Lost’s new lines for young women and guys are getting a positive reaction from some important retailers.
Lost Clothing was formerly with the La Jolla Group. In early 2011, the two separated and the clothing business returned to Lost owners Matt Biolos, Mike Reola and Joel Cooper.
A lot of the Lost young women’s pieces are fashion driven and are margin builders for stores. And the men’s line is “true surf – what Matt (Biolos) is,” said Greg Garrett, who heads up sales for the newly independent clothing brand.
Matt is one of the top surfboard shapers in the world.
Tom Brown of 17th Street also gave the brand some great board short insights for summer, and Lost ran with some of those ideas, Greg said.
Most important, since bringing clothing in house, the Lost team “has been able to execute what we said we were going to do,” Joel Cooper said.
Ron Jon buyers Emma White Pryor and Angela Weise told me via email that after slowing their orders of Lost in men’s and women’s over the past several seasons, they were excited about the new Lost look in both areas. I asked them to describe why.
This tank dress wholesales for $15.75 and can retail for $38, giving retailers extra margin.“We think that the line has a completely different look and viewpoint from years past.”
“In men’s, it has a fresh but classic look and hits the right chord in the key categories of tees, tanks, boardshorts and walkshorts. The colors and fabrics have the right washed, casual feel.”
“In women’s, they have done a great job of merging more broad based fashion looks with the coastal, beach feel that our specialty stores need. They have incorporated both dressy and casual fabrics into the line and the styling is forward and on target.”
“We are excited about the “new” Lost and are booking the line going forward.”
Hobie buyer Adrienne Collins told me Hobie is relaunching the line as well.
“The new Lost Men’s line is a refreshing take on surf lifestyle. The Lost team has rejuvenated the line into a 100% on trend beach lifestyle brand taking inspiration from the kids on the beach,” Adrienne said.
“The line is super balanced from printed wovens, to fun tees with sayings, to great textured walkshorts. Their boardshort mix is filled with retro colorways, fresh silhouettes and novelty prints which is exactly what our customer is looking for. All in
all, I am super excited to re-launch the line in our stores.”
See Page 2 for more about Lost’s new look
Glik’s partner and head of men’s Jim Glik told our reporter Shelby Stanger that Lost was one of the freshest things he saw at Surf Expo. I followed up to get more details.
Glik’s currently does not carry Lost, but is adding the line to its top resort stores.
Jim, though not wild about the logo, likes some of the neon styles and the distressed cotton board shorts.
“In the Midwest, we do not need all tech, stretch etc. The prints, horizontal stripe, color block boardshorts are well priced at $37 to $49 retail,” he said.
Jim also likes the herringbone, twill mini corduroy shorts in soft washed colors like soft blue, tan and green.
“They are a little pricey but nice and will work for a wide age group,” he said.
Lost’s Greg Garrett told me at Agenda that Tilly’s has placed some all door buys for several items.
Tilly’s also had strong sell through of two styles of Lost men’s jackets for fall, Greg said. Tilly’s is also placing several orders for Lost women’s styles, and has already reordered some pieces.
Hansen’s has placed an order, and The Beach House in Santa Barbara placed orders for both the men’s and women’s lines.
Influential retailer E Street Denim in Chicago has also ordered the more fashion forward Black Sheep line for women and placed an order for Lost, Greg said.
