Clothing Company Definitions — United States clothing company definitions from Apparel Search
La Lumia is an apparel retail and manufacturing company founded by Fashion Institute of Technology graduate, designer and 25-year fashion veteran Jackie Sencion, who established it in TriBeCa, New York City in 1985 and has been designing, producing and selling her clothing through her store since its opening. In July 2006 Sencion incorporated the business as MAXPAR, Inc., which designs, manufactures, markets, retails and distributes women's clothing and leather products under the La Lumia store name, JakSen Designs knitwear, LaLu Leathers and LaLu Jeans.
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La Lumia is an
apparel retail/manufacturing
company founded by
Fashion Institute of Technology graduate, designer,
and 25-year fashion veteran
Jackie Sencion. Sencion established La Lumia,
in TriBeCa, New York City in 1985. She has been
designing, producing, and selling her clothing through
her store since it's opening. In July 2006, Sencion
incorporated her business as MAXPAR, Inc. which
designs, manufactures, markets, retails, and distributes
collections of women's clothing and leather products
under the respective brand names: La Lumia, a retail
store; JakSen Designs, a contemporary knitwear line;
LaLu Leathers, a line of hand-crafted leather bags
and other leather products manufactured in Honduras
by a co-op of experienced leather artisans from
imported and organic leather; and LaLu Jeans, a
specialty denim line designed by Sencion.
After 6 years of working in the corporate fashion industry, Sencion opened her retail and manufacturing business La Lumia Clothing as a partnership with accounting expert and sister, Margaret Sencion, in April 1985. In 1986, Jackie launched her private labels La Lumia, JakSen, and Tigerlily. The company serviced a customer base largely made up of neighborhood artists and the large population of women working in TriBeCa's federal buildings. Jackie also custom designed bridal gowns, special occasion fashions, and one-of-a-kind styles.
Revenues were steady until the stock market crash of 1987. This crisis yielded significant losses in the following year. It was then that Jackie began manufacturing her existing plus size line, Tigerlily, for wholesale to bring more income to the business.
As the economy improved, sales increased and remained steady throughout the 1990's. In 1997, to increase sales, the company acquired an expert jewelry salesperson to maintain a new arm of the business. As well, Jackie revamped her private labels, but on a smaller scale. The move resulted in record high store revenues through 1998.
By the end of 1998, the city government had moved its remaining offices further south, moving out another large group of customers. With the neighborhood in transition, office buildings were converted into luxury living spaces. In 2001, the 9/11 attacks made lower Manhattan virtually inaccessible and sales came to a standstill. The following year, the real estate incentives caused a surge in property values, resulting in doubled rents and increased property taxes. Between 2003 and 2004, government and Community Development Financial Institution grants and loans assisted the businesses affected by the events of 9/11, helping handle rising costs and business maintenance. Tax incentives for new businesses and residents accelerated the transformation of TriBeCa into a trendy and upscale area.
When business partner and Jackie's sister, Margaret Sencion fell ill in 2005, business improvement efforts are stalled through 2006. After Margaret's death in May of that year, Jackie reorganizes as a corporation, MAXPAR, Inc that June; also, during which time, she revamps her staff and location.
In order to increase store traffic and revenues, Jackie taps into the skills of her new staff to improve the website and launch new advertising efforts. Presently, MAXPAR, Inc is exploring new technologies and methods of servicing its current customer and targeting new patrons through print advertisement and eCommerce.
MAXPAR, Inc has been steadily implementing the foundations for growth and change. The company's new logo has been a prominent image throughout the company's website and print advertisements as part of a branding awareness campaign. Returning to basics, Sencion moved the store into a new space in TriBeCa more suitable for wholesale and design while still maintaining a retail space for her customers.
The above definition about the clothing company La Lumia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. The information source is from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and was originally obtained from the following page address https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/la_lumia. The definition has been modified by the Apparel Search Company in June 2009. The rest of this page and other pages on Apparel Search are NOT under the free document license.
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La Lumia combines two businesses that are usually separate: it manufactures clothing and it retails clothing, through its own store. Jackie Sencion, a Fashion Institute of Technology graduate with 25 years in fashion, opened La Lumia Clothing in April 1985 in TriBeCa, New York City, as a partnership with her sister Margaret Sencion, the accounting expert, after six years of working in the corporate fashion industry. In 1986 she launched her private labels La Lumia, JakSen and Tigerlily. The customer base was the neighbourhood itself — artists living in TriBeCa and the large population of women working in its federal buildings — and alongside the labels Sencion custom designed bridal gowns, special occasion fashions and one-of-a-kind styles.
That direct model shaped how the business weathered shocks. When the stock market crash of 1987 brought significant losses in the following year, Sencion began manufacturing her existing plus size line, Tigerlily, for wholesale, adding a wholesale income stream to retail sales. Through the 1990s sales recovered and stayed steady; in 1997 an expert jewelry salesperson was brought in to run a new arm of the business, and revamped private labels on a smaller scale produced record high store revenues through 1998.
The neighbourhood then changed around the store. By the end of 1998 the city government had moved its remaining offices further south, taking a large group of customers with it, while office buildings were converted into luxury living spaces. The 9/11 attacks in 2001 made lower Manhattan virtually inaccessible and sales came to a standstill; real estate incentives the following year doubled rents and raised property taxes, and between 2003 and 2004 government and Community Development Financial Institution grants and loans assisted businesses affected by the attacks. Tax incentives accelerated the transformation of TriBeCa into a trendy, upscale area, changing who the local customer was.
After Margaret Sencion fell ill in 2005 and died in May 2006, Jackie Sencion reorganised the business as a corporation, MAXPAR, Inc., that June, revamping her staff and location. MAXPAR designs, manufactures, markets, retails and distributes women's clothing and leather products under four names: the La Lumia retail store, JakSen Designs contemporary knitwear, LaLu Leathers hand-crafted bags and leather products manufactured in Honduras by a co-op of experienced leather artisans from imported and organic leather, and LaLu Jeans specialty denim. Sencion moved the store into a new TriBeCa space more suitable for wholesale and design while still keeping a retail space, and the company has worked on its website, print advertising and eCommerce, with a new logo carried through a branding awareness campaign.
The structure Sencion built is unusual in modern fashion, where design, manufacturing and retailing are normally three separate businesses taking three separate margins. By keeping all three in one small company, La Lumia could take a design from sketch to shop rail without an outside buyer deciding its fate, and could answer a neighbourhood customer's request — a bridal gown, a special occasion outfit, a one-of-a-kind style — with the workshop that would make it. The cost of that integration is scale, and the benefit is control, and the company's history of adding wholesale lines such as Tigerlily whenever retail income faltered shows the two halves of the business being used to steady each other.
La Lumia was established in TriBeCa, New York City in 1985 by Jackie Sencion, a Fashion Institute of Technology graduate and designer. She opened the business in April 1985 as a partnership with her sister Margaret Sencion, after six years working in the corporate fashion industry.
MAXPAR, Inc., incorporated in July 2006, works under four brand names: La Lumia, the retail store; JakSen Designs, a contemporary knitwear line; LaLu Leathers, hand-crafted leather bags and other leather products made in Honduras by a co-op of experienced leather artisans; and LaLu Jeans, a specialty denim line designed by Sencion.
Revenues were steady until the stock market crash of 1987, which brought significant losses the following year. In response, Jackie Sencion began manufacturing her existing plus size line, Tigerlily, for wholesale to bring more income to the business.