Clea Benson: Creativity Counts

Bobbin, Sept, 2000 by Julie McElwain

With a flair for design, a bottomless well of creativity and an eye for detail, Clea Benson has watched her self-titled line of clothing make a big splash in the world of moderately priced couture.

For some designers, the journey into the apparel industry is a well-lit well-orchestrated path. Yet for others, the journey begins as a capricious matter at best either urged on by the hand of the or simply a fluke.

Clean Benson owner and design of the 2-yesr-old Clea label, falls into the latter category. A dozen years ago. Benson never even considered a career in the apparel industry when she became a student at the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. CA Her focus she says, was on "every form of art that there is -- from photography to stained glass to ceramics to painting."

Then fate stepped in when Benson and a friend decided to pick up some pocket change by designing one-of-a kind hats. The venture netted enough interest -- including such star power as Julia Roberts, Oprah Winfrey, Elizabeth Taylor and Kelly Lynch -- that the two women pursued the business full-time selling both customized hats and garden furniture out of a boutique that blended environmental awareness with a romantic edge, a retail mix that is now popular but in the late '80s was innovative.

Entering the Clothing Business

Soon, the business started receiving requests for clothes to go with the hats, Benson recalls. "We tried to buy clothes for our store, but we couldn't find anything that we wanted or matched what we were doing. It was right when the retro hat thing was going on, but the clothes were not there yet," she explains.

With absolutely no experience in the apparel industry, Benson and her partner hobbled together outfits by purchasing Butterick patterns and altering them to create the look they wanted. The homespun designs worked. "Other retailers started asking us to produce [clothing] for their stores," Benson says.

Then came the fluke that catapulted the company into the big time: They were interviewed by Victoria magazine. "It was supposed to be a small story, with a small fashion shoot," Benson recounts. As it turned out, the photos from one of the magazine's major photo shoots didn't work out, so the clothes became the focus of the piece. The rest was history. "After that, we had to put in another phone line because the phones wouldn't stop ringing for a month. It put us in the clothing business," declares Benson.

For the next nine years, Benson learned the rag trade and launched two labels -- Patina and Clothespin. "The collections were very retro, with a retro silhouette. I felt it was holding me back; I just wasn't challenged," recalls Benson, who at that point realized she could not ignore the urge to spread her wings as a designer.

The Birth of a New Line

The company was split, with her partner taking the Patina label, and Benson moving forward with Clothespin, which was built on what the designer calls a line of "cheap and cheerful" knits. However, the newly independent Benson immediately ran into problems: "When you're dealing with domestic, inexpensive knits, you might as well just sign your life away," she sighs.

In fact, Benson says that she learned the hard way that what you saw with sample fabrics wasn't necessarily what you got in production. "You might choose a color, but that doesn't mean you'll get it," she laments. "And, literally, the fabric would pill. ... It was one disaster after another. It was just horrific."

Adding to that problem was the lack of a creative challenge. "I found that with less expensive knit fabrics, I wasn't creatively stimulated. It just' didn't do anything for me," she explains.

So, in a move designed to stimulate her creative juices, Benson shuttered the Clothespin operation, revamped her concept and re-emerged under the new name of Clea. "We're trying to create a [designer] collection ... at affordable prices," she says.

The U.S. knits have been replaced by moderately priced Italian fabrics, which Benson sources through a local fabric representative. And while the price points are indeed moderate -- ranging from $30 to $150 wholesale -- Benson approaches each season's collection as though it were couture, creating a theme around which the entire line (approximately 30 new styles) revolves.

"Doing a new collection is like constantly reinventing the wheel, like starting from scratch. I may have one or two basics, like the great straight skirt that I will have in my collection probably till the end of time, but the rest of the line is new. And it is a collection ... where you have a sweater that goes with the coat that goes with the hat," says Benson, explaining that she tries to provide a complete look to retailers and consumers, with pieces that can stand alone as separates, but also work together.

For the upcoming winter collection, Benson chose a cuddly animal theme, reflected in bunny soft cashmeres, luxurious mohairs and woolly sweaters that are both ultra cozy and extra comfortable. That's in contrast to last season's look, which revolved around a delicate, Japanese-like feather motif, and the season prior to that, which featured a bold, silk-screened rose that found its way onto elegant crepe shifts, fragile mesh blouses and long sculptured skirts.