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THE ROSENSTEINS RIDE AGAIN The founders of ’90s casual-chic pioneer Fitigues open their new concept shop, R&R Surplus, at Montage Laguna Beach. BY MICHELLE DALTON TYREE
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efore there was such a thing as “athleisure,” before there was a Juicy Couture or a Splendid, there was Fitigues, a Chicagobased clothing brand started in 1988 by Steve and Andi Rosenstein. “We were in our 20s when we started the business. It was the answer to cool gym clothes,” Steve Rosenstein says. “That was all we were trying to do back then.” The Rosensteins—who are not fans of the term “athleisure”—were nonetheless ahead of the curve, and also among the first wholesalers to dive headlong into retail
simultaneously. And it was their casual-chic aesthetic and visibility in both markets that cracked open the door to what has now became a massive shift in how we dress. Yes, leggings, we’re looking at you. But by 2006, the pair was ready to hang up their design hats after selling to Chico’s and moving to Phoenix, Arizona, where—on a whim—they bought an abandoned 1928 warehouse in the Phoenix Warehouse District. Together they concocted their next venture: The Duce, a Prohibition-era concept much lauded by the media for its dynamic, cheeky mix of WINTER 2019 | 32 |
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everything from eatery to boxing ring, bar, 1915 Chicago-inspired soda fountain, retail and event space. But it was a chance visit at The Duce from a few Nordstrom employees that officially pulled the Rosensteins back into the fashion world as they launched their R&R Surplus clothing concept, which catapulted Andi back into designing and started a new design career for the couple’s son. Montage Magazine caught up with them after R&R Surplus launched its first West Coast outpost at Montage Laguna Beach.
COURTESY OF R & R SURPLUS
The Rosenstein family at The Duce in Phoenix, Arizona
