STADE'S NEW WAVE; `CALIFORNIA COUTURE' COMES ON STRONG AS THE CLOSET MOVES UPSCALE.

Daily News Record, September, 2004 by Tschorn, Adam

Byline: ADAM TSCHORN

The Closet started in 1993 as a single 100-square-foot shop in Huntington Beach, Calif., where owner Billy Stade sold snowboards to teens in the winter and T-shirts and boardshorts to the same clientele in the summer. Today there are three Orange County stores. The newest and biggest -- 3,200 square feet -- docked at Newport Beach's Fashion Island shopping center earlier this month.

Although Stade is still at the helm and The Doors are still blasting on the stereo, the merchandise -- surf- and skate-inspired apparel and laid-back contemporary sportswear -- has gone upscale: $270 Evisu jeans share the racks with $80 Triko T-shirts.

"I'd have been surprised if you'd told me years ago that I'd be selling $300 jeans and...