Parent Moving In With Hip Clothing Brand Ezekiel
By JENNIFER BELLANTONIO
The parent of hip surf and skatewear maker Ezekiel Clothing Inc. plans to move its headquarters to Irvine next month.
Steve Kurtzman, owner and chief executive of Ezekiel parent American Fashion Inc. of Chula Vista, said he’s spent the past year or so “trying to find the right place” in Orange County. Ezekiel is based in Irvine.
“Ezekiel is one of the main reasons we’re coming up here,” Kurtzman said of American Fashion. “Ezekiel is here to stay. We want to be the next (brand) to jump up.”
American Fashion recently leased an 80,000-square-foot building at 17822 Gillette Ave. in Irvine, formerly occupied by C & C; Cos., which holds the license for Rusty Apparel and sandal maker Sanuk USA. C & C; moved to another Irvine building last year.
Ezekiel, which operates under the name 3 Point Distribution LLC, ran its design and marketing operations from small offices in Irvine. It plans to move those operations to the new building early next month, Kurtzman said.
The company is revamping the Irvine space to include a big game room, complete with a big screen TV, foosball table, videos and a skateboard ramp. “Our industry is driven off image,” said Ryan Rush, Ezekiel creative director.
American Fashion is devoting the bulk of its resources to growing Ezekiel, Kurtzman said. It hopes to “incubate” other surf and skate apparel brands using Ezekiel as the core brand.
American Fashion, which once had about 400 workers in Chula Vista, has retooled in the past few years.
About two years ago, it shut down its manufacturing operations and stopped making clothes for various brands, such as sportswear designer Jhane Barnes, Kurtzman said.
“It wasn’t fun,” Kurtzman said of manufacturing. “The last few years I saw a change in the apparel business. I saw the most potential in youth lifestyle brands.”
The company had a 160,000-square-foot plant in Chula Vista. Some of the space was used to warehouse clothes for Ezekiel and shoes for skate-shoe maker IPath, Kurtzman said. But the bulk of the building sat empty after manufacturing shut down, he said.
“It would have been easier for me to move (Ezekiel) to (Chula Vista),” Kurtzman said. “But it would have been the wrong vibe and culture.”
American Fashion plans to move warehousing for Ezekiel and IPath to its new Irvine headquarters, which will have about 75 to 100 workers to start, Kurtzman said. It also will handle screen-printing for T-shirts there, a big chunk of Ezekiel’s business.
Hiring Plans
Some employees are transferring from Chula Vista, but the company also is looking to hire about 20 or so workers, mostly in warehousing, Kurtzman said.
Two years ago, the Ezekiel brand had about 10 workers in design and marketing, said Ryan Rush, creative director and vice president. It now has about 20, recently recruiting design veterans from competitors such as Irvine-based Split USA and Costa Mesa-based RVCA Clothing.
“We’re anticipating growth and are getting set up for that growth,” Rush said.
Ezekiel has seen its own share of shuffling.
The company formed a new management team last year after founders Vince De La Pena and Shane La Voie left the company and went on to start San Clemente-based Mada Inc.
The company also launched girls’ clothing two years ago. Rush said Ezekiel brought on designers from Earl Jeans and Split to help create the line.
“Steve (Kurtzman) didn’t want to make investments until it had a lot of success,” he said of the girls line.
“We came out of the box with a very well-rounded juniors presentation,” Rush said. “Some people stumble to get it right.”
Plus, it helped that Ezekiel had built a following with its men’s line, Rush said.
“It helped us get our foot in the door on the juniors,” he said.
Ezekiel also has revamped its men’s line, Rush said.
“Two years ago, the company was kind of in a plateau,” he said. “The (men’s) product wasn’t performing as well as the retailers would have liked. We fixed that about a year-and-a-half ago and it’s been cranking ever since.”
Privately held Ezekiel would not disclose sales. In 2000, former company officials put the company in the $8 to $10 million range.
The brand has international licensees in Europe, Canada, Japan and Australia. It is sold nationally in surf and skate stores, such as Jack’s Surfboards in Huntington Beach and Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. It also sells clothes in Macy’s West.
Ezekiel continues to grow its orders from existing action sports clothing stores, Rush said.
“We call it healthy growth,” he said. “We’re increasing floor space and market share.”
Ezekiel also hopes to get more space in PacSun, which has some 700 stores nationally.
“We’re still considered an underground brand to PacSun,” Rush said. “We’re not a Quiksilver or a Billabong.”
“Maybe over the next few years, if we continue the growth in the core market, we’d have enough exposure” to have more success in PacSun, he said.
