LOS ANGELES — Premium denim brand AG Adriano Goldschmied is expanding its retail base in 2007, adding six locations to its portfolio of 13 full-price and outlet locations in the U.S. and South Korea.
Brand retail director Frank Pizzurro said plans to launch stores in most major U.S. markets have been in the works since the company, owned by-based Koos Manufacturing Inc., based in South Gate, Calif., opened its first store here in October 2004 on Robertson Boulevard.
Still, the company is particular about where it plants its flag. “We’re trying to go into higher-end neighborhoods, positing AG as a luxury denim brand,” said Pizzurro. “If we go into a mall, I want to be by Louis Vuitton and Gucci, not next to Gap or Banana Republic.”
Among the openings, first up will be a 3,000-square-foot, full-price location in San Francisco’s Union Square and a 2,200-square-foot, full-price unit in Miami’s South Beach, both slated to open at the beginning of February. Next will be spring launches of a full-price, 2,300-square-foot location in Naples, Fla., and a 2,600-square-foot outlet store at the Camarillo Outlets in Camarillo, Calif. Finally, the company will open a 2,300-square-foot store at the Millennium Mall in Orlando, Fla., and a unit in the forthcoming Palazzo center in Las Vegas, both in the fall.
The new stores will echo the “modern industrial” aesthetics found in AG’s existing locations, but Pizzurro said the company “looks for spaces that are a little more unique — like the San Francisco store, which has gold accents. I try to find a space that has character….We want to be a neighborhood store wherever we go.”
The company roots out retail spaces that require minimal renovation, then integrates steel display pieces custom-made at Koos’ 450,000-square-foot vertically integrated factory, the largest denim factory in the U.S., located 10 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.
Pizzurro said the brand was trying to expand its retail base at a pace commensurate with its wholesale business, adding, “Most of the markets where we’ve opened stores, our wholesale accounts have gone up. Our stores have helped brand the product, rather than just relying on buyers to support the brand.”
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Wholesale accounts include Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s, Bergdorf Goodman and Anthropologie.
AG Adriano Goldschmied jeans sell from $138 to $195. Despite denim’s flagging sales lately, Pizzurro said stores had not perceived any price resistance from shoppers and that business was robust. “We think if we make really good product, then customers will figure it out. We assume our customers are intelligent.”