![]() Both would later become key company shareholders. Even when they convinced department stores like Joseph Magnin to stock their goods in-store and host pop-ups, they kept the company, hiring just two more people: Allen Schwartz for sales and Duncan Dwelle for operations. Susie Tompkins and Tise were in charge of packaging, and Doug Tompkins ran the business side of the company. Soon, Tompkins’ husband, Doug, joined the venture, using $50,000 from the sale of their outdoor apparel shop - a little place called The North Face - to cover a garment factory producing their designs in lots of 100. ![]() In 1968, Susie Tompkins and Jane Tise called their new company Plain Jane and began selling dresses to local boutiques out of the back of a Volkswagen Bus. The story of Esprit began with San Francisco’s Summer of Love in the rearview, when two 20-something friends decided to make dresses they actually wanted to wear. ‘Plain janes in name only’Ī 1968 ad for Plain Jane. What began as a humble dress shop founded by two women operating out of a Broadway showroom ballooned into a multinational conglomerate worth $800 million at its height, before the decades to come hollowed out the brand - leaving its place in America as a relic in vintage shops and the imaginations of Gen X kids. By the mid-’90s, mirroring the rest of Boomer culture, the Bay Area hippies had fully transformed into take-no-prisoners capitalists, complete with brutal corporate takeovers and tumultuous divorces. It’s one of San Francisco corporate excess and office trampolines. The couple seemed to personify the Esprit ethos: Susie would later become a prominent Democratic donor and activist, while Doug would go on to be one of the greatest environmental stewards of all time.īut underneath the splashy magazine profiles and heavy-handed political messaging lies another tale. The brand’s idiosyncratic, publicly forward-thinking co-owners, Susie and Doug Tompkins, were at least as vital to the brand’s image as the clothes and the ads. With the logo’s omnipresence at the time, it may as well have been Supreme for the teens of the late ’80s and early ’90s. ![]() Their tote bags and T-shirts hung from all the coolest shoulders, adorning fashion plates with the legendary Esprit logo. Wild prints, bright colors and baggy silhouettes reigned. In a country still grappling with the AIDS crisis, the Rodney King riots and the Gulf War, the “What Would You Do” campaign (featuring a young Gwyneth Paltrow) would turn out to be the brand’s biggest and most remembered, pushing boundaries and bringing San Francisco cool to the masses.Įsprit appealed to the youth with a message of lefty, post-racial harmony. “I’d keep a woman’s right to choose, unless George Bush is free to babysit.” “I would distribute condoms in every high school in America,” read another. We will continue to uphold high ethical and sustainable standards while constantly working to improve internal practices.“Give back the land stolen from Native Americans,” one ad demanded. Our production is set in small batches, making each item a bit exclusive while using scarcity to create demand and prevent waste. Every piece from the ALLEN SCHWARTZ collection is conceptualized and manufactured in the United States, using fabrications we closely develop with our mills locally and around the world. No matter the time or place, she is effortlessly magnetic.ĪLLEN SCHWARTZ is available on our e-shop, carefully curated domestic and international specialty boutiques and online retailers. She isn’t afraid to blend styles and she isn’t afraid to be noticed. The ALLEN SCHWARTZ woman has an inherent appreciation for design in all aspects of her lifestyle - our clothing helps to enhance this special piece of her being, and she knows it. ![]() The ALLEN SCHWARTZ design philosophy is grounded in offering trendy apparel and fashion forward styles. ALLEN SCHWARTZ draws from runways, celebrities, and influencers to inspire its seasonal collections. With vintage influence complemented by modern fabrics and textures, the brand offers timeless silhouettes for all occasions. The ALLEN SCHWARTZ collection of brands caters to the contemporary woman’s never-ending craving for fashion – to see and to be seen - to wear the latest trends and look fabulous.
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