February 9, 2010

Window Shopping / November 2009 / From Madison to Malibu

From Madison to Malibu

Anne des Barres grew up in Fitchburg, went to Verona High School and attended UW–Madison where she graduated with a degree in psychology. And then her story skews a bit: after college des Barres moved to New York City to work in, yep, fashion. Quite a career convergence from psychology, I’d say.

“It’s one of those things that kind of happens. I had wanted to get into the business side of fashion so I tried to get a job in fashion,” says des Barres by way of explanation. What can I say, when the fashion bug bites, you’ve got to itch that scratch.

In 2005 des Barres started her own line with business partner Ali Kay called Keep Me, a collection of comfy basics. Keep Me is now being carried exclusively at Atticus and just arrived in the store. Owner Kristin Wild is selling Keep Me’s tees, Henley and leggings. I talked to des Barres about her background in fashion, what it was like to start her own line and what designer inspires her.

Where did you start out working when you arrived in New York?
I started at Marc Jacobs and moved over to Diane von Furstenberg. In between Marc Jacobs and Diane von Furstenberg I taught in the Bronx. I tired of the industry, so I left and taught math for two years.

I started at Marc Jacobs in February 2002. It’s definitely very hard to get a job in fashion in New York City. So, I got very lucky. A friend of a friend that worked at Marc Jacobs told me to contact her when I moved to New York. I ended up getting a job as a receptionist at an architecture contracting firm. And it happened to be in the same building as Marc Jacobs! About seven months later I found out Marc Jacobs had an opening and I applied and it worked out. I was a production assistant.

All of my expertise is now in the business/manufacturing side—the production of garments. Things like sourcing trims and factories. For Keep Me my business partner handles sales, PR and marketing.

What were your favorite and least favorite parts of working at Marc Jacobs and Diane von Furstenberg?
My favorite part about working at both of those places was the breadth of people I was able to interact with in America and abroad. At Diane von Furstenberg I managed our international production. I was constantly working in Sri Lanka, or Poland, or China. You get a sense of what it takes to put one thing out on the market. That was my favorite part, figuring out how all of the pieces fit together.

My least favorite part was the general attitude around fashion in New York. Fashion is very, very important—a little bit too important! One time there was a tsunami in Sri Lanka. And production [of the clothing] got delayed, naturally. And buyers from the stores and my own sales department wanted to know where the clothing was and it’s like, well, there’s a tsunami and the boxes are wet, and the people aren’t going to work and we can’t get the pieces! The entire industry takes themselves too seriously.

The way we have fun at Keep Me is knowing that all we do is make clothes. And it gets done in a very nice, relaxed way. No one ever feels like they’re going to lose their job. We can change direction much easier than when you’re at a large company. If we can’t get a certain fabric it’s not that big of a deal and we can alter our plan. You can’t do that when you’re at a large company.

How did you and your partner Ali Kay meet and start the line?
I was introduced to my business partner by Diane [von Furstenberg]. I actually become pretty close with Diane working at her company. And Ali [at the time] was her son’s girlfriend. Ali had this idea of a line of lounge clothing. Basically all that was out there at the time was Juicy Couture. So, you could wear your Juicy outfit to grab coffee. But she wanted a separate wardrobe for the house that was cute and stylish. We wanted the perfect wardrobe you put on after work and there wasn’t a lot out there.

Diane thought it was a great idea and that Ali and I would work well together. So the idea is a complete wardrobe for a woman’s downtime. Women are constantly running around and even if you’re a stay at home mother we all need our own time where we can relax. And we want women to look and feel good. It’s literally clothing that once you put it on you don’t want to take it off!

So we are a basics company. We have tanks and tees that are basics that you can mix and match. You can wear them in places where you wouldn’t necessarily think you could. But you’re super comfy.

We started the line in 2005 and have been in California making it since 2007.

What brought you to the West coast to start the line?
Well, we started the line initially at Henri Bendel [in New York]. It was nothing like our line now, but it ended up selling pretty well. It took us a year or so to decide what to do. Ali was going to move here because her boyfriend wanted to move. It makes much more sense since it's knitwear and everything is made domestically [here in California] and I can work with my team of sewers and finishers. The line itself is very laid back and causal and embodies the California lifestyle.

Who designs the line?
My partner has the inspiration and does the actual design. We pretty much do everything together after that.

In addition to Atticus, you’re selling a line for bop called Keep Me for Bop Basics. How did that collaboration come about?
Our collaboration with bop is twofold. We did a co-branded collection with them. You’ll see the Kate pant, Drea bralette, Nikki tank top, Tatiana Henley, Betty romper and a jacket. Those styles are all of our tried-and-true styles. We bring in new styles only when they’re needed. Our main styles are always available online. And that’s what shopbop liked, so we decided to do a co-branded collection with them. In addition we do some private label things for them. In terms of us being a new brand and getting to work with bop is huge. It’s an honor.

Atticus is our first boutique in Madison that will be carrying Keep Me. I keep telling people that live here that I work and they want to see what I do! I think it’s going to be great. I think our line will do very well there. I just think the casual look and simplicity of our designs will go over well in Madison.

What is your day-to-day like owning your own apparel line?
Day-to-day is split between the two major things that keep a fashion business going: sales and production. A large portion of each day is spent being in touch with our showrooms, salespeople and storeowners. We find out who’s ordering, what they need, and general information to make tweaks and make ourselves more efficient. If a boutique says everyone wants you to make a V-neck, great. Most days I spend about half the day in the office and I handle all of the finances of the company. I can’t underestimate the time small businesses spend on their numbers—making sure what money is coming in, what’s going out, et cetera.

The other part is going down to the factory about thirty to forty minutes to away in Malibu. I want to make sure all the styles are being produced in the highest quality.

How many total stores are you sold in, and how many pieces of clothing would you estimate you sell right now?
Fifty to sixty stores. We sell online and all over both the east and west coast. We have a huge following on the west coast and we're huge in Florida too. We make thirty-five to forty thousand pieces a year right now. We haved turned the company into an immediate business and we have our immediate styles. We hold inventory and we can send it out in a day or two. That’s different from a regular fashion line because you place an order six months in advance so they can make the pieces, whereas our line is much more immediate.

What’s the price point of the line?
$35-$150 with most of the line under $100. That’s the other thing we’ve tried to do: keep our line affordable. With some lines you might really want the item but it costs $150 for a tank top. My partner and I find that crazy. We definitely strive to keep our prices at a level that it’s not a huge stretch. So you could buy a couple of pieces or you could have the tank top or pants in a couple of colors.

What are some of the coolest comments you’ve heard about the line?
The coolest thing someone has said is that they literally have to come back to buy more stuff because they’ve worn it to threads. That’s amazing. When you put it on you want to live it in all day long!
We also have very few returns, which is also a really big thing. Returns are less than one percent. When customers get it they’re excited, and that momentum stays with them.

What designers inspire you?
I would actually say Diane von Furstenberg. I love her collections. They are the epitome of femininity and also very chic. Every time I put on one of her pieces it hits you exactly where it’s supposed to and it makes you look fantastic.

What’s your favorite part of owning your own business?
The most important thing to us when we work with someone is it’s a happy, healthy relationship. We have turned [storeowners] down even if it meant losing sales if we thought they weren’t good to work with.

What do you think is the secret to your success in the highly competitive fashion industry?
Be organized and have that go get ’em attitude. That’s how you show people what you’re capable of. That’s more important that having an apparel degree. It’s so fast paced.

What’s coming up next for the line?
There are a couple of things that we’re curently working on. We’re working to increase Midwest representation. 2010 will also be a big push to increase our online presence. We’re currently working on our spring collaboration with shopbop. We’ll launch new styles for our boutique online. We’ll be launching something special for Valentines Day, most likely a set that will be be sold on shopbop, our website, or both. It’ll be a little different from what we have. It might be something with a graphic designer.

Keep Me is sold at Atticus, 18 N. Carroll St. 204-9001, atticusshop.com and on shopbop.com.