Affliction LLC, a maker of edgy clothes worn by rock stars and athletes, is moving its headquarters from Signal Hill to Seal Beach in August.
The company, which has yearly sales of about $150 million, bought a 54,000-square-foot building at the Pacific Gateway Business Center in Seal Beach for an estimated $10 million.
Affliction plans to keep its 30,000-square-foot building in Signal Hill and use it for additional warehouse space, according to Vice President Tom Atencio.
The company’s Orange County headquarters will house research and design, administrative work, sales and marketing and warehousing, Atencio said.
Atencio and co-owners Todd Beard, Clifton Chason and Eric Foss are set to work out of Seal Beach with about 60 other workers.
Move’s Significance
The headquarters move from Signal Hill to Seal Beach isn’t big in terms of miles. But it does bring another clothing company to the county.
OC is home to a slew of apparel makers, big and small. Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc., Billabong USA in Irvine, Foothill Ranch’s Oakley Inc., Costa Mesa-based Volcom Inc. and Cypress-based Vans Inc. are some of the big names here.
Affliction’s move across the county line was as much out of necessity as anything else, according to Atencio.
“We needed more space,” he said.
The company needed a bigger space close to its Signal Hill facility and a manufacturing building in Rancho Dominguez, he said.
Affliction searched for a new headquarters for about four months before it opted for the Seal Beach location, he said.
Affliction was started by Santa Ana design company Digital Ink Creative Services, also owned by Foss and Chason. Digital Ink has made custom graphics for several apparel makers, including Irvine-based Rusty, Lake Forest-based Sole Technology Inc.’s etnies and Ocean Pacific Apparel Corp. in Irvine.
Affliction, founded in 2005, has been a hit with customers with its hard, edgy style.
T-shirts and hoodies have skulls, bird wings and gothic lettering. Some of its jeans are torn. Others are embroidered with crosses and other gothic-style images.
Rivals that also make clothes inspired by tattoos and rock music include Culver City-based Ed Hardy and Australia’s Anarchy Clothing.
The clothes are big with the tattoo, punk rock and heavy metal crowds as well as fans of mixed martial arts and boxing. The company sponsors fighting events.
“The style is about hard core graphics that are more art driven,” Atencio said. “The clothes represent the hard and fast lifestyle of music and tattoo culture.”
Rock star Ozzy Osbourne and members of the band Korn wear Affliction as well as middleweight champion boxer Kelly Pavlik and Milwaukee Brewers baseball player Ryan Braun.
Affliction’s clothes, shoes and accessories sell anywhere from $30 to more than $200 under the Affliction, Sinful and Extreme Couture labels.
The company makes about 90% of its clothes at its 250,000-square-foot Rancho Dominguez factory, which counts more than 100 workers, Atencio said.
The clothing’s sold at upscale stores such as Seattle-based Nordstrom Inc. and Fred Segal and Lisa Kline of Los Angeles. A good chunk of the company’s sales come from smaller stores such as Huntington Beach-based Electric Chair and SX in Irvine.
Affliction uses distributors to sell its clothes in Europe, Asia, Canada, South Africa and elsewhere.
Earlier this year, it opened a company-owned store on Melrose Avenue and could open more in the near future, Atencio said.
Running a clothing business isn’t easy and it’s expensive, he said.
Making clothes in America is tough, especially with rising costs for materials, fuel, insurance and labor.
Affliction could cut costs and move all of its manufacturing overseas but it prefers to make the clothing locally. The quality is better and it’s more convenient, Atencio said.
“We’re about quality, we just have to run efficiently,” he said.
Handling Downturn
A slowing in the economy is another hurdle.
Affliction plans to get through the downturn by managing its costs and implementing better technology into the business so that it can run more efficiently, Atencio said.
And the company faces increased competition from counterfeit clothing makers.
The company tries to stay ahead of fashion trends, Atencio said.
“We come out with fresh new concepts before anyone else,” he said. “It’s about staying ahead of the game.”
