AG is debuting its first major store redesign in more than two decades with the reopening of its Fashion Island location in Newport Beach, Calif. on Friday.
Calming, grounded and quietly luxurious are some of the ways the Los Angeles premium denim brand describes the new design.
A retail redesign was high on Charles Sands’ agenda when he joined AG as the creative director in August 2024. Retail stores are a key piece of AG’s business, accounting for 30 percent of the brand’s total DTC sales.
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“In one of the first meetings I had with the team, I spoke about the fact that at AG, we don’t have a product problem, we have a presentation problem,” he told SJ Denim. Sands recalled visiting the brand’s New York City stores before joining the company and noticing beautiful sweaters that most consumers probably didn’t even realize AG made.
“I come from a background that puts a ton of emphasis on how you merchandise and showcase your collections to elevate your product to be more than clothes. Within the right environment, they become aspirational pieces that sell a dream, collections that can tell a story, and transport the consumer to a different world. So, when I look at the list of things I wanted to accomplish in the first year, rethinking how we show our product in a retail setting was high on the list,” Sands said.
AG collaborated with like-minded design partners for the redesign, including Nordic Knots for ethically produced rugs. Each rug is handwoven by skilled artisans in India and created in collaboration with GoodWeave, ensuring fair labor practices and supporting education within global weaving communities.
The 2,088-square-foot Fashion Island store opened eight years ago. It was closed for about a month for the makeover.
Here, Sands shares his vision for the future of AG retail and how the environment supports the brand’s evolving product line.
SJ Denim: Why did it take AG over two decades to focus on a store redesign?
Charles Sands: If you look at AG as a brand, the focus for a very long time has been on our premium denim assortment. This idea is part of the success AG has seen and why it has such staying power. Our retail stores have always reflected this mentality, and the store concept created over 15 years ago was about the floor-to-ceiling denim walls. Bent plywood AG logos in these walls looked like they were straight out of a Herman Miller catalogue.
Fast forward to today, and the evolution of AG over the past year, we are now focusing on creating full collections that have meaningful storytelling versus the items-based business of the past that focused only on denim. Changing AG to a collection-based brand with compelling storytelling has been my main objective since I started. While we are and will always be a denim-first brand, our ready-to-wear collection has elevated and grown substantially. Our existing retail stores needed to evolve with this transition so that the ready-to-wear can be shown in a meaningful way.
SJ Denim: What core ideas did you want this redesign to communicate about AG’s next chapter?
CS: At AG, the team is always talking about our four core pillars that we keep front of mind in everything we do. These pillars are: An unrelenting commitment to quality, a denim-first approach, timeless style rooted deeply in the California dream, and sustainable and ethical manufacturing processes. In developing the store, we kept these pillars front of mind to create an environment that felt rooted in the California spirit of mid-century design. We went for a warm, inviting neutral color palette that allows the collection’s color story to be immediately felt from season to season, sculptural elements with stone texture to convey a feeling of an established, timeless brand, and sustainable building materials.
Large denim tables in the back of the store invite our customers to shop the denim assortment after walking through the new ready-to-wear arrivals we placed at the front. The minimalist approach to the store design allows the consumer to see the story of the collection come through in an elevated presentation.
SJ Denim: How does this new store concept reflect the evolution of AG Jeans as a modern lifestyle brand?
CS: This new redesign is a monumental step as we enter our new chapter of storytelling. Creating a retail shopping experience that elevates our product while engaging our customers is the key to our future retail success.
Being able to present our product in an aspirational setting will allow us to tell our story in the most authentic way. These collection stories immerse the customers in the world of AG and allow them to have the feeling of timeless California style. Retail today must be more than just clothes; it needs to evoke a feeling as soon as they enter the store.
SJ Denim: Are you planning to apply the redesign to other AG stores?
CS: This new concept will be applied to all our future stores, along with hopefully rolling out to some of our wholesale partners’ AG presentations. We want to create a strong presence that feels distinctly AG, no matter where you are shopping. Based on our results in the coming months, we will be looking at adding additional remodeling in some of our existing stores.
SJ Denim: What are you the proudest of about the design?
CS: The thing I am the proudest of is the transformation in our way of working at AG in a very short time. The entire company feels electric as we now are all working in unison to achieve the same goal. The new retail store reflects this. From our retail team, marketing, design, production, and sales staff, the launch of the Holiday ’25 collection coinciding with the store opening is a testament to the team’s ability to work together to achieve great things.
