Los Angeles — 15 years ago, Jeff Abrams launched a Southern California lifestyle brand called Rails, after a $5,000 investment and a six-week cross-country trip to dozens of stores in search of the first sales. .
Traveling across the South and across the East Coast, from California to Arizona, Texas, he walked through the stores, perused the racks, and asked someone to talk to him about carrying his brand. Odyssey got him a few customers, but nothing surprising.
“At first, the process of getting sales was very slow. ‘ said Abrams as he sat at his 80,000-square-foot headquarters in the Vernon industrial area outside of LA. California, where other major apparel companies fill warehouse-sized properties.
But then he took a break. He consigned two of his items, a hat and a garment-dyed hoodie, to the famously trendy Fred Segal store in Santa Monica. Soon he got a call that actor Matthew McConaughey had come in and bought 10 of his Rails hoodies for himself and his friends. A few weeks later, McConaughey was photographed at the airport wearing garment-dyed Rails, driving sales.
Spring 2023 collection looks.courtesy rail
Benjo Alwas
In the beginning, Abrams knew it had to be different than other brands. So an up-and-coming fashion executive with no apparel or fashion background decided his calling his card would be a soft, plush fabric that drapes beautifully. But he stuck to the brand’s casual tone.
One of his first fabrics was a blend of rayon and tencel, with the feel of cashmere being his central item, the plaid shirt that people wanted to wear all the time. It was a turning point for the label.
That plaid shirt while Gisele Bündchen attended the 2016 Super Bowl game won by the New England Patriots and the team’s then-quarterback and her then-husband Tom Brady. I got an unexpected publicity hit when I wore it: there was a picture of her on the soccer field after a victory with one of her sons on her back in a Rails “Hunter” plaid shirt .
“50,000 people came to our website looking for that shirt, but they didn’t have it because it was an old shirt,” recalls Abrams. “So I tried to sell a shirt similar to that one.”
Jeff Abrams.courtesy rail
Years later, Rails continues to make checkered “Hunter” shirts, but the collection has expanded to include sweaters, dresses, skirts, blazers, outerwear, denim, menswear, and more. increase.
Rails currently has 150 employees, 1,200 retail stores in 30 countries, and its own website. Beyond the Internet, the company sends out one million catalogs each season to catch the eye of customers new and old.
Three years ago, Rails decided to launch its own retail chain with stores in New York’s SoHo district. Rails currently has eight locations in the US and Europe, and plans to add four more of his locations in Boston this year. Houston and Austin, Texas. and Georgetown in Washington DC.
“For the first 12-13 years, we’ve really cultivated building this wholesale network nationally and internationally,” says Abrams. “Then, as the collection grew, we started to sell more direct to consumers.”
The retail expansion was backed by two investors (SK USA and Peterson Partners) who joined over three years ago and own 30% of the company.
The Rails CEO added, “It’s great to give people the full brand experience and show the brand the way we want it to.”
New York’s first Rails store on the corner of Bloom and Green Streets will serve as a flagship store and showroom for buyers to view future collections. Large black-framed windows, sleek, sunny California-inspired décor, hardwood floors, and trendy furnishings create an inviting ambiance.
Other Rails stores have a more neighborhood feel, such as outposts in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley, while others are located in outdoor malls, such as Fashion Island in Newport Beach, California. We have overseas offices in London, Paris and Amsterdam.
“We’ve been trying to test different concepts, and they all seem to work,” said the Rails founder, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from UC Berkeley. increase. The Eurorail Pass for which Rails is named.
Today, 30% of Rails’ revenue (estimated at more than $100 million annually) comes from e-commerce and D-to-C sales through the company’s retail stores. Abrams’ goal is for him to increase that to 50% within three years.
Rails dresses are colorful for Spring 2023. Courtesy Rails
Benjo Alwas
Mixing Californian and European elements, the collection includes menswear launched a few years ago and denim launched last year.
All of these categories are available in luxury department stores around the world, including Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom, Galeries Lafayette in Paris, Selfridges in London, De Vigenkorf in Amsterdam and KaDeWe in Berlin. , with retail prices starting at $150. to $450.
80% of the company’s manufacturing is done in China, Vietnam, Turkey and Portugal. The rest are in the United States.
Led by Linnie Warren, the womenswear design team draws creative inspiration from art world happenings, popular movies and current trends. “We look at what our friends are wearing and what they’re seeing on the street,” she says, standing in her spacious upstairs design space, which is flooded with mood boards, paintings and natural light. I was. “We buy a lot of vintage.”
Moodboards help develop the different fabrics Rails creates, primarily with the help of factories in China. “They make small swatches of the fabric by hand,” said the designer. “Then I hang them all up and see them without a color palette and pick my favorites. That’s how the collection is built.”
