The Best Clothes Are in Los Angeles
Twenty LA-based brands you should love.
Hello! I’m excited to share with you a list I’ve been building for years of the 20 best small businesses/designers based in LA you can shop right now. From genderfluid swimwear to an It-bag contender to a shirt that threatens the life of El*n M*sk, there is plenty of good stuff to bribe yourself into surviving the remainder of winter with while siphoning money into a community that could use (and deserves) it right now.
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Waysyders
The creator of Waysyders, Dylan, is so pretty I’ve veered wayyyy too close to becoming a reply guy on their selfies, but instead, I’ve channeled that energy into being a huge fan of the label. Made for any and everyone, the contrast-seamed surf wear and comfy-but-sexy street clothes are what athleisure could, and in my opinion, SHOULD, be. As a nonbinary person I will ride or die for a brand that doesn’t rely on infantilizing or cutesifying transness—these are rugged, sleek pieces for fully-realized adults, not smol beans.
The color choices are so brilliant—close-to-teal blue and ruddy, warm brown is one of my favorite combos that I hope to wear a ton once I can buy clothes again. The Hybrid Singlet is just as genius—I hope it comes out in every color, because that’s a garment you could put on in May and not take off ‘till September.
This skort combines everything I love about basketball shorts with everything I love about a tennis skirt—in a word, it’s slutty (and in more words, it is effortless, breezy, and universal).
California Dirt
This jewelry brand takes inspiration for its shapes from the waxing and waning of the tides, the sun, and other facets of the nature that exists so imminently on the coast.
This feels like it could serve as an “evil eye” protective talisman while maintaining a subtlety that many such charms lack—though I love them for their obviousness, for a daily-wear piece I’d reach for this sterling silver bracelet. The site says “once it’s on, it never needs to come off,” which is (theoretically) how I love my jewelry.
Lariat necklaces are so cool and have been totally co-opted by dark-sided high schoolers chopping up their Van Cleef chains on TikTok, so this piece of thoughtful, sensual, androgynous adornment is a refreshing sight to behold.
Ella Mae
Waysyders’ Dylan introduced me to this brand—though I balk at Girlhood Culture, there’s something about Ella Mae’s frocks and skirts that resonated with me.
Maybe their retro silhouettes reminded me of Ann-Margret in Bye Bye Birdie, which of course lead me back to the song that ironically soundtracked my puberty—of course, I was OBSESSED with the outfit she changes into by the song’s end (jeans, a lumpy gray sweater, and a worn-in baseball cap), one that I still emulate on a near-daily basis, which should probably have been foreshadowing as to the kind of “woman” I was imagining myself as at age 12. The delicate shoulders and gathered skirt of this dress make the designer’s skills and vision clear.
Though the dresses were compelling enough that I do think I’d wear some of them, I was also excited to scroll more and see that Ella Mae’s repertoire includes a ton of androgynous offerings—raw denim jeans constructed in innovative shapes, baby tees with stripes that wrap around the body (I’ve never seen anything like this before), and rugged, high-necked jackets that embody California streetwear’s cool.
Lou Equipment
Nearly two years ago, I predicted that rash guards would have a fashion moment, and with Lou Equipment’s small-but-mighty inventory coming on the scene, I think I’m being proven right—though these shirts are made of 100% cotton, their contrast raglan seams look inarguably like fodder for Angelina Jolie in Hackers. I love the weird color choices, too:
This smoggy, almost pinkish gray feels very indebted to SoCal haziness, and the red is a perfect dash of intensity to set it off.
Meanwhile, this blue-and-gray combo looks like the expectation vs reality shades of blue someone who’d never seen an average day off the CA coast would imagine and then have to accept upon their first visit.
Cleo
I’ve mentioned Cleo before, but I need to get one of these bags in my hands and judge it for myself—usually, totes like these skew way too heavy for my weak shoulders, but I have been informed these are fairly comfy. If so, they are my lead horse in the 2025 It-bag competition.
The little vestigial buttons are so strange and sweet.
I hope this silhouette is offered again soon—I like a bag I can sling over my torso inelegantly if need be, one that doesn’t hunker under my armpit like a pet bat mistaking it for a sweaty cave.
Greta Garmel
Greta Garmel has been on my radar for YEARS, and I just learned, while doing some research for an employer, that the label’s simple, sexy, strange pieces often go from XS up to 3 or 4XL, which makes me love it even more.
Greta Garmel could dress Miuccia Prada, but could Miuccia Prada dress Greta Garmel???
This dress might be the first thing I purchase when I come into expendable income.
Lizzie Kidd
I’ve personally worn the above Realtree dress by Lizzie Kidd and can confirm it’s well-made and compliment-attracting, though I was too short to feel totally comfortable—it’s big and hardy as a tent, so if you’re into that, you’d ADORE this dress. Nevertheless, I love Lizzie’s vision and would gladly try anything she made.
I need to wear these to a club (over a monokini).
Machine Shop
The world needs more unironically, furiously lesbian merch shops, and Machine Shop is at the vanguard of that movement.
We need a classic NYC coffee cup with this illustration.
Apparently the CEO of S*bstack is an El*n stan, so let’s hope this doesn’t get taken down ;)
Little Tokyo Table Tennis
From the creators of Poche (RIP :() and Hommeboy comes Little Tokyo Table Tennis, a genuine ping-pong club in the center of LA that I’ve always dreamed of joining (though I know I’d be a physical liability to all around me [what a Bella Swan thing to say {yes I did just watch Twilight for the very first time}]). It now makes some really random but well-designed (as per usual for these folks) streetwear with a heavy dash of ping-ponger nerdiness.
The perfect shade of blue—IS THAT POCKET FOR A PING-PONG BALL?
I think more shirts should have hands doing something pre-printed on them. Now I am envisioning a T-shirt printed with a button-down and clasped hands a la Lucky Luciano.
Brain Dead
You’ve probably heard of Brain Dead, but I love how even through its evolution into a hypebeast mainstay, it has stayed so grounded in LA—the shop even has a movie theater on Fairfax that always shows cult classics.
I totally missed the barn jacket wagon, but I like this weird take, especially the piping on the “side-entry chest pocket”.
This is what Holden Caulfield would’ve worn in 2025.
Big Bud Press
Another classic you know I love, another brand for which the material quality and incredible labor/fabrication practices (LA made, baby) speak for themselves. I want the outfit in Klein blue below:
These prices for this quality is insane, by the way. They remind me of these $755 shirts.
Chapman Newnum
Don’t be mad, but I don’t know if you can purchase any Chapman Newnum pieces at the moment, though keep tabs on Scout LA—I believe that’s where he sells his beautifully de- and re-constructed shirts I wrote about last year.
Aquatic Leisure Center
Good, very LA hats. Not much more to say that I didn’t already in the Great Cap Roundup!
Older Brother
One of the few LA-crunchy brands I like, mostly for its choices of material, but…
…I also love its use of circular pockets…
…and motifs.
Wacky Wacko
The Wacky Wacko truck got burned up in the fires, and I am so sad for them—this brand IS LA, anyone who know anything will tell you that. Championed by Tavi Gevinson many moons ago, it’s run by Seth Bogart FKA Hunx and His Punx which included Shannon Shaw of the INSANELY underrated Shannon and the Clams. If you don’t know, now you know, I guess!
When the fucking RAINCOATS are next to the Ronettes… you know it’s a good T-shirt.
Come Tees
Come Tees makes gorgeous, hand-finished leisure wear I’ve always wished for.
I feel like the name “password socks” refers to the fact that all these words could be passwords to, like, Hernando’s Hideaway (now THAT’s a deep cut). I’ve also never seen socks where the design takes up the entire length like the view on the left, which I really like—would be so cool with some kind of sandal or clear shoe.
Xīnnián hǎo!
Cactus Store
If I am having a wave of anxiety, going to the Cactus Store website will genuinely soothe me, though I’d be more soothed if it wasn’t constantly sold out of all its best gear like the classic Garden Gi (which I regret not buying years ago though I do not garden).
An ex of mine used to play this unsettlingly-tuned song all the time. Elphaba would wear this shirt.
Cookman
I miss my Cookman pants—they were lost somewhere between NYC and Buenos Aires, and they don’t make the colorway I had anymore, but they do have plenty of great options currently available in this incredibly comfortable, durable style.
Fashion Brand Company
I think everyone who has been reading Esque for more than a few days knows that I love FBC, but if you’re one of the freshmen, I think the site speaks for itself, though I will add that the materials the brand uses are CONSISTENTLY fantastic. I’ve had FBC pieces look brand-new for five-plus years.
I had a dream about these once!
These are at the top of my future-shopping list—excellent model casting (Sarah Squirm), too!
Gil Rodriguez
Gil Rodriguez is one of the few “basics” brands I keep an eye on, largely because of its brilliant eye for color.
Almost every piece of clothing I love right now is a pull-on, amorphous slice of high-quality, hardy fabric, and these are available in a fantastic range of colors and patterns.
This is such a departure from GR’s usual domain of colorful, elastic basics, and I’m very interested to see what else can come from this half of the designer’s brain. Are we gonna see GR on the runway soon? I’d be interested!
Thank you for reading, and sending love to all the people whose lives and livelihoods are on the line between the fires and the freaks of nature who run this country.
<3 ESK
wacky wacko and FBC forever!! + those animal print bike shorts are killer <3