Bobby Kloetzly’s got a coffin in his conference room.
He’s not a mortician. It’s all part of marketing his clothing company, Lucky 13 Apparel.
“We’re going to make this into a rad go-kart,” he said. “It’ll be perfect for a kid’s clothing ad.”
The former Angeleno turned Orange County businessman opts for the unconventional when it comes to photo shoots. A jail cell, a motorcycle, a hot rod, a Pabst Blue Ribbon lantern are just a few props he’s used. As long as it captures an edgy, vintage feel, Lucky 13 will use it.
Lucky 13 is among a handful of companies that make clothes inspired by punk rock, rockabilly and psychobilly,a combination of both.
Its clothing is a mix of ’70s punk with ’50s rock ‘n’ roll, albeit occasionally raunchy. Think cuffed jeans, bowling shirts, Western shirts, argyle sweaters and mechanic-style jackets for men. Women wear high-waist pencil skirts, A-line halter dresses, hot pants, pintuck blouses and capri pants.
Colors are bold with blacks, reds, blues, tans and pinks. Patterns include horizontal stripes, animal prints, polka dots, plaid and gingham. Tattoo-style icons of skulls, pinup girls, roses, playing cards, black cats, flames, cars, cherries and dice adorn everything from shirts to shoes to belt buckles.
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Lucky 13 dress: main brand of Blue Sphere |
Other Brands
Lucky 13 is the main brand of Kloetzly’s company, Santa Ana-based Blue Sphere Inc.
Others include Felon, Dirty Devil by Roger Miret of punk band Agnostic Front and Mistress Couture by adult film star Tera Patrick.
Felon, which includes T-shirts and metal belt buckles adorned with skulls and flames, is for the “young, tough guy that’s always getting in trouble,” Kloetzly said.
Dirty Devil is for the “hardcore biker and car enthusiasts,” he said. Its T-shirts feature hot rods, motorcycles, checkered flags and speed demons.
Mistress Couture is a lingerie line with a “vintage feel” that’s influenced by the 1950s pinup subculture.
A chunk of Blue Sphere’s business is dedicated to work for outside companies, Kloetzly said. Most of the company’s sales come from its own clothing brands, he said.
Yearly sales are estimated at $5 million to $10 million. It counts 60 workers.
The company embroiders, sews and packages a good chunk of its clothes at its 60,000-square-foot headquarters in Santa Ana. Larger orders are outsourced to factories in India and China.
Blue Sphere buys fabric and other materials from local vendors. Products are shipped from Santa Ana.
It sells clothes to American stores and uses distributors to get into Japan, Europe and Australia. It’s working on setting up distribution centers in Canada and South America, Kloetzly said.
Locally, the company’s clothes are sold at funky shops such as the Electric Chair in Huntington Beach and Riverside. It also sells through catalogs and Web sites such as PinUpGirlClothing.com and Daddyos.com.
The company used to sell a handful of items at City of Industry-based Hot Topic Inc. stores but doesn’t anymore. Selling to Hot Topic makes the brand too mainstream, Kloetzly said.
“Hot Topic was a great way for us to get out there but when it comes down to it, we have to stay grassroots and help the little guys that have been with us forever,” he said.
Lucky 13’s rivals are few, according to Moe Memon, co-owner of the Electric Chair stores in Huntington Beach and Riverside and electricchair.com.
“They’re in such a unique niche,” Memon said. “There’s a lot of other companies that try to do what they do but Lucky 13 is well established and I haven’t seen other companies come out with the same exact style.”
Indirect competitors include vintage clothing makers Steady Clothing Inc. and Stop Staring of Los Angeles, Memon said.
The punk and rockabilly looks have been around forever, Memon said. A mix of the styles has become increasingly popular in the past five years, he said.
“The whole punked-out rockabilly look has really exploded,” Memon said. “It used to be really underground but it’s become a lot more mainstream.”
Spurred by TV
Television shows such as “Monster Garage,” “Motorcycle Mania,” “Miami Ink” and “LA Ink” have fueled the trend, Memon said. Other things such as tattoo and garage art, Jesse James’ West Coast Choppers of Long Beach and “bad girl” pinup groups such as the Suicide Girls have helped the trend bloom.
Kloetzly grew up in Hollywood, Alhambra and South Pasadena. He listened to punk music and surfed a lot. His fashion sense reflected it: He’d buy clothes from the Salvation Army, shred them and wear them.
He moved to OC when he was 19 and went to Orange Coast Community College in Costa Mesa.
In the 1980s, he got a job at Irvine’s Club Sportswear Inc. and worked in the production department.
There he learned how to manage screening, embroidering and cutting and sewing work. It was tough and exhausting but it was all worth it, Kloetzly said.
“I became a puppet. I wanted to learn everything I could,” he said.
In 1989, Kloetzly started his business by making clothes for other companies and contracted work to outside factories. He struggled with limited money and help. He had a hard time attracting customers while trying to be profitable, he said.
“Starting the business was like going to the school of hard knocks over and over again. I was basically working for beans,” Kloetzly said with a laugh.
Eventually his business started attracting a steady stream of customers. He started making clothes for Chevrolet, Hot Topic, Warner Bros. and Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc.
In 1991, Lucky 13 was born. Kloetzly wanted to make something that he, friends and others could identify with. At the time, there was a need for edgy clothes, he said.
Starting Lucky 13 wasn’t easy but the demand was there, he said. Kloetzly needed to learn how to manage costs, rent and labor, he said.
Lucky 13 started out with printed T-shirts. It’s since expanded its product line to include lighters, car mats, jewelry and even hair products such as barber tools, shampoo and pomade. The company’s products sell for $10 to $150.
The company continues to grow every year, according to Kloetzly. He’s had interest from outside investors but has no plans to go that route.
“I’ve worked really hard to get where I’m at right now,” he said. “The last thing I want to do is bring in investors who might not know anything about the business and have them call all the shots.”
