is where I hang out most of the time. We do a lot of our fittings right here, and all our meetings. I love selling, I love connecting with the customers and this is a good opportunity for me to get that direct feedback.
“I was really missing that part. I started in retail as a salesperson. Growing up in Long Island, I was taking shifts at local boutiques. It’s a great way to start the retail footprint to be able to be here and watch it. We’re doing a lot of custom and VIP dressing, too. Yesterday, I had a client come in and we opened a bottle of Champagne and I was dressing her. I want to focus on big picture and direct-to-consumer and e-commerce, but this is also part of the macro plan.”
Simkhai also likes being able to have design meetings in the outdoor courtyard year-round. “I think it’s a happier place versus New York, where there’s obviously so much energy and it will always be the roots of the brand. We kept a showroom there and are constantly traveling there for market and to work with photographers, stylists and models, but we are also so excited about the new pool of photographers and talent here.”
A Los Angeles fashion presentation is in the future but he said, “We didn’t want to too quickly abandon New York. We are doing a really special presentation there in September.” He noted that his European and Asian buyers rarely come to Los Angeles, so doing market in New York and Paris is still very important.
Eight years after launching his brand, Simkhai said he’s careful not to get too comfortable.
“There’s so many different brands out there and you try not to compare yourself to anyone else and stay focused, but it’s crazy. I like to push myself and push the team to always think of new ways to approach fashion. The industry is looking for something different right now. Everything is changing and we can’t just stay in an old format.”
Simkhai is acutely aware of how the digital game is played on the West Coast.
“What I love about L.A. is that most of the brands are very tech-first and I think New York brands are very fashion-first so it’s nice to come from New York and be surrounded by tech-driven brands. It inspires you and pushes you to think about tech the way everyone else does with customer acquisition, e-commerce, ways to have a conversation with the customer digitally, but you still have that New York fashion focus,” he noted.
“What gets our creative juices going is thinking about how we can build a brand through digital, and that’s nothing we really felt the pressure of when we were sitting in New York with all our creative friends, because they were just happy to do their show and communicate through fashion week. But when you are in L.A. and so far away, you really need digital to get the word out there.”
While he said he’d like to expand his brand presence in more cities and more doors in California, as well as open another store in New York and eventually in Europe, for now he’s most excited about what he calls “this never-ending trunk show. I think that’s what’s really going to propel us, being involved and making it really intimate.”
He recalls a trunk show at a Pennsylvania boutique where most of the clients were friends who would come to the store to meet up and shop together. “For me, that was really inspiring. I would love for this to become a place where people can meet up and appreciate fashion and socialize.”
Building his direct-to-consumer business is also a priority for 2019. “We’ve been very lucky to grow our business with support from the retailers, [which include Forward by Elyse Walker, Matchesfashion, Net-a-porter, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Harrods, Lane Crawford and Meier], but being able to tell our story and merchandise and sell it the way I want is exciting.”
While 2018 has been a busy year – Simkhai just welcomed twins with husband TJ Allers seven weeks ago – he said, “There are good days and bad days with everything, but when you love what you do, the bad days aren’t that bad and the good days are really good. It sounded impossible to move everything to L.A., but nothing is impossible.”