It’s the return of Baja East.
After a hiatus — since October 2023 — Scott Studenberg is again with a brand new assortment. The artistic director, based mostly in Los Angeles and identified for bringing relaxed luxurious and gender-fluid put on, reemerges with a pointy focus, artistic management and accessibility in thoughts with a lower cost level.
“It’s good to be again making issues I like that I hope folks will love,” stated Studenberg from his Studio Metropolis base. He leaves a difficult chapter behind that pressured him to reassess enterprise.
“I initially began the model in 2013 with a associate,” he defined of his cofounder and codesigner on the time, John Targon. “We did it for 4 years collectively. Then I discovered an investor to relaunch in 2019, and when COVID occurred, he pulled out and gave me the corporate. I attempted operating it. And I didn’t wish to. My strengths lie elsewhere.”
Studenberg thrives on the artistic, designing, sharing visuals, overseeing photograph shoots. He determined to take a break to go to household and journey, driving cross-country from Michigan to California along with his canine and sleeping in his automobile amongst bison and mountains. “It was simply actually cool…and all through all this time, I at all times knew what I wished to do after I got here again. Which is what I’m doing.”
He made his manner again to L.A. a 12 months in the past and started working.
The reconnection with nature, a longtime inspiration, involves life within the new Baja East assortment for spring 2026, bringing again acquainted prints and new ones, together with the model’s “Freedom Horses” imagery, although reimagined for the brand new chapter. Horses, cacti, whales and seashores seem throughout the road.
“I’m ocean-obsessed. I went on an eight-hour whale watching journey on my birthday,” he smiled. “That’s how massive of a nerd I’m.”
Baja East, spring 2026
Courtesy of Baja East/Scott Studenberg
On the enterprise aspect, he discovered a brand new associate — a good friend who’s a veteran gross sales director, Kelly Warner. Self-funded, they’ve restructured the enterprise mannequin and returned to native manufacturing.
“My good friend and I spoke, and we’re like, ‘You understand what? We will do that ourselves,’” stated Studenberg. “To start out out, at the least…We’re doing the whole lot within the U.S. proper now, which is superb. We don’t have to fret about tariffs or uncertainty. I’ve been capable of finding good folks to work with in L.A.”
Studenberg hopes to reconnect with previous on-line companions like Shopbop and Revolve. Whereas Baja East’s early days included a number of department shops, Barneys, Bergdorf Goodman and Saks, he stated it’s “by no means been a serious division retailer model,” although he’s open to bodily retail partnerships transferring ahead.
The strategy this time is about accessibility and longevity. “Once we began, it was so costly,” he stated of preliminary value tags, with clothes usually costing within the 1000’s. “We got here from Lanvin and Celine and thought, ‘We’re luxurious.’ Now, I wish to open it up.”
On common, clothes at the moment are priced at $298, shirts at $248, and different tops, pants and skirts at $188.
The gathering — about 80 to 90 items — leans into simple caftans, terry hoodies and ethereal robes, in vibrant hues, tie-dyes, natural cottons and satins.
“Even when somebody’s in New York and might’t be on trip, I need them to really feel like they’re,” stated Studenberg. “If you can also make your on a regular basis life really feel just a little bit like a trip…why not?”
To Studenberg, the road displays Baja East’s core DNA.
“The unique inspiration was the Mexican Baja blended with the djellaba,” he stated of the early influences, found on journeys to North Africa and Asia. “It was at all times surf-to-street, relaxed luxurious.”
Baja East, spring 2026
Courtesy of Baja East/Scott Studenberg
