For years, RtA, which stands for Road to Awe, has been a brand that adopted a Los Angeles, California, rocker aesthetic for its men’s and women’s collections.
Think urban rock ‘n’ roll with an edgy vibe, rooted in dark colors.
But during the pandemic, cofounder and chief executive officer David Rimokh took stock of his L.A.-based label and decided it was time to update and elevate what the nine-year-old company had to offer.
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“The pandemic hit us really hard as a company, and it gave me the opportunity to self-reflect and see where the next direction of RtA was going to go,” said Rimokh, who bought out his minority partner, Eli Azran, at the beginning of this year. “I felt our aesthetic was kind of rooted in the past and never evolved. I felt the rocker and the grunge look was being emulated in the market.”
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For his next chapter, Rimokh is ready to embrace a customer who wants a cool and comfortable look with some edge. “We want that sophistication. We want to elevate,” the executive said.
To elevate his men’s and women’s collections, Rimokh recently hired Robert Liptak as the brand’s new creative director. Liptak had been working as the senior women’s ready-to-wear designer at Tom Ford since 2019, and joined RtA in June.
“I feel that RtA has a very unique position where it is a streetwear brand, but it has that elevated edge. We have to push it a little more,” said the new creative director, who has patternmaking and tailoring skills he would like to apply to the new RtA collection.
Liptak wants to make sure there is a certain easiness to dressing incorporated into the collection with a sense of construction. He will introduce more fabrics, such as satin, silk and slinky jersey, for the womenswear collection. Colors will be more neutral with beige, dark browns and blacks to focus on different silhouettes.
Liptak also wants to introduce evening styles to the collection. “It is not going to be extreme couture, but something that is going to be easy to put together to go out for a beautiful dinner,” Liptak said.
The brand will shift more sourcing from Asia to Europe, primarily Italy and Portugal, and raise prices by about 20 percent to 25 percent. Currently, the RtA’s clothing collection retails from about $325 to $1,695.
The pre-fall 2023 collection debuts in early December and will be sold at the brand’s online site and its three stores in L.A., New York and Las Vegas, Nevada. It will also be available at Ssense.com, Fwrd.com and saks.com.
Eventually, the company will be adding footwear and handbags, designed by Liptak.