Designers looking to quickly put together a made-to-order wedding dress or gown can now buy small quantities of French-made lace on demand.
Solstiss USA, which for years has had a Los Angeles showroom where designers can place orders, has set up the Solstiss Boutique at the California Market Center in Los Angeles’ Fashion District.
The boutique, housed inside the D.P. Textile & Apparel showroom, opened this week ahead of the Los Angeles Textile Show running Wednesday to Friday at the CMC.
“We have more than 700 yards of inventory and 130 designs that we brought from France, and we have more than 40 colors,” said François Damide, chief executive/president of Solstiss USA. “We were finding there are designers looking for lace at the last minute.”
Normally, designers ordering for upcoming seasons visit the Solstiss showroom at the Row DTLA near the Arts District in downtown Los Angeles where they can peruse 3,000 designs. On average, it takes between two weeks to two months for an order to arrive, Damide said.
The Solstiss Boutique inside the D.P. Textile showroom, operated by brothers Don and David Park since 1993, makes it closer to other textile showrooms located in the same building.
Solstiss, based in Caudry, France since 1876, is one of only five lace makers left in France producing lace on Leavers looms, Damide said. The company’s annual global revenues are about $21.6 million, and its largest market is in Italy, Damide said.
Solstiss opened its first U.S. showroom in 1986 in the heart of New York’s Garment Center. That was followed in 2000 by a Los Angeles showroom at the California Market Center, which closed temporarily when the building’s new owners cleared two buildings to undertake a long-term remodeling project several years ago.
Solstiss has had a showroom at the Row DTLA since 2022, and now shares it with Malhia Kent, the French tweed novelty house.
