From the LA Times:
These are tough times for premium denim manufacturers as retailers shrink the number of brands they carry because consumers aren't spending. But for designer denim maker AG Adriano Goldschmied, the crisis came seven years ago when the Italian designer decamped. Even though the parting was civil, key customers began dropping the company's products as a series of design chiefs came and went.... "I think it was about getting our products right," said Samuel Ku, AG's 32-year-old vice president and creative director. "We didn't have the right people designing it. We are back to creating a product that the public is thirsty for...." From 2004 to 2008, "we were in a little bit of a tough period. We had a handful of design directors we hired to replace Adriano, but we just were not able to find the right fit with them," Samuel Ku said. "We had used to have a great Nordstrom business with women customers, but they stopped buying us. Anthropologie stopped buying us." The answer turned out to be Samuel, who became creative director at the end of 2008 despite his lack of formal training in clothing design. Ku had graduated from UC Irvine with a degree in economics. But Ku had absorbed much from Goldschmied and his father.

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