Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on July 31, 2003, and has been republished from our archives.
By Catrine Johansson, The Orange County Register
Costa Mesa Whimsical and slightly neurotic cartoon characters are moving into a new home at South Coast Plaza.
There is Worry Bear, the concerned bear, Clancy, the insecure giraffe, and Julius, the prankster monkey.
They are the creations of Costa Mesa-based designer Paul Frank, 35. Their faces are stitched on T-shirts, purses, wallets and other accessories that Frank began making in a garage in Newport Beach six years ago.
“My designs make people happy,” Frank said.
“They take people back to their childhood — to a more innocent life.”
Bringing in Paul Frank goes along with South Coast Plaza’s ambition to be home to high-end retailers, said Greg Stoffel, mall consultant.
“There is a need for retailers — particularly high-end retailers — to congregate,” Stoffel said.
That need helps South Coast Plaza attract top-of-the-line retailers, despite a somewhat outdated look, he said.
Top-of-the-line retailers such as clothing designers Armani and Versace and cosmetic company Kiehl’s already have stores in South Coast Plaza.
In the next few months, the Tiffany jewelry spin-off Temple St. Clair and plus-size fashion brand Marina Rinaldi plan to open stores.
South Coast Plaza is at the top in the local mall “pecking order,” Stoffel said, followed by Fashion Island, with everyone else “distant thirds.”
“If you closed your eyes and didn’t see the tenant mix, you’d think it was a B-level mall in Iowa,” Stoffel said.
“But for the retailers, it has a certain panache.”
The Paul Frank store, set to open in August, is in the west wing of the mall, across Bear street, on the third floor near Sport Chalet.
While Frank designed the other 12 company stores — with locations from London to Tokyo — he brought in Giorgio Borruso architects for the South Coast Plaza store, which is the first Paul Frank store in a mall.
“This is South Coast Plaza,” Frank said.
“I wanted a certain look and I wanted to do this right.”
The store will feature the eyewear, accessories and clothes that have made Paul Frank so popular. T-shirts normally range from $20 to $25, while purses reach $60.
Frank himself prefers to leave the business end of things to his two partners and focus on the creative. He does most of his work in a warehouse space in Huntington Beach, filled with materials, sewing machines and drawing instruments.
Dressed in sneakers, jeans, a red-and-white striped T-shirt and a lop-sided baseball cap during a recent interview, Frank looked like a kid from that happy childhood he hopes his designs remind people of.
Disneyland and 1950s pop culture are major influences. Disneyland’s roots in the 1950s — it opened in 1955 — explains much of its charm, Frank said.
“The trash cans are my favorite thing at Disneyland,” Frank said. “Even the trash cans are nice there, and most people don’t got through that much trouble with detail anymore.”
Consumers of all ages are attracted to Paul Frank merchandise, said Marshall Cohen, chief industry analyst at the NPD Group, a sales and marketing analysis association in Port Washington, N.Y.
“His designs kind of make you chuckle,” Cohen said. “Even adults have embraced this idea of having fun and forgetting about the issues of today.”
A few years ago, Paul Frank was a cultish brand, Cohen said. A bit of the rebellious underground culture. Now it’s spread out and become a widely recognizable and accepted brand.
“Now the risk is how long it will last until the leaders embrace something else,” Cohen said.
Paul Frank will always have a place in the heart of Hannah Solow, 13, of Corona del Mar. She began wearing the clothes and accessories when she was about 10 and her father took her to go shopping at the original Paul Frank warehouse in Newport Beach.
“It’s different than regular stuff,” Solow said. “It makes me happy — like I want to laugh.”
Solow’s mother, Toni Solow, said she buys Paul Frank items for the whole family. Still, she has one reservation about the new store.
“A store is going to cost me more money,” she said, “but from a mom point of view, the stuff is well made and lasts forever.”
