Z Supply LLC’s namesake brand is pushing into kids clothes, and solidifying its place in the market as a go-to for elevated basics with a new lounge division.
The Costa Mesa-based multi-brand apparel company has a pair of launches set for July 13 and August that further expands its market offering.
First up is a new girls line, Z Supply Girls, sized from 7 to 14.
The line launches with 25 stock-keeping units (SKUs) priced from $28 to $54 and marks the first time the business is getting into kidswear.
Z Supply LLC President Mandy Fry said the debut collection for the line has already sold out at wholesale.
“We have nothing left to buy,” she said, noting a good problem to have for next month’s launch, when it rolls out at retail and online through the company’s site.
Z Lounge
The girls line will be followed up on Aug. 3 with the launch of Z Lounge Collection, a new division at the company.
“We’re doing more styles that are truly stay-at-home and sleepwear, so things that you wouldn’t necessarily leave your house in. There’s also accessories, so we’re super excited,” Fry said.
It’s an addition to the bodysuits, T-shirts, joggers and other essentials the Z Supply brand is centered on. Z Supply LLC also operates the Rag Poets, White Crow and Others Follow lines.
The new Z Lounge is about 10 months in the making with a team hired specifically to build out the division. It launches with 45 SKUs retailing from $12 to $89.
The offering will be set off with its own packaging and content to market the line.
The company’s sales reps are already showing Z Lounge’s holiday collection, which delivers to retailers around October and November. The response has so far been positive, Fry said, with several accounts already committing to placing the line on their front-of-store tables.
Working Through COVID
The two launches are noteworthy considering the major switches and reworking of workforces that had to be made across industries beginning in mid-March in response to the pandemic.
Z Supply, like others, had to make the move to product development and designing in a work-from-home situation.
But since that time, plenty of lessons have been learned that will shift how business is done as the broader industry reopens.
The company, while seeing the growth and opportunity in direct-to-consumer through its online site, has a sizable wholesale business of about 2,500 doors. That will continue to be important, Fry stressed.
The lessons coming out of COVID-19 for the company reflect the balance of the two sides of its business, she said.
“Smaller line size is a must,” Fry said of some of the realizations had from the past three months. “I think it’s really forced us to not try to be everything to everyone. It’s forced us to simplify. It’s forced us to focus on what we’re best at.”
By curating the assortments more, both retail accounts and factories don’t get overwhelmed, she said.
Reconfiguring the fashion calendar plays into that part of the conversation, continuing long-running discussions in the industry.
“It’s always been a conversation of, ‘Gosh, the fashion industry is shipping spring too early or fall too early,’” Fry said.
“Everyone’s racing to show the lines earlier and earlier because they’re racing to get those dollars, but I think, at the end of the day, the people with the best product are going to win. And we are just being organically forced to realign our calendars to be more seasonally appropriate.”
