James Perse

By: Susan Michals | Photography by Steven Lippman | June 04, 2009 | Design

MM: So, why did you open another store out here?
JP: I felt that Malibu was becoming the flagship — or rather the home of the brand — and we had evolved into so many different categories. We launched a home line and a customized line of Beach Cruisers and surfboards and Ping-Pong tables — there just couldn’t have been a better place for me to communicate my vision for my brand than Malibu. Building this store was so important to me. It was like building a house; it was all about a home. I wanted to say everything and showcase the way that I live and what I wish I had in my home. The stores are getting better than my home. (Laughs.)

MM: Why haven’t we seen any press on you? Have you just not done a lot of press, because I don’t see ads or marketing?
JP: No. We really don’t do ads. We connect to people through our stores. There are a number of reasons: One is that I feel you speak when you have something to say. To always be out there and all over the place is just uninteresting. I built a business without doing anything. There’s no rulebook that says you have to do it a certain way. I took the route of building a business. It hasn’t been that easy to find the team — internally or externally either. I’m very protective. Everything I do, if I don’t do it well, I choose not to do it.

MM: But don’t you believe in taking risks?
JP: I take risks every day.

MM: I believe in the idea that if “you don’t try, you don’t get.” Do you?
JP: I totally agree with you. But the risks I take are calculated. Like with marketing, if I were to do it just to do it, I’d look like everyone else out there and that’s not me. Maybe it holds me back, maybe I could be farther along, but I don’t care. I love what I do and I love what I’m building, and if I can’t do it methodically and do it at the same caliber as what I’ve done so far, I don’t believe in doing it at all. I still run the business. I run the creative. I’m beyond overwhelmed with what’s on my plate. I’m trying to get to the place where I can turn over the business so I can stop running the day-to-day and focus on the creative. The last time I did press was when I opened the first store (laughs) — and that was in 2003. We’ve evolved so much since then. We’ve gone from being a T-shirt company to an apparel company. The sophistication of the brand has progressed as well. I just feel I’m in a place now where I have more to say.

MM: The expansion to include a furniture line, how did that come about?
JP: It’s sort of like making the T-shirt of furniture.

MM: An extension of…
JP: Yeah, timeless, classic pieces that are simple, easy, casual and can fit into so many different styles of homes. I shouldn’t say this, but the furniture world [in Los Angeles] has lost its view. When you drive down Beverly Boulevard, it’s just the same thing, one shop after another.

MM: Well, not so much anymore. A lot of stores are gone with the current economic situation.
JP: The challenges of going through this environment are extraordinary. It forces you to tighten your belt, to be better and analyze what you’re going to do next in a totally different mindset. Ultimately, it’s opening up market share. Bad real estate was selling for too much money, bad clothing selling for too much money.

MM: It resets.
JP: Exactly. It’s my first experience going through something like this, but not the first time hitting the wall with my business — that happened a decade ago. Operating costs were up and sales were declining. Fortunately, I’ve learned.

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