LOS ANGELES — On the afternoon of Jan. 7, the denim line Mother sent out digital invitations to the opening party for its first store. Press, influencers and celebrities were invited to swing by later in the month for cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, a DJ and, in a cheeky nod to the brand’s West Coast roots, ice cream served from the trunk of a vintage El Camino.
By the morning of Jan. 8, the store and merchandise worth $1 million had burned to the ground. Mother was one of the newest tenants in Pacific Palisades, situated across the street from Palisades Village, the outdoor luxury mall owned by real estate developer Rick Caruso. The development was hit early by the Los Angeles wildfires that would eventually consume 23,000 acres and destroy nearly 10,000 structures in enclaves including Altadena and Ventura. Thousands of people are still displaced.
Nearly two months later, Mother co-founders Lela Becker and Tim Kaeding have a plan to rebuild, targeting an opening date later this year for a new store, hopefully in the same location. In an interview with The Business of Fashion, they said that the same ties to Los Angeles that put their company in the wildfire’s path are the key to their comeback.
Mother’s connection to the city extends from its free-spirited aesthetic to its supply chain: over 90 percent of its entire line is made in the industrial denim hub of Vernon situated about 10 minutes outside of downtown Los Angeles. Several dozen sewers and pattern makers work downstairs from Mother’s headquarters, where Kaeding, who also serves as the brand’s creative director, still personally fits and oversees samples.
Kaeding and Becker envisioned the Pacific Palisades store as a 21st century version of the iconic, now closed LA retailer Fred Segal. Inside, likeminded brands selling everything from accessories to homewares would sit alongside Mother’s denim, knitwear and varsity jackets.
During rebuilding, Mother is finding a new purpose for many items it had planned to use in the store: a marketing campaign once intended to draw shoppers to Pacific Palisades is being deployed outside of LA. Photography of Mother spring merchandise meant to hang in the Los Angeles store will sit in a window at Harrods in London, where Mother has a shop-in-shop. Exclusive store merchandise was sold off to raise money for fire aid charities. The El Camino, which was parked off-site when the fires hit, was spared, and is sitting in storage for the day it will ride, and perhaps serve ice cream, again.
“The whole company had been working on the store for a year and half and it all came crashing down overnight,” Becker said. “We’re sad, but now what? What do we do with all these great ideas we had? You’ve got to put them somewhere and we are. Nothing has been wasted.”
An LA Brand, Through and Through
Launched in 2010, Mother, which releases 12 collections a year to 1500 department stores and specialty retailers throughout the US, Australia, Asia and Europe, has also garnered celebrity followers including Kate Middleton, Jennifer Garner, Emma Roberts and Meghan Markle.
In 2023, as the sewing factory that produced Mother was shuttering due to slowed business after Covid, Becker and Kaeding acquired the facility and brought the bulk of their production, sewing and sampling in-house under a new business unit, Mother Maker.
That business now employs 41 people, including sewers and pattern makers, many of whom have been working in LA’s denim industry for decades. Kaeding says that Mother is now one of the only brands left washing their denim in the downtown LA laundries, which were once packed with premium denim companies including Citizens of Humanity and 7 For All Mankind that have since shipped their production overseas.
Mother Maker is playing a key role in the brand’s recovery.
“Luckily we can remake the items that were burned in the fire,” said Kaeding. “Our manufacturing and headquarters were fine, and there is a comfort in being able to control our business, especially when someone can wave a wand and change the trajectory of your supply chain.”
Mother has also donated thousands of pieces of clothing to families affected by the fires. Answering the call from school text threads to shelter requests, clothing was dispatched from their Vernon distribution centre for aid.
They also partnered with stylist Elizabeth Stewart’s Chic Relief, LA retailer +COOP, Pali Moms for Recovery and celebrity seeding agency The A List to give clothing to those in need. The net proceeds of Mother’s exclusive Pacific Palisades store merchandise, as well as a $10,000 donation, went to the LAFD Foundation in support of the Los Angeles Fire Department. Additionally, Mother donated $10,000 to the Dena Fire Relief Fund via the Flintridge Center and $10,000 to World Central Kitchen.
Becker says there has been overwhelming outreach from customers all over the country who want to support and be in solidarity with the brand by shopping Mother merchandise for a cause. Mother is considering selling more exclusive store merchandise with proceeds benefiting fire aid relief.
None of the nearly 200 Mother employees lost their lives or homes to the fires, but some, including Becker, were only recently able to safely return to their homes. For the infrastructure of the company, this means flexible work hours and what Becker refers to as a “closet full of Mother clothing” for those who had been evacuated longer than expected.
“There is a beauty about still being able to make things in LA and support the same people we’ve been working with for decades,” says Kaeding. “We are more committed than ever to supporting our LA community.”
Mother has moved all of the exclusive merchandise meant for the store to their e-commerce site and pushed inventory for the store into wholesale and e-commerce channels.
As for their first store, the plan is to rebuild, ideally in the same space they were set to open in January. “It’s been postponed,” says Becker. “But we are still going to do it and it’s going to be great.”
