Ace Ross Studios - Wearing Confidence

Hello,

Thank you for a moment of your time. I will get to the point at the end of this letter.

I met Mr. and Mrs.Ok at Pandora Casuals on the second floor at Wall and Maple in 1995 on a buying trip to Los Angeles, for my retail stores, "She's Got Legs" in NYC.

In 1995 I became the sales rep for Pandora Casuals and took the line of affordable pre packed fashion tees to New York City " The Boutique Show", at Javits. We rocked, so, I rented my apartment in NYC, hired a manager to run my retail and moved to California with my dog and three cats.

Pandora was already trademarked by Pandora Sweaters in Maine; we had to change the name. I met the challenge to reinvent the company and created "One Clothing" and a company charity, "The One Voice Foundation".

In order to escape the stigma of the downtown Los Angeles garment trade, I created the illusion that we were a New York based company. In 1996 Mr. OK appointed me to President of Sales and Marketing.

I created the ads, casting, photography, catalogues and booked shows all around the world. I traveled to Hong Kong to exhibit at a Chinese boutique trade show. The booth was a scene from the Wizard of Oz with a yellow brick floor and the scenes of Dorothy on her way to the Emerald City with the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion. The show traveled to Leipzig, Dusseldorf, Milan, Paris, New York and Las Vegas. I organized the Runway Shows, set up the booths and merchandized the line as well as communicated with the trades and editorial editors. I organized promotions and convinced Mr.OK to sponsor the Jingle Ball at Madison Square Garden with Jennifer Lopez. We partnered with Joyce Leslie and created in store displays. We ran radio ads with giveaways at her 26 tri-state stores. My photos are still on Joyce Leslie's web site 12 years later! http://www.joyceleslie.com/

We were not in Kansas anymore :)

I pursued and serviced wonderful private label accounts,Bugle Boy, Le Chateau, Charlotte Russe, Hot Topics, Wet Seal, White House, CBGB, Golf Punk, Rainbow Shops, and Strawberry. I set appointments and sold to Macy's, Kohl’s, Gadzooks, Mervyns, JC Penny's, Sears, and Montgomery Ward.

I traveled to Japan to open Isetan, Mexico City to open Palacio de Hierro. I communicated religiously every Monday with all my buyers to restock after the weekend. I had three fax machines in my office and faxed the shipping papers to everyone. We were shipping hundreds of boutiques, private label accounts and department stores.

At the shows, The One Clothing booth was always a frenzy. Out of necessity, I devised the grab a clipboard system so the buyers could just write their own orders and leave. I wrote at the least 300 boutique orders at every show. After the show I would hit the road with the entire line to sell the department and chain stores.

One Clothing became a global brand with sales of 120,000 Million Dollars in 1999. link

In 2000 Alex was persuaded to partner with Forever 21 and stop branding One Clothing.

Honestly, I never thought they would ever let me go. I was dismissed. I gave them my heart and soul. I loved what I created for Mr. and Mrs. Ok.Mr. OK made the right decision.

Today, Forever 21 (Five Hearts INC.) is at 1 billion a year in sales. What is also amazing is they bought the accounts I opened up for them. They bought Gadzooks, Rampage and Mervyns. Today Mr. Ok is the President of Forever 21 and One Clothing manufactures for Forever 21.

The Ace Ross Studios opened shop on San Pedro and Pico and my junior / young contemporary collection launched in mid 2000.

The line was carried in Fred Segal's, National Jeans, Bloomingdales, Dillard's and many fine boutiques.

The brand enforced "wearing confidence", a metaphor to express even through your hardest days, stay strong and smile.In 2011, 911 caused a down-turn in the economy. We still showed up at the trade shows, the buyers did not.

My clothing company was under capitalized and closed the doors on San Pedro Street at the end of 2003.

In 2005, I became the sales and marketing representative for the private label manufacturer Foundasco based in the Philippines. We provided knit and woven production packages to manufacturers. The price point is competitive with China. The relationship is still ongoing.

In 2006 I licensed the artwork from the 1960's Musical HAiR.

I created a tee shirt line and poster collection. The business is online. On January 24th, 2010, I donated the remainder my tee shirt inventory to Haiti. HAiR was never meant to be a license product commercial success.

In 2006 Jeff Rudes asked me to invest in J-Brands so he could make his first samples of the skinny jean. Jeff also invited me to be his partner for a new company he created at J-Brand called Friends of Cashmere a luxury pet bed company. http://www.friendsofcashmereboutique.com/.

Dov Charney invited me, in 2009, to spend time at American Apparel's 4 retail stores in Las Vegas. I created photo reports on the internet, made suggestions and took action's concerning, merchandising, marketing and personnel that has effectively caused a 180% increase in Las Vegas sales. I also produced the factory flea market tour at 11 Universities on the West Coast which grossed over $400,000 in sales of close-outs, seconds, over-runs and returns.

I booked and coordinated the summer street fairs for American Apparel in NYC to liquidate merchandise.

In 2010- Steve Wasserman invited me to help build his company selling factory cancelations form China. I designed the company’s logo and first trade show booth at Off Price.

2011 and the challenge. There have been outstanding accomplishments and many lessons learned in my career and personal life. One trait has never changed. I will not compromise quality for quantity and I will always work with integrity and grit to benefit those on my team. I bring twenty five years of outstanding experience in the garment industry to the table and hope to soon realize the benefit of joining a new team of peers.

“Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

Steve Jobs 2005

My Resume

Best,

Sherwin

Photography, casting, location Ace Ross

Bugle Boy Teams With N. Y. Company on New Girls Line

February 08, 2000 | BARBARA MURPHY

Bugle Boy, a casual clothing brand based in Simi Valley, and One Clothing, a New York junior clothing manufacturer, have teamed up to market a new junior and girls line under Bugle Boys BB label.

"Adopting young women and girls into the [Bugle Boy] family is a natural extension for the brand," said Gail Vasquez, director of licensing at Bugle Boy. "This is an exciting opportunity to capture the younger customer and to expand the Bugle Boy brand into the junior lifestyle."

Ace Ross, president of One Clothing, also expressed enthusiasm for the deal.

"It's an outstanding dream," Ross said. "We are working with an American icon, one of the leading brands in the country, and we're doing something fun. We're bringing the icon to young women and girls."

Bugle Boy distributes clothing to mid-range department and national chain stores. The new line will be distributed to retailers beginning in June.

160 x 40 foot booth at Magic

Hong Kong, August 9,1997

380 exhibitors, (250 local companies) and 130 overseas manufacturers including ONE California based company.

February 28, 2001 Ace Ross, a Los Angeles-based junior manufacturer, has been in the tween market since he launched Ace's Lounge wear for girls ages 10 to 14 at the International Fashion Boutique Show in New York in January.

Ross says he saw a need for a tween collection while he was with Los Angeles-based junior manufacturer One Clothing, where he served as the company's president.Ross left the company last year to start his own clothing lines and open Ace Ross Studio in downtown Los Angeles."It just made sense to start a tween line," says Ross, who says he walked away from his first trade show with more than $175,000 in orders.