The iconic California Style designer, Trina Turk, reflects on changes in her company’s approach to commerce and responding to customer needs.

“At the heigh of the contemporary market, our customers wanted new deliveries every single month, and that’s how we ended up with eleven. We don’t deliver in December or January or something like that. But, because there is so much product out there, and because of the whole shift in the way people are shopping, we’re really starting to question whether eleven deliveries per year is still necessary.” – Trina Turk

“Really what it makes sense to make in L.A. are things that are relatively simple styling. And the reason that we’re still able to produce in Los Angeles when many of our competitors no longer produce in Los Angeles is because our styles are more about letting the fabric speak for itself, and we don’t really do lots of complicated fussy styling. Our styles are usually about silhouette and about fabric. And of course there’s detail on the clothing, but we don’t do a lot of super-complicated styling. So what would make sense would be something that had simple lines, not a ton of needlework or sewing detail. Definitely, nothing embellished. Any type of embellishment could not be done in L.A. because it would be too expensive. And you know, our dresses can see from anywhere between, well — you know, we have a less-expensive collection called Trina by Trina Turk, so there may be a dress would be $128, and then our most expensive dresses would be up to $600. So we have a little bit more room to play with pricing in our contemporary world, than if you were in another department in a department store, say.” – Trina Turk

References:

• Trina Turk – https://www.trinaturk.com/
• California Fashion Association – http://calfashion.org/ 

This is the final interview in our Los Angeles mini-series, which looks at the garment industry in Southern California.