Kitson (fashion)
Kitson is an American clothing chain. The chain had its heyday in the early 2000s, when it was regularly visited by celebrities such as Britney Spears , Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan . The chain will close at the end of January 2016.
The first Kitson store was founded by Fraser Ross on Robertson Boulevard in West Hollywood , California . The concept was initially based on the in-boutique Fred Segal from Santa Monica. In the shop, individual small shops were separated off, each with matching items. Kitson's breakthrough came in 2002 when Halle Berry appeared in numerous tabloid magazines when she bought a bag with a large H printed on it from Kitson. In the months that followed, Kitson sold $ 1 million worth of goods with initials alone.
There were a total of 17 stores in California , Nevada and Oregon , four of them on Robertson Boulevard alone. In the early 2000s, the chain was regularly in the media. Female celebrities like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton went shopping there, and numerous paparazzi went to the shops. In 2005, the New York Times wrote that Kitson was "the hottest shopping destination in Los Angeles," but was above all a tourist trap. Kitson lives mainly from the media hype about the celebrities buying there and is less known for the interesting clothes and accessories they sell.
Ross had a reputation for hiring and paying the paparazzi himself, who then sold their photos with the celebrities to the press. The FBI later investigated a paparazzi agency owned by Fraser Ross, which is said to have hacked into the computer systems of the tabloid Us Weekly in order to find out early on which stories the brand was featured in and how. The importance of this coverage for the boutique was demonstrated in 2006 when Fraser Ross sued the tabloid Us Weekly for not reporting on Kitson for months, damaging its business. The Süddeutsche Zeitung described Kitson in 2010 as “Hollywood's locker room”. The audience located the newspaper mainly in "young and rich Los Angeles". No other shop imitates the leisure look of Hollywood stars so consistently and unscrupulously. Kitson had sales of $ 24 million in 2010.
In 2013, Kitson had to take out a $ 15 million loan from Salus Capital Partners to pay off debt and running costs. Kitson also used the money to aggressively expand and open new stores in Nevada and Oregon. In the summer of 2015, Spencer Spirit Holdings Inc, owner of Spencer's Novelty Shops, took over this loan. In December 2015, Kitson announced that it would close all stores until the end of January 2016.
Well-known Kitson products were the light blue shopping bags, which themselves have become status symbols, and printed T-shirts. The T-shirts were worn by Hollywood and show celebrities, often alluding to events in Hollywood. For example, in 2005 there were T-shirts with Team Jolie or Team Aniston prints when Brad Pitt separated from Jennifer Aniston and met Angelina Jolie. The Team Aniston shirts sold significantly better, initially at a ratio of 25 to 1.
The repertoire included more unusual merchandise items, gifts, jeans, hoodies, sneakers and Ugg boots . In the years of its existence, the range sold has changed more from clothing to merchandise and gift items. Most of the gift items or items of clothing were printed in large letters with more or less concise slogans and often adorned with gemstones made of glass.
Remarks
- ↑ a b c d Sheila Marikar: Kitson, Where Kim Kardashian and Britney Spears Shopped, Sees the End , New York Times January 8, 2016
- ↑ a b c Alex Kuczynski Where the Clothes Talk a Lot , New York Times August 11, 2005
- ↑ a b c Tanja Rest: The Hollywood Dressing Room , Süddeutsche Zeitung May 17, 2010
- ↑ Andrew Blankenstein: Celebrity Shop Sues Over Lack of Publicity , LA Times September 12, 2006
- ↑ Shan Li: Kitson, boutique for young starlets, is closing all 17 stores , Los Angeles Times December 11, 2015
- ↑ Stefanie Goldberg: 'Team Aniston,' 'Team Jolie' or 'Team Over It'? , CNN August 15, 2012