LOS ANGELES >> From several stories above East Olympic Boulevard, deep in the soot-covered heart of the city's not-so-glamorous fashion district, some of the most innovative ideas in street vogue are threaded together, stitch by funky stitch. Sandwiched between a small, drab diner and a dodgy topless bar, the offices of Mighty Fine rise high above its less ambitious neighbors. Here, from conception to production, is where white-hot ideas in everyday chic are realized.
Mighty Fine sprouts in Hawaii
and now delivers chic street wear
all around the worldBy Shawn "Speedy" Lopes
slopes@starbulletin.comBut it was in Honolulu, during the early '90s, that then-20-something entrepreneur Guy Brand first glimpsed the future of street wear. Clothing companies had just begun to pilfer ideas from the cultures of skateboarding and hip-hop, and Brand's off-the-cuff Funk Pistol store on Keeaumoku Street outfitted the city's young and in-the-know with the hippest street brands on the market.
As an employee at Funk Pistol at the time, Stacy Kitchin saw a scarcity of available women's lines. "At the time, we were mainly selling a lot of men's tees like Kikwear, Fuct and Jive, and there wasn't much clothing for women," she remembers, "so we started making our own (women's) T-shirts and stocking them in the store."What began with a $180 printing bill for girls' T's quickly became a successful run as a Hawaii-based clothing line. With hopes for bigger returns, Brand and Kitchin relocated to Los Angeles in 1995.
The pair immediately showcased their wares at raves and club events in Southern California, which led to gigs providing props and wardrobe to various film sets. "It's easy to get sidetracked in L.A.," Brand says. "You just meet people who know people, and crazy things start to happen."
Brand and Kitchin were soon introduced to Pearl Hsiung, a recent UCLA grad with a wicked sense of humor and a flair for cross-culture cool (you can view her "Yellow Fever" underwear online at welovefine.com, which I am unable to describe in detail here). They quickly invited Hsiung to become Mighty Fine's third partner.
These days, Mighty Fine boasts 85 employees in the United States alone. At its core is a youthful crew of designers, musicians and Web designers who keep the company on the proper side of cool. With Fine currently servicing more than 1,600 accounts -- major chains like Spencer Gifts, with more than 1,500 stores, and Gadzooks, with 500 stores, are each counted as one account -- the company could see sales topping $11 million this year if projections hold true. With offices from London to Hong Kong and distributors popping up in New Zealand, Israel, Australia and Taiwan, Mighty Fine is truly an international venture."We do all our printing here," Brand points out as he guides me through his L.A. operations where we shuffle through heaps of used heat transfer paper, which blanket the factory floor. "This is pretty much the end of the day."
He leads me to the Mighty Fine product vault, where ready-to-ship merchandise is stored. Rows of steel shelves line the room, each stocked with neatly folded stacks of shirts, tank tops, underwear and socks. Thousands of Fine designs are splashed across lunch boxes, logo pendants, slippers, cell phone faceplates and bathmats.
"You can kind of tell what's selling here," he says, referring to a shirt-and-pen set that simply features the letter "I" followed by a heart and a line. "Basically, it says 'I love _' and you just fill in the blank with a name. The most generic thing always sells."He then points to another shirt emblazoned with a famous two-word expletive. "This one sells at boutiques around the country, which makes us look cool," he says, before motioning to another less confrontational design featuring a cutesy cartoon character. "And this one ends up selling to major chains, where they'll buy, like, a thousand at a time."
He then singles out a striped retro tank top. "Here, we took the license for Popeye and did an '80s Day-Glo thing and basically got a gay sailor look." He shrugs. "It seems to sell at boutiques."
Through licensing deals with King Features, Sanrio and fantasy artist Frank Frazetta, many Mighty Fine products feature famous pop culture icons. Occasionally, the company may introduce an original character to the market, such as Fine designer Jill Friemark's popular Scary Miss Mary, a mysterious little girl whose penchant for large bladed objects gives cute a razor-sharp edge.
"Bring up that teddy bear you did," he tells Friemark, who with a mouse click instantly summons a cuddly stuffed bear on her computer screen. It would be an adorable thing if not for the large metal spike driven through its eye. "You probably don't have to be sick to think up these things, but I'm sure it helps," Brand says.
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