EB Denim, a Sustainable Los Angeles Label, Takes First Steps Into Retail
Elena Bonvicini is only 24 years old, but already her EB Denim label last year brought in more than $2 million in revenues, she said.
That sounds amazing for someone just a year out of college. But this has not been a quick trip to the top. Bonvicini, who grew up in Southern California, started her company when she was in high school. Her foray into fashion started by thrifting with her grandmother in Wisconsin. The teen would snag old blue jeans, bring them home and repurpose them into shorts.
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One of her first retail locations was the girl’s locker room at Sage Hill School in Newport Beach, California. “I would bring 50 pairs of shorts made from upcycled jeans and just disperse them across the floor, and all my peers would buy them,” Bonvicini recalled.
Since then, EB Denim has branched out to create new styles made in Los Angeles. Upcycled clothing, including a recently sold maxi dress made of recycled waistbands, now makes up 10 percent to 20 percent of revenues.
Bonvicini works with online shopping websites like Revolve, Selfridges, Bergdorf Goodman, Fred Segal and supplies retailers including Saks Fifth Avenue in New York and soon in Los Angeles. Now, she is taking her first baby steps into retail with a two-day pop-up in Los Angeles on Friday and Saturday at 620 N. La Cienega Boulevard.
The 684-square-foot compact space is being decorated with furnishings from the EB Denim showroom located in L.A.’s Fashion District. “This space is very artistic. I’m pulling the furniture from my showroom and some custom racks that are very fluid,” Bonvicini said. “We are doing a floral installation and some other cool pieces that we can pull together.”
Customers at the pop-up will be some of the first to shop the pre-fall collection of denim pants, shorts, skirts, jackets and more with retail prices averaging around $350. EB Denim’s collections are made sustainably with environmentally friendly washes and lasers to create a vintage worn look. That kind of finishing is done at Star Fades International, located in the industrial area of Los Angeles. SFI also cuts and sews some of the brand’s garments.
Local manufacturing was the key to growing EB Denim quickly during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when Bonvicini was attending the University of Southern California. “I had a choice. I could do my classes virtually or I could take time off to focus on my business. So, I went full time on my business,” the clothing company founder said. “That’s when there was a huge boom in online sales. At that point, I was able to get my foot in the door with wholesale when other brands couldn’t supply product due to supply chain issues. I was able to nimbly turn around product because it was all upcycled vintage at the time.”
Her business with Revolve grew so much that she expanded from using a local seamstress to employing a sewing factory. Bonvicini recently hired a full-time designer so she can concentrate on being the company’s chief executive officer and creative director.
Working on her business also helped the fashion pioneer eventually finish her bachelor’s degree in public relations with a minor in entrepreneurship. “I turned every single class project into being about the brand,” Bonvicini remembered. “I would be forced to do pitches on the brand and talk about marketing strategies and accounting. It was a great learning experience.”
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