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JustFab wants to be the next H&M

Karina Smirnoff, left, and Maria Menounos attend the JustFab launch at Sunset Tower on April 1.

Karina Smirnoff, left, and Maria Menounos attend the JustFab launch at Sunset Tower on April 1.

(Christopher Polk / Getty Images )
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Actresses Aubrey Plaza, Peyton List and Jamie Chung; singer Katharine McPhee; dancer Karina Smirnoff and E! Entertainment television host Maria Menounos were among the guests who turned out at the Sunset Tower in West Hollywood on Wednesday to fete El Segundo-based JustFab’s expansion into the apparel business, as the accessories and denim fast-fashion company launched its women’s ready-to-wear line at justfab.com.

With prices ranging from $9.99 for a T-shirt to $79 for a coat, the line also includes dresses, tops, knits, jackets, swimwear, skirts, shorts, pants, jumpsuits and leggings. By the end of the year, the company plans to roll out a total of 5,000 apparel pieces, with new pieces debuting daily on justfab.com. Design director Yuchin Mao, formerly with C&C California, joined the company in October to oversee apparel design.

Co-founded by Don Ressler and Adam Goldenberg in 2010 as an online subscription-based footwear company, JustFab added handbags and jewelry to the mix in 2011 and denim in 2013. The company aims to sell about $50 million worth of apparel this year and estimates that the category will make up 30% of its overall business by 2016, according to Ressler.

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Though anyone can purchase an individual piece, subscribers pay $39.95 monthly in exchange for discounted VIP pricing and a personalized boutique catering to one of five style types -- girl next door, trendsetter, femme nouveau, bombshell or modern classic -- determined by a short quiz. Customers can also shop by category, occasion, trend or look -- a new section featuring fashion looks styled with accessories.

“Last year, we had a few apparel capsule collections and we basically sold out of every single item immediately,” Ressler said. “So we saw that our customers were asking for this. They wanted head-to-toe styling. ... We really think we’re going to be the next H&M. That’s our goal.”

“In the last few years, I’ve been seeing the JustFab brand name more and more,” McPhee said. “I grew up in L.A. but there are parts of the country that don’t even have an H&M or a Forever 21, so I think it’s a brilliant idea to give women everywhere, who are on a budget, access to cute clothes that are happening currently in fashion. There are so many high-end websites like Net-a-Porter, but only about one percent of the country can afford that.”

In 2013, JustFab Inc. acquired competitive online subscription footwear company ShoeDazzle and online children’s fashion subscription business FabKids. In October 2013, JustFab Inc. launched Fabletics, another online subscription business devoted to stylish activewear and co-founded with actress Kate Hudson. There are approximately 3.5 million subscribers across all of the JustFab Inc. sites and, for now, one accessories-focused JustFab flagship store in Glendale. According to Ressler, the company doesn’t plan to add additional brick-and-mortar stores in the near future, but the Fabletics brand will launch a new men’s line in the next 30 to 60 days.

“We were able to build a multibillion-dollar fashion company with the online [business], so I don’t want to branch too far out of that lane,” Ressler said. “I think we’re probably the fastest-growing fashion company, collectively with all our brands, in the world.”

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