Between Main and Spring along 6th Street in our very own DTLA, is a cool little spot called Apliiq. Inside you’ll find a wonderland of one-of-a-kind tees, jackets, shoes, and dresses. The beauty of it all is that you can design your own Apliiq garb. Twenty-four year old wunderkind Ethan Lipsitz’s one of a kind approach to store keeping puts the creativity in the hands of the customer. Who doesn’t want to be designer for a day? Stop in and spice up your wardrobe, but read this first.
JBJones: What lead you to fashion?
Ethan Lipsitz: I don’t think what I do is fashion. I’m actually intimidated by that word. I never studied fashion. I think that fashion is a world built on expectations; I don’t know those expectations, and I don’t pretend to know them.
JBJones: So Apliiq is like ‘unfashion’ fashion?
Ethan Lipsitz: Yea, but I’ve always been interested in design and product. I’m trying to build something that is a little bit different, though. I’m taking fabric and putting it onto clothing and editing the clothing. And while people say, ‘that’s DIY fashion,’ it’s more that I’m just trying to democratize the [design and production] process. It is so much better when you can see the process – when production is transparent. So many of us buy clothing off a rack having no idea where it came from, which is usually millions of miles away. And we’re certainly used to that – having things presented for us to purchase, but I think it’s more interesting when there is a process involved, and an emotion, so that what you’re buying has more of a value. Whether people are designing it themselves or they come in and see us producing it and sewing it, it seems to have more value.
JBJones: What do you hope your customers’ recognize that value as?
Ethan Lipsitz: I think there is a real pride in wearing something you made. You composed it and now you’re wearing it – it’s actually a very unique feeling, to take control of something you wouldn’t normally have control over. Consumption is so boring, why can’t it be spiced up with creation?
JBJones: It makes for such a personal product, let alone a unique product.
Ethan Lipsitz: There is the handmade aesthetic that has an emotional quality attached to it, and a visual quality. You can tell this was made by someone – that this wasn’t mass-produced. There are imperfections, and that’s what makes it more beautiful.
JBJones: How do you envision Apliiq growing if mass production isn’t really an option?
Ethan Lipsitz: I want this to become less of a product-based business and more of an experience-based business. I want to find more ways for people to get involved in the process.
JBJones: Specifically in the process of creating the clothing?
Ethan Lipsitz: In the process of creating anything. Right now the process is using fabric as a means of expression. Taking fabric and putting it on things to add character to it, to add a message. Finding other ways for people to celebrate that process. Like crafternoons.
JBJones: Did you just say crafternoons?
Ethan Lipsitz: Yes. We need to have more of those NOW.
JBJones: I want to come!
Ethan Lipsitz: I think what we are doing is fun, – it’s different. We shouldn’t try to hold it as our property we should just try to facilitate people getting involved in it. We should make this location a hub so people come to share and celebrate instead of just buying a product.
JBJones: How did Apliiq start?
Ethan Lipsitz: I had boring clothes and wanted to make them cooler. I didn’t want to print on them cause I thought printing was a little tacky, and I was much more interested in texture and materials.
JBJones: You just wanted to wear something different?
Ethan Lipsitz: Yea, but I wanted to have a hand in what I was wearing, I didn’t want to just wear other people’s clothes. I wanted it to be more mine. My friend gave me a karate kid headband and I sewed it on a hoodie, and then people asked for them so I made them. I realized this was something that could catch on – it started as a hobby, but it became a marketable tool.
JBJones: Environmental responsibility seems to be an important concept to you – you use vintage fabrics and use hand sewn fabric bags for your customer’s purchases.
Ethan Lipsitz: I never wanted to produce things that were going to go into landfills. I never wanted to produce material ‘stuff,’ it’s always rubbed me the wrong way. In order to make money I need to sell and make stuff, but in the end our product has an emotional value attached. I ask myself: what are ways to produce clothing that is affordable and not wasteful? Recycling is the easy answer. The fabrics we use could be waste for one person, but for us it’s useful. I feel there is a growing market for one of a kind things and repurposed clothing. We call it ‘upcylcing’ because it’s adding value to something that had less of a value before.
JBJones: Your customers are very devoted to your brand. You even have a section of your website devoted to the Apliiq ‘family.’
Ethan Lipsitz: When you create an emotional attachment and involvement in what your customers’ purchase, they want to come back.
JBJones: And on a bigger scale, does the city of LA act as an inspiration for the family and growth of Apliiq?
Ethan Lipsitz: I think that urban environments are very stimulating in many ways. LA is a crazy mix of people and spaces. There is history. I like being in places where everything is representing a past time, it’s like recycling – how people use cities as they adapt. When you can see history and live it, it is really powerful. There are so many ways to interact with it.
JBJones: Why did you choose downtown as Apliiq’s home base?
Ethan Lipsitz: I want to give the city something it should have; cities should have interesting places where you can go meet people doing unique things, whether it’s a brand or a restaurant. Downtown has these things, but not many people know that. The people who live here do, and I wanted to be a part of it.