From the Archives: Todd Oldham

This article first appeared in WWD in April 1986.

By ANNE McCREADY

DALLAS — Todd Oldham is very happy. The only patternmaker he’s ever been able to work with is back in the States after a four-month-long visit to Australia, her native country, and the 24-year-old designer couldn’t be more pleased.

“I’m so delighted you’re back,” Oldham says over the phone, with enthusiasm. After he hangs up, he explains, “I’ve gone through so many patternmakers. I didn’t go to pattern school, so I’ve developed my own quick methods. When someone doesn’t work as efficiently, it drives me wild. Helena Tate has her own way of doing things, but she’s great at it. I don’t know what I’d do without her.”

It’s not surprising that the designer behind Crown One Designs Inc., a contemporary dress, sportswear and menswear firm with 1985 sales of $2 million, didn’t go to patternmaking, or for that matter, design school. And it’s not surprising Oldham, who apparently appreciates his immediate, small circle of family
friends, and associates, would be excited about one of them returning after a long hiatus.

What is hard to imagine upon first meeting him is that Oldham could be driven wild. A gracious, soft-spoken man with a slight build and a shock of red hair, Oldham doesn’t seem like the type who is easily unsettled.

But then, Oldham does have a lot on his mind: the design and manufacture of his two signature lines, Todd Oldham for women and Todd Oldham for men; as well as the design of two California T-shirt lines, Zou Zou and Cosi. And he plans to contribute designs to a shoe line.

In the five years since he launched his collection, Oldham has become a recognized presence on the contemporary design circuit. His lines are carried by 200 accounts, including Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Macy’s New York. And last July, San Francisco-based specialty retailer M.A.C.
(Modern Appealing Clothing) opened a freestanding shop devoted to Oldham’s collections.

“We watched Todd grow and improve in the quality and concept of his lines,” says a former Neiman’s
executive. “He has a fertile mind for design, and a good attitude. His clothes are spirited and fun.”

Oldham manages to handle all his responsibilities by working quickly, he says.

“And I do the least demanding collections last,” he adds. “Sometimes things get to me. But I try to keep everything in perspective. I’m very pleased with what I’m doing, and I’m very lucky I can do this. But it is just clothes, and it’s just a business, a way to make a lot of people happy. I take my responsibility to retailers very seriously, but I’m not finding the cure for cancer.”

Oldham was born in Corpus Christi, but grew up at various points around the globe, including the Mideast. “It’s given me an open view and an eclectic approach to my design,” he says.

Six years ago, Oldham moved to Dallas with his parents, where he launched his first collection a year later. With 50 yards of thermal knit, he created a line called Violations which he cut, sewed and brought around to Dallas specialty stores himself.

“It was a very wild and punky line,” he says. “There wasn’t a lot going on in Dallas then that was different, so it was a good way to get attention.”

The next season, Oldham’s line was picked up by Neiman’s, which placed a 500-piece order. “It seemed like a huge number, but now 500 is a small- to medium-cut,” Oldham says. “I hand-dyed every piece myself so I’d get the exact shade of gray I wanted. I had gray up to my elbows from the hand dipping, but that’s what you’ve got to do.”

The business, Oldham says, “just progressed from there. I’ve never had any backers, though I have borrowed money from my parents,” says Oldham, adding they, and other members of his family, including his grandmother, are involved in the 13-employee company. “I thought we’d go full-fledge ahead after my first year, and avoid being half-baked about it,” he says, noting this meant an emphasis on reliability and quality workmanship.

In 1982, Oldham took a sample line — on his back — to New York, where he pounded the pavement for three weeks.

“I felt completely pitiful. I was lugging these garment bags around and no one was interested. I was very far down, and then, my last day there, I met Rosemary Sabbaugh, (owner of a New York buying office) who was like my patron saint. She brought me to two or three stores, including Henri Bendel, which placed an order, and she lined me up with a representative on Seventh Avenue.”

Oldham had come in on the beginning of contemporary, designer collections being offered at comparatively moderate price points.

“We have Norma Kamali to thank for beginning that trend,” he says, noting that designers such as Michael Kors also were emerging at that time.

Oldham’s line has since dropped in price point, from, for example, $50 at wholesale for a sleeveless turtleneck to $12 today, in part because he now utilizes less costly fabrications that he develops himself.
Current wholesale price points range from $12 to $80.

His success in New York, as well as a now-terminated association with Congovid, led Oldham to launch his collections there. Todd Oldham designs also have their own showroom there, opened two years ago. “I don’t launch it from Dallas because it lets me remain anonymous here,” he says, noting his line is represented in Dallas by Don Hogg & Associates at the Apparel Mart, as well as in Los Angeles.

Oldham’s fall collection carries forward his concentration of not creating overly detailed pieces, instead allowing the shape and fabrication to do the work. “I like taking a basic body and using an unexpected fabric with it, or using a commonplace fabric in an unusual design,” he says, adding that of most importance is how comfortable his clothes are to wear.

In the future, Oldham expects his lines to be distributed internationally to countries such as Japan, where his name has been registered. And Oldham doesn’t plan to ever let his business rule his life. “After 5:30, I’m Todd Oldham, who may as well make mudpies for a living,” he says.