5 Questions: Lira owner Todd Kellogg

Emerging brand LIRA has been making strides in the market lately, including  growing distribution domestically and internationally and opening its first store.

Started in 2007 by Todd Kellogg and a private investor, LIRA is a lifestyle brand influenced by surf, skate, street culture and the talents of the LIRA Creative Society. Lira is known for being quick to adopt to new fashion trends, thanks to its domestic production.

We spoke with owner and president, Todd Kellogg, to learn more about how things are going for the brand.

What are your strongest categories?

Todd Kellogg: Our domestic production does great for us across the board. With men’s, our strength comes in our knits program, which we produce out of Los Angeles. In women’s we have done well with our bell-bottoms and fashion tops, all which are also produced out of LA.

We also have great success with our men’s outerwear through fall and holiday, along with our Weekend Jogger Pant that continues to sell year-round for us. One last category that has us excited is our women’s swim, which had great success for 2015 and we’re really looking forward to what’s to come for 2016. 

What percentage of your line is currently produced in the U.S.?

Todd Kellogg:  We have always been focused on having as much domestic production as possible. We currently do about 50% of our line out of Los Angeles, and we are challenging ourselves to source more from the U.S. while maintaining our moderate price points. Sourcing out of the U.S. leads to better lead time and turnaround, which is critical in this market.

How many doors are you in and what type of accounts? Any international distribution?

Todd Kellogg: Over the last year we have had a huge increase in doors opened with a 300% increase in the U.S. This came with the help of our independent rep force of eight lead by Brian Barlow, Director of Sales.

Our retail partners range from Active, Surfside, Val Surf, HSS, Farias, Surf Annex, Brave New World, and Unsound along with online retailers such as Swell, Karmaloop, and ASOS. We also have support with majors like Tilly’s, PacSun, Nordstrom and The Buckle, all which have been great accounts to work with.

As for international, we have recently gone direct in Canada and have opened up an office in Quebec managed by Marc-A Saucier. Marc, along with his team, has managed to successfully surpass our planned goals for Canada in our first year. We look forward to continuing our growth in the region for the new year.

Our other international accomplishment is our Taiwan store, which has been up and running since the beginning of the year. The opportunity landed in our lap and we jumped on it. We also have a few more stores opening in Korea and the Philippines with our Asia partners. We are, however, looking to expand distribution in Australia, Europe and Japan in the near future.

What have been some of your biggest challenges in the past year?

Todd Kellogg:  Challenges have been our growth and how to manage it. Implementing proper planning and improving operations have been a big task for us so that we remain on track and continue the momentum we have.

We currently have 10 full time employees working daily to manage our business and we look to add a few more people to the team over the next year.

Any new initiatives planned for Spring 2016 in product or on the marketing front?

Todd Kellogg: We’ll continue to search for more domestic production capabilities while implementing and improving on some technical aspects through our boardshorts and outerwear.

As for marketing, we plan to expand our Creative Society and bring on individuals who share a common passion for creativity. We will continue to work with our print and digital partners focused on product and the lifestyle we live.

We will also be looking to expand internally with the addition of a marketing manager to help with organizing and managing all new marketing initiatives for the new year.