Nally & Millie's new 42,000-square-foot facility in downtown L.A.
In the midst of a seemingly endless economic downturn, when sales can
be sluggish and ambitions limited, people take note of any bit of good
business news. It was hopeful news, indeed, when *Nally & Millie*,
purveyors of the trend-tracking contemporary line of mainly drapey
fashion tops, recently took over a 42,000-square-foot factory in
downtown Los Angeles with the aim of expanding the already burgeoning
production and opening up new opportunities.
"I must say, it's a bit of self-satisfaction after being a tenant
all these years," mused James Park, who, along with wife Nally,
co-owns the fashion house. "It's a good time to have our own
place. You can fix it up, you know."
There's also satisfaction—and a minor miracle—that success
should come without stepping one foot outside the U.S. borders, not
for cheaper fabric, not for cheaper labor.
The Parks take justifiable pride in the fact that everything made by
Nally & Millie is made in the U.S.A., and much of it, including
fabric, right in downtown Los Angeles. For two native South Koreans,
both of whom immigrated here as children, it seemed the natural thing
to do. "Even though I was raised here, I still see the U.S. from the
sense of the outsider a bit," James said. "When I grew up, made in
the U.S.A. meant it was the best. People born and raised here don't
actually realize what they have."
The Parks' accomplishment with Nally & Millie evokes something else
unique to the U.S.—the all-American success story. It was 1992, and
James was not long out of the Navy and brief stints in the personal
computer industry and with a South Korean trading company. With
another economic downturn, this one in the early 1990s, he began
looking for something else to do. He knew someone in the apparel
industry and decided to take a dive into a downtown L.A. storefront
business selling purses across the street from the *California Mart*
(now the *California Market Center*). It didn't go well.
"I was having a difficult time, actually," James recalls. "I had
never run a business like that, and being in downtown, it's not the
typical retail environment. It was a very trying learning period."
Nally, who had worked successfully as a salesgirl at *Judy's* and
*Contempo Casuals* and then at *Bullock's Wilshire*, decided it was
time to step in. "Thank God she came," James says. "To be
successful in business, you have to be able to sell your product.
Nally wasn't a technically disciplined designer out of school, but
she was a good merchandiser and fashionable herself. She became a big
asset for us."
Original post:
Contemporary Label Nally & Millie Moves Into New 42,000-Square-Foot
Downtown Facility
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