The Great Laundry T-shirt shop is the second Japanese boutique to recently move into The Lab in Costa Mesa.
Arth, a trendy Japanese hat boutique, opened in September. Like Arth, which has about 24 stores in Japan, Great Laundry wants to break into the U.S. market and chose the Lab as its first location.
Great Laundry has 17 stores in Japan.
Yoshiyuki Ochi, president of Laundry USA, said he’s a fan of California sun and culture. And like Arth store manager Satoshi Kurihara, Japan native Ochi is learning English as he goes.
The shirts, which sell for around $35, have Japanese flair. One has “what’s up” written in Japanese and another says “Dan-No-Suke,” a reference to a fictional Kabuki actor. Kabuki is a style of Japanese theater.
Other shirts are obscure and arty. One reads “Just like a skeleton” and has a skeleton printed on it.
The store also sells T-shirts with 1970s flavor. That decade’s style is popular in Japan, Ochi said.
Most of the T-shirts are made in the U.S. but printed and dyed in Japan. Great Laundry also carries a California brand of girls’ tees called Sunny Girl.
Great Laundry also has its own line of collectible toys.
Too Much?
Wall Street says some retailers, including Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc., might have ordered too much denim for the back-to-school season.
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Great Laundry: opens first U.S. store at The Lab |
Prudential Equity Group analyst Stacy Pak downgraded PacSun, along with American Eagle Outfitters Inc. and Abercrombie & Fitch Co., from neutral to underweight. Pak cited the inventory issues.
PacSun shares were off just a few pennies on the downgrade, though they’ve been in a tailspin of late as same-store sales numbers in the past few months have fallen short of expectations.
PacSun director of investor relations Gar Jackson said PacSun took the downgrade in stride.
“We continue to focus on our day-to-day business,” Jackson said.
Besides, he said denim still is hot for PacSun.
“Denim is the driving force behind pants these days,” Jackson said.
There may be a glut for $100-plus jeans, he said. But the typical price for PacSun’s jeans is two for $60.
Jackson recently joined PacSun from Foothill Ranch-based Oakley Inc.
The director of investor relations position is a new position at PacSun, he said. In the past former chief executive Greg Weaver and former chief financial officer Carl Womack handled investor relations.
Weaver, now executive chairman, gave up the top position to Seth Johnson earlier this year. Womack retired and was replaced by Gerald Chaney.
Fur Get It
Joel Waller, Wet Seal Inc.’s chief executive, told the Pioneer Press in St. Paul, Minn., that animal rights organization PETA has gone overboard.
PETA, short for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, has criticized the Foothill Ranch retailer for selling clothing with fur. The group has protested outside several Wet Seal stores for months.
PETA has been trying to get Wet Seal to join the ranks of the Gap and Forever 21, which have agreed to eliminate fur clothing.
Now PETA has taken personal aim at Waller, former chief executive of Wilsons the Leather Experts Inc. The group has been protesting outside a St. Louis Park, Minn., synagogue where Waller is a member.
Waller, who’s immersed in resurrecting Wet Seal, told the newspaper that he’s received threats, thousands of e-mail messages and trespassers on his property.
Even his 89-year old mother is getting messages from the organization, he said. He’s planning to file legal action to keep PETA away from his family.
He also told the paper that PETA tactics aren’t working with him: “I don’t believe anyone should dictate what our customers want to buy.”
Auto Dealer Buyout
Foothill Ranch Chrysler Jeep Dodge’s new boss is a familiar face.
When Hesham Elhamayel partnered with DaimlerChrysler under the company’s minority retail dealer development program in 2002 to finance the dealership, his goal was to one day own it outright.
Well, that day has come.
“I bought it out,” said the former Egyptian Embassy diplomat. “It feels good.”
He paid $10.8 million to buy the rest of the dealership he didn’t own.
